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SAVE OVER $900: As of June 2, the Toshiba 75-inch Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K TV is on sale for $1,047.99 at Amazon. This is $952 off its full price of $1,999.99.

Opens in a new window Credit: Toshiba Toshiba 75" Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K UHD Smart Fire TV $1,047.99 at Amazon
$1,999.99 Save $952   Get Deal

Prime Day may be right around the corner (June 23, for those curious), but Amazon isn't waiting until then to drop deals. If you're searching for solid savings ahead of the sale event, the retailer has plenty to offer right now. This includes some awesome TV deals. If an upgrade has been on your mind, this discount on the Toshiba 75-inch Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K TV is worth a look.

As of June 2, this Toshiba TV has dropped to $1,047.99 at Amazon. This is a massive 48% discount from its full price of $1,999.99, but it even marks its lowest price so far at the retailer. According to price tracker camelcamelcamel, its previous lowest price was $1,499.97, and this is far lower. So, what better time to grab it than now?

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Between exciting events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and brand new shows dropping on streaming services this summer, this is an excellent time to upgrade your TV setup with this Toshiba display. After all, what better way to catch all of the action than on a 75-inch screen that sports 4K resolution and QLED Technology that brings out vibrant colors and all the little details in what you're watching? Since it's a Fire TV, you'll be able to easily access all of your favorite streaming apps from the home screen as well, which is a very nice bonus.

That's not all, though. In good news for gamers, this Toshiba TV also boasts a native 144Hz refresh rate - alongside AMD FreeSync Premium, VRR 144Hz, and ALLM - which helps ensure your games are responsive and run smoothly without any tearing.

This Toshiba 75-inch Z670 Series Mini-LED 4K TV deal is an excellent offer to take advantage of ahead of Prime Day. Act fast to save on it at Amazon.

Want to learn more about getting the best out of your tech? Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories and Deals newsletters today.

A new month means it's time to start preparing for the new movies and TV shows arriving on Netflix. One of the movies I have my eye on is Office Romance, a rom-com that pairs Jennifer Lopez with Brett Goldstein. The other movie I'm interested in is In the Hand of Dante, which boasts an A-list cast of Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, Jason Momoa, Martin Scorsese, and many more.

Born from College Humor, Dropout is a comedy streaming platform that's got a bevy of wildly funny shows in its library, including Crowd Control, Dirty Laundry, Make Some Noise, and Smartypants. However, the three pillars of the groundbreaking TV studio are Dimension 20, Game Changer, and Very Important People.

As Dropout is growing out of what CEO and Game Changer host Sam Reich calls their "awkward teenage years," these three very different shows are making the biggest strides in popularity and pop culture moments.

SEE ALSO: Dropout-curious? Here's where you should start watching.

In separate interviews with Reich, Dimension 20 creator Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Very Important People host Vic Michaelis, Mashable uncovered the scrappy beginnings and defining moments of these shows, as Dropout approaches its next steps.

Dimension 20: An unexpected hit  Brennan Lee Mulligan is the creator and game master on the set of "Dimension 20: Cloudward, Ho!" Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

One of the first show's Dropout debuted on its launch day in Sept. 2018, Dimension 20 debuted in a media landscape that Mulligan says was geared toward short attention spans. Yet the former College Humor writer/performer pitched a long-format unscripted show featuring hours-long episodes of comedians playing variants of Dungeons & Dragons. This roll of the dice was a critical success for Dropout.  

Hosted by Mulligan as Game Master, Dimension 20's first season, Fantasy High, used D&D mechanics and a setting inspired by John Hughes' teen comedies. The "intrepid heroes" (as the show's core stars would come to be known) created characters that combined the fantasy games' classes and races with teen movie archetypes. Thus was born an angst-ridden Tiefling bard with daddy issues, a nerdy half-orc barbarian, an arrogant half-elf jock, and a posh high elf wizard, whose greatest foe is her mean girl older sister. 

Defying conventional wisdom in the contemporary media landscape, Dropout subscribers flocked to the show, which battles Game Changer for the most-watched series on the platform. Since the first episode of Dimension 20 aired in 2018, it has expanded into 28 seasons, featuring a wide array of comedians, as well as drag queens (Dungeons and Drag Queens), and professional wrestlers (Titan Takedown). 

Mulligan and his party have also taken their show on the road, performing in venues like the Austin Convention Center (Fantasy High LIVE at RTX), the Hollywood Bowl (Battle at the Bowl), and a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden (Gauntlet at the Garden). 

Asked about D20's popularity, Mulligan said the idea of a "silver bullet" or "unique vision" guaranteeing success is "malarkey." He concluded, "Everything good in life comes from usually a thousand or a million invisible contributions of people providing care and thoughtfulness. And I think that is very true of Dimension 20. Dimension 20, if it has a secret sauce, it's that we work with lots of great people who try really hard."

Game Changer: A meta game show about game shows Sam Reich hosts "Game Changer" on Dropout. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Where Mulligan reigns at Dimension 20, Reich is the playful tyrant of Game Changer, where every week the game itself is a surprise to the competing comedians. 

Sometimes it's a puzzle based around a prop, like a lie detector or a giant foam mouth. Perhaps it'll be a parody of an existing show, like Survivor, The Bachelor, Traitors, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, or Shark Tank. Some concepts prove so successful that they get spun off into shows of their own, like Make Some Noise, Dirty Laundry, and Crowd Control. 

Season 7 dug into more meta humor, with episodes like "Fool's Gold." Here, Reich challenged a panel of three comedians to bid on pitches for social media videos, Shark Tank style. The goal was to see whose videos would accrue the most views in one month. Beyond being a funny concept for the episode that lent to a swath of Dropout comedians taking their silliness to streets and chiropractic offices, the episode was also a brilliant marketing strategy, considering that — according to Reich — 75-90% of new subscribers come through social media marketing. Still, there was hesitancy from the Game Changer team aorund making "Fool's Gold."

"I remember there being debate in the writers' room initially," Reich shared, "We're just like, can we really do this episode? It almost seems like it boils the marketing mechanism of Dropout down to a cynical, comedic version of itself. Which is like, if you turn marketing Dropout into a game, this is that game. It's like, can you go the most viral on these platforms? On the other hand, when some of the pitches started coming in, we were just like, this stuff is too good. It's gold, if you will. We gotta roll the dice on this."

Game Changer's "Fool's Gold" led to viral victories. Dragon Master Katie Marovitch stars in "Dimension 20: On a Bus" Season 2. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout

Chief among this "gold" was Katie Marovitch's daffy parody of Dimension 20, "Dimension 20: On a Bus," and Michaelis's pitch for a video in which Mulligan claims he's leaving Dropout to become a cobbler shoes for American Girl Dolls. In a previous Mashable interview for Say More, Michaelis said of their pitch that the secret to internet virality is: "You take the thing people love most and the thing they fear most."

The "Brennan resigns" video was released as the episode aired on Dropout. Meaning those who didn't watch Game Changer live could mistake it for sincere. And Mulligan says many did. 

"I had family members texting me, asking if everything was OK," he explained, adding, "There were meetings that were held on an emergency basis in parts of the world and the entertainment industry based on people believing that that video was real." 

Reich revealed there was a lot of debate about when to release the social clips. "How do we market this episode? One way to do it is to release all these clips in advance of the episode airing, and then the episode becomes the punchline," He recounted. "Another way to do it is exactly how we did it [releasing the clips as they played in the episode]. And the third way to do it is to abide by our usual marketing tactics, which is we release the episode, and then we release the clips in the two weeks that follow that episode."

Breaking from their own marketing convention, they went with the drop during the episode, hoping for the biggest impact. And Reich said, "The social response was explosive." With over 3 million views on TikTok,Mulligan's mock resignation became such a big hit online that it inspired a Google Easter egg. As for Marovitch's spin of Dimension 20, her spoof became the series highest rated episode on IMDb, despite not being an actual episode of the series.

Reflecting on the success of these two videos in particular, Reich reflected, "I wasn't sure that the pieces that were like us loving the smell of ourselves would do so well. When, in fact, the opposite occurred. Dropout fans rallied so hard around the ones that were meta that [their attention] had this, amplifying effect, where then other people wanted in on the joke."

Reich continued, "And to run this all the way through until now, this all ends up resulting in D20 On a Bus [Season 2] for April Fool's Day, where we did a full hour-long one-shot campaign. And that episode of D20 is disturbingly close to being the best-performing episode of Dimension 20 of all time. We all looked at it like, have we gone too far here?"

Very Important People and the path to the Emmys Vic Michaelis plays Vic Michaelis in "Very Important People." Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Now in its third season, Very Important People is not just one of Dropout's most popular shows but also a series that could help the streamer garner much-deserved Emmy attention. 

In separate interviews, both Reich and Michaelis noted that much discussion was had around what episodes to submit to the Emmy's nominating committees. Ultimately, Dropout submitted for 11 Emmy categories, across both shows, including Michaelis in the lead comedy actress category. 

Looking back on their path at Dropout, Michaelis marveled that they'd "done maybe four things on the platform tops" when Reich reached out about casting them as the host on a revamp of Hello, My Name Is. This shorts series had Pat Cassels interview Dropout regular Josh Ruben, as he'd take on different characters, depending on the costume provided. Very Important People expanded on the idea with more drastic makeovers, a broader range of comedians, and Michaelis's unique brand of humor. 

SEE ALSO: Everything Vic Michaelis revealed about 'Very Important People'

As an executive producer on the show, Michaelis has some hand in casting their co-stars, including those they knew from the LA improv scene, like Lisa Gilroy, Zac Oyama, and Jacob Wysocki. Very Important People has also welcomed more storied comedians, like Paul F. Tompkins and Saturday Night Live alum Bobby Moynihan. 

Whether playing opposite old friends or their comedy idols, Michaelis — in a desperate-to-impress version of themselves — is tasked each episode with setting her scene partner up for success. "I feel like I know your voice," they said of this process, and now I get to sit in front of you and lay up the things that I find funniest about you as a comedian. It's the best job in the world." 

How to watch: Dimension 20, Game Changer, and Very Important People are now streaming on Dropout.

The people have spoken. Comedian and content creator Ashby Florence has been named your Mashable 101 Fan Fave for 2026.

No stranger to this list, the 25-year-old influencer was one of our Rising Stars in 2025 after her send-up of legendary Dr. Seuss character The Lorax went viral. And rise she has.

In the year since she first appeared on our list, the LA-based influencer has added another 1 million TikTok followers, with an audience that now sits north of 2.5 million.

Florence first caught our attention when she tackled the #alexanderhamilton lip sync challenge, with her take on the founding father landing her on countless FYPs. It gave the performer her first real taste of internet fame and was a stepping stone into her now infamous impression of The Lorax.

She’s taken to TikTok live as The Lorax multiple times, donning a bright orange body suit and the character’s signature fuzzy eyebrows and mustache.

Her feed continues to entertain, blending Florence’s quirky comedy with genuine vocal skill (the girl’s got pipes) amid a smattering of sponsorships and vlog-style videos about daily life.

Recent posts include content collaborations with heavy hitters such as Keke Palmer, Dan Levy, and Trixie Mattel, plus frequent pop-ins from boyfriend (and often the man behind the camera) Benjamin Hunt.

Interview with a Vampire fans had better brace for Season 3, The Vampire Lestat. Because you are not be ready for what creator Rolin Jones has in store with his adaptation of the second novel in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles. 

Centering on Lestat's quest to become a rock star, this season offers plenty more sex, even racier than before. There will be blood, including blood-tears, blood-piss, and blood showers, because sure, why not? And there will be rock n' roll — from composer/songwriter Daniel Hart — blending influences like David Bowie and T-Rex with The Police and Billy Idol. 

But make no mistake, as Lestat, Sam Reid finds a rock star persona all his own, and it is devilishly enthralling. 

SEE ALSO: 2026 Summer TV preview: Every TV show you need to know about now The Vampire Lestat is chaotically laid out, but purposefully so.   Sam Reid plays Lestat de Lioncourt; Jennifer Ehle in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

The Vampire Lestat begins at the end. More specifically, at an auction, where on the block is the Brat Prince's story, told across tracks on the sole vinyl pressing of an album he calls The Failures. In attendance are familiar figures from Anne Rice's Immortal Universe, including Louis (Jacob Anderson), the Talamasca's Raglan James (Justin Kirk), and Armand (Assad Zaman), who is curiously sporting an eyepatch. 

Lestat is not in attendance. This means the whole of the season is looking back. Yet from the start, this season poses mysteries: Where is Lestat now? What's become of him? (And what happened to Armand's eye?) 

Featured Video For You Ryan Coogler and 'Sinners' cast on their vampire musical being 'genre-fluid'

Like Interview with the Vampire Seasons 1 and 2, the story leaps forward and back in time, often to challenge a remembrance of the past with a question from the present. Lestat's approach is far less resigned and chronologically focused than Louis', and the effect can be disorienting, even frustrating. This tumultuousness feels intentional, though, playing like a reflection of the mercurial vampire's frenzied mind. Or perhaps it's Jones' way of demanding viewers rewatch the season once they've seen its end.

Jacob Anderson as Louis de Pointe du Lac in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Interview with the Vampire's first two seasons reward such rewatching by revealing new meanings to a phrase here or a visual there. This time, audiences might feel they're better prepared to spot the tricks in the storytelling. After all, Lestat lets us in on some gnarly revelations way before his circle of friends. Nonetheless, he is a slippery narrator, as his story comes not only out of chronological order, but also with a give-no-fucks facade, a twisted family secret, and an ax to grind against his audience. 

See, when Lestat's not having ferocious hook-ups with other vampires, he's enduring interviews from investigative journalist Daniel Malloy, who wrote the book he loathes for its cruel depiction of him. Riding high on the success of this book based on Louis' interview, Daniel can't resist the challenge of prying answers from the formerly elusive and morally confounding Brat Prince for a rock doc. Of course, Lestat won't make it easy on him. And notably, it's not Daniel's documentary that makes up the series' perspective, but Lestat's albums, mysteriously recorded after the events they reveal. 

Assad Zaman as Armand in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

As such, episodes will flash from a childhood in France, where his festering father and brutish brothers snarled at the blonde boy and his educated mother Gabrielle (a bitingly cold Jennifer Ehle), to a not-so-distant past, where Lestat wedged his way into a struggling rock band. Renaming the band The Vampire Lestat, he goes out on tour to sing original songs that spill the secrets of vampirism and his own life. Several of these songs, including "Long Face," "All Fall Down," and "Butterscotch Bitch" are already available to stream. Make of them what you will. 

Questioned by Daniel about what certain songs mean, Lestat is evasive or aloof or even devious. But when he's alone with his thoughts, he is plagued by the ghosts of his past. Flashbacks plunge us into his nightmarish rebirth. They shine new light on his relationship with Nicki (Nicolas de Lenfent), Armand, and his time at the Théâtre des Vampires — including what role his first fledgling really played there. However, the most exciting bits are anytime Reid and Anderson reunite, be it over a boardroom table, bellowing about Armand, or on a park bench, having a decades-in-the-making heart-to-heart. 

Of course, those familiar with the book know there are other loves that could be a way bigger issue for Louis than that dramatic singer, Antoinette (Maura Grace Athari). 

Sam Reid is riveting as rock star Lestat.  Sam Reid plays Lestat de Lioncourt in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Reid's proved an impeccably skilled actor through Seasons 1 and 2, as he not only played Lestat but also "Dreamstat," Louis' imagined version of him, a sort of imaginary friend/ghost who followed him and Claudia through Europe. Across a timeline spanning centuries, Reid brings to life a Lestat richer than those who've come before in the beautifully brutal movie Interview with the Vampire and its rightfully ignored sequel, Queen of the Damned. 

This Lestat is mercurial, given to moods of explosive passion, thundering tenderness, scorching indifference, and poetic fury ("I heard your hearts dancing!"). On stage as an actor in Season 2, he was a seductive clown, then a heartbroken lover. Now, as The Vampire Lestat, he rewrites his narrative, turning his heartbreak into a rousing chorus, inviting a mortal audience to sing along, while smirking at the vampires enraged by his exhibitionism. And the songs are sexy, catchy jams, one after another. 

Off stage however, Lestat, is also performing. He constructs a devil-may-care persona for his fans, for Daniel's prying cameras, and his own bandmates, who don't know their frontman is a real vampire. But through all these efforts to entertain, to titillate, to outrage, who is his real audience? Is he singing to be understood? Or to be loved? And in either case, by who? 

The Vampire Lestat make fans unwell.  Eric Bogosian as Daniel Molloy in "The Vampire Lestat." Credit: AMC+

Like Lady Gaga's Little Monsters or Beyoncé's Beyhive, Lestat calls his fans "The Beautiful Unwell," and Jones leans into this with cliffhangers that will have fans jaw-dropped, ravenous for more. Critics have been given the first six of the seven episodes that make up Season 3. And the ability to binge them is a privilege this critic doesn't take lightly, as the season will be released weekly. I burned through them, desperate to see what was coming next. 

However, at the end of episode 3, I needed break to give my heart time to recover from the tension, violence, and agony in its final moments. I sat in the feeling of being satisfied by the dark wrath, the passion that demanded it, and the unifying pain therein. Then, the end of episode 6 — the last critics' were given — I was so in shock that I had to rewind. Nothing from the books prepared me for what Jones does here. Fans are sure to freak out when they see it. And I am sorry to say I can offer no worthy guess on what will come next to close out Season 3. But honestly, that's thrilling. 

Since Season 1, Jones has regarded Rice's books with respect, but not as a Bible. He's kept much of the poetry of her prose through narration, and kept true to the moods of her vampires. But he has changed timelines, many character details, and pivotal moments to tell a story that's distinct from past adaptations. With The Vampire Lestat, he builds from Lestat's isolation to the clamor of ecstasy (through orgies and bloodsucking), the infuriation of creation (through comedic rock doc parody moments), and the intoxication of love, even when it's toxic. 

Sure, along the way, readers of Rice might point to the road signs we recall from her novels. But this journey takes new paths, impossible to predict, and all the more exhilarating for their sick surprises. In the end, fans might be tuning in to see a sexy Lestat strut as a rock star, argue with his on-again-off-again exes, and be a Brat Prince in full. Jones will deliver there, those with an sleazy layer of grit that keeps the show from losing its edge. Then, he'll go harder and deeper, unearthing subplots savage, sumptuous, and absolutely addictive. 

Hang on, baby. It's going to be one hell of a ride. 

How to watch: The Vampire Lestat premieres on AMC and AMC+ on June 7, with new episodes each Sunday.

The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and Acer Predator Atlas 8 are running Intel’s new Arc G3 Extreme processor, while Asus unveiled an ROG Xbox Ally X20. Which one is right for you?

TL;DR: Amazon has dropped the price to an all-time low for the 34-inch ASUS ROG Strix Ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor (XG34WCDG SKU), now on sale for $649, down from its current $999 list price. This huge 35% cut saves you $350 on a curved ultrawide OLED display with 3440x1440 resolution, a 175Hz refresh rate, and a speedy 0.03ms response time.

Opens in a new window Credit: ASUS Asus ROG Strix 34-inch Ultrawide QD-OLED Gaming Monitor $649 at Amazon
$999 Save $350   Get Deal

The only type of gaming monitor usually more expensive than a standard OLED is a curved OLED, but Amazon has taken an already strong ASUS deal and dropped its price even lower than ever.

As of June 2, the ASUS ROG Strix 34-inch Ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor (XG34WCDG) is on sale for $649 — courtesy of a surprising $350 price cut from its current base of $999. We previously reported that this monitor was already on sale for $699 in late May, but it seems the retailer is trying to shift more units as quickly as possible by chopping off an extra $50. 

Noted on the price tracker camelcamelcamel, this is indeed the lowest price this version of the ASUS ROG Strix has ever sold for, and Amazon has added on the product page that it is selling fast.

For that new $649 price, you’re getting the same type of gaming upgrade as before: a 34-inch curved QD-OLED panel with a sharp 3440 x 1440 ultrawide resolution, a 175Hz refresh rate, and a 0.03ms response time. 

SEE ALSO: The 4 best premium gaming monitors instantly level up your desktop — for a price

ASUS also packs in VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black support, 99.3% DCI-P3 color coverage, true 10-bit color, and G-SYNC compatibility, helping the display deliver deep contrast, bold color, and smoother gameplay. 

Essentially, this all adds up to your games not only being more immersive on a cinematic scale (like when playing the new gorgeous 007: First Light), but also fast-paced multiplayer titles like Fortnite, Overwatch, and Marvel Rivals. 

As an added luxury feature, one standout extra is ASUS OLED Care Pro with a Neo Proximity Sensor, which can detect when you step away and switch the screen to black to help reduce burn-in risk. There’s also the ASUS DisplayWidget Center for easier settings adjustments, Extreme Low Motion Blur, AI Shadow Boost for brightening dark in-game areas, and an adjustable stand with tilt, swivel, and height controls. 

For those shopping around different brands, the 32-inch LG UltraGear 4K OLED monitor is also just under $800 at $500 off. If you’re open to a smaller model, the 27-inch LG OLED UltraGear gaming monitor is now $499.99 — a new low on Amazon, too. 

Docker Desktop is undeniably elegant. The clean interface, one-click management, and abstraction of complexity make it great for beginners, but that abstraction comes at a price.

For people whose careers depend on sharing their lives online, creators don't always get many opportunities to talk honestly with one another in front of a camera.

That's the premise of Creator to Creator, Mashable's new video series that brings internet personalities together for candid conversations about the realities of building a life and career online. To kick things off, we paired two creators featured in this year's Mashable 101 list: Taryn Delanie Smith, a comedian and storyteller, and Kay Poyer, writer and commentator.

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

The conversation began with change. Smith recently traded city life for a home in upstate New York with a small flock of chickens, while Poyer is adjusting to life in New York City after moving from her home state of Texas. Both found themselves reflecting on new chapters, balancing excitement with uncertainty.

For Smith, whose online career helped make homeownership possible, the move felt especially significant. "Being a creator has opened so many doors for me," she said. "I'm so grateful to my community."

From there, the discussion turned to a challenge familiar to many creators: What happens when internet success opens doors in more traditional creative industries?

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Both Smith and Poyer spoke about pursuing writing and acting alongside content creation and the self-doubt that can follow. Poyer described entering new creative spaces and questioning whether she belonged. Smith immediately related.

Recalling one of her first professional acting jobs on the Amazon Prime Video series Harlem, Smith said she worried people would assume she didn't deserve to be there because her career started online. "I just don't want people to think I don't deserve to be here," she remembered thinking, "because I want to be here so bad, and I really do think if I had time, I could be really good at this."

It's something they've both been navigating — who gets to be considered a "real" writer, actor, or director, and why creators are often asked to justify opportunities that others receive without explanation. Smith recalled hearing someone in her acting class criticize influencers who were breaking into acting, and realizing she could understand that frustration without accepting it as truth.

"I can have some compassion for how you're feeling without deciding I don't deserve to be here," she said.

Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Poyer agreed, arguing that content creation is still a relatively young industry and its career paths are still being defined. The skills creators develop, building audiences and sustaining careers online, may not fit neatly into traditional categories, but they're valuable all the same.

Part 1 of the conversation ends there. In Part 2, coming next week, Smith and Poyer dive deeper into internet fame, audience expectations, and whether either of them actually likes being called an "influencer."

Watch the full conversation above.

Like many people, Joy Taylor first discovered Shirley Raines and her nonprofit organization, Beauty 2 The Streetz, on social media. 

Taylor, a TV, radio, and sports personality, was captivated by Raines’ Instagram and TikTok posts that intimately documented her work feeding the hungry and providing free clothes, makeup, hair services, and hygiene products to the beleaguered Skid Row community of downtown Los Angeles. 

"I was looking for a place to volunteer," Taylor says. "There are a lot of different ways that you can give back, but I really wanted to be boots on the ground. I reached out to [Raines] on DM and was like, 'Can I come help?’ She was gracious enough to say, 'Yes.’ So I went down to Skid Row, and the experience of working with her is spiritual in a way."

For nearly a decade, the Compton, California-born Raines dedicated her time and energy to serving LA's unhoused communities. After experiencing homelessness in her younger years, the mother of six was inspired to donate and distribute food and hygiene kits to Skid Row. Raines, along with volunteers, also applied makeup and styled the hair of people who hadn’t been to a salon in years.

Livestreaming her efforts on TikTok and Instagram, Raines amassed 7 million followers, many of whom were drawn not just to her philanthropy but also her beautiful smile and dynamic personality. Gregarious, quick to compliment, and as prone to break into dance as she was to hand out groceries or gift cards, Raines bewitched the screens and streets.

The affection online was so deep that her followers helped fund her mission — one even purchased an abandoned Vegas building for Raines' homelessness outreach. What started as Raines' impromptu effort to give back eventually became Beauty 2 The Streetz, one of the West Coast's most beloved charitable groups. 

Through her work, Raines, affectionately known by many as Ms. Shirley, was named a CNN Hero of the Year in 2021, placed on the 2025 Time100 Creators list, and won 2025 Outstanding Social Media Personality at the NAACP Image Awards Creative Honors.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Michael Loccisano/Getty Images

When 58-year-old Raines died suddenly in January from hypertensive heart disease, it felt like LA lost its matriarch.

Taylor, who developed a friendship with Raines and eventually became a board member of Beauty 2 The Streetz, spoke at Raines’ celebration of life. 

"It is such a great and impactful loss," Taylor said at the February service. "The impact that she had on the homeless community is immeasurable. And I hope that she can see the impact that she had on so many others by helping to heal through service, which is why she started Beauty 2 The Streetz in the first place; to heal from grief."

Taylor was referring to the accidental death of Raines’ young son in 1990, a tragedy that both decimated and, eventually, galvanized Raines. Instead of sinking fully into the hole of her depression, Raines channeled her energy into giving back and restoring confidence to those who needed it most. 

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Beauty 2 The Streetz

Even when she began working with the homeless community in 2017, Raines recognized that people need more than just the most basic necessities. When someone gets a much-needed haircut or shampoo, "You can see the light come back in people," Taylor says, "There's also something to human touch."

Most Americans take it for granted that they can have a hot shower or blow-dry their hair, Taylor says. When you feel good about yourself, "that flows over into how you treat other people, how you feel, how you look, your motivation to go to work." 

Even with the absence of Raines, Beauty 2 The Streetz’s mission continues, Taylor says. The organization continues to address the humanitarian crisis of poverty and homelessness through regular outreach efforts in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, including a recent Mother’s Day Restoration Brunch that featured volunteer estheticians and nail techs.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Robin L Marshall/Getty Images

Raines will be awarded another honor soon, serving as the posthumous Icon Grand Marshal for LA Pride in June. Her image and story will be featured and heard during the parade and festival, now in its 56th year. Lawrence Carroll, the board president of LA Pride, worked with Raines during the pandemic and, like many, felt an instant bond with her.

"She just reminded me of family," Carroll says. 

When Carroll heard of Raines’ passing, he drew inspiration from her and turned his pain into action, naming Raines as one of Pride’s three grand marshals for 2026, alongside attorney and civil rights activist Mia Yamamoto and Emmy-winning Somebody Somewhere actor Jeff Hiller.

"[Raines] is somebody who literally woke up every single day to give of themselves to others," Carroll says. "When we’re talking about being of service to a community and the world — I’m starting to get emotional about it, because Shirley embodied all of that. She was just so real, so much of herself. She saw the humanity in folks, just the fact that she was calling people 'kings’ and 'queens.' We need more Ms. Shirleys, right?"

Besides Raines’ family and philanthropy, part of her legacy will be in how she reached people, Taylor says. With so much forgettable and empty content on our feeds, social media can feel like a cesspool of wasted time. Raines, on the other hand, used it for good, recruiting new volunteers and highlighting the needs of people often forgotten by the city around them.

"Social media can be a very terrible place," Taylor says. "And people like Shirley used it perfectly to showcase how dark the world is — and how you can bring light to it."

Carroll sees a parallel in how Raines lived her life and his own intentions to bring people together through Pride. 

"No matter how much technology influences our day-to-day, you can't substitute human connection," Carroll says. "We are social beings by nature. So getting out there like Ms. Shirley and actually being able to talk to somebody, to listen to them in real time, see their facial expressions, and read their body language is such a unique opportunity to connect to somebody. [It’s something] that a device, a phone, and social media could never do."

Having a capable 3D printer is important, but even the best printer in the world won't do a good job if you give it bad instructions.

If you don't know Dropout, you're missing out on the next wave of groundbreaking comedy. 

On its surface, Dropout is a subscription streaming app that offers a vast library of funny unscripted shows, including Dimension 20, Game Changer, Very Important People, Dirty Laundry, and Make Some Noise. 

However, CEO Sam Reich isn't just management at this independent TV production company spun off from CollegeHumor. He's also one of its stars, hosting Game Changer and Make Some Noise opposite such hilarious improv comedians as Brennan Lee Mulligan, Vic Michaelis, Lily Du, and Jeremy Culhane — to name a few. 

Beyond running a platform that celebrates improv, Reich has broken from Hollywood standards in exciting ways, encouraging password sharing among subscribers, paying for auditions, profit-sharing with contributors, and offering freelance contracts rather than demanding talent exclusivity. Plus, Reich and his Dropout team have mastered the art of social media promotion. 

In a video interview, Reich told Mashable, "That's how people are finding the platform," noting that 75 to 90 percent of Dropout sign-ups come through social media, rather than traditional paid advertising. 

Clips from Dropout's most popular shows not only spur sign-ups for the platform but also made Mulligan a TikTok star before he even had an account. Now he's got over 400,000 followers, thanks to improv games with his fellow Noise Boys (Josh Ruben and Zac Oyama), his scorching monologues, and the hilarious hoax "Brennan Resigns," which was a viral video pitch from Michaelis for Game Changer's "Fool's Gold" episode.

SEE ALSO: Vic Michaelis on masterminding Brennan Lee Mulligan quitting Dropout for American Girl Dolls

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Though he's at the heart of some of Dropout's most viral videos, Mulligan is conflicted about being called a content creator. 

"It has a certain, heartless sterility to it that is not my favorite," Mulligan said in a separate video-call interview with Mashable, adding, "It's not a fun term for what I do." Still, Mulligan acknowledges that the label serves a practical purpose, given the breadth of work involved in making online entertainment.

Mulligan is the creator, executive producer, and game master of the Dungeons & Dragons-inspired series Dimension 20, in which improv comedians team up to play a homebrew version of popular tabletop role-playing games (aka TTRPGs). Similar to many of Dropout's stars, he also pops up as a guest on other Dropout shows, including Michaelis's talk-show parody, Very Important People, as well as Game Changer and Make Some Noise. 

At its inception, [the term content creator] was meant to differentiate people who work in film and TV and people who create things on their own and create things online. That line is just getting blurrier and blurrier. - Vic Michaelis, host of 'Very Important People'

“In some ways, content creator is more accurate," Mulligan said, "Because part of what I do is being an entertainer. But I'm also working in a producer capacity. Like, there are a lot of producers that might not be entertainers, but are content creators, right? So that's a nice way to actually include more people than maybe the term entertainer could include." 

For Michaelis, "content creator" signifies a break from the Hollywood establishment. "At its inception, [the term] was meant to differentiate people who work in film and TV and people who create things on their own and create things online," they told Mashable, adding, "That line is just getting blurrier and blurrier. And it's very cool to have a space in the Wild West of content creation." 

Where TV networks must appeal to broad audiences and advertisers to make a profit, content creators have the freedom to be far more niche, and by extension, more experimental, with lower overhead. This Wild West can be difficult for any content creator to navigate, especially as platforms like YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram shift on what they'll allow to be shown and said. 

Reich and company aren't gatekeeping their path to success. Here's how they transformed a floundering College Humor YouTube channel into the new wave of groundbreaking comedy. 

Dropout: Lore and Labor Brennan Lee Mulligan looks at a note on the set of "Dimension 20: Cloudward,Ho!" Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Believe it or not, Brennan Lee Mulligan's path to entertaining Dropout subscribers with an array of game-centered shows began with him winning $50,000 ("after taxes, it was like $34,000") on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? 

"For a content creator like myself," Mulligan said, "Who has never been shy about my distaste for the turbo-charged nightmare capitalism of the moment we find ourselves in, it's really worth mentioning that I have been able to live as a creator who, on a very profound level, is just beyond lucky for the fact that I get to be a professional creative doing essentially my favorite hobby for a living. Doesn't happen if I don't win a chunk of cash on a televised game show." 

He explained, "Without winning that money, there's no move to California. Without moving [from New York City] to California. I don't get the job at CollegeHumor. I don't meet Isabella Roland, my wife and the mother of my children. I don't care to think about the world that exists without getting on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?"

Little did Mulligan realize that his job making comedy videos for CollegeHumor would lead to another gamble: Dropout. In 2018, YouTube ad revenue for CollegeHumor was cratering. So, the company looked to pivot to a subscription model, where ad sales wouldn't be required and more mature content — the kind censored by YouTube — could be explored. 

Mulligan recalled the general fears about this shift, detailing how he felt: "Oh, we're doing a streaming platform. I'm toast." He also shared how, in a company meeting, someone worried aloud that this shift could be like "jumping off the ship of the YouTube channel just into the ocean. And this interim CEO extended the metaphor, and was like, 'It might seem ill-advised to jump off a ship into the ocean and just try to swim. What if I told you the ship's on fire?'"

Mulligan made the leap and created one of Dropout's first shows with Dimension 20. Reich, who was CollegeHumor's chief creative officer, came too, and launched Game Changer the following year.

However, after a year of operation, Dropout's parent company, IAC, wasn't seeing the return on investment it hoped for. IAC was considering selling to a rival company. Reich pitched them an alternate option: Sell to him for no money and a minority stake in Dropout. News of the sale hit in January of 2020. Reich tweeted about it, including a plea to hire the many staffers who'd been laid off. 

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

After these layoffs, Reich brought many comedians back as freelancers, including Michaelis. There's an upside to this arrangement for on-camera talent. Reich explained on the Decoder Podcast that TV show productions typically demand exclusivity, which bars their talent from working on other projects. 

Because Dropout doesn't make such demands, it doesn't need to cancel series to release performers from those holds. This means Michaelis can fly off to Hungary for months to shoot Peacock's Ponies, Mulligan can do a guest spot on Ted, and Jeremy Culhane can become a Saturday Night Live cast member and still appear on episodes of Game Changer Season 8. 

SEE ALSO: How Dropout's 'Game Changer' got away with 'Don't Wake Standards and Practices'

"It's also really smart," Michaelis told Mashable, "Like wanting your talent and your staff to be working on their own stuff and then coming back to you creatively fulfilled and excited and having new ideas and things like that. It's the smartest move you can make. It seems maybe a little counterintuitive. But it makes Dropout a really special place to work."

Dropout goes from meta to mainstream Sam Reich hosts "Game Changer" on Dropout. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

As its name suggest, Game Changer is a show in which the game changes each episode. Dropout's social strategy capitalizes on the company's diverse output by having separate accounts for each of its shows, then feeding TikTok and Instagram Reels with clips from each episode. This strategy has successfully risen Dropout's profile online and grown its subscription base. But with the Game Changer Season 7 episode, "Fool's Gold," Reich and company took their social strategy to a whole new level.

"Fool's Gold" allowed Dropout's wide swath of freelance comedians to come on and pitch could-be viral videos, Shark Tank style. Not only did the episode create a flood of social media videos that could attract new viewers to the platform, but also it launched one that went so viral that it sparked a Google Easter Egg. With over 3 million views on TikTok, that video showed Mulligan, arguably Dropout's biggest star, declaring he was resigning from the platform to become a cobbler of American Girl Doll Shoes.

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

As Mashable covered at the time, Mulligan's mock resignation became such a pop culture moment online that Google created an Easter Egg alluding to it. If you googled "Brennan Lee Mulligan" in July of 2025, your results page would rain with women's shoes. 

Asked about this particular Google moment, Reich said, "Dropout is like Fight Club, in that we have influential fans everywhere. They're all hiding out in these giant jobs. And I just want to know who I have to thank for that."

Still, Dropout is in what Reich calls its "awkward teenage years." However, the approaching Emmy award nominations could prove a big moment of growth for the studio. In April, Variety reported that Dropout had put forth Game Changer and Very Important People in 11 categories for Emmy consideration.

Asked about Dropout's Emmy potential, Michaelis, who has been submitted in the lead comedy actress category — the same area where Saturday Night Live cast members have proved competitive — said, "It does really feel like we are at a tipping point right now." Citing the immense popularity of Rhett McLaughlin and Link Neal's Good Mythical Morning as a non-Dropout example, they continued, "Some of these shows are going to start getting recognized [by awards bodies] because of their popularity and their quality."

Credit: Ian Moore / Mashable

"The quality is there. I really do think we're on the precipice of them starting to be recognized in these more traditional spaces," they explained. "Do they fit perfectly into those boxes?" No. But the Oscars are moving to YouTube… There's a podcast category now for the Golden Globes. Things are starting to change." 

SEE ALSO: Everything Vic Michaelis revealed about 'Very Important People' The fans powering Dropout's success Sam Reich on the set of "Game Changer" on Dropout. Credit: Kate Elliott / Dropout TV

Something else that sets Dropout apart from its bigger-budget rivals, such as Hulu, HBO Max, and Netflix, is that the company's CEO is front and center on the platform and on social media.

As the face of Dropout, Reich announces news like a price hike via a video rather than in sterile email blasts. Typically, when a streamer announces a raise in price, there's much teeth-gnashing on social media. Incredibly, Dropout's news of a price hike for new subscribers prompted a resounding response from those who said they'd happily pay more. Reich said of the news, "We lost a lot of subscribers that day who then signed up immediately again."

He confirmed that Dropout's data showed many viewers canceled their subscriptions to avoid being grandfathered in to a price-hike exemption. Basically, these fans were volunteering to pay more. And this sentiment led Dropout to launch its Superfan tier, which follows a Patreon model, offering bonus content like behind-the-scenes features and advanced access to purchase Dropout merch and live event tickets.

Subscribers asking to pay more? In this, Dropout shows it's fostered the kind of goodwill with its subscribers that Netflix and HBO Max can't buy with an array of award-winning, high-budget series. Sure, you love Stranger Things and The Last of Us, but are you DMing Ted Sarandos and David Zaslav to ask them to pay more to watch them?

Of Dropout subscribers, Reich said, "I happen to know, just vis-à-vis the data, that there are a lot of fans — and I mean a lot of fans — who unsubscribe to resubscribe, you know? And if we had a role to play in that exercise, I would actually hope that it's something along the lines of, 'We'll be there for you when you need us.'"

Reich is grateful for all Dropout's fans, including those who just watch on social media or borrow a password to watch on the app. "Sharing your password is a form of marketing," he said. "People subscribe not only because they want to see this stuff, not only because it's paywalled, but also because they want to support the work that we're doing; it can have that effect. Listen, every bit counts." 

What does it take to make the Mashable 101? You've got to be a content creator at the top of your game, making videos that are not only viral but vital. And who better than the game masters of Dropout to give advice on how to forge your path to creator excellence?

Mashable Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko spoke with Dropout CEO/owner and Game Changer host Sam Reich, Dimension 20 creator Brennan Lee Mulligan, and Very Important People host/producer Vic Michaelis about the comedy streaming platform's rise and unique popularity. 

SEE ALSO: Dropout is a game-changer for comedy and content creators

In separate interviews, Reich, Mulligan, and Michaelis reflected on their own journeys as creators and comedians. When asked what path they hoped to lay for those who came next, here's what they had to say. 

Sam Reich says you should steal from Dropout Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Kate Elliott/Dropout TV

No, seriously. "Anyone is more than welcome to steal Dropout's very obvious business playbook and run with it," he told Mashable, before explicitly laying out the steps to follow. 

"Create a subscription platform, maybe using Vimeo or one of the many platforms like it, which are essentially free to get started on," Reich explained. 

From there, Reich recommended, "Create a long-form product and then market it using social media. Something we've done in particular that might be a little clever is that each show has its own social channels, not the network's overall channels. That's allowed us to scale on social media in a way that not everyone finds. It also allows us to take advantage of algorithmic consistency, meaning the algorithm loves it when you feed it the same type of thing over and over again, and not when you feed it disparate things." 

Reich noted that he partnered with his friend, and fellow Mashable 101 honoree, Catherine McCafferty on her web series, Pretty Gay. "We put a little bit of money into that to help Catherine get it off the ground," he explained, "What we really did hand her was like the social strategy. And Catherine is now absolutely crushing it. 

"So that's two, and the third is, don't be a schmuck," Reich warned. For clarity, he expanded on this advice, "It could apply to everything from profit sharing, paying for auditions, inclusivity — you know, basically becoming the teammate of your workforce instead of their antagonist."

Brennan Lee Mulligan and Vic Michaelis offer advice to aspiring content creators Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Kate Elliott/Dropout TV

Both Mulligan and Michaelis are Dropout contributors with experience in live improvisational comedy, which has helped both score points and laughs in Reich-hosted shows such as Game Changer and Make Some Noise. 

However, Mulligan might be best known for Dimension 20, a long-form series that combines improv comedy with tabletop role-playing games, like Dungeons & Dragons. 

Asked what he's learned that he'd pass on to other creators, Mulligan mused, "The world is changing so fast, it feels like it's hard to know how someone could follow in anyone's path, right? Like every five years, it feels like the kaleidoscope shifts and a new reality is out there."

Mulligan offered, "You know who's getting it right? People who come from the heart and do something human. I can't say that doing that will always guarantee a broad connection with a mass market. But I can say that it will make something meaningful. That meaningful thing might connect with five people. It might connect with 5 million. But I guarantee you that the path towards a meaningful life is there. If you are interested in creative fields, your odds are best when you do something that means something to you."

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable/Kate Elliott/Dropout TV

Michaelis echoed this in a separate interview, saying, "If you really follow your voice, commit to whatever your thing is, there will be an opportunity for it to shine and showcase," adding, "There will be a space. There will be an audience. There will be other people who will connect to whatever humanity is in what you're doing."

How to watch: Game Changer, Make Some Noise, Very Important People, and Dimension 20 are all streaming now on Dropout.

It's fitting that the gray hoodie has become nearly synonymous with comedian Josh Johnson. The look is familiar and unpretentious, the kind of casual aesthetic choice that immediately puts you at ease. The same can be said for his comedy. A story branches into another story, then a smaller observation, then a tiny detail that doesn't seem important until suddenly it is. He takes his time getting to the point, but you never feel like he's wandering. Every turn feels intentional.

Which is why I have a hard time believing him when he insists the hoodie was accidental.

"You're about to be disappointed," the 36-year-old — in, naturally, a gray hoodie — tells Mashable. After a cab ride through gridlocked Manhattan traffic, he lounges on a couch in Mashable's studio, head resting in one hand, holding eye contact as he settles into the story.

The hoodies started as a comfort thing, mostly vintage and thrifted finds Johnson accumulated over the years before fans began gifting him more: customized ones, tour-inspired ones, even cashmere versions he jokes he's "too scared to sweat in." Somewhere along the way, without Johnson really noticing, the gray hoodie became part of the persona people recognized on sight.

"Even when people see me out on the street, they're like, 'Oh, you really wear this?' That's the good and bad part of doing a thing; if you genuinely like it, it just becomes how you look all the time."

For someone who once famously joked that "the internet was a bad idea," Johnson has become one of the internet's most recognizable comedians. And not just for his attire. His stand-up clips regularly rack up millions of views across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, where his winding stories and observational humor somehow thrive on platforms designed to reward speed, outrage, and immediacy. But Johnson doesn't talk about the internet like someone trying to beat an algorithm. If anything, he sounds more like someone trying to preserve the version of the internet he once hoped it could become.

"It depends on the day," Johnson says when I ask whether he still believes the internet was a bad idea. "I think incredible good and connection have come from it. But there's also this level of cruelty online that's very hard to pull off in person. It's difficult for people to be as hateful face-to-face, eye-to-eye, as they can be online."

He then launches into a sprawling meditation on the strange contradictions of modern internet culture: misinformation, algorithms, performance, loneliness, and the ways people retreat deeper into themselves online instead of toward one another. Talking to Johnson, it becomes obvious that his comedy is informed by the fact that he reads widely and thinks deeply. Some people are chronically online; Johnson is thoughtfully online. 

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

"Back in the day, debate used to mean something," he says. "Now it feels like everybody is saying the most outrageous thing possible for the click. There are people who aren't even trying to debate anymore. They're trying to get clipped."

Johnson makes a sharp observation about the economics of online attention, where longer formats like podcasts, livestreams, interviews, and comedy sets are increasingly mined for viral fragments, designed to spread as quickly as possible. Entire social distribution strategies now revolve around clipping, extracting the most provocative or outrageous moment, and repackaging it for the algorithm.

Some people are chronically online; Johnson is thoughtfully online.

And yet, even at his most critical, Johnson still talks about the internet with the cautious optimism of someone who believes a better version of it is still possible.

"I think we are so close," he says, describing the possibility of an internet that feels genuinely connective instead of extractive. "It's crazy how close we are."

After getting his start in stand-up in Louisiana and later sharpening his voice in Chicago's comedy scene, Johnson, now based in Brooklyn, built a reputation as a curious storyteller with an unusually patient style of comedy. He wrote for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon before joining The Daily Show in 2017, where he eventually became both a writer and a regular hosting correspondent alongside Jon Stewart, Desi Lydic, Ronny Chieng, Jordan Klepper, and Michael Kosta. But outside traditional late-night television, Johnson has steadily built one of comedy's most devoted digital audiences. Just look at his following: 2.5 million subscribers on YouTube, 2.7 million followers on TikTok, and 2.4 million on Instagram.

His stand-up weaves together politics, internet culture, personal stories, and observational tangents. Some of his most recognizable bits — stories about catfishing the Ku Klux Klan as a teenager, proving he was Black to a blind man, explaining the Drake vs. Kendrick beef to white people, or unpacking celebrity scandals and presidential debates — spread online because audiences seem willing to follow Johnson through every detour. Call it the performance of getting there. A raised eyebrow, a perfectly timed pause, the slight disbelief in his voice when he doubles back to clarify a detail, even the in-between moments feel calibrated toward the laugh. 

Johnson tells stories with the loose rhythm of someone thinking out loud, but underneath that sense of freedom is a controlled, sharp-witted performer who knows exactly when to pull tension tight and when to let it breathe. It's a style he’s refined across projects, including his Peacock special Up Here Killing Myself, several comedy albums, and now Symphony, his HBO special that premiered on May 22.

In some ways, the storytelling instincts that make Johnson so compelling online now were shaped by the internet itself.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

Long before he was building an audience on social media, Johnson spent afternoons as a kid at his local library waiting for his mother to finish work. He'd use the computer to read Dragon Ball Z fanfiction while waiting for new episodes to air on Cartoon Network's late-night Toonami block, wander message boards, and lose hours reading short story competitions hosted on obscure websites. 

He talks nostalgically about those early-2000s online writing competitions and remembers submitting stories of his own, even if they never won. He also wrote fanfiction himself — mostly Dragon Ball Z, plus at least one attempt at Yu-Gi-Oh, despite, by his own admission, barely understanding the actual plot. "The story's bad not just because the structure is bad," he jokes. "I didn’t know what I was talking about."

While other kids were customizing their MySpace pages or talking to classmates on AIM, Johnson was mostly interested in forums and fictional worlds built collaboratively by strangers online. 

"Everything about being on the internet was about engaging with and learning about other people," he says.

It's impossible not to hear echoes of that internet in the way Johnson approaches comedy now. His storytelling style feels deeply shaped by early online communities where conversations sprawled naturally and personality mattered more than polish. Even the structure of his jokes often resembles a message board thread: one observation leading to another, details stacking until a larger emotional truth slowly comes into focus.

That curiosity about people still drives much of Johnson's work. During our conversation, he repeatedly circles back to the idea of connection. Not in the vague, overused way creators often talk about "community," but as something tangible and deeply necessary. When I ask how he decides what gets clipped for TikTok versus Instagram or YouTube, he shrugs off the question almost entirely, despite the fact that his stand-up is uploaded to YouTube with relentless regularity. Full, hour-long episodes are posted weekly. "It's for everybody," he says simply.

The live show comes first. The internet, in his mind, is just an extension of the conversation already happening in the room. Johnson speaks far more enthusiastically about fans connecting with one another in YouTube comment sections than he does about metrics or growth strategy. He lights up while describing viewers checking in on strangers having a rough day in the comments, small interactions that remind him of the internet he first encountered as a kid.

Credit: Image Credit: Ian Moore/Mashable

"The more that you can build that," he says, "the better overall a place the internet is."

There's something refreshingly sincere about the way Johnson talks about all of this, especially in an era where irony often feels like the dominant language online. Even his skepticism about the internet stems from the belief that people deserve better from it. Similarly, Johnson's feelings about AI are less anti-technology than anti-dehumanization. He's fascinated by the possibilities of artificial intelligence, especially in medicine and scientific research, but deeply wary of an industry that often frames automation as innovation while depending almost entirely on human labor to function.

"You scraped the internet and stole from us just to tell us you were going to replace us because we aren't worthy," he says. "If we're not worthy, why didn’t your AI make everything itself?" 

It's a joke, but also not really. Beneath Johnson's humor is a very genuine belief in the value of human perspective, in the importance of lived experience. That belief is what gives his comedy its weight. The details matter because people matter.

Which, in a way, brings everything back to the hoodie.

Johnson's signature garment works because it reflects the same qualities audiences respond to in Johnson himself. Nothing about it feels overly curated, even as it's become instantly recognizable. Like his comedy, Johnson's casual hoodie gives the impression that what you're seeing is the real person, not a polished performance of one.

And maybe that's why his work resonates so deeply online. When everything on the internet feels driven by optimization and outrage, Johnson still approaches storytelling like someone trying to talk to another person on the other side of the screen.

"I would hope to be part of the good parts of the internet," he shares. Some would argue he already is. 

Frankey Smith, also known as Fantastic Frankey on social media, has built a loyal fandom by talking about DC, Marvel, and pop culture. And as much as Smith talks about superheroes, she possesses a superpower of her own — authenticity.

Smith is known for her thoughtful commentary on trending shows such as Invincible, The Boys, The Pitt, Bridgerton, and more. Her YouTube videos range from 3 minutes to 22 minutes, a testament to Smith’s dedication to quality. She now has over 198,400 followers on TikTok, 151,000 on Instagram, and over 29,300 subscribers on YouTube.

While her focus is mainly on superhero shows, Smith’s platform is geared towards anything with a large fandom culture. It's clear that Smith is a fan herself, and her genuine knowledge and passion shine through in her work. She’s not afraid to use her platform to be vulnerable or to offer criticism on television, opening the door to well-rounded engagement within her online community.

"My goal is to normalize the black female voice in this heavily underrepresented space," said Smith on her website.

Her videos range from reactions to specific scenes, like when Debbie punched Nolan in Invincible, to explorations of deeper cultural topics, such as misogynoir in comedy. Outside of creating engaging fandom content, Smith is also the co-host of DC Studios Showcase: The Official Podcast. She’s interviewed people like filmmaker James Gunn, Superman actors Edi Gathegi and María Gabriela de Faría, and Harley Quinn executive producer Katie Rich. She’s also reviewed film and television for the female-led culture magazine CherryPicks.

2026 is gearing up for anticipated Marvel and DC releases, including Avengers: Doomsday, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Supergirl, and Clayface. It’s safe to say that we can count on Smith for an honest opinion and a thought-provoking discussion.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

One of the hallmarks of Zohran Mamdani's successful mayoral campaign was its stunning yet endearing short-form videos, shot across New York. Thanks to a collective effort by several media innovators, Mamdani's platform rapidly grew during his campaign, amassing a whopping 11.5 million followers on Instagram.

Mamdani's team in 2025 included media agency Melted Solids, videographer Donald Borenstein, photographer Kara McCurdy, and creative director Andrew Epstein. While Mamdani’s focus was on New York, the group's work managed to reach millions of viewers across the globe, making Mamdani one of the most recognized politicians in the world.

A few of the campaign's most popular works included a video of Mamdani speaking to taxi drivers outside LaGuardia International Airport, and the viral “halalflation” video, filmed inside halal food carts across the city. The videos highlighted Mamdani as a New Yorker speaking to other New Yorkers, often in everyday settings familiar to city residents — appealing to a wider audience rather than just a few specific demographics.

Melted Solids, comprised of Anthony DiMieri and Debbie Saslaw, used a new hybrid advertising model that combined brand marketing and local politics. According to ADWEEK, a distinct aspect of Melted Solids’ strategy involved letting Mamdani riff in front of the camera, before developing content around what happened during filming. The strategy resulted in intimate, relatable videos that cemented Mamdani’s role as a New Yorker while showcasing issues his policies could potentially change. Borenstein said Mamdani stuck to a social video strategy rather than treating it as a one-off experience.

McCurdy told PBS that she approached Mamdani’s campaign with a storytelling approach, which she and Mamdani shared through their work.

Epstein said their campaign messaging strategy sought to reconnect voters with politics by emphasizing affordability and policies that could directly affect the daily lives of New Yorkers.

Many members of the team still work with Mamdani during his term as mayor: Borenstein serves as the creative director for video, McCurdy is the director of photography, and Epstein is a communications consultant and political advisor at the Office of the Mayor of New York City.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

Derrick Gee has an ear for music — and he knows how audiences want to engage with artists and tastemakers.

Gee started posting music commentary in 2022 and has since amassed 777,000 followers on Instagram, 437,800 followers on TikTok, and 147,000 subscribers on YouTube. A self-proclaimed "professional music fan," Gee is known for his thoughtful yet engaging commentary on all things across music, the music industry, and digital culture.

He’s interviewed prominent artists such as PinkPantheress, Lorde, Jamie xx, and, most recently, Thundercat in his Solid Air series. Gee's interview format isn't your typical Q&A: He invites artists to play their favorite songs at his home, creating an intimate yet relatable experience for fans.

Gee is a tastemaker himself. He’s had over a decade of experience in the music industry, starting with a weekly independent radio show in 2012 before working with music streaming platform Mixcloud in London and U.S. record label 88rising. In addition to posting music commentary across Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, Gee also runs a Substack blog and hosts a podcast, Speaks Volumes With Derrick Gee, on Spotify. In his podcast, he leads in-depth discussions about music with other tastemakers, including producers, designers, and others.

Gee's work across all his online platforms has one thing in common: He makes music accessible to a wide range of audiences. There’s something for everyone across musical and industry interests, and Gee lends an unpretentious authority on all fronts.

It looks like 2026 has been off to a solid start for Gee. He just directed and released a documentary on Fred again..'s USB002 tour on May 7.

"Almost 40 minutes of observation, of conversation, of wandering around and looking under the giant meteorite that is Fred again..'s impressive 10 shows in 10 weeks odyssey," said Gee. "It takes time, but it values your time, I hope."

Gee's platform is a love letter to music, and his genuine passion is what keeps viewers engaged and coming back for more. We're excited to see how he continues to take music commentary to new heights in 2026.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

Jeremiah Brown may have lost a home in the Love Island USA villa in June 2025, but he gained a new home in an unexpected corner of the internet: BookTok.

Brown first gained popularity as a contestant on season 7 of Love Island USA, during which he had a “toxic” relationship with fellow contestant Huda Mustafa. Shortly after he was dumped from the villa, Brown used his newfound social media fame to start a book club on TikTok. Brown now has a combined 3 million followers across Instagram and TikTok where he posts about the book he's reading for his book club every month.

"Reading is one of the most powerful ways to change your life," he told TheGrio. "You can literally read a book, get something from that book, implement it every day, and then in two, three weeks, like, you can have a whole new habit."

He recently held his first book club meeting in May, where he gave away bookmarks and t-shirts, sold books featured in his book club, and met with fans. In 2026, Brown’s book club included titles such as The Housemaid by Freida McFadden, Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Brown takes the book club seriously: He posts book reviews and picks a date to host a "reading room" on TikTok Live, where he answers questions and engages with book club members about the assigned book.

Brown's transition from Love Island contestant to book club host isn’t a surprise to viewers: During his introductory video on Love Island USA, Brown described himself as a "huge bookworm." After he was dumped from the villa, he said fans on TikTok Live urged him to start a book club on TikTok. Aside from his newfound fame on BookTok, Brown also posts lifestyle content on Instagram and TikTok, including travel and gym videos.

Brown's unexpected rise as a BookTok influencer is a lesson learned to not judge a book by its cover — and we’re excited to see which books will be next on his reading list.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

While it can sometimes seem like AI is changing at a pace we can’t keep up with, software engineer and tech content creator Alberta Tech is one step ahead of the game.

With over 433,000 subscribers on YouTube, 278,000 followers on Instagram, and 161,000 followers on TikTok, Alberta Tech has gained a loyal audience on social media through her easily digestible explainers on all things tech, startups, and AI. In addition to crafting helpful explainers on AI tools such as Claude and related engineering concepts such as APIs and IDEs, Alberta Tech isn't afraid to get into the more nitty-gritty aspects of AI and satirize it along the way. She's also explored ethical questions, including whether people should feel guilty using AI and increasing peer pressure around use of AI in the workplace.

Alberta Tech has good reason to stay ahead of the AI curve: In addition to her growing social media presence as a beloved tech influencer, she's also a software engineer at Google. Her platform serves as a reliable source for anyone who’s interested in pursuing a career in tech or is simply curious about the ever-changing landscape.

The innovative creator started posting on TikTok in 2020, and she started posting about AI on the platform as early as 2022. Since then, she's amassed thousands of followers and has posted about timely tech topics, including the early ChatGPT days in 2023, the use of AI on medical claims in 2024, public meta AI chats in 2025, and the Claude Code leak in April 2026.

As if being a growing tech influencer and software engineer wasn’t enough on her plate, Alberta Tech also runs a Substack blog and sells custom merchandise. Who says tech can’t be cute?

No matter the crazy developments in AI or the tech world, we’re looking forward to keeping up with Alberta Tech for the latest news — and for a laugh, too.

From YouTubers and TikTok stars to streamers and podcasters, Mashable talks to creators about how they built their platforms, the gear they swear by, and the trends they see coming next. Read more of our creator coverage or see more of this year’s Mashable 101 to discover the internet's most exciting voices. 

Catherine McCafferty is an actor, stand-up comedian, and apparently a fun date. As host of webseries Pretty Gay, McCafferty has taken an enviable roster of LGBTQ suitors on mock first dates, getting to know them through a variety of fun games, flirty banter, and raunchy conversation.

Pretty Gay gained attention in 2024 after featuring Dropout's Vic Michaelis, followed by other well-known figures, including Smosh's Angela Giarratana. It's since continued to grow, with McCafferty building a playful camaraderie and supportive community with her predominantly sapphic guests. Dating her way through prominent online personalities and entertainers, McCafferty has accumulated 419,000 followers on Instagram, 155,300 on TikTok, and 45,400 subscribers on the Pretty Gay YouTube channel, with clips from the show gaining millions of views.