Here are 20 YouTube Shorts creators I love, as TikTok’s ban looms

There’s a lot of stuff happening right now. Here in the US, it seems kind of inescapable. And it surely doesn’t help that a lot of people might be without their short-form social video fix very soon. TikTok, for all its many, many faults, is something millions of people use in the US. That said, a TikTok ban seems increasingly likely.

But there is another. There are a lot of others, actually, all initially trying to ape TikTok’s success, now poised to try and fully replace it. My personal poison (only slightly joking) is YouTube Shorts, perhaps because it happens to be built into the thing I already use. I have a lot of beef with YouTube as a platform, but that doesn’t take away from the many talented creators that are on it.

YouTube Shorts is filled with a lot of the same garbage littering TikTok. Clips blatantly stolen from movies and TV shows, reactions that add nothing to the original video, AI-generated slop that the uploader didn’t even bother to check. But there’s some genuinely entertaining, interesting, and instructional stuff too. Here are 25 of my favorites to get you started.

I’m so sorry, puppets. We’ve all failed you.

SJohnsonVoiceOvers, AKA SnackDaddy: Stefan Johnson is a professional voice actor, but lately he’s been diving into his love of food, in both the snack/junk and home-cooked varieties. He’ll do earnest and often hilarious reviews of fast food and restaurant products, try out trending recipes, and generally give you some great ideas. It doesn’t hurt that his takes and advice are easy to follow even for amateur cooks like me.