The loss of Grant Thompson for
me is the loss of a friend, an inspiration and the hardest-working
person I've ever known. I met Grant before he posted
his first tutorial video I gave his channel some promotion
when his was smaller than my own... which was a very long time ago. He told me often that was something
he would always be grateful for, but to be honest my reasons
for doing so were mostly selfish. He was already on his
way to success and I just wanted to be his
friend when he got there. I'm ashamed that was part
of my motivation for getting to know Grant but it
wasn't my only motivation. I learned from Grant both from
his methods in his work ethic. I was inspired by his projects and
he was always happy to collaborate. He gave his channel every
ounce of effort he had. Grant started on YouTube making
videos that cataloged his own education, then took aim at
learning to conquer YouTube itself. He worked at an intensity level
no one else could hope to sustain and finally built a system where videos that
continue to inspire millions of people... could be made without him. He stepped back, finally able to enjoy his
family and his hobbies, without the pressure of turning them
into an entertaining video. Every conversation I had
with Grant over the past few years;
he seemed to be happier and happier. He attained the world in this
professional life, rather than continuing to burn the candle at both
ends, he took a step back. He enjoyed his family, he
enjoyed his life like some never do. Maybe only to his fullest for a few
years, but if I know Grant, he fit decades worth of
living into that short time And I will miss him very much ♫ Music - Powerful and Dramatic I've been sitting here for
about 30 minutes trying to figure out exactly how
to say what I want to say... Most people know Grant
Thompson as a hard-working, super intelligent,
willing to learn, super successful YouTuber with
11 million subscribers, and yes, we've made some videos together
with Grant, back when he was putting in an insane amount of
hours into his YouTube channel. But yet the Grant Thompson
Legacy that will live on in my life, and that has
made an impact on me, is the things that I've learned from him
in the last year, where he has kind of put aside the business side of things,
and really put his family first. It might be something
that not everybody notices, but it's something that I personally
noticed and I took inspiration from and feel like I need to be
a better father, and a better husband, and spend as much
time as I can with my kids. Thank you for your good example
Grant and you 100% will be missed. Now, I myself had never
met Grant, but like all in the YouTube maker community,
we all know who he was. His videos had caught our eyes years ago. He was one of the originals. Some of his projects were some of
the inspiration behind some of my own. I think it was his ability to explain
really complex processes in a really easy to understand manner which is why
the channel grew and got people hooked. Now then, I've never met him, we've spoke on the phone.
He's a top bloke. He's exactly what you see in the
videos, exactly what you expect, just wants to see what you're up to,
see how you go and see how he can help. So as well as talking about projects and whatnot,
we also talk about how we did stuff, and he was always fascinated with why and how I do everything on my channel on my own. He said you need to get people
in, help you and make your life a lot easier and I was like "Yeah,
Yeah, Yeah, he's probably right". But then his decision to
then step back from his YouTube channel is one of
the ones that I most admire, cuz to build a channel up to
the size of The King of Random is no easy task, and to then step
back to be with friends and family, what a decision. It just goes to show the
type of guy that he was. So then Grant,
you may not be with us anymore, but you have left your mark on
the Internet, and on the world. So, it has been a pleasure,
and thank you very much. I have been incredibly
inspired by Grant and his, just relentless pursue of
curiosity about how the world works, and just how much he delved into exploring
every element of science and physics, and I just think he really ignited a... wander in the next
generation and revolutionized; kind of educate people really. And, I truly believe that his
legacy will live on forever. [Matthew Santoro] This is a video that I was never
hoping to make but here we are. Grant Thompson was
a generous person, he was an intelligent person,
and he was a kind person. A fellow Canadian... He would just randomly text me from time
to time and say "Hey man, how are you? Hope you're doing well, come stay with me sometime,
let's get together..." That's just how he was, he was
he was a kind-hearted person. He was a family man... a thrill seeker... an incredible entrepreneur,
built a business from nothing... He was one of the good ones. YouTube, and the community,
and the world lost a good person, and you're
gonna be missed, Grant. I miss you brother, I love you. [Joe & Todd Robins (Kuma Films)] We always enjoyed working with Grant, whenever we showed up to one
of his projects, we never knew what was going to happen
or what to expect. I think that's what made him so much
fun, he was always a surprise. He was a really inspiring and
just a genuinely good dude. Whenever we have been around him
and seen all the things that he's accomplished, it really motivated
and pushed us to work even harder. We love you Grant, we'll miss you man! [Justine Ezarik(iJustine)] Grant was such an incredible inspiration to me, and just so many people here on YouTube, and even half trough making this video
right now, I am still in shock as I think many people in the
industry and around the Internet are... But if there is one thing that we can
do, is we can celebrate him, because what he brought to
YouTube and to so many people's lives is something
that could never be replaced, and Grant you will forever be one
of my most favorite collabs. Over the past few years
I've always had such a fun story to tell when people would come over
and ask how I got burn marks in my backyard; I tell them Grant came over and
we melted an iPhone in my backyard... It's totally normal... But, if you knew Grant it was totally normal. Justine: Is this safe!?
Grant: You got do define "safe" Justine: I don’t know, am I gonna have a house?
Grant: Yes Justine: Are you sore?
Grant: Yupp Justine: I'm scared Grant: This is obviously a very new
experience, way outside of your comfort zone Justine: YEAH, I'm very uncomfortable, [Laughter] I think that's the best way to put it. [Bob Clagett] The first time Grant and I ever hang
out in person, he really surprised me. Instead of asking about how
my channel was doing or what videos I had coming up, he just sat me
down and looked me in the eyes and said "Tell me about you." and
that spoke volumes to me. If you watched his videos you know
that he was curious and creative, and he liked to take chances and liked to do
interesting things and try new stuff... But you may not see that he also just cared
about people, he loved his family dearly, he was also an incredible businessman... really really sharp and thought a whole lot
about every single thing that he did. He made sure that he could have
the life that he wanted to have. [Kip Kedersha (Kipkay)] Last week when I heard that
Grant Thompson had died... I was shocked, to say the least
as I'm sure many of you were. How could this be? Here was a guy that played with liquid
nitrogen, threw it in his own face He played with fire, made explosions... Dabbled with microwave
ovens and electricity. And also, the law of nature, gravity. All kinds of videos of him
doing acrobatic tricks in his old airplane,
doing paragliding and even skydiving My relationship with Grant started
about five years ago when we texted each other and actually spoke
over the phone quite a few times. Mainly about YouTube but also
about a lot of things that were going on in our lives and we
developed a friendship that way. I had the opportunity to meet Grant in November
of 2018 when he was here in Florida... learning how to para-motor. We had lunch together and shared our
lives together and had a great time So it never once crossed my mind that gravity, the law of nature that he
played with in his videos and in his life... would be what would take his life. I'm so sad that Grant is
gone, as I know you are too But Grant will always be to me... The King of Random, and my friend. [Darren DYK (BeyondSlowMotion)] I remember the first time that I had
a chance to collaborate with Grant. I had flown out to this house in
Utah, we were gonna spend a week filming all kinds of
fun science demonstrations and during that stay he
got an email from... The Tonight Show and I was
like "Dude that's incredible!" You should absolutely go and take
that opportunity, that's huge! And without hesitation
Grant turned to me and he said "I don't think I'm going to"
and he just looked at me and he says... You know,
I've already been spending so much time away from my family
in the last few months, I think that I would rather be here with
Janae and the boys than on The Tonight Show. That kind of stuck with me throughout
the time that I have known Grant. He has consistently put his family
above just about everything else in life. He was a man who had
his priorities straight, he understood the
irreplaceable value of time. Grant was an awesome friend
and an inspirational father. I'm always gonna be looking up to you man, I'm gonna miss you too. Rest in Peace. [Taras Kul)] I have known him for over six years. We met through the Internet and filmed
a couple of videos, and then once a year we would meet up
and hang out at the conventions. He was one of the most inspiring guys,
high-energy, super-athletic guy. Always comes up with really cool ideas... And you know,
he actually was one of the first to congratulate me for my
baby when I announced it... it was just two months ago. I don't know what else to say, I'm really
bad at expressing my feelings like that, but Grant Thompson is definitely a legend. He inspired me throughout the years. We will miss him, that's for sure.
He is a legend. He is number one. [Brian Brushwood (Scam Nation)] I got to have Grant as a friend for
five years and it wasn't nearly enough, and what I always loved about him was from day
one, he was about positivity and putting... good vibes... into the world and making the Internet
a place where everybody could win. Every conversation was a
joy and it always felt like we were conspiring
to take on the world, and he would hit me up with
appropriately enough, just random positive vibes and I found the
last text exchange that we had... It was in the morning, I was just
waking up and I get this... from Grant "Hey Brian,
I was just thinking about you and wanted to let you know
that I think you're great. I have a lot of respect for
you and really admire how much work and passion you
put into everything you do. Hope this doesn't sound weird. Just
wanted to pass it along because it's true. I'm also scheduling this message to go out
later today because it's 1:00 a.m and don't want to wake you up
with an unnecessary notification because I
care about your sleep. lol"~Grant I was so struck by that and... responded with "Just got to this
message and it's made my morning. Thanks so much for the good
vibes and encouragement man. It really means the world to me.
You've been such a fantastic influence in my life,
and I'm so thankful we're friends. I hope to see you in the family soon."~Brian [James Hobson (The Hacksmith)] The King of Random was one of
the first channels I looked up to. I started watching Grant back in... 2012? His channel is one of the reasons I
wanted to do YouTube as a business. And I remember I reached
out to him back when YouTube messages was still a thing...
Maybe 2013? He actually replied. I think I was
just looking for a shout-out if I'm being honest, but instead Grant
gave me some valuable advice. Focus on the content, the production
quality, the audience will come. I took that to heart and kept putting
everything back into my channel, and it worked! Without The King of Random,
Hacksmith Industries may have never
even become a thing. [Destin Sandlin (SmarterEveryDay)] One thing that's I will
always remember about my private conversations
with Grant is that... We saw 100% eye-to-eye
on the topic of family. But he was a little beyond me. We we both agreed that family
is the most important thing and this internet stuff
it's just this thing we do, but families where it is, right?
That's the important stuff. Grant was one step beyond in
that he would set up systems in place in order to buy
himself more time with family. And that was really interesting to
me, I mean that he led me in that way because
we would talk about it and I would be thinking these things,
but he would already have X Y Z in place... And so he would always push me in
that particular area of my life and I greatly appreciate that and I
will not forget those conversations. [Kevin Kohler (TheBackyardScientist)] Grant Thompson was a big inspiration
to me to start my YouTube channel. I mean seriously, I tried to emulate
him in all of my early videos because I just thought he
was the coolest guy on YouTube; He did all the coolest things. One memory I have of Grant that
sticks out in particular is one time I didn't upload a video for like three or
four months and he reached out to me and said 'Hey man, are you doing okay? You haven't
uploaded a video is everything alright?' I said, 'Yeah, I guess so.
I'm just kind of not feeling very inspired I'm feeling kind of like burned
out and I don't know what to do...' He kind of gave me a pep talk, he said you
know, he goes through the same thing. Sometimes you have to balance
your own personal projects with projects that you want to
make for YouTube... And you know It was just really
comforting to know that... Number one,
that he cared enough to reach out to ask if I'm okay
and number two that... Other people go through
the same problems I did so it's really nice to
talk to somebody like that. I was just really impressed with him. He went the extra mile and
I think that's something that Grant did throughout
every aspect of his life. And that's why Grant is the King. [Nick Uhas] So when I started my YouTube channel... Like my whole career really, there was this there was a couple pillars
and Grant was the biggest of those pillars. In so many ways we
looked up to Grant... not just as a creator,
but just as the person that... I wanted to be,
the person that we wanted to be as the company, as this
YouTube channel, as everything. And, he always had that position... In this world as the person that
I was working towards to be like. What made it so awesome... What really confirmed a lot of my beliefs
that Grant was such a good person, and that he really was the
person that I was working to be like, both professionally
and in my personal life... Is when Grant came to my apartment to just show us how we were
doing an experiment wrong. It had to do with butane rockets and
we just couldn't quite get it right. And, we had this butane rocket launcher and I wanted to show him
what we were working on so that he could show us if it was going
right or wrong or whatever, and he basically explained to us that
we were doing it totally wrong. That memory just,
it's like, it just burned in my brain. [Lance Stewart] I just wanted to say my
thoughts and prayers go out to everybody that was once
involved in Grant's life. Whether that'd be a
friend or a family member. This is a very unfortunate
event that has taken place. I have had the blessed opportunity to... work with grant multiple times in the past. If there was any words that I would
be able to tell Grant it would just be Thank you so much man for being
a huge creative inspiration to me. I remember watching Grant
when I was a little kid, always testing out his
crazy science experiments. They always made me smile, always
push me to test new boundaries. So a huge thank you from the
bottom of my heart for that man. You are a true legend, Rest
Easy, Buddy. [Steve Spangler (The Spangler Effect)] The very first time I met Grant
Thompson I think was a YouTube EDU event where they got everybody together
and one of the things that kind of stuck in my mind early on was his
desire to collaborate on everything. He constantly wanted to work
together on projects and I was lucky enough to get a chance to work
together on some of the projects. And I think that's what most
impressed me is that... no matter how much that
spotlight shined on him and everything, that he was
doing he was so inclusive and he was never afraid to grab a
hold of you and kind of pull you into the spotlight and just
kind of share that with you. Just that spirit of sharing,
giving, that collaboration... Is something that I'll just never forget. Grant, you'll be sorely missed. [Matthew Patrick (The Game Theorists)] Grant was fearless, He was like the science teacher
that you always wish you had. Doing the experiments that you always
imagined that you would do in science class, but schools legitimately can't let
you do because they're too dangerous. I was lucky enough to work on in
total about like five videos... with Grant and we got to do all sorts
of crazy stuff in that amount of time. We suck down some weird gas; sodium
hexafluoride to adjust our vocal levels: * Deep breaths * But nothing will compare
to lighting Thermite on the beach without
any sort of permission. I don't know if I'm
allowed to say this story. But for one of his videos
to test whether or not Mario could actually
throw underwater fireballs. He had the idea of well...
Thermite is able to stay lit underwater
so, let's test that out. You know, we found an abandoned stretch
of beach that we probably shouldn't be on. We were very actively watching
out for any Coast Guard trucks or any a suspicious
flying helicopters overhead. But that was what was
so great about Grant.. Was that he just wanted to do it because it was cool. He wanted to share the
enthusiasm and love for science and learning that
he had with his audience. To find a Youtuber who is passionate
not about building a business, or building a brand, or becoming
a star, but to educate people... It's rare, and it's so valuable. And The influence that he had on
the community was a positive one. [Stuart Edge] Hey, what's up? My name is Stewart Edge, and I'm very blessed and honored to have
worked with Grant Thompson on many different projects over the past
few years on this YouTube channel. Some of which include making nunchucks... melting copper, and most
importantly dressing up in a monkey costume and catching bananas
that were flying through the air. Aside from the working relationship,
I was very blessed and honored to have a friendship, and most
importantly a mentor-ship with him. I remember having many personal
one-on-one conversations with him where he would give me advice
on how to be a better Youtuber, and a better father, and a
better husband in the future. And one of the last conversations we
had, I wrote down in this journal... And I was just reading over it recently and was reminded that while he
may have been The King of Random... he was not random in the
way he lived his life. He lived his life with intent and purpose. And so if you are inspired as I am by the
stories that you're hearing of Grant... Know that he really
did live his life with intent and purpose and
knew what he was doing. And I'm choosing to
continue his legacy by living with intent and
purpose every day of my life. Thanks Grant, you will be missed. [Zack Nelson (JerryRigEverything)] So I've known Grant for a few years now. And each time we hung out one
thing that always stuck out to me was his passion and
his willingness to help out. He was the same cool, chill person
off camera that he was on camera. And that was refreshing because sometimes
people's personalities differ when the camera turns on, but
that wasn't the case with Grant. One time I needed some liquid
nitrogen for a video that I personally was making so I text
Grant and the very same day he said come over, and he helped
me film the project I was working on. Dropping everything he was working on,
which I'm sure was a lot, to help me out... Even though my channel was much smaller
than his. He made me feel super important Grant is, was, and always will be one of
the best and it was a pleasure to know him Hey Grant! I've had just a pit in my stomach
all week thinking about this whole thing. I've never met anyone with
more of an insatiable curiosity or just a drive for
excellence than you possessed. The way you always thought through all
the different angles for any project and then presented things so cleanly
has always been an inspiration for me. So not only are you an inspiration
for me and other YouTubers or the billions of people
who have seen your videos, but you'll be an inspiration
to so many yet unborn. Because I don't care if the years 2060
making a $3 laser-guided blowgun... * poff * will always be amazing. And so
while it still feels surreal that I can no longer just call you
up and ask for YouTube advice... The good news is, we still get to hang out. In fact, it was comforting
to hang out quite a bit this week as I re-watched
a bunch of your videos. So we're gonna hang out even more
together with my son as he gets older, and I look forward to you and some
quality time with my grandkids someday. So thanks for all you stood for,
all you did, and how you did it It's an honor to call you a friend. [Peter Hollens]♫ Fill to me the parting glass ♫ ♫ And drink a health whate'er befalls ♫ ♫ Then gently rise and softly call ♫ ♫ Good night and joy be to you all ♫ ♫ Goodnight and joy be to you all ♫ I want everybody who's watching this
to remember what Grant stood for. To go learn new things, to experiment, to try
things, and enjoy the world around you. We're gonna miss you Grant,
thanks for everything bud! I'm just very appreciative that
I can say that I knew Grant, I got to meet Grant, talk with Grant and that's someone like Grant exists,
so that I have something to work towards. His curiosity was infectious, and his
bravery on his channel was palpable. You will be missed Grant!
Thank you for everything that you did. Thank you for everything
you've done for us Grant! You've been a good friend and
a treasure to the Internet. ♫ Electric Guitar ♫ COME ON! GRANT THOMPSON IS THE KING OF RANDOM! ♫ Electric Guitar + Flame Thrower ♫ Grant, he's the OG, The King of YouTube. When I finally met him
in person a year later, he was the most genuine
friendly guy I'd ever met. We didn't end up doing much of a
collaboration video or an actual project. But just hung out talked about
YouTube and became friends. We even hit up a local parkour
gym to throw some flips. I'm gonna miss him, a lot. ♫ Music ♫
i see this poem at a lot of funerals and i find comfort in it:
Don't grieve for me, for now I'm free,
I'm following the path God laid for me.
I took his hand when I heard his call,
I turned my back and left it all.
I could not stay another day,
To laugh, to love, to work, to play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way,
I've found that peace at the close of the day.
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joy.
A friendship shared, a laugh, a kiss,
Ah yes, these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow,
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My Life's been full, I savoured much,
Good friends, good times, a loved one's touch,
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief,
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your heart and share with me,
God wanted me now, He set me free.
-unknown
I'm tearing up just watching this. He's touched so many lives and will be missed dearly.
This was really touching. I thought it was insane at how many fellow YouTube creators he knew and had touched the lives of. Many of these YouTube creators I know from their respective channels and had no idea, in some of the cases, that Grant had been at all involved with them.
I was surprised to see Darren Dyk there who is from BeyondSlowMotion and who collaborates with GizmoSlip, but sort of surprised that Brandon Baldwin from GizmoSlip wasn't there. They did a iPhone frozen in liquid nitrogen video a few years back. In fact, that might have been the first time I'd seen Grant, the next time being in a BackyardScientist video which then eventually led me to TKOR.
My Dad made this.
I'm watching the video right now.
Mark Rober's part got me crying