Why I Don't Like Ray William Johnson's YouTube Shorts

First off, I have no problemo when it comes to Ray William Johnson's YouTube content overall and I've been an avid follower of his stuff from way, way back to his days of Equals 3 and like many, I enjoy his newer content where he provides his own slant on "true crime" stories. I recommend you check those out.

But then I noticed something about his Shorts videos. He has tons and freakin' tons of shorts going back years. A lot of his earliest ones are of Ray roasting viewers who gladly requested he turn his gaze on them so Ray could flame them in SPECTACULAR fashion and those were great and although he skewers them unmerciously about their physical appearances, he would end on positive notes and good-naturedly thank them for letting him vent on them.

Take a quick look at this recent short video entitled "Steve Martin Got Robbed".

Recently his Shorts have become something of an ad or a commercial for his longform content, almost like a loss leader in marketing terms.

The Shorts are mostly just the first minute or so of one of his longer videos uploaded usually a couple of months previously and now that the longform video has likely slowed down in viewership, a new Short pops up showing the same content again but, like the video above, doesn't really deliver on the title. There is one comment on the short (provided by Ray) that does give a link to the longer video, but how many people read comments (besides myself) on the regular so they'd know?

The actor Steve Martin got robbed and there is a snippet teasing that some resolution will come out but this Short primarily tells you about "lil mustache man" being butthurt about being rejected from art school and his massive subsequent art theft.

All interesting points. but the main point, Steve Martin getting duped, does not show up and unless you know about Ray's lengthier video or take the time to read his comment, you feel a little bit like you didn't get what you were promised.

Here's the full video, entitled "This crazy hippie robbed Steve Martin, The Wolfgang Beltracchi story", which I did enjoy when it was released mid-March 2025.

There. Much fuller context. What I don't really like about Ray's recent Shorts is that they are not exactly "new content" or very fresh. Perhaps I'm being a little nitpicky but this kinda has a spammy quality and seems a little like lazy content.

Several of his recent Shorts are like this. Not providing the full info promised and just a recap of his previously uploaded video

Again, NOT throwing shade at Ray, but I think he can do better.

The longform video has a respectable 400,000 to 500,000 views but the Short has 569K views. Now I don't know whether or not Ray has monetization turned on for his Shorts or not, but his Shorts do get a lot of views. If he doesn't, that's cool but I think unlikely. Ray's probably made a ton of cash over the years with YouTube, so I don't think he'd stoop to nickel and diming the YouTube system for few extra shekels.

He has loads and loads of Shorts with many getting between half million and million-plus views although some do get less than 100K views. That's fine. Most content creators would kill for similar numbers for their own Short form videos, but these recent ones seem a little derivative and as I said, they seem almost like mini-ads for his major vids.

Of course, THIS video is how I would expect Ray's response to my criticism would look like. Almost like an old school roast.

I'm NOT saying anything along the lines that he's "gaming the YouTube system" or playing with the algorithm or dumb stuff like that. I like Ray's YouTube stuff, but on the Shorts front, maybe he could do it a little better.