Today, we bring a very special guest, one whose face you might recognise, one that appears on your homepages with a sporadic video and seemingly disappears. His name is Benjamin Burke, or simply Ben, he’s the co-creator of KRAZAM, a channel that consists of sketches that combine grotesque and absurdist humor with technological anxiety, satirizing the tech industry and the modern alienation of the corporate life in general.
In this episode, which admittedly is a bit different from the usual, we’ll focus on KRAZAM and its origins, creative process, and what future plans and ambitions the duo has. Both Ben and Shiva started in software engineering, met in college and started doing sketches just for fun, not expecting this project to explode in popularity in the way it did. Ben will also share their unique approach to content and why KRAZAM prioritizes loyal viewers over virality, comedic inspirations. Stay tuned!
Learn back-end development - https://www.boot.dev
Listen on your favorite podcast player: https://www.backendbanter.fm
KRAZAM'S Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KRAZAM/videos
KRAZAM's X/Twitter: https://x.com/krazamtv
KRAZAM'S Website: https://www.krazam.tv/
Krazam's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/KRAZAM
Ben's X/Twitter: https://x.com/bb_fresh
Ben's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bnjmnbrk/
Shiva's X/Twitter: https://x.com/shivakilaru
Shiva's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shivakilaru/
Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
01:58 - KRAZAM Origin Story
03:59 - How Much More Footage Is Left After the Recordings?
05:12 - Are Both Ben and Shiva Programmers?
06:46 - Inspiration Behind "The Hustle"
08:47 - Has Ben Read Marcus Aurelius' "Meditations"?
09:25 - The Actual Introduction to KRAZAM
10:49 - Microservices
14:04 - Sending Birthday Messages Is HARD
19:06 - On Shiva Not Being in the Microservices Video
20:48 - Favorite KRAZAM Videos
22:22 - Most Underrated KRAZAM Video
32:00 - KRAZAM's Viewers Are Very Loyal
36:03 - Ambitions for the KRAZAM Channel
39:04 - How Did You Know KRAZAM Had Product-Market Fit?
40:59 - Ben's Comedic Inspirations
43:08 - KRAZAM Does Not Aim for Virality
46:47 - Was It Stressful to Do a Live Talk?
49:40 - KRAZAM's Video Release Frequency
51:46 - Competitive Excel
55:34 - Site Reliability Engineer Video
57:50 - AI Bots on Spotify
01:00:27 - Self-Hosting and The Good Old Days
01:02:31 - What's the Churn in the Industry?
01:05:21 - Where to Find Ben and KRAZAM
