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When we first started planning the opening batch of episodes for The Create Unknown, we wanted Weird Paul Petroskey – and now we’ve finally got him. He’s a musician. He’s an archivist. He’s the subject of an excellent documentary. And yes, he’s weird enough to collect other people’s IDs.

Over the last 40 years, there hasn’t been anyone who makes content like Paul. He’s archived seemingly everything from his life, starting with recording onto 8-tracks and moving into VHS tapes of him being THE original vlogger. But it’s more than just a quirky hobby or an overly-sentimental approach to pop culture. Paul’s got a serious philosophy about preserving the past, right down to diary entries for every single pair of glasses he’s ever had.

There are a lot of big, over-arching issues in all this, like what it means to sacrifice the past as we move forward. Kevin details the painful memory of his NES cartridge boxes being tossed out, and there’s a surprising strain of ‘YouTubers before YouTube existed’ in the gaming community.

None of this would’ve ever happened if Paul had listened to his dad, who didn’t even want him to touch the camera.

And then it’s time to talk music – because Paul, who’s written over 700 songs and recorded dozens of albums, is playing more music now than he ever has in his life. From 8-tracks to Twitch, Paul continues to adapt and evolve, which is really why he’s over 40 years into this media game and still churning out great content.

Matt addresses historical perspective and how easy it is to gaslight yourself, and Patrons jump in to ask about EVERYTHING weird, including Tom Lehrer and Dr. Demento.

Also, congratulations to Kevin on his 4,444,444th subscriber AND his 11th YouTube birthday. And in that 11 years, one of our absolute favorite creators is Paul. We can’t express how much fun we had with this episode, so thanks to Paul for making it happen. Thanks to everyone who showed up to enjoy it with us live, and a special thanks to all the Patrons who keep this show going each and every week. You really are the best.