I wrote a considerably more comprehensive introduction to JonTron and his career on the companion piece to this Top 10, and if you’re interested in checking that out then click here. So I’ll try and be more succinct with this one, and avoid repeating myself too much. So quickly, let’s hit the core points, who is JonTron? Well he’s actually called Jon Jafari, and he’s an American YouTuber, who is noted for co-founding and formerly co-hosting the Let’s Play channel, Game Grumps, and for co-founding the Independent content portal NormalBoots (formerly Normal Boots, with a space).

He’s been making videos on YouTube for over a decade, and over that period he’s grown as a content creator, and continued to adapt and experiment, which leads me to the reason for the two lists. JonTron has two distinct eras to his videos, there’s the early or ‘classic’ videos, which focus primarily on gaming, and related content. However after 2015, he began to focus more on broad pop culture topics, as well as sketch and reaction content. It is this ‘new’ JonTron era, that the following list is for, and covers 2016 until the present period. So there we go, a quick but informative introduction, to JonTron and the two distinct eras of his career on YouTube.

1. Surviving Edged Weapons

This is an awesome episode, it blends the commentary vibe of his older content with fantastic sketch elements. It’s one of those videos where the subject matter is so ridiculous that it’s funny even upon repeated watching. A particular highlight of this video was the end scene with Daniel Stompor and Tamara Chichian who played the teenager brother and sister respectively. 

2. THE HEAD TO HEAD GAME JAM

Not only was this really fun to watch, it was also legitimately interesting. Seeing how, in the broad strokes, a game is developed. It was really cool to see what they came up with. Also the fact that Jon wasn’t supposed to be the host was hilarious.

3. Waterproofing My Life With FLEX TAPE

The original Flex Tape episode, and it’s such a classic, you can feel Jon’s excitement and incredulity at the products and Phil Swift’s presentation style. Much like the first entry on this list, this is not only good the first time you watch it but it’s well worth watching it again. 

4. BUYING DUMB THINGS ONLINE

Another very strong episode. In fact It easily could be higher on this list if I’m being honest. The only problem I have is that I’ve not been able to get that ‘You are not a Gnome’ song out of my head. I love episodes like this because Jon’s really in his element when he is just reacting to something crazy or random. Also can I just add that the anecdote about the yodelling pickle helping someone deal with dementia was really sweet, and added a touch of hard reality to a frankly absurd video about buying a giant 2,000 dollar Gnome and a pair of instant underpants (just add water). 

5. Boating Made (TOO) Easy!

So other than the alarming concept that this might be all you need to be certified to command a boat this episode was a lot of fun. It’s just a shame that we didn’t see him helm a boat held together by Flex Tape. It was really funny and it didn’t seem like something that any other YouTubers were doing. 

6. Soulja Boy Makes A Video Game Console

So this whole Soulja Boy Console scam in and of itself is hilarious but Jon’s genuine disbelief in Soulja Boy’s boldness makes it even better. The performance at the end really tied the whole thing together though. 

7. Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Skull Vodka

So I actually have my eye on a bottle of this Crystal Skull Vodka that’s in a local off-licence. I will report back when I’ve tried it. For now though I’ll have to live vicariously through Jon. Anyway, this video is great, not just because of the advert, which is crazy enough to be worth a watch but also because Jon always manages to heighten the comedy with his own special brand of energy. 

8. Workplace Safety

So I admire a person that can find comedy in anything and Jon has a talent for finding the obscure, Wacky and weird and presenting it to us. I also like that he doesn’t rely just on those videos for his content. He provides actual commentary beyond just his incredulous reactions. Also, a brief side note but I cannot get the song from ‘Think About This’ out of my head. 

9. Kid Nation

So despite the fact that objectively this show seems like an interesting concept I cannot believe it actually got made. I mean it seems like it’s doomed to failure. Apparently kids ended up drinking bleach? Super crazy, so obviously Jon is in his element. Also super cool but he managed to talk to Jimmy Flynn, one of the kids on the show, and you can check that out here

10. TURDUCKEN CHEF

This might be last on this list but it is just perfect. It’s more sketch based than the past couple of entries and has Jon invite us into his kitchen as he prepares what he hopes to become the iconic meal of Halloween, the equivalent to the Thanksgiving Turkey or Christmas Ham.

Honourable Mentions go to The Skateboard Kid, Dark Dungeons and Flex Tape II: The Flexening which I also really enjoyed but didn’t quite make the list.

Don’t Forget to show support for JonTron by subscribing to his YouTube channel, and by following him on Twitter and Instagram.

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