Brennan Hastings is a YouTube prankster and social agitator. He’s part of a legion of videographers who use the tricks established way back in TV’s early days, on old-school programs like Candid Camera. But these digital-era creators, of course, embrace every advancement in audio and video capability to make the pranks and awkward interactions more verité, more raw. Often armed with a simple, prosumer-level camera, a clip-on mic and a camera operator willing to live life in the background, pranksters like Hastings, aka InfraBen, collectively log countless pageviews a day.
For a brief period of time, this writer established an ongoing Facebook conversation with InfraBren, hoping to land a chance to actually prank with Hastings, or at least observe one of his shooting sessions in real-time. This came about after noticing that his locations were starting to look really familiar, highlighting places like the St. Louis Zoo and the U. City Loop. Once he was stopped on-camera by members of the St. Charles police force, the obvious was, well, obvious: InfraBren was absolutely shooting in the greater St. Louis region.
In our brief exchange, I learned that he’d moved here for work, though the job was left sorta murky. And he was mostly shooting in St. Charles County or mid-St. Louis County, which precluded this bike-riding journo from meeting him for a couple of shoots that came together quickly. In the meantime, he was continuing to put out content, sometimes with St. Louis as the obvious backdrop, other shoots filmed tight enough that the location didn’t really matter, or show itself.
Had we talked, I’d have asked him so many questions!
As a fan of multiple YouTube prank channels, I wanted to simply find out about his opinions of some stars of the form (Ed Bassmaster, Jack Vale, LAHWF, etc.). To some degree, I’m interested in the technical aspects of the gig: the camera used, the mic-ing, the ability to shoot unnoticed in public spaces, the software used to edit. Certainly, I’d have asked about how performers make money through the platform of YouTube; even though Infrabren has had a few “hit” videos, a lot of his videos hover in the tens of thousands, so is that enough to make a living? To that end, I’d have asked if he’s ever disenchanted that less-clever, clichéd social social agitators (like Ock TV and Dennis Cee) capture so many eyeballs, cashing in on embarrassing, low-common-denominator tricks like “in the hood” confrontations.
Admittedly, I’d be asking these questions of a man whose biggest hits are vids from his “Sex Noises” series, in which he and collaborators head into public places, usually libraries, to, uh, well, make sex noises. It’s not highbrow stuff, but it’s often funny, as regular folks are put into very irregular moments. But his funniest gags are often based around characters. Which brings us to these three highlights.
Sylas Brown is a poetry-quoting fellow with a deadpan delivery, turtleneck, very particular vocabulary, ever-present-half-full coffee cup and need to speak in close proximity to his targets. Sylas Brown is a YouTube champ. Every single time.
Honestly not sure that this character has a name, but his Wise Man takes to public parks and sidwalks, sharing nuggets of wisdom with passersby. This particular angle shows up something very true, of St. Lousians and people everywhere: we don’t like to be approached. At all. It makes us uncomfortable, wary, even upset. Blame car culture, simple paranoia of our fellow man or the decline of bowling leagues, but when “confronted” by the unusual, by the random and the strange, we recoil. And, sometimes, we call the cops. Infrabren, in his hippie top and shoeless feet, proves a lot by doing a little in his “Spreading Wisdom” bits.
The web is so satisfying when kept simple. Three minutes of a young man snoring in public is basic formula, sure. It’s a delight when done right.
I dream of pranking with Brennan Hastings someday.
Months after thinking it could come true, I am unwilling to let that dream die.
