LOS ANGELES—Confessing that the “clumsy, ham-handed awkwardness” of his first and latest stabs at the medium make him want to crawl into a hole and die, YouTuber Jacksepticeye, known socially as Seán McLoughlin, confirmed Friday that he could not help but cringe while watching his amateurish early and current work. “I was so embarrassingly clueless back then, and also now,” said McLoughlin of the irritating, difficult-to-watch videos he made when he first started vlogging in 2012, the higher-resolution but equally shoddy material he recorded in 2015, and the slapdash videos he posted earlier this week, questioning how he ever could have thought and continue to think people would be interested in watching him just sit and obnoxiously narrate as he plays video games. “It’s so humiliating watching myself at 23, wearing that stupid Spurs hat with the tags still on it, not to mention the ones I’m making now as a 28-year-old man wearing a Cubs hat with the stickers still on it. Seriously, I can’t even bring myself to watch anything during the six-year period in which I was, and remain, under the impression that just watching me be Irish and loudly curse a lot while I do a bunch of stupid impressions is worth anyone’s time.” At press time McLoughlin, who has earned $35,000 this year by documenting his progress in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, had greeted his viewers by saying “What’s up, guys?” and entreating them to smash those “like” and “subscribe” buttons.

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