It's our job to get into the hardest-to-see places and bring back the best footage - we have the best footage of North Korea ever shot. If that's a stunt, then I'll keep on doing stunts until I die.
Shane SmithIf you go to Jamaica, you're going to these all-inclusive resorts where they're playing calypso and a bit of reggae or whatever. But if you go to Kingston, it's run-and-gun battles in the streets, it's abject poverty, it's incredible violence - and then also the best parties in the world. But if you're white, you can't really go. I'd rather know the real deal than be playing in the sand.
Shane SmithI don't care if I die - look, I'm old - but you want your kids to have good times and a good life.
Shane SmithIf you're coming from America to Iraq, then how are you supposed to be objective? I mean, you could pay lip service to being objective, but how are you going to objective when you're embedded with the Marines? The Marines are saving your life every day and they're protecting you. But when you're sort of living with people who are there, we just press record and let them tell the story.
Shane SmithEveryone told me, "Don't ever talk about international stuff," and "Don't do long-form content online," and "Don't get too serious in news," and "Don't be too heavy" - all this stuff, all the rules. But we broke the rules, and that, ironically, has led to some of our most successful stuff.
Shane SmithLook, I've had four kicks at the can. You've had a tremendous career. We're also happy. We've loved. We've lived. We don't starve. We haven't been shot in the gut. So at that point, I started getting a little more serious about the content we were making and the business and building the business. I also became more serious about life and being happy. I got married, I have kids - I'm happy at a cellular level now.
Shane Smith