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Yotobi

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Karim Musa (born 1988 in Monopoli, Italy), better known by his online pseudonym Yotobi, is an Italian YouTuber known for his humorous reviews of low-budget films.[1][2] Over the years, he has expanded his content[3] with entertainment formats such as Late Show con Karim Musa[4] and live streaming projects.[5]

Biography

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Karim Musa was born in Monopoli to an Italian mother and an Iraqi father. At the age of three, he moved with his family to Turin. After graduating as a surveyor, he opened his YouTube channel in October 2006, uploading his first video, a clip from Scrubs titled Sad moment from Scrubs, after which he began posting amateur comedy sketches and video game footage.[6]

In 2008, inspired by the success of channels like The Angry Video Game Nerd and Nostalgia Critic,[6] he decided to create review videos in Italian. He initially focused on old video games like E.T. and Deadly Towers, but later shifted to his passion for cinema, specialising in reviews of B movies.[7] His videos covered a range from Italian films like Amore 14 [it] and Alex l'ariete to international productions including Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, other films by The Asylum, and cult titles such as Birdemic: Shock and Terror, gaining popularity[7] and establishing himself as a leading figure in the Italian YouTube community.[2] His early reviews featured "top 5 worst things" lists and were often improvised, but over time became more structured, with improved cinematography.[8] A hallmark example of this new style is his review of Albakiara - Il film [it], which garnered over three million views and featured 175 separate shots, reflecting the fast-paced, jump-cut-heavy editing style typical of YouTube film and TV series reviews.[9]

In 2014, Yotobi decided to stop making reviews and launched a new format called Mostarda, based on comedy monologues. The first episode, a monologue about the film Fuga di cervelli [it], became quite successful, garnering nearly two million views and making it the most viewed video of the year among Italian YouTubers.[10] In 2015, Yotobi embarked on a stand-up comedy tour across Italy alongside fellow YouTuber VKlabe.[11] That year, his main channel surpassed one million subscribers[12], and his review of The Lady [it] web series was nominated for the 2015 Web Show Awards [it].[13] A video from 2016 recounting the story of a viral animated GIF featuring him as the unknowing protagonist is described as a rare example of a viral phenomenon narrated in the first person by one of its subjects.[14][15]

In 2016, he discontinued Mostarda and launched The Late Show con Karim Musa, inspired by the American program Late Show with David Letterman.[4] The first two seasons mainly featured monologues with occasional guest appearances due to limited studio space.[8] From the third season onwards, the format shifted to resemble Letterman's original Late Show, with a different guest in each episode. The programme received positive reviews,[4] while remaining a niche product.[16] In 2017, one of his videos expressed disenchantment with YouTube, describing it as "fifteen minutes of fame multiplied by ten years."[17] From 2019, he focused on live streaming, with most of his new content published on Twitch.[5]

In 2022, he was among the speakers at TEDx in Barletta.[18][19] The same year, he co-hosted the official Twitch live coverage of Lucca Comics & Games.[20] Also in 2022, during the Lucca Film Festival retrospectives, a documentary titled Yotobi è Karim Musa was presented,[21] produced by the Slim Dogs collective.[22] In 2023, he presented Fuori Menù on the YouTube channel of Netflix Italia, where he humorously reviewed the platform's content.[23]

References

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  1. ^ Martin, Sara; Menarini, Roy. "Criticizing the Series: Television Criticism as a Genre between Cinephilia and Fan Culture". Comunicazioni Sociali. 2–2015. Vita e Pensiero: 183–190. At national level, for example, the Yotobi channel is run by Karim Musa, the first Italian video-reviewer. Yotobi is a real web-celebrity, with almost one million registered users.
  2. ^ a b Covone, Anna (2020). Il sogno di Youtube: La più grande piattaforma video del mondo raccontata da una youtuber (in Italian). Dario Flaccovio Editore. ISBN 978-88-579-1143-4.
  3. ^ Gianmaria Tammaro (March 27, 2015). "Favij, ovvero la (brutta) copia italiana di PewDiePie". Wired Italia (in Italian). Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  4. ^ a b c "Viva yotobi, l'unica vera star di YouTube Italia". Esquire (in Italian). December 18, 2018. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  5. ^ a b "Yotobi: Yotobi, da YouTube a Twitch tra videogiochi e Late Show: "Su Twitch si guadagna di più"". fanpage (in Italian). May 17, 2019. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  6. ^ a b "Karim Musa in arte Yotobi: "Ho iniziato con Scrubs, il futuro è il Late Show e la stand up comedy"". fanpage (in Italian). July 30, 2019. Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  7. ^ a b Gaudiano, Giulio (2016). YouTube per il business: Fare marketing e guadagnare con i video online (in Italian). Area51 Publishing. ISBN 978-88-9331-226-4.
  8. ^ a b "Yotobi: il fondatore di Youtube Italia ed il suo ritorno". Tuberfan (in Italian). October 1, 2018. Retrieved June 18, 2025.
  9. ^ Brodesco, Alberto (2019). "La video-recensione come fenomeno YouTube". In Guerra, Michele; Martin, Sara (eds.). Atti critici in luoghi pubblici: scrivere di cinema, tv e media dal dopoguerra al web (PDF) (in Italian). Diabasis. pp. 160–169. ISBN 9788881039289.
  10. ^ "Il Gioco più Bello della Vita e MOSTARDA, Yotobi conquista il web". Tom's Hardware (in Italian). December 29, 2014. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  11. ^ "Da YouTube alla stand-up comedy. La storia di Yotobi e VKlabe". XL Repubblica.it (in Italian). Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  12. ^ Menichella, Francesco (May 17, 2016). "La top 10 degli youtuber italiani di qualità". GQ Italia (in Italian). Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  13. ^ TvBlog editorial team (December 5, 2015). "Web Show Awards 2015 in diretta su Tvblog". TvBlog (in Italian). Retrieved June 18, 2025.
  14. ^ Marino, Gabriele (2019). "La gente, gli arcobaleni e Salvini. Internet meme, viralità e politica italiana". Rivista Italiana di Filosofia del Linguaggio (in Italian). 13 (2). doi:10.4396/12201905.
  15. ^ Marino, Gabriele (2024). "Stare e fare assieme online. Dai meme alle challenge". E|C (in Italian) (41): 286.
  16. ^ "La seconda serata che ci manca". FilmTV (in Italian). Retrieved June 25, 2025.
  17. ^ Cavalloro, Valeria (2018). "L'utopia, la pubblicità e la morte: dove sta andando YouTube" (PDF). Allegoria. Per uno studio materialistico della letteratura (in Italian) (78). Palermo: Palumbo: 138. ISSN 1122-1887.
  18. ^ "TEDxBarletta". TED (in Italian). Retrieved June 16, 2025.
  19. ^ "Yotobi, dai social al palco: "Ho trasformato una passione in lavoro: ci vuole costanza"". la Repubblica (in Italian). July 26, 2022. Archived from the original on July 26, 2022. Retrieved June 17, 2025.
  20. ^ "Lucca Comics & Games Show presenta i conduttori 2022". La Voce di Lucca (in Italian). Retrieved June 19, 2025.
  21. ^ "Programma Giornaliero 2022". Lucca Film Festival (in Italian). Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  22. ^ "Slim dogs, un canale su YouTube per raccontare chi ce l'ha fatta". la Repubblica (in Italian). May 11, 2022. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  23. ^ Telese, Ivan (November 16, 2023). "Yotobi arriva su Netflix con la sua nuova rubrica "Fuori Menù"". tuttotek.it (in Italian). Retrieved June 16, 2025.
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