Brewis started the Hbomberguy YouTube channel on 28 May 2006.[12] As of December 2023[update], the channel has over 1,500,000 subscribers.[12] He also uploads his videos on the online streaming service
Nebula.[13]
Brewis' videos often take the format of mini-documentaries, with him talking directly to the camera on a particular topic interspersed with comedic sketches and gags.[14] He consults with experts and fact-checkers for his videos to ensure their factual accuracy.[15] Some of the most popular videos on his channel are his A Measured Response series, which features Brewis critiquing figures such as
flat Earth conspiracy theorists,
pickup artists,
anti-vaxxers, and content creators who believe soy makes men feminine and use the term soy boy.[11][15] Due to his videos debunking right-wing and
alt-right ideas, Brewis has commonly been described as a part of
BreadTube, an informal network of left-leaning YouTubers;[14][16] however, he does not associate himself with the term.[17] Like other YouTube channels under the BreadTube label, Brewis' political content mirrors the presentation of popular non-political content creators such as pop-culture essayists and gaming YouTubers.[16]
Along with his political analysis and Measured Response series, Brewis has been producing long-form media reviews and video essays on a number of topics, such as television, film,
internet culture and video games.[18] In July 2020, Brewis released a video criticising the American web series RWBY. Prior to its release, Brewis attempted to upload the video and found it automatically blocked by YouTube's
Content ID system. Brewis opted to extensively re-edit the video to circumvent this automated detection and hire a lawyer to review the content in order to ensure it complied with
fair use prior to publication.[19] In an essay criticising the Content ID system, the
Electronic Frontier Foundation highlighted Brewis' difficulty as an example of how they believed Content ID "undermines" the intent of fair use.[20]
In November 2022, Brewis published a video essay which documented many of the high-profile claims that
Tommy Tallarico had made concerning his career, including being the creator of the sound effect at the heart of his Roblox legal dispute, his
Guinness World Records, and being the first American to work on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, and concluded many were either exaggerations or knowingly false.[21][22]
Mermaids charity stream
From 18 to 21 January 2019, Brewis continually livestreamed to raise money for British
transgender charity organisation
Mermaids. He aimed to complete Donkey Kong 64 while finding all possible collectable items and did so in 57 hours and 48 minutes.[23] Mermaids had been designated funding by the
British National Lottery, but the funding was withheld and put under review after criticism by comedy writer and anti-transgender activist
Graham Linehan and others.[24] This inspired Brewis to stream in support of the charity.
The livestream garnered attention and praise.[30][32][29]The Guardian called it "an antidote to the worst of gaming culture",[11] and it was praised in a motion lodged in the
Scottish Parliament by
Green Party co-convenor
Patrick Harvie.[33] In July 2019, the LGBT magazine Attitude recognised the livestream by honoring Brewis with an Attitude Pride Award.[34] Mermaids also thanked Brewis for the livestream on their Twitter account.[35][36][37]
Plagiarism and You(Tube)
On 2 December 2023, Brewis uploaded a 3-hour, 51-minute video essay titled "Plagiarism and You(Tube)", in which he discussed
plagiarism and presented accusations and evidence of plagiarism against YouTubers
Filip Miucin,
Cinemassacre, iilluminaughtii, Internet Historian, and James Somerton.[38][39] The second half of the video focused on Somerton, triggering public backlash against him. Brewis accused Somerton of expansive plagiarism, appropriating content from various other queer writers and
content creators.[40][41][42]The Celluloid Closet, a 1996 film based on
the book of the same name by
Vito Russo, and Tinker Belles and Evil Queens, a 2000 book by
Sean Griffin, were among the work Somerton was accused of plagiarizing, in part or in whole, across at least 26 of Somerton's videos.[40][43]
In addition to the plagiarism accusations, another YouTuber,
Todd in the Shadows, released a video soon after Hbomberguy where he accused Somerton of regularly lying and spreading
misinformation and dubious claims in his videos.[40][41]
In response, Somerton removed all of his videos from public view and deactivated his
Twitter and
Patreon accounts.[44][45][46][7] He also removed the website for his film studio, Telos, which was criticised for raising funds without producing any films.[43] Somerton later released an
apology video, which was widely criticised.[47] In his video, Somerton said he would continue his career and re-opened his
Patreon account without notifying his patrons. This raised concerns about individuals being charged without their knowledge.[47] Somerton removed the apology video a few hours after it was uploaded and closed his Patreon a second time.[47][48] On 5 March 2024, Somerton uploaded an apparent
suicide note to his social media, sparking concern; however he was later confirmed to be safe on 11 March by Kat Lo, an editor and producer who works with Brewis.[49]
Reception
Brewis has been praised by critics for his YouTube channel's format and commentary.[9][50] His 2017 video on
VHS, which was produced in collaboration with Shannon Strucci, was praised by TenEighty Magazine as an excellent "deep-dive" in the topic.[51] His video analysis of the Ctrl+Alt+Del comic "
Loss" has received critical acclaim: it was selected by Polygon as one of the ten best video essays of 2018 and was nominated three times in the Sight & Sound collection of 2018's most outstanding videographic criticism, with British film critic and filmmaker
Charlie Shackleton stating: "The reliably great H. Bomberguy pushed the YouTube video essay into new territory with this
Matryoshka doll of an upload: a layered critique of the gaming webcomic Ctrl+Alt+Del,
Tommy Wiseau's bad-taste classic The Room and the YouTube video essay itself. To cap it all off, it's a horror movie".[52][53]
Brewis' Climate Denial: A Measured Response was also nominated for Sight & Sound's 2019 list of the best video essays of the year with Shannon Strucci saying: "this is the hardest I have ever laughed at any video essay ... and the humor and energy Harris brings to his work without sacrificing sincerity or depth of research is, as far as I am concerned, unparalleled".[54]
Before focusing on YouTube full time, Brewis worked as an IT engineer[59] then as an animator for
The School of Life's YouTube channel.[60][61]
Notes
^Brewis' first name is often erroneously reported as "Harris" in coverage due to his habit of jokingly referring to himself as "Harris Bomberguy" in his videos.[5]
^Brewis, Harry (2 December 2023). "Plagiarism and You(Tube)." YouTube.Plagiarism and You(Tube),
archived from the original on 5 December 2023, retrieved 3 December 2023
^Avissar, Ariel; DiGravio, Will; Lee, Grace, eds. (14 January 2020).
"The best video essays of 2019". Sight & Sound. British Film Institute. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^Brewis, Harry (23 December 2020).
"The War on Christmas: A Measured Response". YouTube.
Archived from the original on 15 September 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022. Since the 2010s, there has been decisively more nonreligious people in Britain than Christians even. Most of these people still celebrate Christian traditions, they're a common part of English culture. I'm an atheist, and I still celebrate Christmas. (At 16:44)