H3h3Productions

Early life

Ethan Edward Klein (born June 25, 1985) was born in Ventura, California to an Ashkenazi Jewish family. He grew up in Ventura, California, where he attended Buena High School. Ethan studied English Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 2004 to 2009. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative writing in 2009, and was placed on the Dean's Honors List. He worked as a marketing executive in Israel, firstly as Content Manager at Webpals from 2010 to 2013, and then as Head of Marketing for Tracy PMI from 2013.

Hila Klein (née Hakmon, Hebrew: הילה חכמון‎‎; born December 12, 1987) was born and raised in Holon, Israel to a Sephardic Jewish family; Her father is of Libyan Jewish descent, while her mother is of Turkish Jewish descent. Hila served as a soldier in the Israel Defense Forces for two years. During her military service, she met Ethan Klein who was visiting Jerusalem at the time on his Birthright Israel trip. She attended the Shenkar College of Engineering and Design back in Israel. The couple married in 2012.

They released their first reaction video of the video poem "Girls Who Read" in November 2013; at the time the couple lived together in Israel. In April 2015, the Kleins moved to the United States. They initially resided in New York City, but moved to Los Angeles in August 2016.

The couple has collaborated with other YouTube personalities, including: Casey Neistat, Filthy Frank, JonTron, TheRyanJayShow, PewDiePie, and iDubbbzTV, as well as people in other professions, such as animator Justin Roiland and rappers DJ Khaled and Post Malone. From October 2015 until August 2016, Hila Klein had worked as a producer on the JonTronShow.

Main channel

The main form of content on the channel is the "h3h3 reaction video". More involved than traditional reaction videos, these consist of clips of a source video intermixed with commentary and absurd sketches, a style which has been described as a cross between the works of comedy duo Tim & Eric and the television series Mystery Science Theater 3000.

The channel has gained a reputation for criticizing certain Internet trends and personalities, including the Fine Brothers, the Fullscreen network, Sam Pepper, and copyright infringement on Facebook, as well as the policies of YouTube itself. Often the pair will comment on or participate in online controversies, for instance with SoFloAntonio or LeafyIsHere. The pair have also commented on issues involving copyright infringement, censorship, and the doctrine of fair use, as it relates to their content.

The channel's most popular video is "VAPE NATION", a parody of vaping culture. As of November 1, 2016, the video has over 13 million views. Many memes and inside jokes sprouting from their videos are shared within the fan community, including vaping, beanies, Papa John's Pizza, "dunnie dolls" (referring to comedian Jeff Dunham), Fupa, and the "chub and tuck." Personalities covered in reaction videos, such as DJ Khaled, Ethan Bradberry, John Sakars, and soaper Ryan Jaunzemis, are often hailed within the community as "living memes." On July 15, by winning a Hot 97 contest, Ethan met DJ Khaled and showed him a series of videos, including "The DJ Khaled Documentary". The channel released a short documentary on Counter-Strike: Global Offensive gambling, which involves trading skins for real-world currency. The channel criticized several YouTubers for attempting to attract young viewers to their gambling websites.

The channel joined the Freedom! network after leaving Collective Digital Studio in August 2015, however as of 2016 it is now a part of the Omnia Media network.

From late 2015 the channel's viewership increased, due to frequent exposure on Reddit and in January 2016 Reddit's "/r/videos" community named it "YouTube channel of the Year".

On December 20, 2016, h3h3Productions started a podcast, titled simply the H3 Podcast, which is available on YouTube, iTunes, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, and on RSS Feed. Guests, as of the latest podcast, include Justin Roiland, the co-creator of Rick & Morty, and Youtubers iDubbbzTV, Keemstar of Drama Alert, PewDiePie, and Vsauce.

Second channel

The couple runs a secondary channel named Ethan and Hila, started in August 2014, where they release simpler reaction videos and vlogs multiple times a week. On July 29, 2016, Ethan Klein announced that due to the stress of maintaining both channels, all future videos would be on their main channel and Ethan and Hila itself would no longer be active. However, from January 2017 onward, they started to upload videos again on the channel, contradicting previous statements.

Rudy "Hugh Mungus" Pantoja Jr.

In 2016, in Seattle, Washington's city hall, after showing his support in an interview for the construction of a new police station, a man named Rudy Pantoja Jr. was confronted by activist Zarna Joshi. Joshi asked Pantoja Jr. for his name, to which he jokingly replied that he was "Hugh Mungus". Joshi then verbally accused Pantoja of sexual harassment before police officers and city hall security guards intervened.

After Ethan and Hila reacted to Joshi's uploaded video of the incident on August 31, 2016, Ethan interviewed Pantoja and uploaded a video of the interview on September 13. In the interview, Pantoja revealed that he supported the police station because his daughter was helped by Seattle police to find treatment for her addictions. Additionally, Pantoja noted that he had invited Joshi to meet and make amends, which she refused.

Ken Bone

On October 27, 2016, "Interview with Ken Bone" was released. Kenneth Bone had become an internet celebrity after his appearance in the second presidential debate leading up to the United States presidential election, 2016. During the interview, Bone, who had been an undecided voter at the time of the debate, said that he had made up his mind about who he would vote for, but did not reveal who it was during the show, instead encouraging viewers to make their own mind up. Referring to another recent notable guest, Ethan Klein asked Bone if he would support people voting for a "HughMungus/Bone" write-in ticket, to which Bone said yes, if it would get people out to vote.

Hosseinzadeh v. Klein

Matthew "Matt" Hosseinzadeh (known on YouTube as MattHossZone and nicknamed Bold Guy), the subject of a reaction video on Ethan and Hila's second channel, filed a civil action against them in late April 2016, alleging copyright infringement. Hosseinzadeh claims that he initially contacted the Kleins "to politely ask them to remove my content from their video," but that they refused. Hosseinzadeh's lawyer, Tim Bukher, claims that the video used more than 70% of his work "while contributing nothing substantive to it."

After a video on this was released by h3h3Productions the following month, fellow YouTube personality Philip DeFranco started a fundraiser on GoFundMe to help raise money for their legal fees, citing the need to protect fair use on YouTube. The fundraiser has so far raised almost $170,000, receiving large donations from notable individuals including the Fine Brothers, Markus "Notch" Persson, PewDiePie, Markiplier, Jacksepticeye, Justin Roiland, and Garry Newman. The Kleins were, at one point, represented by Ryan Morrison, commonly known as the "Video Game Attorney", and Michael Lee of Morrison & Lee LLP in the lawsuit.

On May 26, 2016, Ethan and Hila announced that the funds raised will go into an escrow account called the "Fair Use Protection Account" (FUPA), overseen by Morrison & Lee LLP to be used to help people defend fair use. On June 27, 2016, Lee announced on Twitter that he had filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Court filings from November 2016 state that Ethan and Hila Klein have new attorneys and are no longer represented by Morrison & Lee LLP. Later confirmed by both Ethan and Hila, they stated that the switch was due to, among other reasons, "things not working out". They also talked about the costs imposed by their new law firm, the invoice for one month totaling $54,146.57USD. As of January 31, 2017, the lawsuit has begun discovery and depositions have begun.