Q&A with Tom Grossi

The Packast is a channel rising rapidly on the YouTube platform, created by former comedian and teacher Tom Grossi. In anticipation of my upcoming article series, Grossi provides some backstory to some of his most popular video/streaming concepts and the future of his show.

The charities that you run throughout the year are one of the many reasons people love what you do on YouTube. What pushes you to continue working with different charities?

Because I have this platform, I feel responsible to do good with it. 

That’s why I push so hard on doing numerous fundraisers per year. Last year I did that first [on] our stream in December. We raised $51,000 in eight hours which was absolutely incredible and probably the most mind-blowing thing that the community has done, besides being amazing. We do this for a variety of different charities, for a variety of different causes, all of which are worthwhile. And I think that’s what it comes down to because at the end of the day if I don’t have this platform tomorrow, it wouldn’t be great. But I would still be happy. At least I can point to it and go like, “Okay, we did some good stuff.” 

Where did you get the inspiration to start doing all these fundraisers?

Back in 2015, I remember vividly I had a guest on and I said, “do you have anything to promote?” They didn’t have anything to promote themselves. So they promoted a charity that provided service dogs to wounded veterans. At the time, I remember thinking, “God, I have no money to my name” but I said, “okay, I’m going to donate some money, I’m going to donate 50 bucks.” And that kind of moment stuck with me because I said if I ever got a platform, I want to be able to do more than $50 and now I have that.

I’ve seen that you bring smaller channels onto your show to talk about upcoming Packers’ games. Where did this all begin?

I mean since 2015, every Thursday during the season, I have always brought on fans from the opposing team to talk about the upcoming game. And originally for many years, it was just other fans. I would just go to their subreddits and I’d say, “Hey, I want a fan of X team, I would love to talk to you for 20 to 45 minutes and talk to you about football and upcoming matchup and all that great stuff.” And as time has gone on and the platform has grown on YouTube, I kind of have aimed for smaller creators. And there are times where you know, you have some really great creators who are just unable to gain traction for whatever reason. It might just be the style of their content, it might be the algorithm, they might only put out a video certain times a week, or they’re just getting started. And I think that it’s important if you have a platform to kind of raise others up. But I think that there is a moral responsibility you should have if you are a creator that has a platform and you do the best that you possibly can with that.

Speaking on helping out other platforms, your work with countless other YouTubers (such as Kurt Benkert, ThatsGoodSports, etc.) showcases the impressive inflation of your channel. Do you plan on expanding the Packast as your channel grows? 

Years ago, I had thought about doing a network and bringing a bunch of YouTubers together and just having it all come out. I’ve been approached a bunch of times about that, but I think the issue with that is when you have to start relying on other people and at the same time when your success as a whole is dependent on somebody else’s work ethic that’s not your own.

You know, you have stuff like ClickBait Sports, which is a great collection of sports YouTubers who are able to come together and make some content. But in terms of an official network or an official community, I don’t currently have any plans for the future. I’m still kind of just trying to grow my own thing while also trying to help others that are not there yet.

Do you have any plans for content this upcoming season?

I’m super excited for this upcoming season. I’m going to be cranking out even more content than I usually do. I’m definitely going to utilize [YouTube] shorts…really big ideas of things I would like to do, for example, going to go into the Washington Commander’s Stadium dressed as Wildflower and doing stuff on location or like going to Minnesota and doing stuff as Tohm. So, you know, as we continue to grow I hope the spectacle does as well.

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