Matt Rose reveals how he accidentally became a YouTube megastar

Matt Rose has found the perfect niche to fill in the vast universe of online content: reading funny text posts aloud, including impossible-to-pronounce typos and emojis. We spoke with him as part of Dexerto’s Rising Stars series, where he let us in on the secrets of his YouTube success just after reaching one million subscribers.

You’ve probably stumbled across one of Matt Rose’s videos in your recommended feed at some point. Generally, Matt’s content consists of compilations of text posts, ranging from accidental text messages to wild predictive text suggestions and even botched AI summaries from Apple. While these posts are hilarious on their own, Matt brings his own unhinged charm to them, thanks to his comedic narration skills and his odd ability to phonetically read out keyspam without any errors.

For instance, one of Matt’s most popular videos compiles various posts from netizens detailing their frightening experiences with Furbies, a plush toy line from the 90’s — and his reaction to some of the net’s cursed Furby creations is nothing short of gut-busting.

While he’s found a dedicated audience for his [insert ability], he wasn’t always YouTube’s beloved resident comment-compiler. In fact, Matt told us that he lived a very mundane life before finding his groove online as a journalist… but comedy was always where his heart lay.

From newspaper manager to YouTube comedian

“My life was very banal,” he joked, saying he initially had hopes of being a “good, fun journalist like Louis Theroux.” However, his dreams of being a “gonzo” investigative reporter didn’t quite pan out, as he instead got a job as a manager at his local newspaper — a profession he described as immensely boring.

“I was there for years,” he explained. “It was a very generic office job. And then it was during COVID when I was working from home that things started getting a bit more exciting on YouTube. I would have taken any opportunity to get out of that job, because it was so soul-crushingly dull. I really went full tilt on YouTube with the time that I had working from home. A lot of people think of me as an absolute mad lad on the internet. They would have been amazed to hear that I was a fairly professional manager before all this.”

Rose’s first viral hit actually happened thanks to its predecessor, an eight-year-old video from J.T. Sexkik reading out numerous misspellings of the word ‘pregnant.’ It’s garnered over 50 million views in the years hence, and it served as inspiration for Rose’s breakout video.

“My girlfriend really liked that video, and I said, ‘I’m sure I could make one. They can’t be that hard to do.’ So I popped one on YouTube without expecting anyone to see it. Four years passed, and then one day I woke up and it had half a million views.

“It was completely random, and I thought, ‘That’s interesting.’ So, I started making a couple more just about misspellings. and then I suddenly realized that I had an odd talent, which was being able to pronounce any sort of gibberish. And the good thing is, the internet is full of gibberish. …People enjoy seeing a long string of unintelligible text and hearing me read it out.”

Matt Rose explains the skill behind his unique talent

Matt’s knack for pronouncing the unintelligible has earned him over a million subscribers, a milestone he passed in fall 2024. He explained the method to his madness in our interview, saying he’s able to break long strings of random letters together in bits as he reads them.

“I did English literature at university, and I love how words are put together,” he told us. “So if I see a keyboard smash, I’m able to sort of break it down into chunks. …the hardest thing is when it’s lots of emojis. Even if it’s 50 different emojis, that gets difficult, because some of them are such mouthfuls.”

One of Matt’s signature phrases is “skull emoji,” which has somehow morphed over time into “SKULLEMOJI,” yelled each time he comes across one in a post. In fact, Matt yells quite a lot in his videos, on top of other stunts like lighting things on fire or juggling kitchen knives.

While his neighbors — who he’s “very careful” to avoid disturbing — may or may not appreciate the genius of his comedy, his partner certainly does. Matt described their relationship as one of unending patience and support on her side, which is just as well, given they’re expecting a baby in January 2025.

Matt’s very excited to welcome his kiddo into the world, and even showed off a giant hotdog plush he’d bought on impulse in preparation for his little tyke’s arrival. However, he’s well-aware that his audience likely isn’t keen on being inundated with family vlogs, so he plans on continuing his regular content as usual once he gets used to the routine of being a new dad.

This man really wants to be on Taskmaster

“The one thing I have found with YouTube is that, if you dare do something which isn’t quite in the same vein as what people are used to, they simply won’t watch, which is fine. People like what they like. So, I will certainly be doing a Matt Rose Monday in the same vein for the foreseeable. 

“I’ve seen a few people say, ‘Matt’s going to turn into a family channel, he’s become a dad.’ That’s not going to happen. I’m not going to stop doing silly things. I’m certainly not going to stop swearing and smoking and doing stunts. The channel will remain the same.”

Matt, like many other creators, also has a few big dreams he’d like to accomplish as an entertainer. For one, he’s always wanted to feature on Taskmaster — something he references often in his YouTube community posts — but being a host on his own show is on the table, as is any voice-over work for video games, if the fates allow.

For now, he’s happy with his “comfy” position as a YouTuber, for which he’s got a long list of potential video ideas for future content that’s sure to make fans guffaw as he prepares for fatherhood. (The jury’s still out on whether or not he takes the suggestions we gave him in our call, though.)