Baited is a discussion podcast originally created and hosted by popular YouTubers ColossalIsCrazy (a.k.a. Clown, a.k.a. Oliver Colton), Keemstar (a.k.a. DramaAlert, a.k.a. Daniel Keem) and Tommy C (a.k.a. Tommy Callanan). The show primarily focuses on commentary, news and debate surrounding the 'drama-sphere' subculture of YouTube personalities. However, the vast majority of the podcast's entertainment value comes from the eclectic trio of hosts' vicious banter and disagreements amongst themselves which inevitably lead to the intended topics getting derailed completely. Beginning in July 2016, the show had a changeover of hosts later that year as Colossal and Tommy C left the podcast, both being replaced by Anything4Views and Andy Milonakis while Keemstar remained as the ringleader. Numerous guests have appeared on the show, including Ethan Klein of H 3 H 3 Productions, iDubbbzTV and LeafyIsHere.
Colossal eventually returned to Baited in 2017, initially as a one-off guest appearance before re-joining as a regular, though the show officially ended in 2019.
This show provides examples of:
- Befriending the Enemy: Colossal, who was once one of Keemstar's most vicious detractors on Twitter (having proudly invented the "Keemstar the Rat" meme), slowly and begrudgingly came round to liking Keem over the course of the show and later admitted that his few positive qualities usually outshine his more prominent negative traits. Colossal still rightfully regards Keemstar as an unrepentant scumbag, albeit one he doesn't mind associating with.
- Believing Their Own Lies: Keemstar genuinely believes that he's a good person and a well-respected father figure in the Drama community. Colossal and the other hosts are often baffled by the depths of Keemstar's deluded self-image.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Keemstar harshly criticises Colossal's perceived poor work ethic when it comes to maintaining a regular output of video content. Colossal's main channel only has ten videos and he notoriously takes years between uploads, but this is more a case of British Brevity as they all have a consistently high quality, and also the fact that Colossal does not view YouTube as his primary career compared to his real life job as a toy manufacturer.
- British Stuffiness: Colossal's online persona is a snooty, obdurate boarding school toff with a bizarre grudge against fat people. It is, by most accounts, fairly close to his real life personality.
- Fatal Flaw: For many of the internet personalities discussed on the show, it's Greed. Most of the issues in the drama community covered in Baited can be boiled down to petty squabbles of content creators backstabbing each other with slander, misleading viewers with fake news or generally attention-whoring with manufactured controversy in vain efforts to retain their "relevancy". For episodes with guests, the animated cover art by Ultra Joe will usually depict said guests being baited with a dollar on a fishing hook.
- Hidden Depths: Ironic for a show all about discussing other people's reputations, Keemstar has one of the worst reputations in the entire YouTube content creator community. Many creators refuse to associate with him, while his own co-hosts regularly berate him for his obnoxious, narcissistic, greedy and dishonest behaviour... but surprisingly often, he makes reasonable points that the others can agree on. Seeing this more rational, intelligent side to Keemstar softened the voices of some of his critics (including Colossal's, who was once one of Keemstar's most vicious detractors).
- Hot-Blooded: Rarely does an episode go by without Keemstar getting heated or throwing a tantrum over something.
- Insistent Terminology: Clown goes out of his way to dramatically refer to Keem as "DJ Killer Keemstar" in the introductions, harkening back to Keem's early YouTube days as a Halo troll. Keem always elucidates that he's not a DJ.
- Jerkass: Both Keemstar and Colossal qualify, though Keemstar is by far the more belligerent of the two.
- Large Ham: All of the hosts qualify, but Keem arguably most of all. He is usually the loudest voice and most prone to talking over the others.
- Laughing Mad: It's something of a meme that Tommy C's only contribution to the show is to laugh at Clown and Keemstar's constant cockfighting.
- Power Trio: The show's format always has three main hosts and the occasional guest. The recurring theme is that none of them can ever agree on anything.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Keemstar is the hot-headed, passionate and boisterous Red while Clown is the cynical, intellectual and contrarian Blue. Tommy tends to keep a relatively sane middle ground.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: "Best buds" is stretching it but the hosts can definitely be vitriolic. It says a lot that Colossal left the show on bad terms with Keemstar after constant clashes both on and off air, only to come back a year later.
