Benjamin "Ben" Bennett is an American YouTuber, performance artist, and musician known for his two YouTube series, "Sitting and Smiling" and "Walking and Talking".
Sitting and Smiling[]
Each episode of Sitting and Smiling typically lasts for four hours, during which time Bennett sits on the floor, staring into the camera with a smile on his face. Each performance is live-streamed and subsequently published as a video. The first live stream of Sitting and Smiling was created on 28 July 2014. In an interview with Vice Media he stated that, "There isn't really a purpose. My inbox is full of people asking me why I'm doing this, but I don't think that question is really applicable to this type of activity."[1]
Incidents[]
During his 5th live stream, a would-be burglar broke into his house, and upon opening the door to the room only to see Bennett sitting and smiling still, after the burglar presumably sees him sitting and smiling, the burglar said "Hello?". Bennett remained motionless without reacting. The burglar promptly fled the house without stealing anything. He also explains what happened in the description of the video.
During his 52nd video, he urinates himself while sitting and smiling. Some people believe he forgot to go to the bathroom before starting the livestream.
During the 238th and 257th videos he cries while sitting and smiling. Some people speculate that someone is forcing him to do all of the Sitting and Smiling videos.
In the 301st video, he sits and smiles for 8 hours straight instead of the typical 4 hours.
Walking and Talking[]
On February 24, 2019, after reaching 300 "Sitting and Smiling" videos, Bennett began a new video series entitled "Walking and Talking", in which he walks and talks continuously for four hours, or until his camera battery runs out. He speaks in an extemporaneous and reflexive manner, describing his subjective experience in real time, with subjects such as philosophy of mind, consciousness, and nonduality often framing his narration.
Trivia[]
- His series, "Walking and Talking" is an obvious pun of "Walkie Talkie".