When I first discovered this series was around late 2014, early 2015, when an unofficial YouTube compilation of Thomas Sanders Vines popped up on my "Recommended" section. At that time, I didn't even know what Vine was, as Vine was never much popular in my country. Therefore, I never heard about who this "Thomas Sanders" guy was and why he was so popular to deserve a half an hour long compilation just for him.
As I was curious, I decided to give it a shot and watch the compilation. I discovered myself laughing and smiling throughout the whole video, and, for personal reasons, I really needed that at the time. Thomas' comedy is exactly my type of comedy, the one where everybody can laugh in equal conditions, with no one being the butt of the joke, the one that demands from the comedian a little bit of thought to make his audience laugh. "Sanders Shorts" is plenty of that, but it wasn't just that what caught my attention.
Something I noticed when I was watching that compilation was the variety it had. Skits were very different one from another. Pranks were not just throwing a prank and that's all, they had an imaginative premise to be done, whether it was "Disney pranks" or "Pokemon pranks". You could laugh at the plain prank, but if you knew what it was inspired about, the enjoyment was doubled. And to add an extra, Thomas, who, as I later knew, has an extensive background on musical theater, also sang snippets of songs or sang in his skits, and he has a really good voice. He may not be a tenor, but the important thing is how you use your voice, not how high you can sing, and his voice is beautiful, I can't think on any better adjective to describe it.
But one other thing about the compilation I also noticed is that Thomas is surrounded by a very good cast: his friends, without whom the series wouldn't probably have been as good as it is. Taylor Shrum is really funny in his impressions as Herbert. Brittney Kelly has a really good voice and she also has talent in comedy. Joan is a good sidekick to Thomas' shenanigans and they also have a unique talent for storytelling, as many of the ideas of the series have come from them as I later knew. And there are so many more, Valerie, Kenny, Terrence, Leo, Dominic, Susan Shrum, Camden, Kyle, Talyn... So many that I would need an encyclopedia to write about them, but let's sum up by saying that they're all great, and they all in turn make Thomas better.
When I ended that compilation, I already knew I had seen very good stuff, and I started, little by little, learning more about this Thomas Sanders, first by watching him on YouTube, later following him on Vine (I probably must be one of the few that, on 2015, followed him first on YouTube, later on Vine) and Instagram. I have no doubt that he has a bright career ahead and the proof is that not even the death of Vine in January 2017 could kill this series. It is still going strong on Instagram and it will go on for many more years, as long as Thomas and his people keep giving it the signs of quality that make it great.
