Slowbeef

Michael Sawyer, better known as Slowbeef, is an American YouTuber and internet personality. Originating as a member of the Something Awful forums, he is widely credited as the pioneer of the Let's Play video format. Along with Let's Play personality Diabetus, he created Retsupurae, a YouTube channel which reacts to various other Let's Play videos.

Career Let's Play Sawyer joined the Something Awful forums during the early 2000s becoming a member after posting content on his personal website such as a commentary on Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Sawyer's video on The Immortal is often cited and recognized as the first video Let's Play. Sawyer has credited Something Awful personalities Proton Jon, Deceased Crab, and Psychedelic Eyeball as other pioneers of the Let's Play genre, along with Vlaphor's Let's Play thread on the video game I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream. Janine Hawkins of Paste Magazine discussed a Retsupurae video in which they commentated over an ASMR Let's Play video and received mildly negative attention for it compared to their other videos, stating that "much of that discussion and dissent undoubtedly came from ASMR community members eager to defend one of their own, but there are also a surprising number of comments from regular Retsupurae viewers in defense of ASMR and its 'creepy' corner of the Let's Play world."

In 2008, he contributed to a fan translation of Policenauts which came to completion in 2009.

In 2022, he released an indie horror game with a small team called Atama.

Sawyer has worked as a video game programmer for various mobile phone applications.