Tobias Joseph Turner (born March 3, 1985), also known by his stage name Tobuscus, is an American Internet personality, actor, and musician. He is best known for his YouTube videos including vlogs, Let's Plays and music. As of May 2026, Turner has a total of nearly 14 million subscribers and over 3.94 billion video views over his three YouTube channels. Turner's career has seen him work together with multiple YouTube personalities on different projects.
In 2016, several of Turner's ex-girlfriends accused him of having drugged and cheated on them throughout their relationships. Turner denied these claims, and stated he had never done anything without prior consent. Following the allegations, production was halted and canceled on an exclusive YouTube Red series starring Turner, and several acquaintances distanced themselves from him. Turner has since voiced right-wing and anti-immigration stances on his X account, leading to mixed reception.
Tobias Joseph Turner was born on March 3, 1985, in Mississippi, and grew up in Niceville, Florida. He graduated from Niceville High School, where he attended school with former Congressman Matt Gaetz and attended the University of Florida, and having an interest in filmmaking, graduated with a degree in telecommunication production. In a November 2011 vlog, Turner revealed that the name Tobuscus was given to him by one of his high school friends while performing in a play together. Turner's mother later took out a loan and bought him a video camera, an act he appreciated, as it helped begin his YouTube career.
Turner first joined YouTube on May 14, 2006, when he created a channel under the name of "Tobuscus". The first video that remains on the channel is a sketch based on the 2006 film Click. One of Turner's earliest popular videos is "Don't Tase Me, Bro!", a remixed recording of the University of Florida Taser incident in which his classmate Andrew Meyer was stunned with a taser gun by a police officer. Interviewed about the video by MTV, Turner explained that, after watching the clip, "as soon as [he] heard [Andrew] yelling, [he] knew it would fit in a hip-hop song", and that he "wanted to give [Andrew] the profits" from sales of related merchandise. The Tobuscus channel has since continued to focus on comedic skits and animated sketches, achieving recognition for those such as RIAA Gold certified "I Can Swing My Sword", "Safety Torch" and "Nugget In A Biscuit". Turner's Literal Trailers series is also one of his most popular, earning him mainstream recognition from CBS News, who described his rendition of the Dead Island trailer as "amazing" and "hilarious", and Wired, who praised Turner's Literal Trailer of Iron Man 3.
In April 2009, Turner began using his "TobyTurner" channel to upload daily unedited vlogs detailing his personal life, which he dubbed "lazy vlogs." In July 2010, Turner registered his fourth (third in use) YouTube channel under the name "TobyGames", designating it for a new series of comedic Let's Play videos. The channel has featured playthrough videos of numerous indie and AAA games since its inception, including the long-running Minecraft and Happy Wheels series.
In addition to producing his own original content over three channels, Turner has worked together with a wide range of other YouTube personalities on various projects. In 2009, he performed a guitar collaboration with Joe Penna (MysteryGuitarMan) using two separate videos played simultaneously; in 2010 he made an appearance on the fifth episode of Annoying Orange, titled "A Cheesy Episode"; in early 2011 he worked with iJustine on a number of LittleBigPlanet 2 Let's Play videos; since 2011 he has worked on many projects with Jack Douglass, including parody "Tobjackscus", sketch "Dubstep Tobuscus", and music videos "Take Off Your Clothes (Like Scarlett Johansson)", "Razors in Your Apple (On Halloween)", and "The Valentine's Day Song"; and in 2012 he starred in a short with Olga Kay entitled Olga Kay Goes Haywire., as well as starring in an episode of the YouTube series, "Retarded Policeman". Tobuscus has also appeared alongside notable celebrities on several occasions, including the music video for the song "Whistle While I Work It", featuring Chester See and Wayne Brady, as well as starring in a three-parter YouTube series "Terminator Genisys: The YouTube Chronicles" to promote the film Terminator Genisys. A range of well-known personalities were involved in the series, including Arnold Schwarzenegger himself, and YouTube stars such as Lilly Singh, Olga Kay, Sean Klitzner, Epic Lloyd, The Warp Zone, and Kevin Lieber.
From 2010 to 2012, Turner presented a web series called CuteWinFail, created by Turner and co-produced with YouTuber Philip DeFranco and his production company FishBowl Worldwide Media. Turner and DeFranco also collaborated together on Like Totally Awesome, produced by the YouTube channel LTA. In 2010, Turner signed with the multi-channel network Machinima, before switching to Maker Studios in July 2013.
Turner also worked as a host on Tagged, a gaming-themed YouTube series produced by NODE Studios, and played the Satan character in the Fine Brothers web series MyMusic.
In 2023, Turner voiced the character Jerod in Doug TenNapel's web series, Burkle and Spay. In 2025, he voiced a character in Cinemint's web series, Fleur de Lis.
Turner's first feature-length film role came in 2010 romantic comedy film New Low, in which he played stand-up comedian Dave, the best friend of main character Wendell played by writer, producer and director Adam Bowers. The film was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010, before it received coverage at the Austin Film Festival in October and at the Glasgow Film Festival the following February, and was later released on DVD in 2012. Later, in 2012, he starred in psychological horror film Smiley, written and directed by Michael Gallagher and starring fellow YouTube partner Shane Dawson. Turner also starred alongside Dawson in the 2015 comedy Bob Thunder: Internet Assassin and played a minor role in the 2015 film The Great Gilly Hopkins.
From 2012 to 2014, Turner starred in the Cartoon Network animated series The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange. Turner played Nerville, the only human character who can interact with the fruits.
Turner landed a deal with YouTube Red in 2015, and began development on an original scripted comedy, "I Am Tobuscus", which satirized digital stardom. Production was halted and the series cancelled in 2016 following sexual assault allegations made against Turner.
Turner was set to star in 2016's The Angry Birds Movie, voicing a character named Perry; his appearance, however, was cut from the release.
Aside from video production and other entertainment, Toby Turner – who is described on his official website as a "viral marketer ... [and] consultant for viral video and social media platforms" – has worked with a number of major companies on advertising campaigns, including NBC, Disney, and others. Among his online commercial credits are adverts for Fox crime drama series Lie to Me, footwear manufacturer and retailer Timberland, snack food product Pop-Tarts, and social network aggregation website Ouibox.
Turner has also secured hosting roles for a number of events and series, including reporting on the Toshiba "Set Me Free Tour" for MTV in August 2009 and presenting holiday special web shows for Comedy Central, Spike and VH1. In December 2012, Turner was nominated for the award of Best Host at the 2013 Streamy Awards, although eventually lost out to KassemG.
"Tobuscus Adventures" and "Mine the Diamond"
In May 2013, Turner set up a fundraising campaign on crowdfunding website Indiegogo for an iOS (and later Android) game based on his Tobuscus Adventures YouTube series, called Tobuscus Adventures: Wizards!. The fundraiser surpassed its goal of $240,000 within two days, reaching more than $644,000. The game features Turner as main character Tobuscus as he fights off hordes of zombies to get to the Wizard of Darkness, and also cameos Gabe Hohreiter as Gabuscus, and Turner's dog Gryphon. The game was released in March 2015 for iOS and later for Android, and in May 2018 for PC, with initial plans to extend it to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Before the release of Tobuscus Adventures: Wizards!, Turner also revealed that a second, albeit smaller game, was in development at the same time and based on the popular sandbox game Minecraft, titled "Mine The Diamond", which was later released in June 2015 for iOS.