I did not know who MrBeast was until, maybe five years ago. I got a phone call from a woman who was asking about a podcast I’d done where I went almost to the top of a 2,000 foot tall television tower. The woman said she was a producer, and wanted to know how I’d gotten permission to go up there, who to talk to, that sort of thing. She was polite, thorough, professional, and I tried to help her out. And– when I asked who she was a producer FOR, she said … MrBeast.

I had no idea who that was.

MrBeast never did go up in a TV tower, far as I can tell. That does not seem to have held him back. At this point, he has more than 300 million total subscribers on YouTube, and some of his videos have more views than the Super Bowl. He’s opened restaurants. He’s launched his own food company called Feastables. The MrBeast logo is now on the jerseys of the Charlotte Hornets. And, I might add, MrBeast is 25-years-old.

You may be wondering: How does he do it? Where does he do it? What city is home to the headquarters of this man’s media empire– the epicenter of the YouTube universe? The answer: Greenville, North Carolina.

I know, right? Greenville! Population 87,000 people! East Carolina University! B’s Barbecue! That place! MrBeast grew up right down the road, and he’s never left. He is a very big deal, but is there a way to measure how big of a deal he is, online and offline? For that, I talked to Washington Post tech reporter Drew Harwell to trying to find the complicated answer to a ridiculous question: How much of Greenville’s economy relies on MrBeast?

You can listen below, or subscribe to the North Carolina Rabbit Hole podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other place where you get your podcasts.

You can read the original Washington Post story from Drew and Taylor Lorenz about MrBeast and Greenville here, and find more of Drew’s fantastic and occasionally frightening reporting on AI, algorithms, influencers, and more at his website, drewharwell.com.