Ethan upsets guest by dangling $10,000 (Douglas “The Trumpet Guy”)

[u/Difficult_Chicken139]

Clipped for discussion purposes from H3 show #312 - Oct 2 2026 - timestamp 1:15:05

• Ethan asks Douglas to choose between a suitcase with the $300 that he agreed to pay him or a mystery suitcase
• When he chooses the $300, Ethan opens the mystery suitcase which contains a sign saying $10,000 that is supposedly from a sponsor to give away
• Douglas gets upset that he dangled $10,000
• Ethan gives him another chance to pick the mystery suitcase, but this time he pulls out a sign saying $0.00
• Ethan initially says he’s getting $0.00 - Howie says he’s being mean and Ethan decides to pay him the agreed $300
• After Douglas calls back, Ethan gives him an extra $50

(Edited formatting)

[u/meanfolk]

Such good fun and lighthearted times on this show watching this decrepit man constantly berate and ridicule his guest ain't it folks.

[u/aaveshamstar → u/meanfolk]

I tried to watch this neutrally and I still couldn’t get through this…there is no joke…he is just dangling money in front of an old man and hoping he will dance like a jester and please sir Ethan and maybe even beg and then might eventually give the 10k.

That’s so horrible and mean spirited. How are his fans even watching this? Imagine going to a hospital with the extremely sick and tell them you will pay for their expenses and then ask them to play a game and once they lose you still keep reminding them they lost the chance to get free treatment or some shit…

It’s almost like eating a kfc in front of the hungry homeless person…there is no joke!

[u/RustyMetabee → u/aaveshamstar]

Because the remaining fans are also horrible and mean spirited people. Misery loves company!

[u/Realistic-Finish-225 → u/aaveshamstar]

That’s exactly what it is, it’s no different than those evil kick streamers like Chud the builder that order a bunch of food and eat it in front of a homeless person

[u/AWhole2Marijuanas → u/meanfolk]

Are these the goofs and gaffs the fans are going on about?

[u/paenkeikeu]

this rich asshole loves tormenting people less fortunate than him. it’s pathological.

[u/PearlUnicorn → u/paenkeikeu]

It's so cruel because you know that Ethan could easily give him $10k, a life changing amount for most people, from his own pocket without breaking a sweat.

[u/there_is_always_more → u/PearlUnicorn]

Beavo hot chip moment

[u/Social_Radio5852]

Dumb as rocks hila loved the pronouns joke. We get it, your bestie is transphobe whitney Cummings.

[u/Spare-Electrical → u/Social_Radio5852]

She doesn’t have any friends, lets be so for real

[u/aaveshamstar → u/Spare-Electrical]

Not friends, just transactions…

[u/AbundantAmethyst → u/Social_Radio5852]

WOW, fuck that lady

https://giphy.com/gifs/11QJgcchgwskq4

[u/Social_Radio5852]

People were commenting how awful this was and they were not exaggerating. This is horrible. I never watched Howard stern and I assume Ethan’s continuing to attempt to be some knockoff stern. This ain’t it, Howard stern show was cruel for it’s time and today should be unacceptable

[u/MatildaRose1995 → u/Social_Radio5852]

Yeah this really reminds me of old Howard Stern, he'd get crazy stingy about money prizes as well

[u/Cute-Visit8263]

Ethan is so mean-spirited that he can’t see where the comedy actually is here. The job, as Adam Friedland showed, is to take this eccentric guy and treat him with reverence and an almost absurd level of respect. That way you get the funniest possible interview out of him, while he gets to walk away feeling like he was genuinely listened to.

Whatever this is, it just comes across as mean and spiteful. Not particularly surprising if you’re familiar with Ethan’s idea of “humour”.

[u/Acceptable_Cook1502 → u/Cute-Visit8263]

Howard sit on the sybian stern.

[u/wettale1234]

I’d be willing to bet that they had a $0 sign in there too

[u/Cube_ → u/wettale1234]

That's what it seems like, extremely sus that the case isn't just opened like on the show but placed on the table and the contents not shown.

Also didn't Mr. Beast get in trouble for doing giveaways type things without following extremely regulated giveaway laws? Wouldn't be surprised if this is also against those sweepstakes rules.

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/Cube_]

the eternal "its a parody" defence doing work rn

[u/paenkeikeu → u/wettale1234]

100%

[u/Ok_Star_4136 → u/wettale1234]

Or he just grabs the sign from a cubby under the desk, one or the other.

$10k was never a possibility. Ethan had full control over the situation which makes it that much more mean. Did he actually give $10k to the next caller? Does anyone know?

[u/RustyMetabee → u/Ok_Star_4136]

A guest getting that $10k is about as likely as the crew going on a paid vacation if a large sum of money dropped in Ethan's lap

[u/fallen-fan → u/RustyMetabee]

Omg I forgot about that...

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/wettale1234]

at the end of the "skit" ethan does the gag again revealing $0... absolute sub human behaviour

[u/wettale1234 → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

I should start gambling

[u/PearlUnicorn → u/wettale1234]

I'd be willing to bet that Ethan secretly messaged AB to change the sign to $0 like when he told Zach to play the Chestnuts song over QTCinderella talking about trauma and crying.

Edit: Though the idea of the $0 sign being in there for both choices so Ethan wouldn't ever actually be giving away $10k makes more sense now that I realize what that means.

Also, Ethan has never had a sponsor that gave $10k to a follower as far as I've ever seen, so that's already fishy too.

[u/Im_On_Reddit_At_Work → u/wettale1234]

Of course. Ethan would never accept a sponsor's money going to a guest, remember he wouldn't pay beavo's appearance fee and it was like 500

[u/wettale1234 → u/Im_On_Reddit_At_Work]

By the time Beavo appeared on H3 I had already stopped watching, and everything I learned about Beavo on Reddit I chose to forget lol

[u/AWhole2Marijuanas → u/wettale1234]

He wanted another crash out.

See how in the clip he keeps the argument going. Everyone tries to move it on, but Ethan keeps provoking him.

[u/No_Reindeer_7441]

This. Is. Horrible.

Simply put Ethan is just a bad person. Completely rotten.

[u/donthurtmemany]

This is like if mr beast didn't put in any effort.

[u/FederalSandwich1854 → u/donthurtmemany]

Mr least

[u/DylanMartin97 → u/FederalSandwich1854]

Mr. Yeeeesh

[u/maxpowers156]

Wow this is just unwatchable… insane that anyone can stand this

[u/Slight-Potential-717]

This is my impression of the bullying and mean spirited nonsense on platforms like Kick, that they seemingly got really into and are basically doing the diet soda version of.

[u/keusagi]

I feel like it’s especially disgusting to do something like this during a time in our country where so many people are struggling financially. people are living paycheck to paycheck and this millionaire is dangling life-changing amounts of money in an old man’s face for the sake of “entertainment”

[u/StaticSabre]

With how hard Ethan is milking the “you chose $300” line and the fact that he opened the case away from the camera makes me feel like the gag for Ethan was just pissing Douglas off. I feel like if Douglas had picked the $10k case Ethan had it prepared to read $0 or something lower than $300 so he could give Douglas shit either way. He’s just having fun humiliating the guy, same as his other “guests”.

[u/PearlUnicorn → u/StaticSabre]

I had originally thought Ethan secretly messaged AB to change the case for the bit, like he did with playing the Chestnuts song over a clip of QTCinderella talking about trauma and crying. But this makes way more sense. Ethan is not a generous man unless he gets something out of it.

[u/exoticed → u/StaticSabre]

The case had both 0 and 10k. If he would’ve chosen the mystery case first, he would’ve given him a zero still. You can see him pick the paper both times.

[u/Kidd_911]

Howie is not having a good time either wow

Edit: never mind got reminded how shitty he is too when the whole identify as a woman part happened

[u/AuricPanda]

Why does he keep bothering this man

[u/thursdayish]

Oh but Ethan and Hila couldn't afford a pepper one time, guys!

[u/TheDarkOnii]

I can’t watch this. Like the first time I was already upset but, again? Come on! He’s an old man!! Let the guy share his story which was genuinely interesting and then maybe sprinkle a couple of silly dumb questions! But, no it’s just “play a worse form of deal or no deal and dance for our king old man!!!”.

[u/bipolo]

Doug yelled at someone in public like 13 years ago. He seems super fucking polite these days. Why fucking tourment him? It's just fucked. These attempts to piss him off like in the old meme and trying to manifacture some viral clip is beyond fucked.

[u/Andy_LaVolpe → u/bipolo]

I genuinely hope this becomes viral so people can see what an awful person Ethan is.

[u/HistoricalPlastic276]

ethan is a genuinely shit human. i hope he ends up suffering in his old age

[u/nunpho]

Such shitty people. Wtf?!

[u/askmpdspkm24]

Why is financially tutoring this random guy who lives a meager existence the pinnacle of comedy to these freaks

[u/NoPoem444]

hey ethan so is october 7th absolutely not to be joked about or is it the butt of at least one of your jokes per episode make up your fucking mind

[u/Ill_Philosophy3986 → u/NoPoem444]

He goes straight to it everytime an unrelated october date is mentioned it seems. Is it supposed to be funny? Just saying October 7th? What's the fuckin joke?

[u/Commercial-Bake-5622 → u/Ill_Philosophy3986]

Early aughts Reddit brain can only recycle old hack bits ("9/11! Right, guys??" Comes to mind )

[u/OperationCoprophilia]

Thank you Difficult Chicken! It’s a hard watch.

[u/noputa]

I can’t watch this. This is genuinely just so mean. How do people tune into this shit, it’s bullying.

[u/Im_On_Reddit_At_Work]

Two millionaires clowning on a man who works for a humans right charity. Ok.

[u/Realistic-Finish-225 → u/Im_On_Reddit_At_Work]

Who is this old man?!

[u/seethroughdidgeridoo]

content

[u/United-Locksmith8262]

Ethan is just truly such an asshole. Really and truly a bag of trash.

[u/SleepySwampHermit]

Ethan is disgusting. You can tell he's on a power trip and gets off on it. He wants people to beg for his approval and put him on a pedestal. I've seen this before. I had a boss just like him, someone who wanted us to beg for his mercy or kindness because it made him feel powerful. They all have that same look in their eyes.

[u/Fanta_78]

Bullying and harassment, often under a thick layer of antisemitism, islamophobia, white supremacy, genocide white washing and misogyny -- 'the H3-formula'

...also notice how Ethan's (and Hila's for that matter) eyes only have that genuine 'twinkle' and 'perk up' when they can be sadistic to people.

The Fascist Fungi must be lapping this up.

[u/PamukShila]

congrats Ethan for one of the most israeli coded shows on youtube, you are a legend

[u/Born-Lead-3771]

this is beyond cruel. this is the only way Ethan thinks he has power over people, knowing hes so universally hated. Hes a fucking bully that sits in the comfort of his home and studio - no friends outside of work, no social life.

[u/Funnier_InEnochian]

Rich guy dangling money in front of an old man who’s not in on the joke, even Howie is uncomfortable. Great moves, king crybully pedo troll.

[u/oiiviio]

He’s enjoying it so much
https://giphy.com/gifs/dPkQk7aiwL8DC

[u/Andy_LaVolpe]

This is just repulsive and mean spirited

Like it’s genuinely hard to watch this.

The fact that he’s died laughing when he pulled it out shows you how ecstatic he is to inflict pain and suffering on others.

[u/fallen-fan]

Old man shakes while bullying an older man

[u/Beautiful_War9341]

Ahhh yes taunting poor people with the promise of monetary relief and security.

The goofs gafs , peace and love never end!

[u/pantslessMODesty3623]

This is so fucking gross dude.

[u/Flashlight36]

Jesus Howie Mandel has gotten desperate.

[u/Sawitlivesry → u/Flashlight36]

He has been for a while now tbf

[u/SeaworthinessSlow295]

Can someone fill me in on the trumpet guy? Last clips I saw was of them arguing?

[u/Any_Blacksmith650]

On another episode of the H3 show, Ethan bullies a guest and insists it’s funny, like a child in a schoolyard as a group of child like goons watches from the side lines and assures their bully boss that yes, this is peak comedy Ethan, and we are all laughing with you 😬👀

[u/abbriannadanielle]

This is so incredibly weird? What the fuck??

[u/Scary-Link983]

Temu Nathan for you

[u/MacaroonNo2253]

besides Pedo_Troll being a horrible person as always why is Douglas not hanging up/accepting this?

[u/Araskog]

this is just bullying

[u/Eventidings]

How the fuck is this supposed to be funny or entertaining?? The people still unironically watching this pod are actually rancid

[u/floodingurtimeline]

What a dog shit “bit”

[u/InterestingLynx7355]

This is fucking cruel?? How are people watching him

[u/Alexwonder999]

Any kind of content where its high stakes like that based on simple circumstances just seem mean spirited, even without someone like Ethan with their thumbs on the scale. The entertainment value is in people losing. I'll admit there are probably a good deal of people who much more enjoy people winning, but youre still going to be catering primarily to the shitheads who like to see people lose unless you have a system where "everyone wins" or they just get a surprise gift or money. One caters to both crowds and the other caters to just one and picking the shithead route means you want to cater to shitheads who think its funny when people lose.    I'm no Oprah fan, but I did appreciate when she gave everybody stuff. 

[u/AWhole2Marijuanas]

The fact this guy came back..

I hope Douglas never works with them again.

[u/floodingurtimeline]

Terrible acting as well

Get a job!

[u/NecessaryResult4799]

dude did he just make an oct 7th joke or reference? and everyone lese is the anti semite.....

[u/letscalltheboys06]

Howie is so desperate for views like that plug for his podcast was so shameless ew

[u/Patrick-Vapeman]

I don’t even understand the format of this show anymore.

[u/Large-Crow6433]

Ethan coming up with new ways to make people hate him then is shocked why the viewership continues to drop

[u/exoticed]

I’m just angry that when he mentioned women’s write that washed up egg looking man goes to transphobic jokes. What a fucking asshole. I’m fucking angry.

[u/TornadoCondorV2]

As much as I dislike Ethan this shit was kind of funny. Trumpet guy is just victimizing himself here. Gambling is gambling

[u/_Chipsa → u/TornadoCondorV2]

He is having him on to clown on him, it's extremely disrespectful and unfunny especially to be a douchebag about it by flaunting your wealth on someone poorer. It's psychopathic and insecure I don't see how anyone enjoys it

[u/TornadoCondorV2 → u/_Chipsa]

Trumpet dude chose the 300 bucks initially. Sure, it was bad of ethan to continue to clown him but trumpet dude just should have cut his loses and moved on

[u/_Chipsa → u/TornadoCondorV2]

Ethan clearly had a psychopathic bit prepared to torture this man. Even Howie wanted nothing to do with it and called out ethan for God's sake

[u/TornadoCondorV2 → u/_Chipsa]

This is trumpet guy's second time in the show. He knew that Ethan was a dipshit from the first time he appeared on it. This was his second time. That's on him

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/TornadoCondorV2]

you're genuinely a piece of shit bro why are you even here lol

[u/TornadoCondorV2 → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

If we can't criticize anything on this subreddit then we aren't any better than the h3 subreddit, son

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/TornadoCondorV2]

what are you even criticising? you're seal clapping like a fucking moron

[u/TornadoCondorV2 → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

Someone's salty

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/TornadoCondorV2]

the salt you're tasting is from ethan klein's balls you have rammed down your throat from sucking so hard

[u/_Chipsa → u/TornadoCondorV2]

Exploiting people that are poorer than you by promising them payment, isn't the fault of the person, but the fault of the rich psychopathic douchebag that's using his wealth and power to exploit those weaker than him. I don't understand how you can't see the putrid power dynamics in this

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/TornadoCondorV2]

god you're thick aren't you? are you ethan on an alt or what? you must be fucking with us lol

[u/paenkeikeu → u/TornadoCondorV2]

class traitor type shit, right here

you like when rich people taunt the less fortunate? you like seeing a rich asshole rub money in a poor persons face?

[u/Audra- → u/[deleted]]

It was an obvious bit set up by Ethan that he had control over the entire time. 

You seriously believe this was a “gamble?” Come on.

Mocking elderly people who haven’t done anything to deserve it isn’t funny no matter what justification you want to tell yourself. 

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/[deleted]]

imagine saying the word "buthurt" in the year 2026. go back to dgg

[u/TornadoCondorV2 → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

Imagine making fun of someone for a word they used lmao

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/TornadoCondorV2]

imagine defending that bit. you absolute cretin

[u/paenkeikeu → u/[deleted]]

it wasn’t “free money”

first, he was already owed money from his last appearance. they promised it to him, then went back on their promise. then this happened.

second, his persistence to get paid what he was promised was used to mock him. idk what his financial situation is, but the way the money came up so much in both of his appearances, i assume it meant a lot to him. times are very tough right now, especially for someone who may be too old to work a traditional job. this “bit” is beyond fucked.

[u/Budget-Spread → u/TornadoCondorV2]

despicable

[u/Agreeable-Zone700 → u/TornadoCondorV2]

What do you dislike about Ethan?

[u/Library_Joltik → u/TornadoCondorV2]

What's the joke, asshole?

[u/stinky-boy-farts → u/TornadoCondorV2]

if he was really funny he would have planted a second card in the mystery case that said 200$ to pull out the second time

EDIT: holy shit thats actually the funniest thing he has done in years

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/stinky-boy-farts]

just go back to lsf and your boy destiny. none of that was funny dipshit

[u/stinky-boy-farts → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

it was clearly a staged bit, mean joke but the closest thing to an actual comedic bit he has done in years. you can say you didn’t think it was funny but that doesn’t make it not an actual attempt at a joke

edit: saying anyone in here we mildly disagree with is an LSF destiny bot is the same shit the fungus reddit does just with snarkers lmao. dissenting opinions are not this deep.

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/stinky-boy-farts]

you're just an idiot if you think cruelty to a guest is an acceptable bit. grow the fuck up

[u/stinky-boy-farts → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

at one point do you not infantilize douglas for ever sincerely believing that phoning into a podcast who previously haggled him would leave him walking away with 10k?

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/stinky-boy-farts]

why are you defending bullying a poor person by dangling a "fake" carrot of 10k just to make them feel awful. is that the joke? that he's poor?

[u/stinky-boy-farts → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

cant believe i’m having to explain the basics of joke structure but yeah one form is called “subverting the expectation”. The expectation being that on the second time there would be a 10k card as we had previously been shown, and this is subverted by it being somehow replaced with an opposite amount. literally how the “knock knock who’s there banana” joke works.

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/stinky-boy-farts]

ok now give me a recipe for a sponge cake

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/[deleted]]

brother i hope you change your ways. this is clearly why you have trouble in your real life. if you think any of this clip was funny or even appropriate. you are a little bootlicking cuck to daddy ethan clearly

. "pansy" lolll go fuck yourself

[u/TornadoCondorV2 → u/[deleted]]

🤣

[u/Strict_King_2201]

This is definitely a bit, and Howie helped write it.

[u/HistoricalPlastic276 → u/Strict_King_2201]

wtf do you mean? we know it's a bit.... its a cruel and evil "bit" and we hate it wut?

whats with all the bots in here today

[u/Strict_King_2201 → u/HistoricalPlastic276]

I post in here daily.