Oobah Butler

Oobah Butler is a writer, filmmaker, and presenter who uses comedy and immersive stunts to expose the absurdities of modern life. Best known for making his London shed TripAdvisor's top-rated restaurant and author of the LA Times bestselling book *How to Bullsh*t Your Way to Number 1*, he has generated over 250 million documentary views online and hosted MTV's *Catfish UK*. His recent Channel 4 films, including *The Great Amazon Heist* and the upcoming *How To Trick Your Way Onto The Property Ladder*, earned him a 2026 Edinburgh TV Festival nomination for Best Presenter. Audiences leave his sessions with fresh perspectives on authenticity, creativity, and challenging convention in an increasingly artificial world.

When Oobah Butler transformed his South London shed into TripAdvisor's highest-rated restaurant in London without serving a single dish, he sparked a global conversation about authenticity, perception, and the power of online manipulation. That 2017 stunt generated 40 million views, earned him comparisons to "the Donald Trump of TripAdvisor" from The Washington Post, and positioned him as one of the most inventive satirists exploring the absurdities of modern life. From infiltrating Paris Fashion Week as a fake designer to allowing Instagram followers to control his every decision for 24 hours, Butler's work uses immersive comedy to expose how easily systems can be gamed and how readily we trust what we see online.

Butler's career has evolved from quietly admired articles in VICE and The Guardian to internationally recognised documentary filmmaking that has amassed over 250 million views. His debut book, *How to Bullsh\*t Your Way to Number 1*, became an instant LA Times and USA TODAY bestseller in 2019, cementing his reputation as both provocateur and cultural commentator. He has hosted MTV's *Catfish UK*, one of the nation's most popular television programmes, and created Channel 4's *The Great Amazon Heist* in 2023, followed by *How to Trick Your Way onto the Property Ladder* in 2026. His work has earned recognition from Turner Prize-winning artist Grayson Perry, former *New Yorker* editor Nicholas Thompson, and a 2026 Edinburgh TV Festival nomination for Best Presenter in Factual programming. Whether covertly appearing on BBC2's *The Eggheads* or documenting schemes to make a million pounds in 90 days, Butler immerses himself in different worlds with curiosity, wit, and a commitment to revealing uncomfortable truths about how society operates.

Audiences leave Butler's sessions with a fundamentally shifted perspective on authenticity, creativity, and the systems that shape daily life. He demonstrates how questioning conventions and embracing unconventional thinking can reveal hidden opportunities and expose flawed structures, equipping people with practical frameworks for challenging assumptions in their own industries. His talks combine storytelling with actionable insights about innovation, risk-taking, and navigating an increasingly artificial world where perception often trumps reality. Butler inspires audiences to think critically, act boldly, and recognise that the rules governing success are far more flexible than they appear, creating lasting impact that extends well beyond the event itself.