I know a lot of people (myself included) aren't huge fans of that frenetic, jump-cut-heavy style of vlog/video that's so common on YouTube but I'm pretty sure The Show was one of the first to really popularize it.
Still, I also loved The Show. At the time, I was used to IRC and forums and the comment sections of goof sites like Fark but it still felt like something really cool and unique when Ze would put out calls for submissions or contributions that would then be featured in episodes.
I'd done much smaller collab projects with forum friends in the past but his personality and fairly large fan base made it seem a lot more fun and like being part of a bigger crowd.
edit: it also led me to find the "pilot" for a show that was never produced: The Remnants. I'd watch that over The Walking Dead any day.
http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UvL6NITEozY (sadly the frame-rate in this reupload is messed up)