Theres a chrome extension called alientube that shows reddit comments instead (useful for finding obscure niche subreddits too). Or there's plenty of extensions to hide comments.

My favorite is 'Herp Derp for YouTube'.

It changes every comment to a mix of

> Derp herpy derp derp

while still allowing you to click and see the "quality" comment that the person left.

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/herp-derp-for-yout...