Blimey Cow

Last updated

Blimey Cow
Blimey Cow logo.jpg
Blimey Cow logo
Personal information
Born
Josh Taylor
Jordan Taylor
Kelli Taylor
Sara Taylor
OriginNashville, Tennessee
Website http://www.blimeycow.com
YouTube information
Channels Blimey Cow
Jordan Taylor
Created byJosh Taylor
Jordan Taylor
Years active2005–present
Genre(s) Christian comedy, sketch comedy, video blog, commentary
Subscribers517 thousand
Total views125 million
Associated actsJordan Taylor Videos
The Blimey Cow Audio Network
The Inner Tube
Who Would Build The Roads
YouTube Silver Play Button 2.svg100,000 subscribers
Last updated: June 5, 2020

Blimey Cow is an internet comedy channel based in Nashville, Tennessee, created in 2005 by brothers Josh and Jordan Taylor, most famous for the series Messy Mondays. Produced by and starring the Taylor brothers, Josh's wife Kelli, and Jordan's wife Sara, the channel targets the idiosyncrasies of conservative Christianity, youth group, romantic relationships, homeschooling, politics, and social media. Blimey Cow experienced a major surge in popularity after the video "Seven Lies About Homeschoolers" went viral. Musician Derek Webb, Colin Kimble of As Cities Burn, and John Reuben have all made appearances on Blimey Cow after discovering the channel. In addition to these appearances, the channel has received attention from musician Michael Gungor, authors Lew Rockwell and Thomas Woods, and various media outlets and programs such as The 700 Club , The Christian Post , The Huffington Post , Metro , Today , and WKRN-TV.

Contents

History

Early history

The brothers began filming videos in 2005. [1] At a young age, their father taught them how to shoot videos and use special effects in an effort to demonstrate that movie violence, which had frightened the brothers, was fake. [1] The brothers initially filmed using a simple home video camera, and posted their videos on Google Video, which eventually merged with YouTube when Google acquired the latter. [1] [2] According to Josh, Jordan's favorite word at the time was "cow", and the brothers had a friend who frequently said "blimey", so the words were merged to create "Blimey Cow". [3] Influenced by The Office , Napoleon Dynamite , and Christopher Guest, the Taylor brothers adopted a mockumentary style. [1] [2] In 2007, Colin Cimble of the band As Cities Burn appeared in an episode of the show Jordan's Messyges. [4] [5] The activity by the brothers declined once Josh started college and met his future wife Kelli, and Jordan finished up high school.

Re-launch and early popularity

In 2011, Josh had married Kelli and Jordan entered college. Josh convinced Jordan to create one video every week. [1] [2] They launched this new series, featuring Jordan addressing various topics, under the title of "Messy Mondays", modeled after a previous series, Jordan's Messyges. [1] Messy Mondays debuted on August 29, 2011 with the video "New School Year". [1] A few minor hits emerged, specifically "The One About Mission Trips", "3 Types of Churches", "10 Ways to Get a Girl to Like You", and "The Truth About Youth Group". [2] The video "The One About Mission Trips" critiqued short-term missions and suggested that the money raised could fund longer-term missions. [2] Josh stated that while it generated some negative feedback from state-side viewers, missionaries in other countries praised the video for addressing this issue. [2] The videos "3 Types of Churches", "10 Ways to Get a Girl to Like You", and "The Truth About Youth Group" each brought in about 3,000 views per week. [6]

Viral breakthrough

On January 16, 2012, Blimey Cow released the Messy Mondays video "Seven Lies About Homeschoolers". The video received over one million views in under a week. [6] [7] It is currently at 2.3 million views. In February, the Christian Broadcasting Network picked up the video, interviewing Jordan Taylor on The 700 Club during a segment on homeschooling. [8] On April 24, 2012, historian and author Thomas Woods interviewed Josh Taylor while guest hosting The Peter Schiff Show. [9] [10] Two days later, author, former Congressional staffer Lew Rockwell posted the homeschooling video on his website LewRockwell.com, [11] and in July he interviewed Josh Taylor on his podcast The Lew Rockwell Show. [2] Following the success of the homeschooling video, Blimey Cow formed a YouTube partnership and signed up for Google advertising to generate revenue. [2]

Subsequent success

On August 2, 2012, the Korean edition of Christian Today noted the Messy Mondays video "10 Ways to Get the Right Guy to Like You", uploaded on January 23, 2012, in an online article on Christian dating. [12]

The following year, on February 3, Blimey Cow released another highly successful Messy Mondays video, "How to Write a Worship Song (In 5 Minutes or Less)". By February 4, the video surged to the top five most popular currently watched videos on YouTube, and by February 7, the video garnered 213,000 views. [13] The episode was written and conceived by Canadian musician Garrett Vandenberg. [13] The video received highly positive feedback, including Twitter shout-outs from individuals in the music industry. Jeff Cruz of 89.7 WMHK said the video was "remarkably accurate and incredibly sad at same time." [13] Post-rock musician Michael Gungor called the video "brilliant" and said he would have to see more of Blimey Cow's material. [13] Singer-songwriter Derek Webb stated that the video "is as funny as it is true. Which makes it not funny." [13] This flurry of Twitter activity caught the attention of The Christian Post , which published a story about the video on February 7, 2013. [13]

On March 24, Derek Webb made a guest appearance in the video "The Top 15 Christian Cliches". The following day, WKRN-TV posted an article about the Taylors and their success. [7]

On April 29, 2013, Blimey Cow released the video "Why I Hate Going to Graduations", about which The Huffington Post posted a short article the following day. [14] The next week, the members of the band Pompton Lakes appeared in the opening and closing scenes for the video "Ten Things You Should Never Say to a Guy". [15]

The video "I Like You in Real Life (But Not on the Internet)", uploaded on May 26, attracted the attention of several media outlets. Mashable posted a short story on the video on May 28, [16] and on May 30, Today host Willie Geist mentioned the channel while discussing social media etiquette with business woman Randi Zuckerberg. [17] On June 5, 2013, Metro based an article on the video, and interviewed Josh on the issue of internet behavior. [18]

In May 2017, Christian rapper John Reuben made an appearance on the channel.

Kickstarter campaign and BCAN

In March and April 2013, Blimey Cow successfully ran a Kickstarter campaign to raise money for equipment to begin an audio podcast. The project reached its $1,700 goal in 40 minutes. [7] By the end of the campaign, nearly $17,000 had been raised and the plan evolved into what was called the Blimey Cow Audio Network, or BCAN. Financial supporters of the Kickstarter received Blimey Cow merchandise, such as T-shirts, stickers and special recordings. [19]

Personal biographies

Jordan Taylor

Jordan grew up attending small churches with his family, and he and Josh involved themselves in youth groups and Vacation Bible School, experiences which inspire much of the content on their channel. [1] After homeschooling through highschool, Jordan attended Cumberland University before transferring to Trevecca Nazarene University, where he majored in English with a creative writing minor. While at Cumberland, he rode in the University cycling team, and now cycles as a hobby. [1] Jordan started his own YouTube channel in 2015, which has 1.48 lakh subscribers as of July 2021. [20] On June 26, 2015, he released an album, Long Drive. [21] In May 2017, Jordan married Sara Bonham. [22]

Josh Taylor

When Josh was a teenager, he wrote some reviews for the Christian music website Jesus Freak Hideout. [23] In addition to his writing and photo work on the website, he and the website founder, John DiBiase, created a mockumentary series entitled "The Hideout" which fictionally portrayed the office life at Jesus Freak Hideout. [24]

Josh holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mass communications with a focus on television and radio. From 2009 to 2010 while in college, he hosted a nightly radio show The Evening Blend on the now defunct 89.1 FM WNAZ. Upon graduating, he worked as a master control operator for WHTN before taking on a job, helping his father as a patent artist for local attorneys. [1] [6] He now does Blimey Cow full-time. Josh also does planning for Disney World vacations, and runs the podcasts The Inner Tube and Who Would Build the Roads with co-host Kevin McCreary. Several of his characters on the channel include: College Josh, Twitter Troll Josh, Youth Pastor Josh and liberalist Josh[ citation needed ].

Kelli Taylor

Kelli grew up in a family of five and was homeschooled from third grade on. When she first met Josh, Kelli says that he acted "very dorky" and gave her one of the joke CDs that he and Jordan made. [1] In addition to her work with Blimey Cow, Kelli enjoys writing, photography, cooking, planning, movies, friends, and food, and maintains a blog, "Currently Kelli". [1] [25]

Personnel

Supporting personnel

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeschooling</span> Education of children outside of a school

Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or online teacher, many homeschool families use less formal, more personalized and individualized methods of learning that are not always found in schools. The actual practice of homeschooling varies considerably. The spectrum ranges from highly structured forms based on traditional school lessons to more open, free forms such as unschooling, which is a lesson- and curriculum-free implementation of homeschooling. Some families who initially attended a school go through a deschool phase to break away from school habits and prepare for homeschooling. While "homeschooling" is the term commonly used in North America, "home education" is primarily used in Europe and many Commonwealth countries. Homeschooling should not be confused with distance education, which generally refers to the arrangement where the student is educated by and conforms to the requirements of an online school, rather than being educated independently and unrestrictedly by their parents or by themselves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lew Rockwell</span> American libertarian author, editor, and political consultant (born 1944)

Llewellyn Harrison Rockwell Jr. is an American author, editor, and political consultant. A libertarian and a self-professed anarcho-capitalist, he founded and is the chairman of the Mises Institute, a non-profit promoting the Austrian School of economics.

Rooster Teeth Productions, LLC is an American production company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2003 by Burnie Burns, Matt Hullum, Geoff Ramsey, Jason Saldaña, Gus Sorola, and Joel Heyman, Rooster Teeth is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery Global Streaming & Interactive Entertainment which is a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casting Crowns</span> Christian Rock band

Casting Crowns is a contemporary Christian and Christian rock band started in 1999 by youth pastor Mark Hall, who serves as the band's lead vocalist, as part of a youth group at First Baptist Church in Downtown Daytona Beach, Florida. They later moved to Stockbridge, Georgia, and more members joined. Some members of the band currently work as ministers for Eagle's Landing First Baptist Church in McDonough, Georgia. The band has won a Grammy and a Dove Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plumb (singer)</span> Contemporary Christian singer, songwriter and author

Tiffany Arbuckle Lee, better known by her stage name Plumb, is an American songwriter, recording artist, performer and author. Plumb has sold more than 500,000 albums and over two million singles worldwide, co-penned songs for numerous other artists, including Michelle Branch, Mandisa, Mandy Moore, Jaci Velasquez, and Natalie Grant, and had music placed in many films and television shows. Originally signed as a contemporary Christian music recording artist in 1997, Plumb is now known as well as or better in alternative rock, electronic dance music, and for the use of her music in film and television than she is in the contemporary Christian music market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Relient K</span> American alternative rock band

Relient K is an American rock band formed in 1998 in Canton, Ohio, by Matt Thiessen, Matt Hoopes, and Brian Pittman during their third year in high school and time at Malone University. The band is named after guitarist Hoopes' automobile, a Plymouth Reliant K car, with the spelling intentionally altered to avoid trademark infringement over the Reliant name.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BarlowGirl</span> American Christian rock band

BarlowGirl was an American Christian rock and Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) all-female band from Elgin, Illinois. The band was composed of sisters Alyssa, Lauren and Rebecca Barlow. The band is best known for its radio singles "Never Alone" in 2004 and "I Need You to Love Me" in 2006, breaking records for the longest-charting No. 1 song on the Radio and Records Christian Hit Radio (CHR) chart and obtaining millions of views for their music videos on YouTube. The band also saw continued success with their Home for Christmas album. The band exceeded sales of one million compact discs by the end of 2008 and finished its career with over 1 million digital song downloads and 1.3 million compact disc sales.

Loretta Nall is the founder of the United States Marijuana Party, which calls for the legalization of cannabis. She was a write-in candidate for governor of Alabama in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Homeschooling in the United States</span> Overview of the situation of homeschooling in the United States of America

Homeschooling constitutes the education of about 3.4% of U.S. students as of 2012. The number of homeschoolers in the United States has increased significantly over the past few decades since the end of the 20th century. In the United States, the Supreme Court has ruled that parents have a fundamental right to direct the education of their children. The right to homeschool is not frequently questioned in court, but the amount of state regulation and help that can or should be expected continues to be subject to legal debate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Smosh</span> American YouTube comedy channel

Smosh is an American YouTube sketch comedy-improv collective, independent production company, and former social networking site founded by Anthony Padilla and Ian Hecox. In 2002, Padilla created a website named "smosh.com" for making Flash animations, and he was later joined by Hecox. They began to post videos on Smosh's YouTube channel in the fall of 2005 and quickly became one of the most popular channels on the site. The Smosh channel has over 10 billion views and over 25 million subscribers.

Joshua David Wilson is a contemporary Christian musician from El Dorado, Arkansas. He is best known for the radio singles "Savior, Please" from his 2008 album Trying to Fit the Ocean in a Cup and "Before the Morning" from his 2009 EP, Life is Not a Snapshot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elle and Blair Fowler</span> Sister duo

Elle Fowler and Blair Fowler are sisters who posted beauty and style-related tutorials on YouTube as AllThatGlitters21 (Elle) and juicystar07 (Blair). Elle came into the beauty and fashion world during the summer of 2008 and convinced Blair to join her. Their videos of makeup tutorials and clothing hauls quickly garnered a large audience and rose in popularity. As of August 2017, Elle's videos on AllThatGlitters21 have been viewed more than 180 million times, while Blair's channel juicystar07 has received over 270 million views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vsauce</span> YouTube brand created by Michael Stevens

Vsauce is a YouTube brand created by educator Michael Stevens. The channels feature videos on scientific, psychological, mathematical, and philosophical topics, as well as gaming, technology, popular culture, and other general interest subjects.

<i>Release the Panic</i>

Release the Panic is the fourth studio album by American Christian rock band Red. It was released on February 5, 2013 through Essential Records and Sony Music. It was produced by Howard Benson. The first song released from the album, "Release the Panic," was released on Friday, November 9, 2012 on their official VEVO channel on YouTube. The first single from the album, "Perfect Life," was released on November 29, 2012 on their official VEVO channel on YouTube.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Crowder</span> American-Canadian political commentator (born 1987)

Steven Blake Crowder is an American-Canadian conservative political commentator and media host.

Josh or Joshua Taylor may refer to:

The 2013 YouTube Music Awards, abbreviated as the YTMA, was the inaugural music award show presented by YouTube. The inaugural award show was held on November 3, 2013, streamed live from Pier 36 in New York City, with additional shows in Seoul, Moscow, Rio de Janeiro, and London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">YouTube (channel)</span> Official channel of YouTube

YouTube is the official YouTube channel for the American video-sharing platform YouTube, spotlighting videos and events on the platform. Events shown on the channel include YouTube Comedy Week and the YouTube Music Awards. Additionally, the channel uploaded annual installments of YouTube Rewind between 2010 and 2019. For a brief period in late 2013, the channel was ranked as the most-subscribed on the platform. As of November 2023, the channel has earned 39 million subscribers and 3.2 billion video views.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HowToBasic</span> Australian YouTube channel

HowToBasic is an Australian YouTube comedy channel that is part of the WBD Ad Sales network, with over 17 million subscribers. The creator of the videos does not speak or show his face, and remains anonymous. The channel primarily features bizarre and destructive visual gags disguised as how-to tutorials. The channel first gained popularity in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keemstar</span> American internet personality (born 1982)

Daniel M. Keem, known online as Keemstar, is an American YouTuber, podcaster, and streamer who is mainly known for being the host of the Internet popular culture news show DramaAlert.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Presenter: Scott McCausey with Cindy Sprouls, interviewing Josh, Jordan, and Kelli Taylor. (July 3, 2012). "Christian Devotions Speak UP! with Blimey Cow". Christian Devotions Speak UP!. 11:02 minutes in. BlogTalkRadio.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Presenter: Lew Rockwell, interviewing Josh Taylor. Uploader: egarris. (July 14, 2012). "Blimey Cow!". The Lew Rockwell Show. Episode 292. LewRockwell.com.
  3. ↑ "Anonymous asked: How did y'all come up with the "Blimey Cow" name? :)". Blimey Cow Tumblr. Tumblr. May 2, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ BlimeyCow (August 19, 2007). "Jordan's Messyges: "Listen to God's Chosen"" (Web/Video). Blimey Cow. YouTube. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  5. ↑ Taylor, Josh (May 1, 2013). "Concerning the "God's Chosen Band" Controversy" (Web/Video). BlimeyCowVlog. YouTube. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  6. 1 2 3 Batten, Chelsea (May 17, 2013). "Everybody Watch! // BlimeyCow". Converge. Converge Magazine. Archived from the original on August 4, 2013. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  7. 1 2 3 Tucker, Jamey (March 25, 2013). "Hermitage trio becomes YouTube star". WKRN-TV . Young Broadcasting. Archived from the original on May 12, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  8. ↑ CBN (February 27, 2012). "700 Club Interactive -- Jordan Taylor - February 27, 2012 - CBN.com" (Web/Video). CBNOnline. YouTube. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  9. ↑ Presenter: Thomas Woods, interviewing Josh Taylor (April 24, 2012). "Tom Woods Hosts the Peter Schiff Show, 4/24/12". The Peter Schiff Show. 41:48 minutes in. SchiffRadio.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  10. ↑ Woods, Thomas (April 27, 2012). "Blimey Cow". LewRockwell.com . Lew Rockwell and Burton Blumert. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012.
  11. ↑ Rockwell, Lew (April 26, 2012). "7 Lies About Homeschoolers". LewRockwell.com . Lew Rockwell and Burton Blumert. Archived from the original on July 10, 2012. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
  12. ↑ 크리스찬투데이 (August 2, 2012). 밸런타인 맞아 교회 젊은이 위한 행사들 풍성. 크리스찬투데이 (in Korean). Christian Today Limited. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Menzie, Nicola (February 7, 2013). "'How to Write a Worship Song' Spoof Strikes a Chord; Called 'Sad, But True'". The Christian Post . The Christian Post Company. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  14. ↑ "WATCH: Why He Hates Going To Graduation (And You Should, Too)". The Huffington Post . AOL. April 30, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Ten Things You Should Never Say to a Guy" (Web/Video). Blimey Cow. YouTube. May 5, 2013. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  16. ↑ Li, Anita (May 28, 2013). "Do Your Real-Life Friends Bug You With Their Online Personas?". Mashable . Mashable Inc. Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  17. ↑ Presenter: Willie Geist, with guest Randi Zuckerberg (May 30, 2013). "How many hashtags in a tweet is too many?". Today . 4:16 minutes in. NBC.
  18. ↑ McGuiness, Ross (June 5, 2013). "Online persona non grata… Are you an annoying friend on Twitter and Facebook?". Metro . Associated Newspapers . Retrieved June 7, 2013.
  19. ↑ Tucker, Jamey (April 26, 2013). "Kickstarter.com gives users the opportunity to raise money online". WAAY-TV . Archived from the original on June 30, 2013. Retrieved May 10, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Jordan Taylor". YouTube. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  21. ↑ ""Long Drive" Album by Jordan Taylor – MessyJordan". MessyJordan. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  22. ↑ Taylor, Jordan. "Twitter" . Retrieved March 16, 2017.
  23. ↑ "Staff: Josh Taylor". Jesus Freak Hideout. John DiBiase. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  24. ↑ "The Hideout". Jesus Freak Hideout. John DiBiase. Retrieved May 28, 2013.
  25. ↑ Taylor, Kelli. "About Me". She Learns As She Goes. Blogger. Archived from the original on January 31, 2016. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.