Blimey Cow is an internet comedy channel based in
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
, 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
Conservative Christianity, also known as conservative theology, theological conservatism, traditional Christianity, or biblical orthodoxy is a grouping of overlapping and denominationally diverse theological movements within Christianity that se ...
,
youth group,
romantic relationships,
homeschooling
Homeschooling or home schooling (American English), also known as home education or elective home education (EHE) (British English), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted ...
, 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
John Reuben (born John Reuben Zappin; January 14, 1979) is an American Christian hip hop artist signed to Gotee Records until late 2010. Reuben has sold over 200,000 copies of his first four albums.Breimeier, Russ (May 2002)"John Reuben - ''Hinds ...
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
Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. (born August 1, 1972) is an American author, podcast host, and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute.Naji FilaliInterview with Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Harvard Political Review, A ...
, and various media outlets and programs such as ''
The 700 Club
''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, p ...
'', ''
The Christian Post
''The Christian Post'' is an American non-denominational, conservative, evangelical Christian online newspaper. Based in Washington, D.C., it was founded in March 2004.
News topics include the Church, ministries, missions, education, Christi ...
'', ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'', ''
Metro'', ''
Today'', and
WKRN-TV.
History
Early history
The brothers began filming videos in 2005.
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.
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.
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". Influenced by ''
The Office
''The Office'' is the title of several mockumentary sitcoms based on a British series originally created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant as '' The Office'' in 2001. The original series also starred Gervais as manager and primary charac ...
'', ''
Napoleon Dynamite
''Napoleon Dynamite'' is a 2004 American Independent film, independent Coming-of-age story, coming-of-age comedy film produced by Jeremy Coon, Chris Wyatt (producer), Chris Wyatt and Sean C. Covel (producer), Sean Covel, written by Jared and J ...
'', and
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest (born 5 February 1948), known professionally as Christopher Guest, is a British-American actor, comedian, screenwriter and director. Guest has written, directed, and starred in his series of comedy ...
, the Taylor brothers adopted a
mockumentary
A mockumentary (a portmanteau of ''mock'' and ''documentary'') is a type of film or television show depicting fictional events, but presented as a Documentary film, documentary. Mockumentaries are often used to analyze or comment on current event ...
style.
In 2007, Colin Cimble of the band
As Cities Burn appeared in an episode of the show ''Jordan's Messyges''.
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.
They launched this new series, featuring Jordan addressing various topics, under the title of "''Messy Mondays''", modeled after a previous series, ''Jordan's Messyges''.
''Messy Mondays'' debuted on August 29, 2011 with the video "New School Year".
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".
The video "The One About Mission Trips" critiqued
short-term missions and suggested that the money raised could fund longer-term missions.
Josh stated that while it generated some negative feedback from
state-side viewers, missionaries in other countries praised the video for addressing this issue.
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.
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.
It is currently at 2.3 million views. In February, the
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) is an American Christian media production and distribution organization. Founded in 1960 by Pat Robertson, it produces the long-running TV series ''The 700 Club'', co-produces the ongoing ''Superbook (198 ...
picked up the video, interviewing Jordan Taylor on ''
The 700 Club
''The 700 Club'' is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing each weekday in syndication in the United States and available worldwide on CBN.com. The news magazine program features live guests, daily news, p ...
'' during a segment on homeschooling.
On April 24, 2012, historian and author
Thomas Woods
Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. (born August 1, 1972) is an American author, podcast host, and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute.Naji FilaliInterview with Thomas E. Woods, Jr., Harvard Political Review, A ...
interviewed Josh Taylor while guest hosting ''The
Peter Schiff Show''.
Two days later, author, former Congressional staffer
Lew Rockwell posted the homeschooling video on his website
LewRockwell.com, and in July he interviewed Josh Taylor on his podcast ''The Lew Rockwell Show''.
Following the success of the homeschooling video, Blimey Cow formed a YouTube partnership and signed up for Google advertising to generate revenue.
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.
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.
The episode was written and conceived by Canadian musician Garrett Vandenberg.
The video received highly positive feedback, including Twitter shout-outs from individuals in the music industry. Jeff Cruz of 89.7
WMHK
WMHK (89.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial Christian radio radio station, station in Columbia, South Carolina. It is owned and operated by the Educational Media Foundation. Its programming is Contemporary Christian music programmed fr ...
said the video was "remarkably accurate and incredibly sad at same time."
Post-rock
Post-rock is a subgenre of experimental rock that emphasizes Texture (music), texture, atmosphere, and non-traditional song structures over conventional rock techniques. Post-rock artists often combine rock instrumentation and rock stylings wit ...
musician
Michael Gungor called the video "brilliant" and said he would have to see more of Blimey Cow's material.
Singer-songwriter
Derek Webb stated that the video "is as funny as it is true. Which makes it not funny."
This flurry of Twitter activity caught the attention of ''
The Christian Post
''The Christian Post'' is an American non-denominational, conservative, evangelical Christian online newspaper. Based in Washington, D.C., it was founded in March 2004.
News topics include the Church, ministries, missions, education, Christi ...
'', which published a story about the video on February 7, 2013.
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.
On April 29, 2013, Blimey Cow released the video "Why I Hate Going to Graduations", about which ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'' posted a short article the following day. 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".
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
Mashable is a Online newspaper, news website, digital media platform and entertainment company founded by Pete Cashmore in 2005.
History
Mashable was founded by Pete Cashmore while living in Aberdeen, Scotland, in July 2004. Early iterations o ...
posted a short story on the video on May 28, and on May 30, ''
Today'' host
Willie Geist mentioned the channel while discussing social media etiquette with business woman
Randi Zuckerberg. On June 5, 2013, ''
Metro'' based an article on the video, and interviewed Josh on the issue of internet behavior.
In May 2017, Christian rapper
John Reuben
John Reuben (born John Reuben Zappin; January 14, 1979) is an American Christian hip hop artist signed to Gotee Records until late 2010. Reuben has sold over 200,000 copies of his first four albums.Breimeier, Russ (May 2002)"John Reuben - ''Hinds ...
made an appearance on the channel.
Kickstarter campaign and BCAN
In March and April 2013, Blimey Cow successfully ran a
Kickstarter
Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign to raise money for equipment to begin an audio podcast. The project reached its $1,700 goal in 40 minutes.
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.
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.
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.
Jordan started his own YouTube channel in 2015, which has 1.48 lakh subscribers as of July 2021. On June 26, 2015, he released an album, ''Long Drive''. In May 2017, Jordan married Sara Bonham.
Josh Taylor
When Josh was a teenager, he wrote some reviews for the Christian music website Jesus Freak Hideout. 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.
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.
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.
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.
In addition to her work with Blimey Cow, Kelli enjoys writing, photography, cooking, planning, movies, friends, and food, and maintains a blog, "Currently Kelli".
Personnel
*Jordan Taylor – host for ''Messy Mondays'', ''Jordan's Messyges'', and #AskJordan; actor, writer, director
*Josh Taylor – primary writer, director and editor, actor; co-host for "The Inner Tube" and "Who Would Build The Roads"
*Kelli Taylor – writer, editor, director, actress
*Kevin McCreary – audio production, occasional actor, co-host for "The Inner Tube" and "Who Would Build The Roads"
Supporting personnel
*Amy Bonham – actress, occasional director
*Sara Taylor – actress
*Garrett Vandenberg – music composition
References
External links
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{{Authority control
Comedy-related YouTube channels
American Internet celebrities
American video bloggers
American comedy troupes
Criticism of Christianity
YouTube channels launched in 2006
English-language YouTube channels
American YouTube groups