Jesse Louis Cox (born May 18, 1981) is an American

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

gaming personality,

comedian A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...

voice actor Voice acting is the art of Acting, performing a character or providing information to an audience with one's voice. Performers are often called voice actors/actresses in addition to other names. Examples of voice work include animation, animated, ...

media commentator A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

and

video game producer A video game producer is the top person in charge of overseeing development of a video game. History The earliest documented use of the term ''producer'' in games was by Trip Hawkins, who established the position when he founded Electronic Art ...

. He is the owner of the YouTube channel previously named OMFGcata, a gaming channel on which Cox posts most of his content. As of February 2024, the channel has over 1,000,000 subscribers.

Biography

Jesse Cox was born in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in Ohio County, West Virginia, Ohio and Marshall County, West Virginia, Marshall counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The county seat of Ohio County, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mo ...

and for the early part of his life traveled frequently with his parents around the country. Eventually, they settled in Oakwood, Ohio just outside of Dayton. After high school, he studied at the

State University of New York at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public research university in Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. The university was founded in 1846 a ...

where he double majored in Theater and History, earning a bachelor's degree. He later went on to receive his master's degree in education while teaching, from the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a Private university, private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio, United States. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary (Marianists), Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the U ...

. He is named after his great-grandfather, Jesse.

Career

YouTube

Jesse Cox's YouTube channel (formerly known as "OMFGCata") serves as his primary content platform. The original name of the channel was inspired by the Cataclysm expansion of

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

, the coverage of which was one of Cox's first major video series. After the initial release of Cataclysm, Jesse expanded his coverage into "Let's Play" style gaming videos and eventually into a weekly "show" format featuring friends and colleagues. In 2016, he won a

Golden Joystick Award The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be vote ...

for upcoming YouTube personality. The gaming convention Coxcon was named after Cox. In 2016, it was announced that Cox and

Michele Morrow Michele Morrow (born March 19, 1978) is an American television presenter, host, actress, writer, producer and video game personality. She is the co-creator, executive producer and lead actor of the single camera sitcom, '' Good Game,'' a YouT ...

were co-creating in a

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the American video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals ...

series, '' Good Game'', about a fledgling

eSports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

team starring Cox. It aired in 2017, and was generally praised by critics, but was cancelled in 2018 after one season due to low viewership. Cox was signed to

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency, LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. With 1,800 employees in March 2016, it is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous client ...

in 2020.

Web series

From 2019-2020, Jesse Cox hosted the

comedy Comedy is a genre of dramatic works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. Origins Comedy originated in ancient Greec ...

web series A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), which first emerged in the late 1 ...

''The Gentlemen's Hentai Club'' alongside Michael Santell. The series was a

parody A parody is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satire, satirical or irony, ironic imitation. Often its subject is an Originality, original work or some aspect of it (theme/content, author, style, e ...

commentary show which

reviewed Review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, company, or other object or idea. An article about or a compilation of reviews may itself be called a review. Not to be confused with Revue: a form of entertainment. Review may also ref ...

different

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

hentai Hentai () is a style of Pornography in Japan, Japanese pornographic anime and manga. In addition to anime and manga, hentai works exist in a variety of media, including artwork and video games (commonly known as ''eroge''). The developme ...

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series in a comedic manner, beginning with ''

La Blue Girl is an erotic anime and manga series by Toshio Maeda. Like Maeda's other hentai series (''e.g.'', '' Urotsukidōji''), ''La Blue Girl'' features a large amount of tentacle rape. It departs somewhat from its predecessors, however, by light ...

''. The series ran for two seasons before ending. Originally hosted on

Vimeo Vimeo ( ) is an American Online video platform, video hosting, sharing, and services provider founded in 2004 and headquartered in New York City. Vimeo focuses on the delivery of high-definition video across a range of devices and operates on a ...

and Fakku, the series was removed from Vimeo and dropped by Fakku in 2021, leading a fan to upload the entire series to

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including websites, software applic ...

Voice acting

Cox has voiced several video game characters such as Spriticus in ''

Heroes of Newerth ''Heroes of Newerth'' (''HoN'') was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game originally developed by S2 Games for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. The game idea was derived from the '' Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne'' custom ...

'', Genji in '' Awesomenauts'', and an ice troll named Jesse in '' The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt'', as well as a quest-giving character in

Cyberpunk 2077 ''Cyberpunk 2077'' is a 2020 action role-playing game developed by CD Projekt Red and published by CD Projekt. Based on Mike Pondsmith's ''Cyberpunk (role-playing game), Cyberpunk'' tabletop game series, the plot is set in the fictional metrop ...

, named Jesse Johnson, also known as "Flaming Crotch Man."

Podcasts

Cox co-hosted the Co-Optional Podcast alongside his friends Brooke "Dodger" Thorne and John "

TotalBiscuit John Peter Bain (8 July 1984 – 24 May 2018), better known as TotalBiscuit ( , TB; sometimes The Cynical Brit or TotalHalibut), was a British video gaming commentator and game critic on YouTube. He was known for his role in professional shout ...

" Bain (prior to his passing in 2018). After Bain's death, the podcast was hosted by his wife, Genna Bain. The last episode of the podcast, Episode 257, aired on Genna Bain's YouTube channel in October 2019. The gaming Podcast was hosted every week, usually with a fourth special guest, or their friend Eric "Crendor" Hraab in a heavily recurring role. While the podcast's main focus was about video games, they commonly derail and discuss other topics of the day, giving way to the joke "We do occasionally talk about

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s". In November 2012, Cox and Hraab launched the "Cox 'n' Crendor Podcast", an initially daily, and later weekly, series that serves as a parody of a daily news show. Cox and Hraab discuss one another's personal and professional lives, poke fun at entertaining news stories, and do humorous reports on traffic, sports, and weather, the latter of which utilizes the hometowns of viewers. As of February 2024, the Cox'n'Crendor Podcast YouTube channel has more than 77,000 subscribers. Jesse is also a part of the "Chilluminati Podcast" a podcast about paranormal happenings and true crime, which he hosts alongside friends and fellow YouTubers Alex Faciane and Mike 'Mathis'. In November 2023, Cox and Thorne launched a new podcast, ''The Geekenders'', which follows a format similar to that of the Co-Optional Podcast. The show features Cox, Thorne, and usually a guest or two, or Hraab in another heavily recurring role, engaging in discussions about game news, sharing personal stories, and exploring general topics.

Video game development

Cox also works in game development primarily as a producer, with his first project being the

dating sim Dating sims, also known as dating simulation games, are a video game subgenre of simulation games with romantic elements. While resembling the visual novel genre in presentation, true dating sims utilize an additional statistical and time manage ...

Monster Prom ''Monster Prom'' is a dating simulation game developed by Beautiful Glitch, a studio based in Barcelona and founded by Julián Quijano, and published by Those Awesome Guys. The game was released for Windows, macOS and Linux on 27 April 2018 and ...

, that was released in 2018. In 2023, together with Airdorf Games and starring TikToker Molly Moonn, he announced the point-and-click adventure game, ''Excuse Me Sir'', alongside a demo. His next project called, ''Gestalt: Steam & Cinder'', is a

side-scrolling A side-scrolling video game (alternatively side-scroller) is a video game viewed from a side-view camera angle where the screen follows the player as they move left or right. The jump from single-screen or flip-screen graphics to scrolling grap ...

action RPG An action role-playing game (often abbreviated action RPG or ARPG) is a video game genre that combines core elements from both the action game and role-playing game genres. Definition Action role-playing games emphasize real-time combat whe ...

which he worked on as an

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the production of media. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights or royalties). In film ...

alongside his The Geekenders Podcast co-host, Dodger. The game is set for release on May 21, 2024.

CoxCon

CoxCon was a video game and content creator convention, hosted by Cox and held annually in

Telford Telford () is a town in the Telford and Wrekin borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Shropshire, England. The wider borough covers the town, its suburbs and surrounding towns and villages. The town is close to the county's eastern b ...

, United Kingdom from 2015 to 2019. The convention featured game exhibitors, vendors, board gaming, and most prominently

internet celebrity An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

guests in various panels over the course of two days. Most of the artwork featured in Coxcon's promotional material was created by Daniel "Supardanil" Tan, animator of "Cox n' Crendor Animated!".

References

External links

Jesse Cox's main YouTube channelJesse Cox's secondary YouTube channel
for clips, highlights, shorts, and VODs from streams not featured on the main channel
Cox 'n' Crendor Animated!
YouTube channel, featuring animated content from the Cox 'n' Crendor podcast. * *
Nerdist article about Cox's YouTube Red series
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Jesse 1981 births Living people American male comedians American male video game actors American video game podcasters Comedians from Los Angeles Comedians from Ohio Comedians from West Virginia Entertainers from Los Angeles Esports team owners American gaming YouTubers Let's Players People from Oakwood, Montgomery County, Ohio People from Wheeling, West Virginia Schoolteachers from West Virginia University at Buffalo alumni University of Dayton alumni Video game commentators American video game producers YouTubers from Los Angeles YouTubers from Ohio YouTubers from West Virginia