Joseph Mark Garrett (born 13 December 1990), better known as Stampylonghead, Stampylongnose, or simply Stampy, is an English

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influent ...

gamer A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...

, author, and filmmaker known for his video game commentaries including ''

Minecraft ''Minecraft'' is a sandbox game developed by Mojang Studios. The game was created by Markus "Notch" Persson in the Java programming language. Following several early private testing versions, it was first made public in May 2009 before being ...

'', and for playing the character of Stampy Cat. He is well-known for his child-friendly demeanor and incorporation of storytelling and education into the

Let's Play A Let's Play (LP) is a video (or screenshots accompanied by text) documenting the playthrough of a video game, often including commentary and/or a camera view of the gamer's face. A Let's Play differs from a video game walkthrough or strateg ...

format. In 2014, he was one of the ten most watched channels in the world, and has been called "the

Mister Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), commonly known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television se ...

of Minecraft" by ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

''. In 2015, Garrett created a

edutainment Educational entertainment (also referred to as edutainment) is media designed to educate through entertainment. The term was used as early as 1954 by Walt Disney. Most often it includes content intended to teach but has incidental entertainment ...

series called '' Wonder Quest'' in collaboration with

Maker Studios Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film *'' Makers: Women Who Make America'', a 2013 American TV documentary, a 2014 TV series, and related media *Maker Studios, now part of D ...

and

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

. The show is designed and filmed in ''

'', and features educational content designed for children and schools. It aired two seasons from 2015 to 2016. He also voiced himself in the video game '' Minecraft: Story Mode'', and has guest appeared on several television programs with

CBBC CBBC (initialised as Children's BBC and also known as the CBBC Channel) is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the bran ...

and

Disney XD Disney XD is an American pay television channel owned by the Disney Branded Television and Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution units of The Walt Disney Company. The channel is aimed primarily at older children ages six to eleven years ...

. He has also released two children's books. As of January 2023, Garrett's channel has gained over 8 billion video views and over 10.6 million subscribers.

Early life

Garrett was born in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, United Kingdom on 13 December 1990. He studied TV and video production at university and initially intended to be a game journalist.

Career

In August 2006, Garrett created his first YouTube channel, stampylongnose. Initially, his channel consisted of live-action comedy skits and animations he made with his friends, but he soon transitioned to

gaming Gaming may refer to: Games and sports The act of playing games, as in: * Legalized gambling, playing games of chance for money, often referred to in law as "gaming" * Playing a role-playing game, in which players assume fictional roles * Playin ...

after

videos began to surge in popularity on YouTube. He mainly played

first-person shooter First-person shooter (FPS) is a sub-genre of shooter video games centered on gun and other weapon-based combat in a first-person perspective, with the player experiencing the action through the eyes of the protagonist and controlling the pl ...

video games such as ''

Halo Halo, halos or haloes usually refer to: * Halo (optical phenomenon) * Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head HALO, halo, halos or haloes may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Video games * ''Halo'' (franch ...

'' and '' Homefront.'' Soon after, he began his current main channel, stampylonghead. He was introduced to the game ''

'' in May 2012, and would begin his longest-running series, ''Stampy's Lovely World'', with over 800 episodes as of April 2023. The series resulted in rapid growth for his channel and he quickly became a prominent member of YouTube. When he noticed that his primary audience were children, he reoriented his work to be family-friendly. When his videos became popular, Garrett left his job as a barman to focus on producing content full-time. His

avatar Avatar (, ; ), is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearanc ...

is a character called Stampy Cat, an orange and white cat. Garrett's ''Minecraft'' series adds story elements to an otherwise non-story game, while he builds his world and giving viewers ideas for activities to pursue with their friends. Garrett describes the character as "a bigger, brighter, better version" of himself. Other characters in the videos (who are referred to as Stampy's "helpers") include iBallisticSquid, the YouTube name of Garrett's friend David Spencer, and Sqaishey Quack, a duck character played by Garrett's spouse, Kye Bates; they became engaged in 2018 and were married the following year. Jordan Shapiro said that "he does a great job of bringing the positive aspects of ''Minecraft''—the game’s educational potential—to the surface." Caroline Knorr of Common Sense Media describes Stampy's presentation as best for younger fans and that "Stampy feels like a cross between

Pee-Wee Herman Pee-wee Herman is a comic fictional character created and portrayed by American comedian Paul Reubens. He is best known for his films and television series during the 1980s. The childlike Pee-wee Herman character developed as a stage act that ...

and

Mr. Rogers Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), commonly known as Mister Rogers, was an American television host, author, producer, and Presbyterian minister. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television se ...

On 25 April 2015, Garrett launched a spin-off

YouTube series in collaboration with

. The series, '' Wonder Quest'', is scripted, professionally produced, and designed so that it can be used in classrooms. In July 2015, he appeared on the series premiere of the Disney XD sitcom ''

Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything ''Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything'' is an American comedy television series created by Devin Bunje and Nick Stanton that aired on Disney XD from July 22, 2015 to January 2, 2017. The series stars Cameron Boyce, Murray Wyatt Rundus, Felix ...

,'' where he portrayed the announcer Stampy Cat at the World Gaming Championships. He was a featured panelist at MineCon in July 2015, held in London. Garrett has signed a two-book deal with

Egmont Publishing The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...

. ''Stampy's Lovely Book'' was released on 22 October 2015; aimed at ages 4 to 10, it features games, activities, jokes and facts about Stampy Cat and some of his friends. ''Stampy Cat: Stick with Stampy!'' was released on 28 July 2016; the 32 paged paperback features sticker-based activities, games, jokes and posters.

Bibliography

* ''Stampy's Lovely Book'' ( Egmont, 2015), * ''Stampy Cat: Stick with Stampy!'' ( Egmont, 2016),

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Garrett, Joseph English YouTubers Living people English male video game actors English male voice actors Mass media people from Portsmouth Gaming YouTubers Let's Players 1990 births Minecraft YouTubers