taxidermist
Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the process ...
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' A commercial for Testa's business created by Rhett & Link for the show ''Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings'' became a
viral video
Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...
, and the catchphrase "Nope, Chuck Testa!" became an
Internet meme
An Internet meme, or meme (, Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''MEEM''), is a cultural item (such as an idea, behavior, or style) that spreads across the Internet, primarily through Social media, social media platforms. Internet memes manif ...
.
Life and career
Testa was born and raised in the Ojai Valley. He managed his father's
Baskin-Robbins
Baskin-Robbins, Inc. is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake specialty store, specialty shops owned by Inspire Brands. Baskin-Robbins was formed in 1945 by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in Glendale, California.Venice Beach, California before he began preserving wildlife.Hernandez, Marjorie (September 28, 2011) Video of resident Ojai taxidermist goes viral. ''
Ventura County Star
The ''Ventura County Star'' (Marked online as VC Star) is a daily newspaper published in Camarillo, California and serves all of Ventura County. It is owned by Gannett, the largest publisher of newspapers in the United States. It is a successor t ...
''
Commercial and response
In summer 2011, Testa's future son-in-law posted a commercial for Testa's business on YouTube. The video was originally created by Rhett & Link for the show ''Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings'' on IFC. The commercial asserts that Testa's work is so realistic that people will assume the animals are still alive. It depicts people reacting to what they believe are live animals in unusual situations, ''e.g.'', "Look at that antelope driving a car!", only to have Testa appear and declare, "Nope, it's just Chuck Testa!" The phrase became popular on websites such as
Reddit
Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...
and
Tumblr
Tumblr (pronounced "tumbler") is a microblogging and Social networking service, social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and is owned by American company Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content ...
, spurring mainstream media coverage, including
Fox News
The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...
and CBS. The video was also ranked as the #10 best meme of 2011 by ''
Time
Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...
'' magazine's Nick Carbone.
Television appearances
In 2012, Testa appeared in two episodes of Rhett & Link's Web series, Good Mythical Morning. His shop, Ojai Valley Taxidermy, was promoted in earlier episodes. He again appeared in 2020 as a tie breaking judge during the Ice Cream Taste Test Tournament.
In 2015, Testa was featured in Season 1, Episode 1 of CarbonTV's original series, ''American Elements''.
In 2016, Testa and Ojai Valley Taxidermy were featured in the Web documentary ''Mounted: Chuck Testa and Friends'' on CarbonTV.
Music
Testa was featured in Logan Hugueny-Clark's 2013 "Nuketown the Musical". It is a '' Call of Duty: Black Ops II'' musical parody of the 2013 song
Blurred Lines
"Blurred Lines" is a song by American singer Robin Thicke featuring American rapper T.I. and American musician Pharrell Williams from Thicke's sixth studio album of the same name (2013). Solely produced by Williams, it was released as the a ...
by
Robin Thicke
Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 single " Blurred Lines" (featuring T.I. and Pharrell Williams), which peaked atop the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, received ...
.
The 2019 song "Whip a Tesla" by Yung Gravy and bbno$ mentions Testa in the chorus, referencing the "Nope" meme.
''Told your bitch, "Nope," like I'm fuckin' Chuck Testa''