By Chris T. Wilson
If you haven’t heard the phrase “Nope, Chuck Testa,” by now then you’re probably not spending enough time on the Internet.
In the past week, the soft-spoken Meiners Oaks taxidermist who’s been mounting dead wild animals for more than 20 years has gone from being an everyday valley citizen to an overnight YouTube sensation. (Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial – YouTube)
Thanks to viral marketing team Rhett & Link, whose series of low-budget, quirky commercials were featured in an IFC television program called Commercial Kings this past spring, a number of small -town businesses have been featured on television and online. Testa’s Ojai Valley Taxidermy was one of the small=town businesses. Testa’s home garage-based shop is buzzing with activity since the video commercial went viral last week after being shared on a number of Internet news and links sharing sites.
According to knowyourmeme.com the Internet commercial was uploaded to youtube.com on August 14 by user ojaivalleytaxidermy and went viral after being linked to popular link aggregate website reddit.com on September 15 by user LunaMclovin with the submission title “This is probably the funniest low-budget commerical I’ve ever seen.” The commercial features a number of people surprised see an apparently live wild animal only to have Testa popup and say his signature line: “NOPE, Chuck Testa.”
The commercial, which features Testa’s son, Cody and daughter, Chelsea and nationally recognized gunsmith Larry Amrine, has since been viewed more than 2.4 million times on YouTube. All this attention has Testa’s wife and five children in a bit of shock.
“I think theyre in a state of disbelief,” he said. “Since I’m just Chuck, I get no respect, literally.”
Further, the commercial has spawned an Internet meme with dozens of Photoshopped images being uploaded online all with “NOPE, Chuck Testa” as the punchline. The meme-themed jokes proceed as follows: image of thing thought to be alive in the first frame, followed by that thing on a stick held by Testa in the second frame with bold yellow “NOPE” as the punchline.
According to Testa’s soon-to-be son-in-law, Oliver Lee, who has become a full-time volunteer Internet manager, it’s been non-stop work keeping up with updating their own website, creating new videos and managing the huge response and traffic on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube. Lee is engaged to Testa’s daughter, Chelsea, seen with a bear in her bed in the video.
“We’ve gotten nearly 100,000 hits on our website, ojaitaxidermy.com,” Lee said. “And we’ve gotten about 100 direct submissions to our meme contest.”
Testa, who says he’s enjoying the attention and wants to “roll with it,” and get what he can out of the recognition, has staged an online meme contest on his website.The contest allows Testa fans to upload their own Photoshopped creations to be judged and awarded a prize. The contest ends Wednesday.
“We’re still deciding what to give as a prize,” Lee said.
Testa said he’s given interviews on radio stations on the East Coast and will be on the Today Show and Fox. The story and video have also been featured on BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and Tumblr.
“I don’t even know how Rhett and Link found out about me,” he said. “A producer called me but I thought it was some kind of hustle. I’m rolling with it and hoping that I get some work out of it.”
Testa said he ordered a do-it-yourself kit for $9.95 out of the back of a hunting magazine in 1980.
“Honest to God, that’s how I got started,” he laughed. “Now I’ve done more pieces than I can count. I do this because I really enjoy it and I don’t want to have a real job. And living in Ojai, I wanna live here.”
If you haven’t heard the phrase “Nope, Chuck Testa,” by now then you’re probably not spending enough time on the Internet.
In the past week, the soft-spoken Meiners Oaks taxidermist who’s been mounting dead wild animals for more than 20 years has gone from being an everyday valley citizen to an overnight YouTube sensation. (Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial – YouTube)
Thanks to viral marketing team Rhett & Link, whose series of low-budget, quirky commercials were featured in an IFC television program called Commercial Kings this past spring, a number of small -town businesses have been featured on television and online. Testa’s Ojai Valley Taxidermy was one of the small=town businesses. Testa’s home garage-based shop is buzzing with activity since the video commercial went viral last week after being shared on a number of Internet news and links sharing sites.
According to knowyourmeme.com the Internet commercial was uploaded to youtube.com on August 14 by user ojaivalleytaxidermy and went viral after being linked to popular link aggregate website reddit.com on September 15 by user LunaMclovin with the submission title “This is probably the funniest low-budget commerical I’ve ever seen.” The commercial features a number of people surprised see an apparently live wild animal only to have Testa popup and say his signature line: “NOPE, Chuck Testa.”
The commercial, which features Testa’s son, Cody and daughter, Chelsea and nationally recognized gunsmith Larry Amrine, has since been viewed more than 2.4 million times on YouTube. All this attention has Testa’s wife and five children in a bit of shock.
“I think theyre in a state of disbelief,” he said. “Since I’m just Chuck, I get no respect, literally.”
Further, the commercial has spawned an Internet meme with dozens of Photoshopped images being uploaded online all with “NOPE, Chuck Testa” as the punchline. The meme-themed jokes proceed as follows: image of thing thought to be alive in the first frame, followed by that thing on a stick held by Testa in the second frame with bold yellow “NOPE” as the punchline.
According to Testa’s soon-to-be son-in-law, Oliver Lee, who has become a full-time volunteer Internet manager, it’s been non-stop work keeping up with updating their own website, creating new videos and managing the huge response and traffic on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit and YouTube. Lee is engaged to Testa’s daughter, Chelsea, seen with a bear in her bed in the video.
“We’ve gotten nearly 100,000 hits on our website, ojaitaxidermy.com,” Lee said. “And we’ve gotten about 100 direct submissions to our meme contest.”
Testa, who says he’s enjoying the attention and wants to “roll with it,” and get what he can out of the recognition, has staged an online meme contest on his website.The contest allows Testa fans to upload their own Photoshopped creations to be judged and awarded a prize. The contest ends Wednesday.
“We’re still deciding what to give as a prize,” Lee said.
Testa said he’s given interviews on radio stations on the East Coast and will be on the Today Show and Fox. The story and video have also been featured on BuzzFeed, Huffington Post and Tumblr.
“I don’t even know how Rhett and Link found out about me,” he said. “A producer called me but I thought it was some kind of hustle. I’m rolling with it and hoping that I get some work out of it.”
Testa said he ordered a do-it-yourself kit for $9.95 out of the back of a hunting magazine in 1980.
“Honest to God, that’s how I got started,” he laughed. “Now I’ve done more pieces than I can count. I do this because I really enjoy it and I don’t want to have a real job. And living in Ojai, I wanna live here.”
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