Joseph Garrett
Joseph Mark Garrett (born 13 December 1990), known on YouTube as stampylonghead or stampylongnose, is an English YouTuber, gamer, author, actor and former animator. He is known for posting videos about the sandbox video game "Minecraft" as his internet alias Stampy Cat. In 2014, Garrett's YouTube channel was one of the ten most watched channels in the world, and he has been described as part of the first generation of YouTube influencers. He has been featured on several television programs with CBBC and Disney. Life and career. Garrett was born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom on 13 December  1990. He studied video production at university and initially intended to be a game journalist. In August 2006, Garrett created his first YouTube channel, stampylongnose"." Initially, his channel consisted of live-action comedy skits he made with his friends, but he soon transitioned to the gaming genre after "Let's Play" videos began to surge in popularity on YouTube. He mainly played video games such as "Homefront", but soon quit the stampylongnose channel and created a new one, stampylonghead. He was introduced to the game "Minecraft" in May 2012, where he would start a "Let's Play" series based on  it. 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 (6-14 year olds), he reoriented his work to be family-friendly. When the videos became popular, Garrett left his job as a barman to focus on producing the content full-time. His avatar was a character called Stampy Cat, an anthropomorphic orange and white cat (depicted by a commercially-available "Minecraft" skin based on the character Fidget from the video game ""). Garrett develops a story in his series in "Minecraft", which  is an otherwise non-story game. He gives viewers ideas for activities to pursue with their friends. Garrett describes the character as "a bigger, brighter, better version" of himself. He receives correspondence from his viewers and thinks they see him as a friend, rather than "a presenter in a studio". Other characters in the videos (who are referred to as Garret'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 and Mr. Rogers." On 25 April 2015, Garrett launched a spin-off edutainment YouTube series in collaboration with Maker Studios. The series, "Wonder Quest", is scripted, professionally produced, and designed so that it can be used in classrooms. Garrett has also been attached to a "Minecraft" film. In July 2015, he appeared on  the series premiere of the Disney XD sitcom "Gamer's Guide to Pretty Much Everything," 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. "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.