Joseph Garrett

Garrett was born in Portsmouth, United Kingdom on 13 December 1990.[13] He studied video production at university and initially intended to be a game journalist.[14]

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),[15] he reoriented his work to be family-friendly.[16] When the videos became popular, Garrett left his job as a barman to focus on producing the content full-time.[17]

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 Dust: An Elysian Tail). 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.[9] Garrett describes the character as "a bigger, brighter, better version" of himself.[18] He receives correspondence from his viewers and thinks they see him as a friend, rather than "a presenter in a studio".[10] Other characters in the videos (who are referred to as Garret's "helpers") include iBallisticSquid, the YouTube name of Garrett's friend David Spencer,[10] and Sqaishey Quack, a duck character played by Garrett's spouse, Kye Bates; they became engaged in 2018 and were married the following year.[19] Jordan Shapiro said that "he does a great job of bringing the positive aspects of Minecraft—the game’s educational potential—to the surface."[20] 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."[21]

On 25 April 2015, Garrett launched a spin-off edutainment YouTube series in collaboration with Maker Studios.[16] 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.[18] 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.[22][23] He was a featured panelist at Minecon in July 2015, held in London.[24][25][26]

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.[27] Stampy Cat: Stick with Stampy! was released on 28 July 2016; the 32 paged paperback features sticker-based activities, games, jokes and posters.[28][29]

• Stampy's Lovely Book (Egmont, 2015), ISBN 978-1405281560
• Stampy Cat: Stick with Stampy! (Egmont, 2016), ISBN 978-1405284219

• Joseph Garrett's channel on YouTube