Nope! Chuck Testa

About

“Nope! Chuck Testa” is a catchphrase associated with taxidermist Chuck Testa from Ojai Valley, California, that became popular after an ad made for his taxidermy services went viral on YouTube in September of 2011.

Origin

On August 14th, 2011, YouTuber ojaivalleytaxidermy uploaded a video titled “Official Ojai Valley Taxidermy TV Commercial” that featured several people being fooled by into thinking taxidermied animals were alive before being corrected by a man who proclaims “Nope! Chuck Testa.” The video description claims that the commercial was made by “YouTube sensations Rhett and Link as part of commercial kings.” Over the past couple of days, the viewer count has gone up an almost astounding 1 million views.

The video remained largely unnoticed until it was uploaded to Reddit in a thread titled “This is probably the funniest low-budget commercial I have ever seen”^[4] by user LunaMcLovin on September 15th, 2011. The post reached the front page with 12,554 up votes within the first 24 hours.

Commercial Kings

According to the gossip blog Starcasm^[11], Ojai Valley Taxidermy was selected in of May 2011 to be in an episode of Commercial Kings, an IFC Televsion show starring YouTube celebs Rhett and Link.^[10] The show centers around making viral media for small businesses, and was started after Rhett and Link successfully produced several viral commercials for their “I Love Local Commercials” web series including the “Red House Furniture”, “Cullman Liquidation Center” and “TDM Auto” ads.

Spread

The video was posted to BuzzFeed^[6], The Huffington Post^[7] and Best Ever Ever^[8] on September 15th, 2011. A round-up of Chuck Testa related photoshops were posted on BoingBoing^[12] and BuzzFeed^[5] on September 16th, 2011. An AMA Request^[2] for Chuck Testa was posted by Redditor alecsince87 the same day.

Photoshop Exploitable

The first photoshop derivative was posted by Redditor KerrickLong^[3] on September 15th and featured an image of a shark attacking a man climbing into a helicopter. The post reached the front page, and received 11,096 up votes within the first 24 hours.

Notable Derivatives

Most image derivatives have emerged in the form of multi-pane exploitables, with the first pane featuring a deceased celebrity or a fictional character and the second pane getting interrupted by an exploitable image of Chuck Testa saying “Nope.”

Contest

On the official Ojai Valley Taxidermy^[1] website, a photoshop contest for Chuck Testa related derivatives was posted on September 16th, 2011.

Create a ‘Noooooope’ photoshop image as above and send it to info@ojaitaxidermy.com . Chuck’s favorite images will then be displayed on ojaitaxidermy.com with you the public voting for your favorite!
The top 3 images will receive prizes to be announced!

Chuck Testa Hat

On September 16th, rumors began circulating that the skull on Testa’s hat was actually a Nazi SS Death’s Head symbol. Testa replied to the rumors by commenting on the YouTube video page:

“Hi everyone! Thanks for buzz regarding the commercial, just wanted to address the pin on my hat. I’m part of the California historical group who does WW2 reenactments. I’m part of the US 2nd infantry division and I retrieved the pin in a battle against the 12th SS. I apologize if this offended anyone, hope you can enjoy the video for what it is.
Noooooooooooooope
Chuck”

Interview

On September 20th, BuzzFeed^[14] interviewed Chuck Testa and the producers of the video Rhett and Link. During the Q&A session, Testa stated that he had been unaware of Internet memes and viral videos prior to his stardom, but he was pleased to see his video take off and receive positive support form the viewers:

BuzzFeed: Had you seen many viral videos before this?

Chuck Testa: Let me put it to you this way. I don’t even have a cell phone. I hadn’t even heard the word, what do you call them? Mimes? Memes?

When asked whether the commercial was produced with intent for viral reception, Rhett and Link stated that they worked closely with Testa on the delivery of the punchline (“Nope, it’s Chuck Testa”) and hinted at the importance of catchphrases in creating viral commercials:

BuzzFeed: Were you hoping that the punchline -- “Nope, it’s Chuck Testa” -- would turn into the kind of thing that people would quote themselves and incorporate into their own jokes? Were you aiming to make a meme?

Link: We definitely scripted and conceptualized the repetition of the “Nope, it’s Chuck Testa” line in a way that people would find funny. I had the concept but we did not anticipate how people would react. That said, what we’ve learned from this experience will definitely inform how we make commercials in the future. I couldn’t predict how Chuck would say “Nope.” I had an idea for how I wanted him to sound, and we got there, but the online reaction is the kind of stuff, what people do with it, that you can’t predict.

Rhett: The approach is always to make something that people latch onto.