Shay Carl
Shay Carl Butler is a comedian, actor and entrepreneur living in Idaho. He is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was born on March 5, 1980, and he is the creator of the "Shaytards." [1] His YouTube channels, "Shaycarl," [2] "ShayLoss," [3] "iphoneTard," [4] and "Shaytards" are some of the most popular on YouTube. Shay joined with other YouTube celebrities and started Maker Studios, [5] a YouTube production company. Through Maker Studios, Shay and other YouTube celebrities such as KassemG [6] and LisaNova, [7] collaborate on videos for the the studio's in-house YouTube channel, The Station. [8] In addition to The Station, the studio manages many of the top YouTube channels.
Professional Life
Shay has had over twenty jobs throughout his life, including owning a custom granite counter top company called Rock Tops. In his free time, Shay became enthralled with watching videos. He said that the first time he came across YouTube, he was shocked to realize he had watched until dawn. Shay started his own YouTube channel called "shaycarl" (a combination of his first and middle name) and added his first video "Fun with Helium and Passing Out" [9] on August 16, 2007. Shortly after starting the channel, he took a job as a disc jockey at a local radio station, Z103.
On November 27, 2007, Shay entered a contest sponsored by popular YouTube vlogger, "sxephil." [10] Shay not only won a tee-shirt, but the endorsement of "sxephil" vlogger, Phillip DeFranco. The popularity of the "shaycarl" channel shot up overnight. Today, the channel has almost 900,000 subscribers and it continues to rank high on several of YouTube's "Most Subscribed" lists. In April 2008, Shay began broadcasting live from his job at Z103 on BlogTV. [11] During his time on BlogTV, the fans of the videos began calling themselves "ShayTards" after a video Shay made claiming his love for unitards. That evolved into fans calling themselves the "Shaytard Rebellionites."
On October 2, 2008, Shay started a new channel, "Shaytards." It was initially a channel where his viewers could join him in trying to lose weight by supporting each other. Frequent appearances by his family members made for fun and exciting content that viewers asked to see more often. On March 2, 2009, Shay and his family decided to make a video for each day of his 29th year starting on his March 5th birthday. [12] Because Shay is a natural comedian, and his wife and children all possess a flair for comedy, the daily vlogs were a hit with fans. For safety, they decided to keep their last name private and to adopt stage names for their family. Taking a cue from his fans, the family was given "Tard" names after the Shaytard channel and ShayTard Rebellionites. Shay's wife, "Katilette"(also a stage name) [13] became known as "MommyTard." His oldest son as "SonTard," his oldest daughter "PrincessTard" and youngest daughter "BabyTard." Shay and Katilette's extended families often appear in the vlogs. Soon, Shay was collaborating with other YouTube vloggers, going to YouTube gatherings and becoming friends with others in the YouTube community. Over time, all of Shay's channels became YouTube Partner channels. The YouTube Partner Program [14] allows channels to generate revenue from views. Many YouTube Partners, including Shay, have been able to replace their former income and work full-time on their videos and other related ventures while maintaining or even exceeding their former income. Partners also benefit from ads on their channels and videos and sometimes, product placement.
During the first year of the "Shaytards", Shay and his family moved to California to collaborate with other YouTuber's and start a multimedia entertainment and production company called Maker Studios. They began a new YouTube channel, "The Station" which features comedy videos starring many of YouTube's famous vloggers. The Station and it's offshoot channels became an overnight hit. While the new business was thriving, Shay and Katilette decided to return home to Idaho for the sake of the family. Although Shay flies to LA and other locations to work once or twice a month, the main focus of the channel is filming their daily lives. In June of 2010, their fourth child, known as "RockTard" was born. The vlog surrounding the birth [15] of the child is one of the most popular and most viewed among the "Shaytards" videos with over 2,000,000 views. In January 2011, Shay was cast in his first television role, playing a security guard on the ABC program, No Ordinary Family. [16]
Personal life
Shay is the oldest brother to three siblings, Casey, Carlie and Logan. Along with his parents and his in-laws, they often make appearances in his vlogs. His youngest brother Logan, has his own YouTube channel, LoganMcKay55. [17] Shay served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in the West Indies. When he returned he married a fellow member of the Church, "Katilette" on January 3, 2003 in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. The couple now have four children.
The "Shaytards" have shown their love for the gospel in many videos and provided a wonderful example of a Latter-day Saint family for viewers who may not know anything about the Mormon Church. Fans are often shocked to find out that the family is "Mormon." While they have never made Church the sole focus of their videos, they have done several videos where the family is preparing for or just returning from Church, doing service as a family or just spending time together. "What Do We Feed Our Spirits" [18] is a video of a Family Home Evening lesson done for the children. The vlog sparked a large number of comments asking about the religion of the family.
Adhering to an important tenet of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Shay often talks about the dangers of getting into and living with debt. In a joyous and exciting video "We're Debt Free!," [19] Shay and the family call The Dave Ramsey Show to tell their story of paying off their debt. Recently, the family has started "One Take Sundays," choosing not to edit vlogs on the Sabbath. As the "Shaytards" enter their third year of vlogging, they continue to be a honest and refreshing example of an LDS family.
