Originally published on Trevor Trove on June 29, 2016
In honor of the growing trend of my friends giving shout-outs to fellow creators, I figure it’s time to hop on that bandwagon and celebrate them in return with the first of a new recurring feature: Trevor Trove Tribute (because I honestly have a problem when it comes to my alliteration addition…argh…did it again)!
Up first, in some small part because he debuted a similar feature a few weeks ago and “tea bagged” me: Tom Hawkins aka @TomHawkin5!
I first came to know Tom about a year ago through the Kinda Funny community when he started editing together some amusing Kinda Funny Supercut videos. One of our earliest actual interactions came after each reached out to see if I minded being included in one of said videos: a list video of the top Walken impressions on Kinda Funny.
From then on, he forged a solid friendship. He took an extended holiday visit here to the States (oh he’s British if you somehow don’t already know him) and stayed with Sean Pitts and helped them with the relaunch of Knerds of the Round Table, in the form of KnerdsOnline. He kindly asked me to be a part of their relaunch, including me in their Community section, where they would feature work from other creators.
I eventually even got to meet him for the first time at the 2015 PlayStation Experience. After far too little time together that weekend, I returned home to Phoenix, and his trip here was nearing an end. Our friendship has continued in the digital space with him occasionally shooting me a link for something he’s working on and me providing feedback. Or I’ll send him a silly idea like “a mash-up of Ginuwine’s ‘Pony’ and the Aerobics Champions video” and he’ll put together this:
He’s dabbled with some interesting ideas like “Plus Plays” (a Let’s Play series dedicated to the free PlayStation Plus games each month but his flagship feature these days (when he’s not disproving Colin Moriarty again), his #HawkinsTeaTime where he milks the fact that he’s a British guy with a largely American fanbase, and answers a series of questions related to the news of the week, all while drinking a nice cup of tea.
I was so fortunate to get to see him again at Kinda Funny Live this year (and gave him a couple mugs for his show to boot). I was humbled by his decision to include me as his first instance of “tea bagging” a few weeks ago, and I created a sweet little homage in return, aptly named Trevor’s Tea Time (because again, alliteration addiction).
Now what I didn’t reveal (that is a bit of bonus content for you if you’ve bother reading this far), was my somewhat weirder, alternate first take on the video.
I’m incredibly grateful to have met Tom through this amazing community. He’s been a wonderfully supportive friend. And I’m proud to return the favor and name him as the first Trevor Trove Tribute. Follow him on Twitter. Go subscribe to his YouTube. And keep an eye out for him because he’s going places (if he can ever get the work visa in America, that is…).