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"Jo Luijten is causing a stir with

his whimsical flashback video."​
- Huffington Post

​

"Jo Luijten has seen those ghosts of technology

past, creating a series of smart, funny videos."​
- Wired

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"Luijten's loving enthusiasm for the dead tech of year past is apparent in the attention to detail in the videos."​
- CNET


"Masterful videos."
- George Takei, actor

​

"I am OBSESSED with this!!!"
- Darren Hayessinger of Savage Garden, actor
(about Jo Luijten's Stranger Things parody video)

​

"This is hilarious."
- John Legere, American businessman

​

"This is SO cool!"
- Nina García, editor-in-chief of Elle

 

"He has an awful Dutch accent."

- Jo's wife

​

Video producer - neerlandicus - retro nerd - editor - father - husband - youtuber - hobby programmer 

About

ABOUT

Hi!

​

Thank you for visiting my website.
I'm a husband, father, video maker, hobby programmer, hobby musician, absurdist, doctorandus, and neerlandist.
After studying Dutch Language & Literature and Communication Studies at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, I discovered that my knowledge about Dutch literature, communication sciences, and generative grammar were the perfect items on a curriculum vitae for people who aspire to be jobless.


Luckily, I had the chance to start a career as a web editor for several radio and television shows, and as a text writer for medical e-learnings and software manuals for teachers. After that, I served as the social media manager, content manager, and information specialist at the Veterans Institute, the Dutch equivalent of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In this combined role, I had a lot of creative freedom and challenges. I made several videos for the company and I designed the first Christmas card every Dutch veteran (over 125,000) received from the Minister of Defense.


In 2012, I started a satirical retro video channel, Squirrel Monkey. After a few months several videos went viral. I received a lot of reactions and media requests. I appeared in hundreds of (web)magazines and on several television and radio shows. Daily Motion selected one of my videos for a film screening in New York. Warwick Davis (Star Wars, Willow), selected my video as one of the best tech comedy videos during the Youtube Comedy Week. Five times my videos were highlighted on the frontpage of Funny or Die. My Youtube channel won several awards as well.

 

In 2014, I moved to the USA to get married to my American girlfriend. Because English is my 3rd language I could not continue the work that I did in the Netherlands. I found a job as a video editor/content engineer at Pilgrim Studios (now Lionsgate). Since 2019, I work at Ranker as a producer & editor for Weird History. I also made some videos on a freelance basis for MTV (Viacom) and Skillshare.

​

Since I moved to the USA I've been on an existential creative journey. I attended stand-up comedy classes directed by the late David A. Arnold (known for his viral comedy videos and his Netflix special), I've done some voice-work, and I conducted several creative experiments. Currently I'm working on an animated series.
Click on "projects" to see some of my work.

​

Love,

​

Jo Luijten

​

Speaking
MTV

MTV

THE FUTURE OF MTV

MTV went from "I want my MTV" to "I am my MTV". For Viacom/MTV I made this instructional video about #MTVBUMP.

Giphy and Squirrel Monkey

GIPHY

VERIFIED GIPHY ARTIST

Since 2018 I am a verified GIPHY artist. My GIFs have been viewed over 3,100,000,000 times.

Squirrel MoWonders of the World Wide Webkey -

WWWW

WONDERS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Webseries from a parallel universe, where the world wide web was invented decades earlier.

PROJECTS

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WEIRD HISTORY

YOUTUBE & DIGITAL TELEVISION

For Ranker I make episodes of the popular show Weird History. It's has been awarded with a Youtube Silver and a Golden Creator Award.

childrens_drawings_2_thumbnail.jpg

DRAWINGS

EXPLAINED I N CHILDREN'S DRAWINGS

For Pilgrim Studios (Lionsgate) I edited and animated this show about children answering questions.

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CHIPTUNES

TRACKER BASED DIGITAL MUSIC

I made music for videos and software the old school way. 

Presidential Blitz

ELECTION

PRESIDENTIAL BLITZ

For this 2016 election game I did the programming, graphics, and music. Read the CNET review here or watch the trailer. 

Wonders of the World Wide Web, virtial reality, VR

VR VIDEO

4K VIRTUAL REALITY EXPERIENCE

Watch Wonders of the World Wide Web episodes in an instant living room in 4K virtual reality. Requires a VR set for the best experience.

Greg Benson of Mediore Films

GREG BENSON

CELL PHONE CRASHING IN 1991

For Greg Benson's MediocreFilms I made this early Nineties documentary about his prank app that was never made.

Yobot the vlogging robot

YOBOT

YOBOT THE VLOGGING ROBOT

Yobot the Robot can listen, look (in stereo), talk, and remember names. For this project I was interviewed for the book Hallo Robot (ISBN 9781912454051).

The Most Boring Movie on the internet

SAIMIRI

WORLD'S MOST BORING MOVIE

The most boring movie on the internet. In the words of subscriber Jairo Antonio Melo, "Wait, it's actually a movie! I'm going for soda, pop-corn and LSD".

time travel

TIME TRAVEL

TIME TRAVEL INSTRUCTION VIDEO

This time travel instruction video (in full VHS) will bring you to the past AND the future. Experience the first minutes of a time travel journey.

Pyramid Earth parody video

PYRAMID

PYRAMID EARTH ASSOCIATION

Believe it or not, but our precious planet Earth is not a globe but a pyramid. 

IGODU.ORG - Internatinal Guild of DOS Users

IGODU.ORG

INTERNATIONAL GUILD OF DOS USERS

When I founded the International Guild of DOS Users I received a lot of fanmail. Archived.

AS FEATURED IN

Media
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