T R E N D I N G
Jared Sitton, Gatlin Didier, Kay Didier
It’s All in the Family Farm Gatlin Didier, Darrell Bibbins and comedy fame BY J U L I E PA R T I N | P H O T O S BY C H A R L I E N E U E N S C H WA N D E R
T H E R E WA S A T I M E W H E N R A NC H L I F E didn’t lead to fame. Thanks to the internet and social media, even farmers can now have a platform of millions. Like so many, when COVID shut the world down, Gatlin Didier saw his dreams imploding. He had moved out to Los Angeles to be an actor, but the work dried up, so he left the land of swimming pools and movie stars and returned to help out on his family’s 120-year-old ranch in Fay, Oklahoma. But creators are going to create, no matter the circumstances. Didier began making humorous videos of life on the farm — at first putting them on YouTube, then expanding into TikTok. The first videos were “Farm Talk with Darrell,” humorous skits where he explained things 22
MARCH 2023
around the farm in the character of Darrell Bibbins. Then he brought his cousin and grandmother in on the action. The additional characters were developed and added in gradually, and that’s when the big numbers started hitting. “Darrell Bibbins skits took off, and eventually a whole world was created; The Bibbins Farm Universe,” he laughed, “like the Marvel Universe.” Jarrett Sitton, Didier’s cousin, drives a UPS truck at his day job and plays Gate Bart in the series. "Tips with Granny,” a simple series where Granny (Kay Didier) is asked a question and gives life advice, regularly garners millions of views. When asked how she felt about all those people following her and enjoying her advice, she said,
“We're trying to highlight the farming aspect of it and make farm boys cool.”