Professional comedy writer, father of four girls, and one of the most famous dads on the internet today—meet James Breakwell, the founder of the legendary Exploding Unicorn family humor project on Twitter. From keeping his family happy to managing a brand that’s keeping the world’s parents giggling during those rare moments of solitude, James is a great embodiment of what the best dads are known for: balancing work and life, giving everyone the full attention they deserve, all the while keeping the internet laughing until it hurts.
We’ve collected some of James’ funniest and most interesting recent tweets that paint a wholesome word picture about the heartwarming chaos in his home. Scroll down, check out what it’s really like raising four daughters, and don’t forget to upvote the tweets that you liked the most.
I reached out to James and he was kind enough to answer a few of my questions. We spoke about why his tweets resonate with so many people, the secrets hiding behind his success, and the future of Exploding Unicorn. Scroll down for Bored Panda's full interview with him, Pandas.
And just in case you still haven’t had your fun parenting fix yet, you really ought to take a peek at Bored Panda’s previous features of James’ tweets here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. Enjoy!
More info: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | ExplodingUnicorn.com | Books
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In James' view, the success of Exploding Unicorn rests on how relatable his tweets are for many social media users. We're far more alike in our life experiences than some of us realize. "Everybody’s kids are weird. No matter what strange, hilarious thing your kid did, somebody else’s kid probably did something just like it," he told Bored Panda in an email interview.
"That’s why so many people relate to my tweets. They’re living the same experience every day, if not with their own kids, then through some other kids they know or maybe even through memories of their own childhoods."
One of James' superpowers is his unrelenting optimism. He believes that laughter and having a positive outlook on life can really turn things around for the better. "There’s a fine line between complaining about parenting and celebrating the struggle," he said. "Even in the most frustrating moments, I try to put a positive spin on it. Laughing is better than having a nervous breakdown." And we completely agree with him there.
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What's more, James gave Bored Panda an exclusive sneak peek into what the near future holds for the Exploding Unicorn brand. Right now, he's focusing on his weekly newsletter that's full to the brim with hilarity.
"My big push right now is for my weekly newsletter, where I tell funny stories that can’t be summed up in 280 characters. Highlights there include the time I surprised my brother at his wedding reception with a seven-foot-tall taxidermy bear dressed in a tuxedo and the time my neighbors called the police on my pet pigs," he revealed what the newsletter's all about. "You can sign up to get that free newsletter every Sunday night here."
That's not all, though. James plans to continue writing books, and as someone who's dabbled in that a bit, I'm all for it. "I have three comedy parenting guides out and one guided journal for children. A few months ago, I released How To Be A Man (Whatever That Means): Lessons In Modern Masculinity From a Questionable Source. That one focuses more on funny stories from my life before kids. In January, I have my first fiction book coming out called The Chosen Twelve. It has my usual humor, but also kids with swords fighting robots and killer kangaroos. Good times."
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James has been sharing fun and chuckle-worthy excerpts from his family life since creating his Twitter account way back in 2012. However, it was in April of 2016 that things took a turn for the dramatic.
That’s when his account went viral, launching his career as a social media superstar dad. Suddenly, everyone wanted to get a piece of James and to take a peek into what makes him tick. He’s been featured by some of the world’s best-known media sites (the number of interviews he’s done is frankly staggering!) and he’s no stranger to TV and radio, either. That’s the sort of fame that few parents would say no to!
According to his website, James was chosen as Closer Magazine’s ‘Blogger Dad of The Year’ back in 2016. Awards for being a dad and a writer? Count us in!
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Ever since the Exploding Unicorn project went viral, James has been raking in the followers. As it stands now, his Twitter account has over a million followers. Meanwhile, he also has 295k fans on Facebook and a further 148k followers on Instagram. Throw in the 20.9k subscribers that he’s got on YouTube and you’ve got yourself a small media empire.
His talents aren’t just limited to the Exploding Unicorn tweets, though. He’s also got a Star Wars parody account, he’s setting his artistic talents loose through his three webcomics, and he’s published a series of tongue-in-cheek books about parenting and more.
As for the name of the project itself, the idea of the Exploding Unicorn is something that he’s been mulling inside his mind for years and years, ever since he was in high school. Bored one day, he wrote a fake book of the Bible and one of the passages featured hydrogen-filled unicorns. The line “…and that’s where we get the saying, ‘It exploded like a unicorn’” is where the roots of the brand lie, slightly shrouded in history and mystery.
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In an interview with Know Your Meme, James elaborated on how the tweets he posts are a way to comment about his daily life experiences and what surrounds him. Since he’s a dad of four girls, it made sense to write about their conversations.
“I’d been trying to make it as a comedy writer for ten years before I went viral. I felt vindicated when it finally happened. It turns out you really can fail your way to the top,” James joked.
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James explained to Know Your Meme that his tweets are a mix of reality and fiction. “Some are real, some are exaggerated, and some are made up, but they’re all inspired by my kids,” he was candid. “These are the kinds of things my daughters say and do, even if they didn’t literally say or do them that day. That’s why my jokes ring true to so many parents. The people who have a problem with my comedy tend to be childless.”
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Recently, I had an in-depth conversation about parenting and its potential pitfalls with Lenore Skenazy, the president of Let Grow and the founder of the Free-Range Kids movement. According to her, it’s important for parents to find the right balance between being too strict and too lenient, too prying and too hands-off.
Something that parents ought to value in the digital age is their children’s privacy, Lenore says. “One thing many parents are choosing today is to keep their kids under constant surveillance, with the help of tech. Whether it’s being able to track their kids’ movements, read their browsing history, or even scan their texts, parents have all sorts of new tools to make them seemingly omniscient,” she told Bored Panda.
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“For the same reason you didn’t want your parents to read your diary, or to build a treehouse on the branch right next to YOUR treehouse, children need some space to grow into their own person. Kids need to know they are loved, but they also need to know they are trusted. They can’t prove that if parents never actually let them do some things literally on their own, without constant surveillance,” she said.
In Lenore’s opinion, the path to greater trust between parents and their kids is by embodying the motto “talk, don’t stalk.” In other words, trust and communication lead to more trust and better communication.
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“Try to keep the lines of communication open with your kids, and gradually give them more freedom as they get older and earn it by being responsible. Taking all independence away for their ‘safety’ is a way to teach them that you don’t think they can handle anything on their own— how deflating!—and that you don’t trust them. Would you appreciate a spouse who tracked your every move? Would you feel trusted? Love requires some trust.”
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