If you've heard the five words, "Hey guys, Mr. Taylor here," and thought, "No, no, that's everyman comedic actor Kevin James, star of the classic '90s sitcom The King of Queens," then welcome.
You may also have a question: What's going on?
A week ago, Matt Taylor, aka @thisismatttaylor, posted a TikTok video about how much he loves being an art teacher. That's a normal thing an art teacher might post, sure, but Matt Taylor looks very much like James. That might lead you to ask another important question, "Why is Kevin James pretending to be an art teacher named Matt Taylor on TikTok?"
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"Could we all just imagine Kevin James has a 'day job' teaching young kids under an alias and they have no idea who he is because they’re too young. Parents show up for conferences looking hella confused because their kids never told them Kevin James was their teacher," one commenter wrote on the first video.
"We are witnessing a good prank," another commenter wrote on a later video.
In total, Taylor has uploaded five videos, which have garnered between 700,000 and 2.4 million views.
Taylor didn't respond to a request for comment from Mashable, and neither did James's representatives, but there are three main theories floating around the internet:
Matt Taylor happens to be Kevin James' doppelgänger. They are two different people.
Kevin James is pulling a KJ Apa.
This is promotion for Kevin James' new movie.
The first option strikes me as wrong because I spent many hours watching The King of Queens after school and I still have 20/20 eyesight.
The second option has some legs to it. KJ Apa has a viral TikTok persona called Mr. Fantasy in which he wears a wig and fake teeth and makes me uncomfortable, and this James role isn't that far off.
The third option feels most realistic to me. It looks like a significant amount of effort is going into these videos — he has an entire classroom in one, he's in an art supply closet in another video, and a third video features a timelapse of him painting. He's following one person — Ed Sheeran — but he has nearly 115,000 followers. And he has a new movie coming out, Playdate.
In the end, I agree with this creator, who wrote: "I don’t care if he’s Kevin James, I like Matt Taylor’s vibe!"
Topics TikTok
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
