Photo by Mic Smith
Shawn Goins
Age: 40.
Resides in: Myrtle Beach.
Claim to fame: YouTube sensation “Handyman Hal.”
On tour: Handyman Hal has been touring with Ridemakerz, a company that lets kids build their own radio-controlled cars, and he plans to tour with trampoline park Big Air next year. At these meet-and-greets, kids can interact with one of their favorite YouTube characters.
Alter alter ego: Goins’ alter ego is Handyman Hal, but he also has a channel called “Hal’s Alter Ego,” in which he shows what his life is like as Shawn Goins. “That’s everything behind the scenes,” he says. “It’s my life as a youth pastor, me traveling, us traveling.”
Shawn Goins was a handy man. He worked in construction, after all. He is also an educator, serving as a youth pastor at The Refuge church in Murrells Inlet.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Goins wanted to create online video content for his church’s youth groups—and that’s when he fused his personas together and built his most successful project yet, a viral YouTube kids’ channel called “Handyman Hal.”
“I came up with the idea of this character, Handyman Hal, to get our kids more involved with the videos online,” Goins says. “I created the character with just an old safety vest that I had and an old hard hat.”
In the videos, Handyman Hal shows kids how to put together things like toy cars and playhouses and swing sets. It’s entertainment and education delivered in a positive and slightly zany way, sort of a mash-up of Mister Rogers, Blue’s Clues and Bob Vila.
“What we wanted to establish from the get-go was that the content on Handyman Hal would be family-friendly,” Goins explains. “What we mean by that is not just content suitable for kids. We mean that we want families to sit down and watch it together.”
Goins and his filmmaker friend from high school, Jason Wheeler, shot the first episodes in Wheeler’s backyard, and they didn’t think it would go anywhere. But then they went to the car wash.
“During COVID, that’s one of the only things kids could really do—go to the car wash,” Goins says. “So, we did that in January of 2021, and that video went nuts, and it’s just kind of extended from there.”
The video—a behind-the-scenes look at working at the car wash—has amassed more than 13 million views, and his main Handyman Hal channel now has more than 836,000 subscribers. Handyman Hal is now Goins’ full-time job, and he’s filmed episodes at fire stations, on farms and at ballparks—all spread across three YouTube channels.
“‘It’s awesome,’” Goins says. “That’s our slogan. On one side, we push that learning stuff is awesome. And on the other side, we talk about how you are awesome, the way God created you, and the purposes and plans for your life.” —Hastings Hensel
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the fact that Shawn Goins is not a father (his production partner, Jason Wheeler, is) and that Handyman Hal has three YouTube channels.