Who Is Dan Hentschel? The Career Of The Internet Prankster Behind 'Cocky Want Boing Boing,' Explained

People have been lying on the internet for lulz and clout since the ancient days when you had to use your landline telephone to connect to the web. But every now and then a new and powerful poster emerges to shake up the game. The man of the hour goes by the name of Dan Hentschel, though you might know him as any of his several dozens alter egos that have proven cunningly adept at generating outrage, attention and hilarity online.

Who Is Dan Hentschel?

Dan Hentschel is a content creator who has been posting viral videos on TikTok since 2021, as well as across other platforms. His videos center around personae he has created involving elaborate costumes and character voices. Often, these characters appear to be real and confess surprising, controversial, or unsettling things.

On the one hand, these videos are parodies of influencer content on vertical video apps like TikTok or Instagram Reels. Hentschel presents himself as some kind of person oversharing to an audience and making content. But on the other hand, they are a kind of performance art experience that, in a truly chaotic fashion, goad audiences into getting mad at the characters.

What Are His Parody Internet Identities?

Hentschel's characters range from diabolical spouses illicitly poisoning their own significant others to schoolteachers who appear to have an unhealthy attachment to their students. His viral posts have garnered millions of views and likes over the years. Many of them are formatted as a given character speaking in the first person.

Often, his characters make bad decisions or display unethical behavior. Many users who don't understand Hentschel is joking get angry at the characters, outraged by the unhinged actions the characters proudly confess to doing.

Is Dan Hentschel Really A Therapist?

One of Hentschel's most famous characters is a therapist who hates his own patients. Hentschel's video in-character as the therapist screaming in a car was a big viral hit back in the summer of 2023. A later video of the same therapist character crying because he had lost his job and license (presumably as a consequence of the first video) was another hit for Hentschel.

Prior to the therapist videos, Hentschel saw viral fame with since-deleted posts depicting him eating large amounts of food in 2021. His account saw steady growth through 2022 with the development of further characters.

Why Was Dan Hentschel Banned From TikTok?

Henschel was banned from TikTok in March of 2024 and has not returned to the platform since then. No official explanation has been given for his ban. But since the core gimmick of Henschel's content is impersonating a variety of different professions and types of person, it's possible that he got in trouble with TikTok for doing that. Or, it could also be a totally unrelated reason or due to reports from other users about his content.

Why Does 'Cocky Want Boing Boing'?

In April of 2024, Hentschel invented the character of a bald older man and posted a picture of himself standing on a beach to X with the caption "At the beach -- where the hoes at? Cocky want boing boing!" possibly a reference to sexual activity. The phrase "cocky want boing boing" was irresistible to meme makers.

The absurd phrase picked up steam across the web as users parroted it and redrew the image of Hentschel with fresh variants of the hairless character. Hentschel repeated the playbook of his viral therapist video, posting about his hairless character "losing his job" at Target as a result of the video, just as the therapist character claimed to have lost his license as a result of the "I hate being a therapist" video.

For the full history of Dan Hentschel, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.