How did Johnny Hamcheck start making prank videos before TikTok made him popular?

Johnny Hamcheck told Theo Von his first prank videos were made at a Greensboro, North Carolina car dealership, where he posed as a trainer and told rookie salesmen absurd rules, such as rocking cars to prove they were sturdy. The videos got little attention on YouTube, so he stopped for eight years. When a friend suggested TikTok, he got instant traction, and his Home Depot juice-for-milk video remains his favourite.

• Hamcheck says his first TikTok hit drew backlash: a clip of him asking customers to speak English, which an influencer flagged to his employer in 2021.
• A Las Vegas clip of him approaching two men cutting a bike lock also went viral for the wrong reasons, he says.
• Hamcheck says the character became really popular in late 2022 and 2023.

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von (2026-10-21). Read the whole episode summary →

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