Who Is the Funny Redneck Guy Making Fun of Trump
Brent Terhune is not the guy you think he is, if you've seen his viral redneck videos on Facebook.
He's not the guy in an American flag button-down and matching patriotic ball cap, spitting through a salty, twangy accent about how ticked off he is that football players kneel, or disputing whether Trump committed treason.
He's not the guy burning jerseys or Nikes in his Southside backyard, while holding his "emotional support beer" — a can of Hamm's.
He's not the guy who mispronounces a good chunk of the proper nouns in his videos — "Hucklebee" instead of "Huckabee" or "Kapperschnidt" instead of "Kaepernick" — and who signs off each tirade with "F--- the NFL and go Kotes!"
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And even when you realize Terhune is a comedian satirically jabbing at internet commentators, he's still not the guy you'd expect.
The 29-year-old University of Indianapolis graduate and part-time writer for "The Bob & Tom Show" is far more mellow than his redneck alter-ego. He speaks softly, and could even be described as bit timid.
"Sometimes I'm shy," Terhune said. "I think you learn more if you listen, so usually I'll keep my mouth shut. But the other character has formed an opinion before I know anything that I'm talking about, of course, because that's the Internet in a nutshell, I think.
"He's brash, he's over the top, he's ironic and a complete contradiction of himself."
That character has racked up more than 10 million video views on Facebook and YouTube. Terhune's latest was his biggest video yet: A rant about Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad campaign, which has nearly 8 million views on Facebook.
"He didn't sacrifice nuttin'," Terhune hollers at the camera. "All he did was use his celebrity status to shine light on an injustice in our world, all while doing it in a peaceful and non-violent way, and I've chosen to take that message and completely misinterpret it, you know, 'cause he's disrespecting the flag, that's what he's doing."
In the video, Terhune stands in the backyard of the home he shares with his fiance. He's wearing a T-shirt with a majestic portrayal of Donald Trump and Nikes. He lights a different pair of Nikes on fire, along with a pair of red pumps and an old Mike Pence campaign T-shirt he found at Goodwill. The "Mike" bears a remarkable semblance to an old Nike logo.
Terhune's videos are topical and timely, depending on what's in the news that week. Each one pulls from real comments he's found online.
"Every three days, we're getting a new thing that we're all mad about and we're all talking about," he said. "Some of that stuff is taken directly from comments. I'm not changing anyone's beliefs, but if I can just point out some hypocrisy, that's the biggest thing."
Terhune began posting videos about a year ago as a way to reach people he couldn't reach through live comedy alone. The redneck character was born during the last NFL season, when he saw people on Facebook boycotting the NFL because of players choosing to kneel during the national anthem.
"I thought it was really dumb that people were doing that, so I just wanted to make a parody and I decided to make it as real as possible," he said. "I try to not make it obvious satire. I want you to listen and I want you think about what I'm saying."
It's so real that many people commenting on his videos don't get the joke and complain about his antics.
"What hole did this idiot crawl out of freedom of speech should not be for people like this," one person commented.
"Redneck don't know he's disrespecting the flag just by wearing the flag in an inappropriate way," another commenter said.
That part's a little disturbing, Terhune said, but plenty of people jump in to correct the misguided ones.
"It's one thing to see a video with a headline and comment without watching it, but it's another thing to watch the whole video, quote it back to me and still not understand that it's satire," Terhune said.
"If I'm talking about Space Force and say 'God forbid your daughter starts dating an Ewok,' what person is going to say that? Or burn a shirt that I say is Nike but clearly it just says 'Mike Pence' on it. If you don't understand that, I can only help you so much."
The redneck character isn't Terhune's whole shtick — he's been performing stand-up since he was 16, and mainly jokes about his family, his red hair, ghost-hunting shows and other random topics. He tours about three times a week at different clubs around the country, and sometimes locally at Crackers or White Rabbit Cabaret.
The contrast between the real Brent Terhune and his viral character are pretty stark, said Isaac Landfert, a local comedian and White Rabbit producer. He's known Terhune for more than a decade.
"Brent is by far the most humble comedian I have ever met," Landfert said. "They are pretty polar opposites there with that representation. With that being his main representation out in the world, it's pretty funny, because it's so far from what he's doing, but it's character work.
"The only thing that is the same between the two is that in those videos, there's a ton of word play."
Terhune's word play is present in all of his videos, not just the redneck ones. He posts responses to funny viral videos, often from his car, or hilarious one-off videos, like a commercial for his mom's yard sale. He even posted a serious response after he learned his alma mater, Roncalli High School, placed a female guidance counselor on administrative leave in August after it was revealed that she was married to a woman.
But his redneck spots are far more popular than any of his others, but he hopes that he's not only known for this character.
"It was never my intention to be that guy, to make a complete transformation and be 'Brent Terhune the Redneck Guy,'" he said. "It was more to do this character and then go back to what I was doing. I just want people to come to my show on purpose, because a lot of times people are going out to 'the comedy show,' and I want them to go to 'the Brent Terhune show.'"
Call IndyStar reporter Amy Bartner at 317-444-6752. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Source: https://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/2018/09/14/brent-terhune-real-story-behind-kaepernick-protesting-nike-burning-redneck-comedian/1213499002/
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