Dan Hentschel

Confirmed 115,228

About

Dan Hentschel, also known by his usernames @danhentschel and @danghentschel, is a parody artist and comedian on Instagram, Twitter / X, YouTube and formerly TikTok who uses costumes, filters and photoshop to pose as characters designed to bait internet users into believing they're real people. In 2023, Hentschel became a viral topic and meme when he tricked people into thinking he was a disgruntled therapist via a video called "I Hate Being a Therapist!" In June 2023, Hentschel undertook a hoax wherein he acted as though he was arrested for giving his partner sodium poisoning. Other notable Hentchel memes spawned on X and inspired redraw trends, such as My Students Are All Morons and Cocky Want Boing Boing. Hentschel started making internet content in 2018 and moved to TikTok in 2021. His TikTok account was banned in early 2024 for currently unknown reasons.

Online History

Dan Hentschel's online presence started in January 2018 via since-deleted Instagram^[1] posts. His first still-accessible Instagram^[2] post was uploaded on November 21st, 2018. Soon after, on August 11th, 2019, Hentschel posted his first tweet^[3] (shown below).

His TikTok^[4] presence started roughly three years later, on March 26th, 2021, when he posted his first still-accessible video, gaining roughly 13,900 plays and 1,200 likes in two years (since-deleted). Hentschel's TikTok account @danhentschel was permanently suspended on March 6th, 2024, for currently unknown reasons.^[23]

Hentschel first went viral for a TikTok^[5] that he posted on August 6th, 2021, in which he ate canned Vienna sausages in an absurdly edited video, gaining roughly 1 million plays and 184,900 likes in two years (since deleted). Two days, later, on August 9th, 2021, he posted another TikTok^[6] that gained millions of plays with a similar food-based premise, gaining roughly 3.1 million plays and 423,500 likes in two years (since deleted).

In July 2022, Hentschel shifted his focus to self-help and therapy-centric videos, sometimes using the hashtag #therapy. For instance, his earliest therapy-centric TikTok^[7] was uploaded on July 21st, 2022, and it was about dealing with anger, earning roughly 9,600 plays and 570 likes in 10 months (since deleted).

Evidence of his parody therapy content is shown in Hentschel's first YouTube^[22] video called, "DAN HENTSCHEL LIFE COACH – Debunking 3 Depression Myths" which received over 6,600 views in two years (shown below).

Dan Hentschel Gaslighting

On August 26th, 2022, Hentschel posted a TikTok^[8] titled "How to GASLIGHT someone" in which he ironically advised on the practice of gaslighting, gaining roughly 149,000 plays and 13,200 likes in nine months (since deleted). He continued the arc going into September 2022.

"I Hate Being A Therapist!" Video

Going into early 2023, Hentschel's videos consistently earned over 1 million plays. On May 11th, 2023 he posted a TikTok^[11] called "I HATE BEING A THERAPIST!!!!!" in which he was in his car, yelling at the camera about why he hates his profession due to his patients' seemingly annoying and constant problems. Over four days, the video gained roughly 17.2 million plays and 2.5 million likes (since deleted). Hentschel also posted the video as a Reel to his Instagram^[24] where it received over 2 million views and 100,800 likes in 11 months (shown below).

Later on May 11th, 2023, the video was reposted by X^[12] user @ayeejuju who captioned it, "imagine seeing your therapist post this LMFAOOOO," gaining roughly 53,300 likes in five days (shown below, left). On May 12th, 2023, X^[13] user @rahsh33m also reposted the video, captioning it, "When the therapist needs a therapist 😂," earning roughly 7,600 likes in four days (shown below, right).

Multiple memes and reactions to the video surfaced on X,^[14] TikTok^[15] and Instagram^[16] in the days that followed, ultimately leading to a follow-up TikTok^[17] posted by Hentschel on May 15th, 2023, called "My Life Is Ruined." In the video, Hentschel's in the same car, crying about losing his job and patients due to his prior TikTok. The video gained roughly 1.3 million plays and 87,500 likes in one day (since deleted). He also posted the video to Instagram,^[25] receiving over 7.1 million views and 34,600 likes in 11 months (shown below).

Similar to his first video, his "my life is ruined" video also gained humorous discourse on X^[18] in the days that followed.

TikToker Arrested For Poisoning Partner Hoax

On June 16th, 2023, Hentschel started a series of videos in which he explains how he is slowly poisoned his partner with sodium in their Britta filter in order to make them more dependent on him and love him more. He posted a video^[19] showing his process on June 16th, gathering over 370,000 plays and 57,000 likes in a week (since deleted). On June 17th, he posted a video^[20] saying that his partner was in the hospital and that he took it as a sign that they needed to break up, gathering over 190,000 plays and 15,000 likes in six days (since deleted).

Hentschel also posted the videos to his Instagram^[26]^[27] account as Reels (shown below).

On June 22nd, 2023, Hentschel took to his X^[21] account (briefly renamed "True Crime Gazette") to share a Fake News Article Screenshot (seemingly a New York Post article) about the situation, gathering over 800,000 views and 7,000 likes in a day (shown below).

TikTok Ban

On March 6th, 2024, Hentschel posted a tweet^[28] stating, "My TikTok was permanently suspended…" The tweet gained over 22,000 likes in a month (shown below). It's currently unknown why Hentschel's account was banned. He said, "I was an artist. I dared to push the boundaries. And in our sanitized corporate hell, that is the cardinal sin. Fine. I don't need them. Remember my name. You will hear it again."

As of April 24th, 2024, Hentschel's account is still banned and he has not made a new one.

Following

By April 24th, 2024, Dan Hentschel had amassed over 263,000 followers on Instagram,^[29] over 152,700 followers on X^[9] and over 33,600 subscribers on YouTube.^[10]

Virtual Sin Forgiveness

Virtual Sin Forgiveness refers to a series of memes inspired by Dan Hentschel's "Virtual Sin Forgiveness" viral video in which he dresses as a Catholic Priest and absolves people of their sins. The video editing effects used by Hentschel, reminiscent of a powerful psychic attack, led to the spread of duet style videos showing people being pushed back by Hentschel's power in early 2024.

My Students Are All Morons

My Students Are All Morons Redraws refers to a viral TikTok trend in which artists redraw famous teacher characters on top of Dan Hentschel's parody meltdown video saying "my students are all morons." The trend grew popular at the end of February 2024, sparking redraws of anime characters like Jujutsu Kaisen's Satoru Gojo, and Naruto's Kakashi-Sensei, among other mentor-like characters.

Cocky Want Boing Boing

Cocky Want Boing Boing refers to a post from Dan Hentschel in April 2024 in which he's photoshopped to look like an old bald man who's shirtless at the beach, captioned, "At the beach – Where the hoes at? Cocky want boing boing!" The tweet inspired a slew of redraws and exploitable usage similar to other memes inspired by Hentschel.