Inside the Drunk Knight
In every dark alleyway lurks a bad guy, baiting a hero to come save the day. Our hero doesn’t conform to clichés such as “not all heroes wear capes.” He does wear a cape — the same cape as fellow crime fighter Batman. In fact, he takes on much of Batman’s likeness, with his muscular silhouette wrapped tightly in a grey one-piece, adorned with a bat insignia across the chest. The only distinction between our hero and the real Batman, of course, is his blood alcohol level.
Viral video character The Drunk Knight is taking Facebook — or, um, Gotham, by storm. From tackling an ice cream man under the drunken assumption that he was DC Comics villain Mr. Freeze, to personally addressing the country’s recent clown epidemic with his fists, there seems to be no challenge too great for the Drunk Knight.
INDAFILM, LLC is an Indy based media company made up of David “SAX” Jewell, Shameer Goss, Michael Guthery, and Joe Kennedy, aka The Drunk Knight. Each member showed interest in making films at a young age.
“It was more about storytelling for me,” Jewell said in an email. “I always had a wild imagination. Making videos was the perfect outlet for me.”
On a recent video posted from the official Drunk Knight Facebook entitled “When A Drunk Batman Fan Ruins Breakfast”, entailing Kennedy drinking his breakfast before he was scheduled to go on a job interview, Facebook user Jarrod Slone wrote in the comments section, “Lmao that was great guys!! Still laughing,” he went on to comment, “This has to be my favorite [video] so far!”
Slone is just one of thousands of fans who have liked, shared or commented on the Drunk Knight’s videos.
Another video post is entitled, “When a Drunk Batman Fan Ruins Thanksgiving”, which includes Kennedy’s family and friends sittings down for a nice meal and “giving thanks” for the lack of family drama this year — but the Drunk Knight has other plans. Facebook user Jessica Garrow wrote, “Please tell me you’re doing a Black Friday shopping video!” She continued with, “Always love seeing new content; you always bring happiness.”
Besides the motivation that their fans give them, INDAFILM draws inspiration for their videos and work from many different places. Kennedy credits the initial idea for the Drunk Knight to “a very random episode of the TV show Two and a Half Men, where somebody got drunk and stood up on a table thinking they were Batman.” Kennedy then said to himself, “What if I was like that?” Thus, the Drunk Knight was born. As an actor, voice actors Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy inspire Kennedy. He is also greatly inspired by actors Morgan Freeman and Ben Affleck.
Jewell draws inspiration from his fellow INDAFILM members.
“I think as a filmmaking team, we inspire each other,” he said. “One of us is always coming up with a crazy idea, and then we all build on top of it.”
Creating a web series can be difficult, but creating one that is so successful it goes viral is definitely something to be proud of.
“It still surprises me to this day,” Kennedy said. “Taking in the fact that people numbering in the thousands, the millions, and other made up numbers have seen your acting and ideas and enjoy them is crazy to me.”
Guthery seemed less surprised.
“I totally did expect the videos to go viral,” Guthery said. “Well, I hoped, considering the obstacles we face while filming everything — actual explosions, almost being arrested multiple times, etc.”
INDAFILM is currently working on some big things for all the Drunk Knight fans out there.
“The current Drunk Knight series is also a tool to build up an audience for an eventual Drunk Knight movie,” Jewell said. “I’m not sure when we’ll get to it, but hopefully soon.”
Goss adds, “If you want more from the minds of Drunk Knight, we have our other Facebook Series called Trapped in Anime. We also have awesome short films and projects heading your way.”