You don’t have to travel far to hear the raucous referencing of ‘Trent from Punchy’ – the viral video bogan that has got the nation talking an octave higher than normal – and while many have dismissed the video as a hoax, new evidence suggests that Trent could be a real person.
‘Trent from Punchy’ emerged as a video in February this year by filmmaker Anthony McFarlane, director of production company Radical Love.
McFarlane maintains that the film emerged as a chance meeting with ‘Trent’ when the director was in Punchbowl, a suburb in Sydney’s southwest. The meeting led to McFarlane offering the drug-taking lout $20 to conduct an interview on camera.
After being posted to YouTube, the video swept via viral fire and has reached nearly a million views – leading to the set-up of an online store selling Trent related merchandise.
Later, another video emerged featuring Trent in a second interview, with the promise that profits from the sale of Trent-wear would be shared with him.
Due to Trent’s similarities to an established actor, doubts were raised about the authenticity of the clips.
But the emergence of several new videos from other users revealing Trent in his natural environment – harassing patrons at KFC and hanging (his arse) out at back lots in Blaxcell – lends credence to the argument that Trent is in fact bona fide.
Those against the reality of the Punchbowl piss-head have posted a clip of actor Nick Boshier, who features in a parody clip of the fictitious film “Touching The Son” – also directed by McFarlane. Boshier and Trent bear a striking resemblance – although Trent looks visibly younger.
Video experts at LIVENEWS.com.au suggest that the choice to wash out the Trent films in high brightness add to the difficulty to tell Boshier and Trent apart.
The hoax-or-not scenario is similar to one that emerged recently in the UK, where animator and filmmaker David Firth released a series of documentary videos detailing the life of Darren “M.C Devvo” Devonshire – a violent, drug-taking, vandalizing “chav” on unemployment benefits.
Initially confusing the British public, the documentaries of MC Devvo were later revealed to be hoaxes.
