marauderverity asked: What inspired you and your friends to start "Kings of Kaukau" and did you ever anticipate that it would get so popular?

Well, it started with “Epic Kaukau Time”, which started with Epic Meal Time, of course. Ironically enough, I turned Ian (the chef) on to Epic Meal Time while we were out jogging one day. Once he checked it out for himself, he wanted to do an Epic Meal Time type of video, only with a popular local dish. So, we came up with a whole list of ideas, decided on Manapua Man Manapua, put together an EMT-like crew including Ian’s brother Rocky and cousin David, and close friend Nick, and shot “Epic Kaukau Time”. Once it was uploaded, I tweeted it to Epic Meal Time as a long shot that they would actually see it. They ended up seeing it and liking what they saw, and re-tweeted it to their followers. The video went viral literally overnight, and we now found ourselves in a unique position to share the cultures and food of Hawaii with the world. So, we decided to continue making videos focusing on Hawaii local cuisine, with a conscious effort to set ourselves apart from Epic Meal Time and impart our own style and voice. Hence, the name change to Kings of Kaukau and more comedic tone.

I never anticipated anyone ever actually seeing our videos, especially Epic Meal Time themselves. To be honest, in a way, I still don’t. Keeps me on my toes. I hope this answer wasn’t too long-winded…

  1. bancholibre posted this