King Bach: Vine’s No. 1 Creator Brings Comedic Chops to Movies and TV
King Bach is one of our 2016 Famechanger honorees. For more, click here.
Andrew Bachelor is the king of six-second comedy. And Vine’s most-followed creator — King Bach to his 15.7 million fans — has already made incursions into other media.
This fall, he will appear in the horror comedy “The Babysitter,” directed by McG, and is currently filming the indie comedy “Where’s the Money” with Terry Crews and Josh Brener. Previous big-screen roles include parts in the horror parody “Meet the Blacks” and the spoof “Fifty Shades of Black.” On TV, Bachelor has been seen in Showtime’s “House of Lies,” Adult Swim’s “Black Jesus,” Fox’s “The Mindy Project,” BET’s revival of “Punk’d,” and MTV’s “Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ‘N Out.”
“I’m all over your TV and movie screen,” says the 27-year-old. He adds half-kiddingly, “My goal is to be the biggest movie star ever.”
As an aspiring actor, Bachelor began uploading short films and sketches to YouTube after attending the New York Film Academy in L.A and taking courses at the Groundlings. “My objective was to show my acting skills, but I also had a filmmaking background,” he says. “I drew a fan base and kept on going and going.”
In 2013, he started posting to Vine, mainly because shorter videos were cheaper to make. “Instead of spending $30,000 on a YouTube video, I spent $5 on gas and shot a Vine,” he says. In his climb on Vine, he has produced segments with numerous brands, including Universal Pictures and Disney. What he likes most about being a digital creator is the freedom to develop and inhabit a parade of characters; his favorite so far is Sherlock Homeboy.
King Bach’s comedy role models include Eddie Murphy, Chris Rock, and Kevin Hart, who has helped him refine jokes and routines. “A lot of it, for me, is based on instincts,” he says.
Producing material even as short as six seconds takes no small amount of time. King Bach says he’s “literally always working,” a job that includes posting to and monitoring Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat. “It’s like second nature for me now—I come from a family that works hard,” says Bachelor. Both of Bachelor’s parents are accountants, and his sister, Christina, is his manager.
As for the origin of his royal handle, the nickname was bestowed on him by a seventh-grade teacher after Bachelor was the only kid in class who dressed up for a history project about kings and queens. “I came in wearing a crown and cape and he said, ‘Look at King Bach!’” recalls Bachelor.
Like other internet celebs, King Bach (pronounced “batch”) has learned the cardinal rule of ignoring the haters. “They’re just fans in denial,” he quips.
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