Luke Hamnett: The insurance salesman turned TikTok sensation

Luke Hamnett has more than 1.5m followers on Instagram and TikTok and is recognised when out and about

An insurance salesman who began posting comic videos on social media during lockdown said he could not have anticipated their success.

Luke Hamnett is now a familiar face on leading platforms, with a combined 1.5m followers on TikTok and Instagram.

He creates up to four videos a day which have amassed 56m likes on TikTok, with content such as acting out relatable scenes and discussing news stories.

"It's on such a bigger scale now than what I thought it would be," the 31-year-old from Stoke-on-Trent said.

Now living in Manchester, he has a social media manager and is about to become a full-time influencer.

A reel of Hamnett reacting to a grimy bath got 12m views while a video of him pretending to dance with friends in a club received more than 3m views.

The content creator has more than 300 video ideas on his phone. He writes and memorises scripts before posting his clips about 25 minutes later.

Since he started posting, he said he was able to treat his mum Janet and also receive invites to film premieres.

"I don't find this a job, I find it really fun so I don't switch off," he said.

Luke Hamnett said he would not change a thing about his past which included bullying

The road to online stardom began during lockdown when he started posting lip sync videos on Facebook to cheer up his family.

"I knew people were going through a tough time and I just wanted to make them laugh," he said.

In 2021, a video of him pretending to be the mum of a boy called Matthew went viral, reaching 100k views within an hour.

"It was so overwhelming, I thought 'I don't know how to react to this'."

Before long, he was getting recognised in the street and said he was now stopped by people whenever he went outside.

His DMs are filled with positive messages from followers describing how much Hamnett's videos have helped them through dark times.

Mum Janet said her son would always put on a show and perform for others in childhood

His mum said he had always loved acting ever since he was a child, performing in local plays and creating shows for his family on a Sunday.

"Since nursery he put fancy dress on and wanted to be the main character in Grease," she explained.

The family Christmas tree has a picture of him as a child at the very top, resembling a star.

Bullied at school

He was bullied from a young age but Hamnett said he would not change a thing that happened.

"It's made me who I am today. I'm very strong now and I don't put up with things that people may say," he said.

Hamnett and his mum are best friends

His mum regularly features in his videos where they dance and play games together, like the 'pitta bread challenge', which involves holding water in your mouth and using pitta bread to slap each others faces without laughing.

"We are very close, we are like best mates, we rarely argue and we don't take life too seriously," he said.

He also plays pranks on his mum that are filled with laughter, and shares gullible comments and crude reactions from the duo which his followers enjoy.

"I just go along with what he asks me to do," his mum said. "People ask me how I put up with Luke but I'm used to him after all these years."

The videos include acting out relatable scenarios

Hamnett has hopes of performing his own stand-up comedy show in the future along with creating a podcast with his mum which highlights their different generations.

"Doing stand-up comedy scares me but I want to take risks. I've always wanted to make people laugh," he said.