A feathered Australian native is capturing the hearts of millions after backing up his viral, scene-stealing social media presence with an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Emmanuel the emu lives on a hobby farm in south Florida, and has sprung to almost overnight fame thanks to his unscripted, disruptive behaviour on educational animal videos posted by caretaker Taylor Blake.
His particular talent is for interrupting Blake (known online as Eco Sister) in her many videos posted to social media for Knuckle Bump Farm.
In the latest edition of Blake’s light-hearted series, Animals against education, Emmanuel (full name Emmanuel Todd Lopez) is seen teasing the camera, swaggering in and out of frame despite Ms Blake’s objections.
@knucklebumpfarms Animals Against Education episode 3 #animalsagainsteducation #emmanuel #emmanueldontdoit #princessthedeer #farmlife ♬ original sound – Knuckle Bump Farms
“I hate to be the one to tell you this, but just because you’re in just the corner of the frame, doesn’t make it any better,” she tells him.
“Are you asking the people? They’re going to agree with you, they want to see you, they don’t want to see me.”
Blake’s stern order of, “Emmanuel, don’t do it” as he looms in front of the camera lens has become a catchphrase online and has earned him the his very own hashtag, #emmanueldontdoit.
It was also picked up by Fallon for his TV show segment showcasing the pair on Friday (Australian time).
Although the real Emmanuel clearly wasn’t trusted to appear on the live show, his puppet stand-in captured his rebellious streak.
And Blake clearly was unfazed by her new-found fame, hilariously turning her catchphrase on Fallon.
Despite their online friction, the bond between Emmanuel and Blake is evident, as Blake light-heartedly highlighted in a video montage captioned “People let me tell you bout my best friend”, played out to the song of the same name.
@knucklebumpfarms People let me tell you bout my best friend 🤠 #emmanuel #emmanueldontdoit #emmanueltheemu #bestfriend ♬ Best friend by Harry Nilsson – PeterVigilante
That video alone has been viewed more than 2.2 million times.
The farm’s growing TikTok account @knucklebumpfarms, meanwhile, has racked up more than one million followers, with fans observing that this is Emmanuel’s world, and we are just living in it.
“Emmanuel wakes up every morning choosing VIOLENCE!”, wrote one fan.
“Please tell me there will be Emmanuel merch at some point,” wrote another.
Knuckle Bump Farms says it is primarily “dedicated to providing quality miniature cattle”, but Emmanuel isn’t the only non-bovine resident of the property.
The emu is regularly joined by sometimes better-behaved farm mates Rico the Swan, a rhea named Regina, various chickens, and a deer named Princess.
