Content creator Darius Benson sat down with Erik King for the latest episode of Dexter’s Kill Room, and then a very familiar “surprise” followed!
Dexter’s Kill Room is back for a fifth consecutive week, and after last week’s very successful episode featuring Julie Benz and Erik King revisiting some classic Doakes and Rita scenes, the latest installment brings King together with a fan who helped keep one of Doakes’ most iconic moments alive online.
This time, King is joined by content creator Darius Benson, who more than 12 years ago created a hilarious Vine based on the famous “Surprise, motherf**ker” moment from the OG Dexter series.
Back in February 2014, just a few months after the original series finale, Benson actually put his own satirical spin on the scene. At the time, “Surprise, motherf**ker” had already become an eight-year-old meme, but Benson gave it a new life by turning the joke into a video.
The Vine attracted a lot of attention fast, and helped Benson gain even more popularity as a content creator. More than a decade later, the video is still being shared and popping up on people’s feeds, proving just how memorable Doakes’ famous catchphrase has become.
Erik King and Darius Benson Recreate the Viral Vine
The latest episode of Dexter’s Kill Room is also the shortest episode of the series so far, but it still has many fun moments.
King and Benson take turns interviewing each other throughout the episode before ending things by recreating Benson’s original 2014 video. This time, however, the recreation comes with much better video quality and an even bigger surprise: Erik King himself joins in.
After Benson performs his version of the viral joke, King actually reacts with one of the more recent Doakes memes, pointing two fingers toward his eyes before pointing them at Dexter.
Watch the hilarious video below, and then continue reading for some of the highlights from what King and Benson discussed during Episode 5 of Dexter’s Kill Room.
Darius Benson Recalls His First Impression of Doakes
During their conversation, King asked Benson what his first impression of Doakes was when he initially saw the character on screen.
Benson described Doakes as completely unflappable, pointing to his strong presence and the way he always seemed to stare people down. He also joked about the contrast between Doakes’ intimidating attitude and the people around him telling him to calm down, only for Doakes to remain completely unfazed.
King then wanted to know what made Benson decide not to simply repeat the “Surprise, motherf**ker” joke and instead turn it into his own video.
Benson explained that he actually did not create the original joke. At the time, he had been making videos and came across a still image of King as Doakes that had already been turned into a meme. Someone had edited the image with different elements, including a birthday hat and a judge’s outfit, to play around with the famous “Surprise” line.
According to Benson, the joke already existed in photo form. What he did was take that idea and become one of the first people to turn it into a video, which was especially fitting because Vine was still relatively new at the time.
King however, disagreed with Benson’s attempt to downplay his contribution and actually told him that he deserved to take a lot more credit for the viral moment. Benson agreed, pointing out that he had also studied King’s cadence, mannerisms and the way he delivered his lines in order to make his own performance feel like Doakes.
Watch the Full Episode of Dexter’s Kill Room
The latest episode may be the shortest Dexter’s Kill Room installment so far, but the reunion between Erik King and Darius Benson makes it particularly fun.
You can watch the full nine-minute episode of Dexter’s Kill Room below.