On Tuesday evening, I had the opportunity to sit down with the headliner of Buffalo State’s Homecoming Comedy Night, Preacher Lawson. We discussed the impact of social media on the comedy world, touring with his family, and shared a few laughs!

Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

You have quite a few college stops in your tour lineup. What’s one thing you’ve noticed differs between an audience you’d find at a comedy club and an audience you find at a university?

Preacher: I think kids like to be roasted. That’s a weird thing for me. Adults don’t like that as much. They almost avoid sitting up front and the college students, they can’t wait. Y’all are kids! Y’all are way more free. It’s just different. I think with a comedy club they’re gonna get more of my material because they’re around my age range. Go to a college 6 or 7 times…see what I did there! I’m learning the lingo, baby!

For some of your shows, you have your mom and your brother open for you. How did your family initially react when you asked them to do that, and how does having them along on the ride with you change the experience?

Preacher: My brother, he’s funny! I used to do stand-up with him. I started stand-up with him. Then my mom was selling merchandise for me, and I ripped my pants on stage. She had to go on stage and talk for a minute while I changed. She went on stage and was like, “Isn’t Preacher an idiot?” I remember her saying it. People started laughing because I guess they thought she was joking. The fact that they laughed, I was like she should come up on her own! She’s on the road.

They’re not coming to Buffalo!

In recent years, comedy fans have seen the rise in “TikTok comedians” who gain popularity and success through posting their stand-up clips on TikTok. While you’ve had experience working in television, you’ve amassed quite a following on social media. As someone who has experienced a little bit of both, do you think platforms like TikTok and Instagram have made it easier for comedians to gain exposure?

Preacher: One hundred percent. I mean the biggest comedian in the world right now is Matt Rife. He made it big through TikTok. I think that’s absolutely the reason. It’s just that things change. People don’t watch much TV.

This is a bit of a similar question but you released your first stand-up special through major streaming platform Prime Video, and your second one independently on YouTube. From a production standpoint, how did those two experiences differ, and which approach did you ultimately prefer?

Preacher: It’s weird because I actually sold it to BET+. I think maybe two years later it was released on Amazon. The second one I put on Youtube. It’s not like it was my choice. They just didn’t want it! You film a special, and you’re like “Hey Netflix, HBO, Showtime and they’re usually like ‘yes or no.’” They’ve always said no to me. So I just released it on Youtube, but to me it’s like on Youtube, more people will see it. It’s easier for people to see it. It’s just cooler when it’s on other platforms.

There’s plenty of people that have specials on Netflix that don’t sell as many tickets as me or you won’t even know who they are. Netflix, they’re like surfers. They just ride waves. They don’t create anyone. Matt Rife got a Netflix special because he blew up with two Youtube specials. If you get a Netflix special it doesn’t make as much of an impact as it does establish where you are. So TikTok, Instagram, Youtube is [where] it’s at. Everyone’s broke! People like free! I think people feed into that, and authenticity is really on the rise.

It’s really cool to be different now. When I was growing up, people that were weird, were weird. Now it’s like normal is weird. Being normal is weird now. Now we went a little too far.

You’ve had the opportunity to work with comedy giants like David Spade and Taylor Tomlinson as well as reached the top 10 on your season of America’s Got Talent. What was your first ever “pinch me” moment in your career?

Preacher: I keep pinching myself. I did it yesterday. I mean, Taylor Tomlinson, she opened up for me in 2017. I don’t know if working with her was a “pinch me” moment because I’m older than her. Same with Matt Rife. If I did a show with Matt Rife, it wouldn’t be a “pinch me” moment because I know all these people. For me, if it were a “pinch me” moment, it would have to be somebody I grew up watching. Not someone I’m older than.

I would say maybe when I was on AGT and I saw Simon [Cowell]’s face. That was pretty weird. Howie [Mandel] is such a good person. He’s a mentor. He’s just very honest. I like him a lot. I didn’t know him, really, before. I know he did “Bobby’s World.” I didn’t really know him like that. Mel B is a Spice Girl, Heidi, like I’ve seen them on Youtube but I never really paid attention. I knew Simon. So when I saw Simon, that was crazy. When I met Tyra Banks, I was like this is insane. When I was on live TV, I thought that was pretty crazy. When I met Terry Crews, I thought it was crazy. I don’t know, it’s just a bunch of things that were crazy. Everything in life is weird. It’s all weird.

Lastly, as someone who also started doing stand-up in my early teen years-

Preacher: Oh nice! I can’t believe you just dropped that like you weren’t a comedian this whole time. That’s crazy. How long have you been doing comedy?

I first started writing when I was 14, and I performed for the first time when I was around 16.

Preacher: How old are you now?

I’m 18.

Preacher: So you’ve been doing comedy for two years? I was writing when I was 16, and I got up when I was 17. That’s awesome! How do you feel? How do you like it?

I’m somebody who has always been nervous when it comes to public speaking but I feel like when I’m up there doing stand-up it’s a completely different feeling and I feel so comfortable as opposed to doing a class presentation where I’m stuttering and jittering. When I’m doing stand-up, I’m so at peace.

Preacher: Yeah! It’s very peaceful. You’re pretty much doing a play. You have to be acting. It’s just people are gonna yell at you at your play sometimes!

Congratulations! That’s awesome.

I’ve found that it’s harder to find opportunities to perform at that age. Was that a struggle you felt you had as well when starting out? If so, how did you navigate that?

Preacher: Oh I was definitely sneaking in bars. It was very complicated. I was getting people mad at me. “You can get my license revoked,” and all that stuff. I learned pretty early on that most comedy clubs are in bars.

You’ve gotta find other places to perform. I would perform at poetry spots, musical spots, cause they’re cafes, and poets don’t get a lot of love. I found a place on Craigslist. I don’t even know if people use it anymore, but they were reading their favorite parts of a book for five minutes and I was like “can I do stand-up?” and they were like “yeah!” So I went and did stand-up, they didn’t like it!
I would go into an IHOP and go up to a group of people and I’d be like, “hey can I do these jokes for you?” I would try to do stand-up anywhere! If I was in an Uber Pool, I would test out my material. I wouldn’t tell them, I would just throw it into conversation. People I didn’t know, I would just always test out my material.

People think you have to be on stage. No, you just need an audience. That’s it. Stage, that’s best case scenario but if you don’t have a stage, you gotta go somewhere else. So, I would just test my jokes out on strangers. That’s what I would do if I were you. If you can’t get onstage, I would just go out.

I would start conversations with random people and then a lot of times, you’ll say a bit and they’ll think of a tag for you! They’ll say something like “Blah Blah Blah” and you’re like “HAHA you’re right! That is like ‘Blah Blah Blah!’” It makes your jokes stronger. The world is the stage. You should always be performing.

Don’t do it around your friends and family because it’s gonna be annoying when you first start off. You don’t wanna be a comedian that’s always on. I mean, it’s gonna happen. You’re gonna start speaking in punchlines. It just kinda happens and you’re gonna talk in set-ups. You don’t wanna be that person that’s always on. That’s annoying to other comedians when they’re always trying to joke. It’s like “Bruh, it’s Tuesday! Calm down!”

I definitely relate to that. I started when it was around Covid quarantine time so I would just do stuff for my family and it very much became “tell a joke!” and that’s my least favorite thing when someone is like “oh, you do comedy? Tell me a joke!”

Preacher: When someone asks me to “do this, don’t do this,” but this is the joke I tell, I say, “How do you keep an idiot in suspense?” and then I walk off. That’s me! Don’t do that!

If anyone ever asks me for a joke, I just tell them a knock-knock joke! I tell them my favorite [joke], “What’s the difference between Dubai and Abu Dhabi? Dubai doesn’t like The Flintstones but Abu Dhabi do!” That’s my favorite joke!

It’s weird, it’s annoying, but you can’t be annoyed. You cannot because they don’t know! As annoying as it’s gonna be, they think, in their brain, this is your job. “You gotta be funny all the time.” “You should make me laugh.” We want to be like “shut up! That’s not my job!” but it’s like you can’t be mean to them. You have to be like “Ahh here’s a joke! You want to see a real joke? Come to my show!” You can’t be mean to people because they’re ignorant. That’s just in general! Anyone that’s ignorant, you can’t be mean to them. You have to educate.

You can catch Preacher Lawson, along with SNL alum Aristotle Athari and comedian Alice Wetterlund at 7 p.m. this Friday at the Buffalo State Performing Arts Center. Tickets can be purchased here.  Buffalo State students can use code BSUHOMECOMING25 to get discounted $12 tickets!