JACKSON, Mich. — Comedian and YouTuber Ginger Billy is coming to Michigan Theatre on Friday, Nov 4. According to Country Boots & Bands, he will give viewers a humorous look into life in rural Upstate South Carolina.
The South Carolina native still lives there with his wife and family.
The former respiratory therapist had the urge to make a video after NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt, Jr. retired.
“When he retired, I thought to myself, ‘When he retired, I thought to myself, ‘man, you know what? This would be something that all rednecks would love if I talked about,’” said Billy. “When I saw how many views it got, I thought to myself, you know what, this might be actually pretty cool. This might be something I want to try again.”
But the video that ended up putting him on the map was during the “men’s romper” craze. He went to a store and bought the biggest girls’ romper he could find and did a video about that.
He estimates it got between 40 and 50 million views across all social media platforms. This led to a stand up gig at a casino.
“I’d never done stand-up before in my life,” he said. “The first time I ever did stand-up, he put me out on the stage and said, ‘you’ve got five minutes in front of 4,000 people. Have fun.’ It was a real sink or swim situation.”
Afterwards, Billy began touring with Catfish Cooley and others.
“I grew up in a little blue-collar town,” he said. “You’re supposed to grow up, go to school and then you work here. I am making a very good living doing videos.”
Billy initially kept his respiratory therapist job and licensing, but once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he focused entirely on comedy.
“With the restrictions and all, they said that if I was going to work, I had to shave my beard,” he said. “I make a lot more money with that beard than I do as a respiratory therapist.”
He admits that a comedy career is stressful but his goal is to give people a place to breathe for a while.
Tickets go on sale Friday, March 11 at 9 a.m. You can purchase them here.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 4.
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