LandonTalks serves Southern stand-up at Wit’s End

North Charleston’s Wit’s End Comedy Club, which opened at the start of June, is the cool new destination for comedy lovers. Founded by comedian Josh Bates and entrepreneurs Rick Blind and Bo Silliman, Wit’s End offers a cozy and intimate setting for enjoying the best local and national stand-up acts.

This weekend, July 21, Wit’s End added a second show after the first sold out for the Southern storytelling comic, Landon Bryant, known to nearly-half a million Instagram followers as @landontalks. The Mississippi born and bred storyteller has blown up on social media for his discussions of everything Southern — from fried green tomatoes to unpacking phrases like “fixin’ to” or “might could.”

Now, the social media personality is offering in-person performances in the form of stand up comedy. He’ll talk about the ins and outs of Southern culture, plus what he calls “his personal story of going to school at Walmart High.”

“I talk a whole lot, and one day, as I was talking to my wife, she said, very kindly but with a bored look in her eyes, that maybe I should tell my stories to the internet,” Bryant said in an interview with the Charleston City Paper. “So I started telling stories about my life … and I was blown away at the response.

“It’s turned into a whole community of the nicest people who love to talk about all of the specific ways we live life here and in other parts of the world,” he said. “I think the key to social media is authenticity and opening your audience up to discuss with you.”

In his videos and now his stand up, Bryant finds a way to offer real information while making people laugh, a trait he attributes to his experience teaching public school.

“I love learning. I’m intensely curious, and I love sharing information,” he said. “That curiosity, combined with years of desperately trying to hold the attention of classrooms full of small humans, shaped my approach to content creation.”

Bryant said he likes to clear up misconceptions about the South in his work.

“I am so proud of where I’m from,” he said. “It’s the biggest honor to be able to share our culture with the world. Doing this has helped me realize just how special it is.

“I think the biggest misconception about the south is that it is monolithic,” Bryant added. “The street that I live on is full of people from all different backgrounds and cultures. There’s so much more to the South and I love to say that we aren’t ‘barefoot and backwards’ as portrayed in popular media — because there’s ants and stickers in the yard, and everyone knows you can’t go barefoot!”

Landon Bryant will perform at Wit’s End in North Charleston, 9 p.m., July 21. Find $25 tickets at witsendcharleston.com.