Growing up in Mississippi, Landon Bryant never realized his Southern accent was anything out of the norm. But now that he is an internet star, author, and a sought-after stand-up comedian, he’s finding out that people outside of his home state are soaking up his version of Southern charm and culture.
Bryant, who is appearing at the Richmond Funny Bone on July 13, credits his early career as an art teacher — he was tapped as Mississippi “Art Teacher of the Year” — as really growing his creativity.
“You had to be really creative to meet the standards,” he said.
It was that creative muscle coupled with, as he puts it, intense ADHD energy, that landed him the title of Southern content creator and comic.
“I made a community and it exploded,” he says, adding, “I feel like ADHD helps me. With ADHD, I am always looking for the next thing. I wouldn’t have as many life experiences as I did if I didn’t see things this crazy way.”
His wife, Kate, who has known him since the second grade, encouraged him to tell his Southern-inspired stories on the internet — he now has over 500,000 followers on Instagram.
“It’s crazy stuff,” he acknowledges. “For example, I went to WalMart High School in Laurel, Mississippi, after a tornado damaged our high school. We built a maze in there and went for eight weeks. I talked about it. It’s all real. People went nuts, and the video went viral. It just all blew up.”
Not long after gaining a following, he found his inbox filled with emails from some of the top publishers. He was encouraged to start writing a book. By 2025, he had published two books, one in April and a second in October — Bless Your Heart: A Field Guide to All Things Southern and ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, Y’all, respectively.
“I took the risk, and it was the right thing to do,” he says, noting that he has just turned in his third book.
Bryant is also the creator of @landontalks, a podcast he does with his wife where they talk about anything and everything. “I’m just having a conversation with my wife on the podcast,” he says.
Finding Common Ground Through Comedy
A singer all of his life, Bryant loves the stage and storytelling, making it a natural fit for his comedy. “My standup is storytelling,” he says, noting that it helps him connect with people.
Since embarking on his creative journey, Bryant acknowledges that his life has changed. “I don’t have all that much autonomy,” he says, still awed by the fact that people recognize him now.
When he was teaching art, instead of focusing on his own creativity, Bryant focused on making other people creative. “Now I have all this freedom,” he says. “It’s different working for yourself than it is working for a system.”
His work has changed how he feels about so many things, including where he’s from, he adds.
“I wonder if people know how diverse the South is. There are so many different communities in my town. Everything has merged together to make this whole place. It’s a very diverse, beautiful place.”
With so much negativity in the world today, it feels nice to “be able to celebrate the things that do need to be celebrated. It’s made me feel more proud of where I am from. . . . that is really big,” he says.
On stage, his humor is family-friendly and clean. One of the highest compliments he gets is seeing three or four generations sitting in the audience.
“I like to celebrate all things we have in common,” he says. “My goal is to bring people together. I’m having a blast.”
For more information and tickets, visit richmond.funnybone.com.
