Influencer
Sammy Edan: On TikTok Comedy VS Stand-up And Creating Viral Skits
Who is Sammy Edan?
Stand-up comedian, content creator, and engineer who discovered his comedic potential while studying at UC Davis by speaking for the student union and attempting a few open-mic sessions.
After pursuing a degree in civil engineering, landing a rewarding job, and getting the sense of accomplishment he was striving for, Sammy Edan still saw untapped potential in himself and decided to explore new career avenues while working full-time.
How Did You Start in Content Creation, and Why?
Sammy Edan discovered his love for comedy by hosting speeches for his student union friends at UC David University. Still, it wasn’t until he graduated that he decided to go all-in on comedy.
Sammy’s main drive is the joy talking to new people and making new friends brings to him and the positive impression he leaves behind.
Sammy Edan tells us, “I knew that comedy is what I wanted to do after I graduated and found my full-time job somewhat repetitive and lacking the quality communication and engaging interactions I used to have back in my studying years.”
He adds, “I attempted a few open mics at a stand-up show in Sacramento, and that’s when I really decided to take things seriously.”
Sammy Edan explains,” Being funny and a good speaker wasn’t enough; even if you’re mad funny and nobody knows you, it’s pointless, so I started trying to get my name out there and build a rep. TikTok was the only platform that didn’t have people I know, and it’s what’s selling at the moment, so I gave it a shot and started testing different content ideas.”
Sammy’s online content was the start of many new opportunities he didn’t anticipate, leading him to brand deals, acting tryouts, open mics, and more.
What Does Your Creative Process Look Like?
The creative process for Sammy is different for stand-up and social media content. He uses well-written stories and opinionated statements for his stand-up gigs and tries to get externally inspired for online content creation.
Sammy seeks inspiration for his content from conversations he has with friends and everyday encounters.
Sammy Edan says, “The type of popular content online today doesn’t appeal to me, I don’t find pranks and trends funny, and I say this with no hate for them. I believe in communicating what I find funny, and it’ll grow on people eventually if it’s worded properly.”
He explains, “I was caught up between doing what I want to do or building a following through what people find funny. I remember one of my friends telling me, if you go with the flow and do what’s trendy, you’ll never stand out and be unique.”
Stand-up VS Online skits
To Sammy, each is an entirely different game, from the creative process to the execution strategy.
He believes that with content creation, you must tailor to people’s lack of attention, while with stand-up, it’s more about how you deliver and word your stories along with the element of relatability.
Sammy Edan explains, “They’re just two very different sports and are only similar in the fact that they’re both considered exposure at the end of the day.
TikTok Skits
“They’re fun to make, and I like online skits because the online space is like a huge testing pool where you get to discover what people like and prefer. However, the online space is very limited in how far I can elaborate on one topic. People’s attention spans are short due to how much competition is on the app,” he explains.
Sammy Edan adds, “With content creation, the process shifts from being funny and engaging to becoming concise and straight to the punchline. It’s more of a structured and targeted approach than being who you are and telling funny stories.”
Sammy acknowledges that shorter content performs better, as he describes content creation as prioritizing people’s lack of attention and leveraging it to gain exposure.
Stand-up Comedy
Sammy explains, “I like stand-up because it’s immediate feedback, and I get to share personal stories and things that nobody online would care to hear. With Stand-up, every word counts, and you can grab people’s attention in many different ways.”
Despite each process requiring unique techniques and tricks, Sammy strives to improve his performance in both to continue to grow his audience.
He suggests that TikTok Comedy and stand-up aren’t similar, but together they work elp him side-by-side to help him reach new levels of success and build a name.
He elaborates on comparing the two niches with “Even if you get 1000 likes on TikTok, that doesn’t necessarily mean your content is good; there is simply just a sizeable audience that there’s always someone bound to like your work. However, Comparing that to stand-up, people won’t laugh if you’re not funny, it’s all in real-time, and everyone there is paying hard-earned money to be entertained.”
What is Your Favorite Skit?
With the true characteristics of a locked-in-the-moment content creator, Sammy’s favorite skit to make is whatever he’s currently working on.
He tells us, “I don’t have a favorite skit or video to make; my favorite ones to make are those that I’m working on now.”
Sammy explains, “The passion and excitement that go into every piece at the moment are what make any video succeed or not; after I see how well they perform, they’re kind of all the same to me.”
Some of Sammy’s best-performing Skits on TikTok include the Tesla Hater Friend, the over-complicated Coffee Shop videos, and the popular traveler videos.
According to Sammy, he even had a period in his career where all videos were going viral back-to-back, which was during the release of these clips.
Where Do You Want to Take Your Influencer Career?
Sammy doesn’t look to the influencer side of things and monetizes his online exposure, as he perceives his online accounts as a portfolio for a greater destination.
He says, “I’m not in the game to promote products or do sponsored videos. If someone throws a bag my way and their vision is easily incorporated into my skits, that’s fine, but I’m not going out of my way to collaborate and sponsor.”
Getting more involved in acting and casting for movies and shows as part of Sammy’s overall content creation objective. He’s been contacted by talent agencies many times and landed a few roles in new movies coming out this year, thanks to his TikTok account.
While he refuses to disclose what movies he’ll be in, everything will be posted first, by first on his Instagram account upon release.
Tips for Aspiring Creators
Sammy’s primary tips for creators within the same niche are to trust what they find funny and master the craft of storytelling.
Through a long process of trial and error and even losing interest in content creation at some point, Sammy figured out the hard way that what creators find funny will grow on viewers, and they will like it if the creator is persistent and knows how to explain why they think its funny.
Samy says, “This took me a long time to figure out, but if you’re catering to what people find funny, you’ll eventually fall out of interest. Trust that your sense of humor is funny enough and relatable enough, and find an engaging way to explain why you find it to be so funny.”
