BRISTOL, Tenn. — Alabaman Darren Knight leaned on his Southern heritage and modern streaming technology to make himself a star. In part as Southern Momma, Knight’s oft-ridiculous and typically hilarious routine earned him millions of views on You Tube and Tik Tok.
Now, he’s coming to Bristol. See Knight, best known as Southern Momma online, on Friday, Aug. 23, at Paramount Bristol in downtown Bristol, Tennessee.
Fellow comedians Red Squirrel, Gary Cargal, and DJ Slim McGraw open the show. “We’ll make you laugh,” said Darren Knight, by phone last week from his home in Alabama. “It’s a big and beautiful show.
Get your work week done. Send the kids to mamaw and papaw’s house. Load up the truck and come on down to Bristol.
” On a whim, Knight posted a video on YouTube. It took time. Knight’s act took root and became quite the rage.
“The tours started in 2016,” Knight said. “The videos started in late 2013 and early ’14. Southern Momma, her name is Darlene, it started like I was talking to the kids.
” Knight said he based his Southern Momma character on his own mother to some extent, and to large extent, his grandmother. “I always say that 30 to 40% of Southern Momma was my mother,” Knight said. “The other 60 to 70% came from my grandmother.
She was a pistol. My grandmother was kind of the boss. Me and grandma were best friends.
I smoked cigarettes for two years with grandma before mom ever knew I was smoking.” Naturally, he added generous das.