The Viral Life of Druski

Druski, the comedian best known for his internet skits, is sitting in his northeast Atlanta home. He bought the house—a white, modern, craftsman-style build—less than six months ago. And less than two months from the time of this interview, he’ll embark on a tour with J. Cole, hosting the rapper’s The Off-Season shows. But today, the 26-year-old is listening to a message a concerned teacher left for his mother when he was in high school.

“I was calling with two things,” the teacher says. “The good thing is that we have Dru—he’s passing with a 70 on the dot, which means hopefully he’ll get himself together. He seems to be doing my assignments and turning them in. The other thing I need your help with is that he needs to come straight to my classroom at the beginning of fourth-period guided studies. They’re hanging out in the hallway, and you know that Dru is so sociable. He really is a leader. They follow him wherever he goes. And so he’s standing out in the hallway, cracking jokes, being wild, having fun. But across the hall from me, there’s a class going on. I’ve warned him several times to come directly to my room. If you can help me iterate that, we don’t have to go any further as far as…”

Druski stops the recording and flashes a knowing smile. “My goal was to always be the funniest in class every year, but I never even thought I would be a comedian,” he says. “For some reason, I never put the pieces together.”

In 2020, when the world was in desperate need of a belly laugh, Druski was a consistent and comforting presence online, pretending to be a frat bro or a ruthless record label executive in social media skits that averaged around 1.5 million views a piece on his page alone. The videos gained the comedian 2.9 million followers on Instagram and a group of celebrity friends and admirers, including Drake (whose “Laugh Now Cry Later” video he appeared in), Diddy (whose Revolt network gave the comedian an Adidas-sponsored YouTube series), Jack Harlow, and Odell Beckham Jr. The Cleveland Browns wide receiver was so fond of Druski he invited the budding star to stay in his home last year, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In August, during NBA Summer League, cameras caught Druski standing courtside, chatting with LeBron James. A fan can be heard out of frame, yelling the comedian’s name and asking to sign to his Coulda Been Records, a fictional label from his skits. “I think a lot of people were surprised,” Druski says of the surreal moment. “LeBron is right here in front of [me], and people are screaming, ‘Druski.’”

Even to Druski, the experience was surreal.