INSIGHT Magazine July 2016 | Page 7

Facebook followers on his comedy page, hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and a contract with Bang Productions, an entertainment firm based in New York and Los Angeles. Fans from all around the country rail on the character’s relatability. Some say they’ve heard the same words yelled by their own mothers. Others, that they’ve been the ones shouting. Knight’s comedy strikes a chord common to thousands of people, and that may have him on the way to becoming a household name. Such success takes years to earn for most entertainers, but Knight’s rise to fame took place almost overnight, only six months after his first standup comedy gig and almost immediately after his first Southern Mom video. It’s a distinction Knight keeps at INSIGHT the front of his mind. “You may do this for years and years before being recognized for it, and you may never be recognized at all,” said Knight. “I’m just blessed that it happened so fast.” The 30-year-old Southside native may have been born for the part. In middle school, he was voted “Most Talkative” two years running. Teachers would send him out of class to keep order. His grades, he said, failed to impress his mother, but they did reflect his innate gift for goofing off to entertain others. Where some kids related to one another through hobbies, by social status or simply muscled their way through school, Knight got along by being funny. “You become just another face in high school, and you have to find out who you July 2016 7