Brandon Farris' Journey From Arkansas to Social Media Superstar

When Brandon Farris first set out to Los Angeles from Arkansas, he had his eyes set on becoming a dramatic actor.

“I was studying a lot of dramatic actors. Like Leonardo DiCaprio. I would study all of them. I was 100% going to become an actor,” Farris told AY About You over the phone. Over a year later, though, Farris was still living in his car, either parking on the street or in Walmart parking lots, and spending what was supposed to be his rent on expensive acting and improv classes.

“I chose to be in my car so I could pursue the acting dream fully. I did that for about a year. I took the classes. I would work with other actors. And we would do reads together.” There was just one problem for Farris. “ I hated every second of it.”

Where Farris did find joy and pleasure, though, was when he was making videos on his phone in his car and editing them by night. “I was so bored in my car. That’s what entertained me. Eventually, I couldn’t afford the acting or improv classes. That’s when I was like – I was going to YouTube vlog my way to success.”

Farris proved to be a man of his word. In the eight years since Farris decided to focus on making online videos instead of being an actor, he has amassed 22.1 million followers across TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and Facebook, and billions of views.

Fans all over the world have been left in stitches by his antics, which at first saw him making videos entitled, “I Sold My Soul To The Devil” and “Google Translate Makes A Gingerbread House,” and have more recently been focused on, “I Bought Every Robot on Amazon,” “Hilarious Things TikTok Made Me Buy” and “Hilarious 5 Minute Crafts.” Whatever he’s doing, though, Farris’ fans know that they’re going to be entertained, delighted and amused by his reactions.

When he was growing up in Arkansas, Farris initially wanted to be a singer. “I was born in Ohio, but we moved to Arkansas because we have a lot of family there when I was around seven,” Farris recalled. “My mum is still there. So is my grandma. Most of cousins, aunts, uncles. My dad isn’t far from there. I love the calm, quiet atmosphere of it.”

While he was in the state, Farris managed to become a full-time musician, performing small shows near where he lived. It was during these gigs that Farris first began to realize that he might actually be more adept and drawn to the comedy skits and quips he’d use in between songs than the music itself.

“I started noticing that my favorite parts of performing music were the parts in between songs when I was joking around and making people laugh,” he said. “That was a big realization for me. I realized that maybe music wasn’t for me. I just loved making people laugh and entertaining them. That’s what my shows turned into.”

Around 2014, Farris was convinced by his sister to join YouTube so that he could partake in the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Instantly hooked by the ability to make a video and upload it to a platform where people would actually watch it, he made a video that he thought was funny. “It got over 75,000 views in a week. I thought, ‘This must be my calling.’ But then I realized 98% of the people disliked it. So I thought I should stick to music. It was kind of a punch in the face.”

Looking back, even Farris can admit that some of the videos and live streams he performed early on weren’t his best material. “I saw some of my early videos recently. They were horrible. Just awful. It was hard to watch. I knew I could be funny in person. But being funny on camera is completely different, because you’re making jokes out of nothing.”

Despite these teething errors, Farris was so insistent that he’d be able to make his living with social media videos that he didn’t care if he lived in his car for the next 15 years. “I was already locked in to the idea of living in the car forever.”

Following his decision to focus on online videos instead of acting, Farris spent another year in the car. But his online presence grew exponentially – so much so that the restaurant he worked for gave him an ultimatum. One of the videos he made, in which he was wearing their uniform, drew the attention of the powers that be at the company. “They sent me home for three days then told me I’d only be able to come back if I deleted all the videos where I was wearing the uniform, which was pretty much all of them. I knew that being creative was what I was here to do. I didn’t take the videos down and they fired me.”

By this point, Farris had already begun a relationship with his now wife, and she offered him a place to stay in Sacramento. Soon after, in 2019, he was able to start making serious money from his online endeavors when his video, “Learning to Knit,” went viral. Farris doesn’t just credit her for his success, but the power of the community that repeatedly comes to watch his videos, who he still constantly interacts with.

“I reply to every comment. Every direct message. I was and still am in there with them. I treat my whole community like a relationship,” he said. “We now have a lot of people who don’t know the full story. But there are a handful who were there and found me at my lowest place, living in my car, and they’ve helped me grow to what we have now. Going forward, I realize I just want to be with my them. I want to get to know them even more. I want to make them feel part of something.”