With a variety of quirky characters, from iPad-password-confused moms to mob wife Mrs. Claus, and everyday content like car chats and food rankings, comedian Zachariah Porter aims to offer a little slice of entertainment for everyone. Over six years after posting his first video on TikTok and getting hooked on making people laugh, Porter now has 4.2 M followers on the platform and 1 M on Instagram. On Feb. 6, Porter is bringing his new “The Strip Mall Tease Tour” to the Buckhead Theater, transforming his short-form comedy skits into a full show ripe with crowd work.

“I think with my characters, so much fun of it comes from the audience interaction, what they're responding to in the moment,” Porter said. “And to get to live in that and to stretch it and enjoy it, it just makes it so much funnier. I love hearing that audience feedback in real life; it’s just addicting.”
“The Strip Mall Tease Tour,” which started in November of 2024, is Porter’s second live show and his first premiere headlining comedy tour. His first show, “Whatever Happened to Fun” in June, sold out in under 10 minutes and featured the City Winery in New York City's longest waitlist on record. Bolstered by his success, Porter said he was eager to be on stage and recognized the importance of trusting in his abilities.
“You never truly know until you’re in a room of a couple hundred people how things are going to run,” Porter expressed. “I think what people want to see from me is a version that they’ve already seen before. So, I don’t have to go in with this expectation that I have to be the type of standup that I see on TV because that’s not what people bought a ticket to. Even though it may seem a little offbeat or the structure’s a little cracky or crazy, that's why people follow me. So, let me give them the full Zachariah experience.”
Porter’s content gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people turned to the internet to fill their quarantine days. In 2019, at 25 years old and working at a nonprofit, the New Bedford Massachusetts native started making skits. Running with a deep love for making people laugh, and despite his initial worries about reception, Porter found his target audience with his relatable characters. Years later, he still feels a sense of surrealism, and great gratitude, seeing how far he has come.
“It’s genuinely never lost on me how the internet has made me,” Porter said. “You have to owe it all to the people who built you. I think every single day of those milestones I’ve hit and the people I see in my comments that have been with me for like seven years. I’m just honored and I’m built by these people and the ones going to my shows. I’m always so indebted.”
Of his characters, Porter noted the fondness he has for the ‘mom’ figure, by far his largest and most recognizable character. “It comes so naturally,” he said with a laugh. “Once I put a wig on, the world just shifts for me. I tell everybody like ‘Get on Amazon, 30 dollars, buy like a bob, something that looks a little more natural, and you’re gonna put that on and you're just gonna transform.’” Porter also adored playing the newer role of Mrs. Claus as a mob wife and the “wild, quirky girl at your local bar.”

“For me, a huge power of comedy is relatability – connecting,” Porter added. He often receives messages from fans going through tough times, mentioning that they consider comedy and the work Porter does as a valuable means to escape reality. “I think from a mental health standpoint, we all need to laugh as much as we can. Sometimes the world can feel really, really heavy."
Porter also co-hosts a podcast, “Camp Counselors”, with his partner, Jonathan Carson, described as a “witty, energetic, and playful podcast in a world that needs a little more sparkle” with a healthy amount of camp to go around. Outside of online and live comedy, Porter hopes to expand his work into the physical realm by putting his creative perspectives to paper, ideally in a dramedy piece.
“Comedy is so diverse and as long as you feel that you have a strong point of view, it’s a story worth telling and I don’t ever want to lose that point of view,” he said. “I think the characters I’ve created have their own little universe and their own little world. In the last couple of years, I’ve just been tackling the next big thing and for a long time, it was doing the stand-up tour. Now, I'm in the thick of it and I want to keep that ball rolling. I think writing is my next big endeavor.”
Porter’s excitement to be on tour and land in Georgia bled into his words: “If you’re free and you want to laugh with your friends, get the girls, get the guys, get the theys together, and come in, have a drink, and just be prepared to laugh and have a good night. I think that’s what the world needs a little more right now: just some good old-fashioned fun.”
Comments