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[0:10] Robert Bannon: It's the round table with me, Robert Bannon. One of my favorite things in the entire world, everybody, is when you find people on social media and then they become big giant superstars and then they tour the entire world and then they become like super famous comedians and they're selling out comedy clubs everywhere. And this is the fact, people. This is the fact that our next guest is. He's got almost a million followers on TikTok. He's got, I don't know, almost a million followers on Instagram. You've all been sent a meme by one of your friends in the middle of the night by our next guest. And I root so hard for people who put their own personality and put it out there for us to love and enjoy.

It gives us so much joy. I can tell you that my husband sends me at least 106 memes a day, and some of them are from our next guest. And he's coming to Detroit and he's coming to New York, my two homes. So we're gonna talk about all of it. What is a stand-up like? What is a night like? La'Trez Anderson, welcome to the round table.

[1:06] La'Trez Anderson: Thank you. I appreciate you so much.

[1:08] Robert Bannon: Thank you. No, I'm so excited for you. I love people's journeys. We've had Tony talks here, we've had everybody so creative, Tonar Mallory here. We've had people who have been in their house and said, I'm gonna put something funny out in the world, and then crazy stuff happens.

[1:24] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah, yeah, it's very crazy.

[1:26] Robert Bannon: Very crazy. When would are you, you're from, are you from Georgia? Is that what I'm from Georgia?

[1:30] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah.

[1:32] Robert Bannon: So did you always want to be a comedian?

[1:34] La'Trez Anderson: No, I never wanted to. It was so funny because I would look at comedians like Bernie Mac and, you know, I watched the whole original teams of comedy, and it was just so like, it was so crazy to me. I'm like, how are they doing that? Like, how do they, you can stand in front of a crowd and you just make people laugh? That's so cool to be. But I never thought I would do that. I never thought I would do that. Never.

[1:59] Robert Bannon: Well, see, I was, I'm an actor. I started out acting, so I was in a lot of stage plays and like a few short films and stuff like that. So, you know, the stage is home for me. So transitioning over to, you know, stand-up comedy is almost the same, but it's a little different because it's like, it's still stage. You know what I mean? So I say I still know how to work a stage. It's just like, it's a little different, you know.

[2:23] La'Trez Anderson: Well, while you're, everybody who's listening and watching, you can follow on TikTok at TrezAnderson underscore, or you can go to IG, which is your name, and the links will be below us as well. And then while I've got you here and have your attention, two important announcements, everybody. Firstly, in the D live right here at Punchline Comedy Lounge, come to Southfield. You know, it bothers people in Detroit. I'm just letting you know, because it's not Southfield, it's the town over Detroit. And I'm on Seven Mile and Livernoid in the heart of the D right now. But we don't have comedy clubs here in the city.

[2:59] Robert Bannon: Yeah, yeah.

[2:59] La'Trez Anderson: So you kind of gotta say in Detroit because it's in Detroit. So if you want to get your tickets this weekend, it's gonna be a great night. Everybody just go to ComedyPunchline.com, get your, I think you have four shows.

[3:10] Robert Bannon: Yeah, four shows, have two on Friday and two on Saturday. And then I'm from Jersey, I'm a fake New Yorker, and Rodney's Comedy Club is one of the most iconic comedy clubs in the entire city of New York City. If you know Rodney Dangerfield, the stars that have been discovered here, what's going on March 16th? And you can get your tickets for that, everybody that's watching, especially on Broadway Worlds and the Broadway Podcast Network at RodneyComedy.com. What is your stand-up like?

[3:39] La'Trez Anderson: So I, of course, starting on social media, you know, I gained a lot of followers and fans and stuff based on the content that I did there. So I kind of wanted to do something that wasn't too far off from what everybody's used to when they see me. You know what I mean? So it's, um, it's real life. Um, it's relatable. I have a few stories in there that people can relate to and you envision and they probably can see me in or see themselves in. Um, it's just real life, just like a lot of my content is stuff that really happens in real life, you know. Um, the same with stand-up for me. I can't wait to see your personality jump. I think one of the things that's so fun about you is your personality like jumps off of Instagram or off of TikTok, and your delivery and the lines and what you say is just so funny and brings so much joy. And you say a lot of the things that we think, but we don't necessarily say.

[4:39] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, it just, see, in the videos, I could do that, you know, like because if there's two characters in the videos, I can talk to me crazy, but you know, in real life, it's just something you would want to say. You know what I mean? And I see, I love the content, and I was sharing them about the planes lately because I was flying back to New Jersey and I was flying back, and my brother, and I would see your content pop up, and everybody that's going like your topical, you stay on topic. The things that we're talking about, you're talking about. Is there pressure to keep coming up with content?

[5:15] La'Trez Anderson: Oh my gosh. Lately, it is. I don't know what's going on. I don't know if it's a shift or something, but I'm like, okay, I have to do something different because I have, okay, I've been making this, the type of content that I make, I've been making it for like over three years now. So it's like, okay, I have to do something. Like I had to add an extra layer or something. I gotta do something because like I know the people might not be getting bored, but I'm getting bored. And it is hard. Like, honestly, it's hard to come up with, try to come up with something new because any video that I did, I get, I'm like, okay, I did it already. I did it twice. I just did it in a different way. You know?

[5:57] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[5:57] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah.

[5:58] Robert Bannon: So what was this journey like? Did you just decide to do this? Was it on a whim? Like what was the first video? You were like, I'm gonna go on TikTok. We all want to go on TikTok and we all want to be influencers and TikTokers and whatever you young people call it. I'm old.

[6:11] La'Trez Anderson: I had this YouTube show with a few of my friends. It was like a podcast we were doing, like a visual podcast. And I was just, I found myself doing all the work. I mean, coming up with topics, editing the videos, doing promo, everything. I did all myself, and then one day I was like, I'm tired. I'm just tired of doing this. And so I quit. I said, I'm not doing it no more. And of course, it just stopped, you know. And I started doing like TikTok. And what I did was I did like a sound from a movie from the Players Club. This is the sound Bernie Mac had from a movie, and then I posted it on, I think Facebook, and it was like, oh my gosh, this is good. And I'm like, really? Okay, we'll do it again.

I just started doing that, doing like sounds and stuff from movies, and I realized people like this stuff. Let me keep doing it. And one day I did this sound from, I don't know, her name was, my cousin Tierra, she's a comedian, and that's her stage name, my cousin Tierra. She had did this spades, she made, she basically made a video talking about spades, and I went and recreated what she was saying in the video, and it just kind of like went viral from there, and that kind of like started me doing my own content. So that's how I came into doing it.

[7:05] Robert Bannon: So what is it like? Was there a moment where you realize like, oh damn, like this is getting, like we're going viral, we're getting followers, like we're not just a thousand people, my friends and family cackling, like this is now the thing.

[7:05] La'Trez Anderson: When I started creating, I didn't know. I knew spades was a popular topic for the people who didn't play because they were scared and for the people who did play, you know what I mean? Because it's the thing like, you know, you don't know how to play, stay right from the table. Like it's just a whole thing. Spades is a whole thing. Everybody knows about it. Either you can't play and you know about it or you can't play and you know about it. So when I started making those type of videos, everybody in the comments, the people who can, they can't, they would just, they loved it. They loved it. And so from there, I just kept making videos, and then it just grew, and then the topics then changed, and now it's become everything and anything.

[8:15] Robert Bannon: And your video got more complex and you have green screen backgrounds and your head pops out of everything and what, it's just grown. Well, was there a moment that it was scary? Is it scary? Like you get recognized, people see you all the time.

[8:52] La'Trez Anderson: Yes, it happens more.

[8:52] Robert Bannon: Okay.

[8:52] La'Trez Anderson: So I think the first time I used to work at Aldi, the grocery store. Um, and so of course I'm at work every day. And I think the first time I got recognized was at work, and it slowly became like kind of weird almost. Because for me, I'm just me, you know? And then when people see me, they were like, oh my god, you're the guy from TikTok. And I'm like, yeah. But it started to get overwhelming. Um, it just became a lot. So yeah, and I don't even like to go in public sometimes, and sometimes I just go with like a hood on. So I can't imagine like being like Beyoncé, like she can't go nowhere. I'm sure she can't go nowhere. If I can't go nowhere, I know she can't go nowhere.

[9:39] Robert Bannon: Do you like the Aldi still?

[9:43] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah, yeah, I have no problem with them. Um, I just went there this afternoon, and I love the people that work there because you would know all those codes in that little weird computer.

[9:53] Robert Bannon: Yeah, no, I will go there. I haven't been, I need to go back and just say hi, just pop in and say hi.

[9:58] La'Trez Anderson: You don't have no, you're famous now. You can have someone else go shop for you.

[10:01] Robert Bannon: You don't have to.

[10:01] La'Trez Anderson: So at what point did you take the leap of faith to be like, this is a career, I'm gonna go on tour. We're gonna, this is, you're gonna make this your living, like this is your living.

[10:11] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, so I was working at Aldi, and um, I had, I had, you know, I started making money from TikTok and I started getting brand deals, and I'm like, you know what? I'm making, uh, you know, a good amount of money to be able to stop work and just focus on creating content full time. So I got this brand in that came across, and it was like, we'll pay you seven thousand dollars. Um, it was seven thousand dollars a month. Uh, it was like this spades app or whatever. So I'm like, okay, great. So I'm making seven dollars. That covers my bills. I got, I make money from TikTok, you know, it sounds great. And then I'm like, okay, I'm done. I, I, you know, I told my manager, hey, this one, this one, this is to be my last day.

It's like April the 25th or 26th. I want it to be my last day. That was last year. So I quit, and then two weeks later, I was at the barbershop. I was about to go to Dallas the next day, and um, I got a text from the guy who I was locked in a year contract with for seven thousand dollars a month.

[11:18] La'Trez Anderson: He was like, Yeah, we just we don't want to work anymore. I was like, oh my gosh, I just quit my job and now I don't have that $7,000. And I was just like, I was I was feeling away about it for like 10, 15 minutes. Then I'm like, okay, well, God, what we doing? Like, I have no control over this. So um, yeah, that's that's how that happened, but I haven't ever since then I I hadn't needed it. I hadn't, yeah.

[11:48] Robert Bannon: And then you took that's amazing. Firstly, um everyone that's watching is jealous because you got the grail of the social media, you won the medal, like to get these kinds of things. And I also don't know how to play spades, but I'm marrying into a black family, La'Trez, and I need help.

[12:03] La'Trez Anderson: Okay.

[12:04] Robert Bannon: You're in Detroit, you want to swing by my house with a deck call? Okay, so I I um I I my sister talks about it, and I'm like, ooh, that I'm from Jersey, and I I'm in trouble. I'm gonna go look at those videos.

[12:19] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah, so you you you you get this, and and to make money, is there something you learned about social media? A lot of people aspire. I teach. They tell me, oh, I want to be an influencer. It's hard work, it's work. They people think that it's easy. Like, oh, all you do is make videos. They said that. Oh, all y'all do is make videos. Well, that's what it looks like, but you don't you don't know the time it takes. You have to be creative. You have to think of something new, something different. You have to edit it in a way, you gotta find the right time to post it. You gotta find the right app to put it all. Like I put it on this app first. I gotta post it at this time. I don't know, it's just so much that goes into a video that people don't get to see. You know what I mean?

[13:01] Robert Bannon: So it seems simple, um, but not all the time.

[13:06] La'Trez Anderson: Yes. Well, I didn't you I I hope you realize that all the time and all the work and all the energy that you put into it gives so many people joy. Like they share you and your words and your creativity and your humor to people who are having a bad day. It bonds people, it brings people closer together, and all that hard work that you do around the world, people get to laugh and feel close to their loved ones because you share your comedy.

[13:27] La'Trez Anderson: Well, well, the thing is one of the reasons, um one of the things that keeps me doing uh the videos and stuff is that I've had so many people who reach out to DM, see me after the comedy shows, and just be like, you know, I had a tough time, my daughter died. Um, and I just watched your videos and you brought me through a really tough time. So those types of things really make it to where it's like for their people, I kind of I don't want to stop for them. You know what I mean?

[13:59] Robert Bannon: Yes. Oh, it's that's so moving, and that's what the joy that you've done. Is there something you learned? Is there any advice you can give to people who want to do comedy or do content and put things out? Is there anything that that you can share about your experience?

[14:17] La'Trez Anderson: It's tough. God bless. Good luck. Yeah, like not easy. Like YouTube is like the hardest thing. YouTube is the hardest thing. I commend you on everything you're doing on YouTube or whatever you do. I commend you and anybody else who are doing anything on YouTube or social media related anyway, but YouTube is like very hard. Um just I would say just start. Um don't quit your job unless you know like you're ready. You know what I mean? Um and be consistent. And I know that's so like vague and everybody say that, but it's true. Like you literally have to like stand 10 toes down on what you're doing and be consistent. Read the comments, you know, listen to the people. If they like it, okay, we're gonna go with this, you know.

We're gonna we're gonna figure out how to make this better. Um it's all really about consistency, creativity. Um, and you really just you really have to have some type of drive behind you. I think for me, like I always knew I would be famous. I just didn't know it would come from comedy. I didn't know it would come from social media. I just thought it would be um from acting. Because like I said, I'm I'm in um I'm an actor.

[15:39] Robert Bannon: Yes.

[15:39] La'Trez Anderson: So and that's how I started out. So I thought, okay, I'm gonna be a big movie star. That's how I'm this everybody's gonna know me. Um I make lots of money. That's what I thought. Uh, but it just kind of didn't happen that way. But like I said, I I I always knew in the back of my mind, what I that I was gonna be famous. I just thought I was just gonna be an actor, I'm just gonna be acting. I comedy was never in it for me, you know. But it hasn't happened yet, like and it is happening, like because you don't know who's watching, and the person roll is gonna happen, and the movie and the television and all of the stuff is gonna happen. You're in Atlanta. I don't know. Tyler Perry's gonna ring your doorbell and you'll be over. You don't know what's gonna be wrong.

[16:17] Robert Bannon: That would be great. That with it with more than seven thousand dollars a month, I hope that's that's for sure. Um, while we're talking, if you're not in this area and you're watching us wherever, you know, it's he's he's coming to Baltimore and Greenville, South Carolina and more cities, so it the Ain't the internet tour is funny, and um I I and and we can stay up to date with you, like we said, while we're talking, uh, go to Instagram and follow and go.

[16:39] La'Trez Anderson: I do have a I I should have updated that list because I have more dates added to that. So while we where are we going? I'm ready, I'm on the road. Um okay, we got Birmingham, Alabama, Louisville, Kentucky, St. Louis, Indianapolis, and Richmond, Virginia. So anywhere, so all of those cities, no matter where you are, and New York and N the D, go to Instagram or go to TikTok. There's a link that will tell you how to buy tickets for each of them. You can meet him, you could take a picture after the show. There's meet and greet tickets. It's a whole it's a whole experience. You're gonna have a whole moment with you. It'll be fun.

[17:10] La'Trez Anderson: It'll be fun. What was it like the first time you did stand up? Was it you know it wasn't um it wasn't bad. I just was nervous. So, like any, like most people who first time getting on stage, we have a drink or too much to drink, and that I just had a lot. Okay, I was drinking crown uh from the bottle, and then because I was like, I gotta get up in front of these people, I'm nervous, but when I did it, I'd have no breath control. I was out of breath. I was sweating. I was talking really fast. Um, so that's what the first that was the first time. But I mean, everybody got to have a first time. You gotta have a first time. So everybody's first time is different. But um, yeah, that's how it was for me. But now I I'm more used to it, way more used to it now.

[18:07] Robert Bannon: Oh, I'm really excited your your story. I was ready to have fun and I was ready to laugh and be silly, but your story really kind of hit me. It always hits me because I know that when you there's people out there who are working that grind that are working that job, who have dreams and aspirations to do something big, they have ideas in their head, and some of us are so scared to take the step to just make it a reality. And you took the step, and now you're touring the house, you're touring the country.

[18:32] La'Trez Anderson: It's scary though. Like taking that step is because your job, I've been working since I was 15. I was working since I was 15. Your job is like your security blanket. And to the thought of not having that, the thought of not not having a weekly check, you know, the thought of I don't know when I'm gonna get an uh another PayPal notification or when I'm gonna get another brand deal, or I don't know how much the app can pay me this amount this month, and a whole lower amount, like you just never know. So to leave that is very hard. That's why I say if you're gonna do that, make sure you're you're ready to do that, you know.

[19:12] Robert Bannon: Well, are you ready? I'm ready for you to get like I need your your sitcom and I need your movie franchise. Like, come on.

[19:18] La'Trez Anderson: Well I would love listen, when the time I think when the time is right, um, that would definitely have I would love that. You know, like I said, I'm an actor. That's why that's why I started at. So, you know, I can do that any day I would love it do you keep a schedule about content like do you have days off do you have days where you're not gonna look in a camera?

[19:28] La'Trez Anderson: Oh for sure um I post on Instagram Monday through Friday I post on TikTok Sunday through Thursday so I don't make any new content on Friday I don't make any new content on Saturday I I start making my content on Sunday so I post on TikTok on Sunday nights and that same video I post on TikTok on Sunday night I post on Instagram Monday morning okay so I just I it's five videos a week so when we get off the phone I have to figure out what video I'm making to post.

[19:28] Robert Bannon: He's gotta go he's gotta make content.

[19:28] La'Trez Anderson: No no no you're fine you're fine you're gonna you're gonna see it next week I'm sure or the at the end of this week or you'll see it tonight you're gonna make a video tonight and post it.

[19:28] Robert Bannon: Yeah you post them that fast.

[19:28] La'Trez Anderson: Yeah yeah yeah people I love talking to people who do this because the most creative minds out here right now are the people that are doing what you're doing and um it's really inspiring uh a conversation and um to see what you're doing and to see the the the growth of what's gonna happen in your career I I'm just I'm a fan I we I'm a fan I thank you for putting I put out the content that makes us smile is really really special so thank you.

[19:28] La'Trez Anderson: I appreciate it thank you for having me. I really appreciate it we're gonna follow you so we can see what you're gonna post tonight and we're gonna and what's going on in the world and he's gonna pop out of a plane or pop out of a burger. I don't know, whatever he does, he'll see it later.

[21:09] Robert Bannon: You could go to TikTok and follow it as well. And then my city, my three one three friends, everybody that's here in Detroit, Punchline Comedy Lounge, which is the spot to be if you're gonna go see comedy in Detroit. La'Trez Anderson live in Detroit, March 7th and 8th at 7 and 9:30. So if you're old, you can go at 7 like me. And if you're young and you drink crown out the bottle like La'Trez, and then my New York family bringing the feel good laughs is coming to Rodney's, the legendary Rodney's comedy club. Go to Rodneycomedy.com and you can see him the following weekend. And there's a whole bunch of cities you can find all the information on your social media.

[21:42] La'Trez Anderson: Yep.

[21:42] Robert Bannon: I appreciate you so much. I told everybody that does, I'm gonna say the same thing to you. I wish you the career that next time I reach out to your people a year from now, you don't remember me. You're too famous to come back on the show. So like we don't have 15 minutes for that guy. We did it already. I wish that I want that for you.

[21:58] La'Trez Anderson: I appreciate you so much.

[21:59] Robert Bannon: But no, you got me anytime. I anytime. Bring a deck of cards. I'm over here at Seven Mile. I'll bring you a Coney hot dog and you bring the teach me how to play spades.

[22:09] La'Trez Anderson: Okay.

[22:12] Robert Bannon: Okay. Congratulations. The best is yet to come. Go get them. We're excited for you.

[22:16] La'Trez Anderson: I appreciate you. Thank you so much for having me.