Sometimes You Just Aren't Funny. It's Not the Algorithm | Cam Steele

Cameron Steele only started doing stand-up to get better at his radio job. Six years later: 200K on TikTok and a Michael Jackson parody past 1.7 million views.

Before comedy, Cameron was the night guy at WZIP, the University of Akron's student-run station — 7 to 10 PM, 2017 to 2020. "I was your drive home." Somebody told him stand-up would make him sharper on air, so his first open mic happened in the student union coffee shop, by the Starbucks. He wasn't serious about it. His station manager, Chris Keppler, was the one who noticed people were actually laughing. His first paid set came later at Versified Expressions in Akron, where Anthony "Amplified" Evans handed him fifty dollars and let him rock out.

Then his mom told him to get on TikTok.

If you're wondering how to go viral on TikTok, Cameron gives away the playbook: check your analytics and post when your followers are online, write captions for search, ride trending sounds, stay on current events, and leave a video up when it flops — his million-view Michael Jackson bit did 1,000 views on day one. He also covers how he handles hecklers (get there first), the note Nef Johnson gave him that fixed his impression bit, and the hardest thing a comic must accept: sometimes it isn't the algorithm.

Filmed at Rehab Tavern in Columbus, Ohio.

Comics — what's the one video of yours that flopped and then took off months later? Tell us in the comments.

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