With a career spanning over 37 years, comedy veteran Brad Upton is just getting started. The former fourth grade teacher and part-time track coach is seeing a resurgence unlike anyone else. His 2019 Dry Bar comedy special, “Boomer Triggers Gen-Z Snowflakes” with 16.1 million views on YouTube, is the 2nd most viewed comedy special on the planet.
Brad was teaching the fourth grade and coaching high school track in Pasco, WA when he first stepped on stage in 1984. He quickly decided that he wanted to do standup instead, so he quit teaching in June of 1986 and never looked back.
As his reputation grew and his work became renowned, Brad began working on the occasional cruise ship in 1999. He then won the Las Vegas Comedy Festival in 2002 and appeared at Caesars Palace as part of the HBO Comedy Festival. He toured briefly with the late, great Joan Rivers and has spent the past 15 years as the opening act for the legendary Johnny Mathis. He has also been seen in concert with The Smothers Brothers, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, George Jones, Glen Campbell, Little Big Town, Smokey Robinson, Pam Tillis, Joe Diffie, Lewis Black, Jeff Foxworthy, Neal McCoy and others.
In 2017 he taped a special for a brand new comedy platform called Dry Bar Comedy. Things would soon change in ways he never expected. Dry Bar released a clip of Brad in June of 2018 about millennials that went viral in ways very few comedy videos have ever done. It had 12 million views in 48 hours, then 33 million views in 10 days. It sent his CD to number 1 on the iTunes Charts and had him trending on Twitter. The world became suddenly aware of this ‘new’ comedian. That video today has nearly 90 million views and according to Dry Bar, is the most viewed standup video ever. He has released two very successful specials on Dry Bar and now has well over 200 million views on the internet. His immense internet fame drew the attention of the iconic Grand Ole Opry where he had the ultimate honor to step into the circle and make his debut in September of 2019 and has since become a regular guest.
Brad will be performing four shows at The Comedy Vault on Friday and Saturday.
Tickets for his shows can be purchased here.
The Comedy Vault is located at 18 East Wilson in Batavia.
