Despite doing arguably the best impression of a middle schooler on the Internet, comedian and social media star Trey Kennedy feels like he has finally grown up.
Returning to Grand Rapids May 5 for two shows on his new Grow Up Tour, Kennedy will share from his own life, his childhood, and his experience becoming a father earlier this year.
“The idea of the ‘Grow Up’ tour has been in my head for years, and I feel like it finally makes sense for me,” Kennedy
told Revue. “I talk about how I grew up, how much I’ve grown up now, and how everyone else needs to grow up. It’s the whole package.”
Before racking up over 12 million combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and elsewhere, hosting his own hit podcast “Correct Opinions,” and streaming his self-produced comedy special “Are You For Real?” on YouTube, Kennedy came to fame on the short-form video-sharing app Vine.
“I was able to start to make a living doing that, which blew my mind,” Kennedy said about his beginnings. “So I was like, ‘where is this headed?’”
After pivoting to other social media sites following the shutdown of Vine in 2017, Kennedy continued to build a bigger and bigger following online, with many of his videos going viral. He then decided to take his brand of comedy to the live stage, heading out on the “Are You For Real” Tour just before the pandemic hit in 2020. That gave him a moment to pause and refine his act, which includes him performing several of his popular songs, as well as doing standup based on a lot of his online content.
“(It was a) whirlwind getting thrust into live comedy shows and touring because of all the success I’ve been able to have on social media,” Kennedy said. “Doing that in a pandemic was an added element, but overall, it was only beneficial to me to navigate that challenge. And I think it only made me better. And having to deal with more difficult circumstances was only going to, at the end, make you sharper in terms of not only the performance, but just how you deal with the overall business and everything.
“And to go back on tour now where we don’t foresee any more pandemics in the near future, and to just go out and have fun and see everyone in the big room, not concerned or worried, I’m really excited for that experience.”
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Kennedy grew up a shy, sheltered kid, although his closest friends always knew he was funny. He remembers watching sitcoms like “Everybody Loves Raymond” and “The King of Queens” with his mom, because he couldn’t watch PG-13 movies until he hit his teens, and how his dad was a huge fan of Jim Carrey and Will Ferrell comedies.
“That’s how I was raised,” Kennedy said about doing clean comedy now. “And that’s the kind of comedy I gravitate towards and want to write. And you hear a lot of people who come to my shows just say thanks for making stuff my kids can enjoy, and I can enjoy with my family. We get people all the time, like some 24 year old kid and their 50 year old parents come to the show and it’s cool to see the comedy kind of translate to a broad age range. And I think that’s the most thrilling part to me, that it’s bringing people together just to have a good time.”
Kennedy added that his content over the years has transformed from being about stuff like homework, to young professional jokes, to commenting on marriage. And now that he’s a father he’s ready to share that chapter of his life with his fans as well.
“It’s going to give me a lot of new material and content,” he joked. “That’s the only reason I had him, so I hope he serves me well. But it’s just been everything everyone said would be plus so much more, both good and bad. You know, people say, ‘Oh, you’ll never sleep again,’ and they’d be right.”
The experience has Kennedy looking back on his own childhood, including reexamining one of his most beloved characters from his videos, Middle School Maddox, which he created from just remembering how he behaved at that age.
“That’s one of those ideas and characters that just resonates with way more people than I thought,” Kennedy said. “And it’s fun to make that content without actually dealing with a snot-nosed middle school kid. But we’ll have some eventually. So now I know what’s in store. But I just remembered how I acted, and did my best rendition, and I guess I wasn’t as bad. My mom said I was pretty normal.”
With many young followers, Kennedy has only begun to wrap his head around the surreal experience of being a role model and an actual influence on kids as his fandom expands more and more.
“I had a friend whose niece met me and she was like 13, and she said I was a bigger deal to her than Taylor Swift,” Kennedy said. “And I’m like, ‘What?’ The next generation, they’re idolizing the influencers, the YouTubers, the podcasters. And it’s still tough for myself, or I feel like any of us, of my generation, to really wrap our heads around that, that that’s really what the kids are consuming and really interested in. It’s hard to really comprehend.”
But when asked what he would say to his own middle school self if he could go back and talk to him, Kennedy responded: “I’d say, ‘Keep it up, man. You’re hilarious. Don’t listen to your parents.’”
Trey Kennedy: Grow Up
GLC Live at 20 Monroe
11 Ottawa Ave. NW, Grand Rapids
May 5, TWO SHOWS 7 p.m. AND 9:30 p.m., $29+
(616) 482-2027, Treykennedy.com
