Asa the Comic

Just before Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans, native son
and filmmaker Asa Thibodaux decided to leave. Newly engaged
and concerned for his family’s safety, he moved to Minneapolis
and tried to set up shop. Back home in Louisiana,
he’d done quite well making commercials for gyms, Cajun
seafood places, gift shops, and nail salons. He’d always

thought of himself as a filmmaker, but the commercial work
put bread on the table. “I wrote the commercials,” he told us.
“The owners were pretty clueless, so they left the creative side
to me. I’d create the commercial and then tweak it with the
owners.” Asa had every intention of continuing his business
once he got up north.
Once he arrived in uncharted territory, however, he found
his creativity wasn’t enough. He needed connections. Where
he once had a whole stack of reliable clients and associates in
Louisiana, in Minnesota he was just a guy with no college degree
and only his creativity to provide him with an income.
“I’m used to working hard to provide for my family,” Asa told
us. “Businesses were looking at me like I’m crazy! I offered
them commercials for $200 instead of $1,200, but they still
wouldn’t give me a chance.” Lucky for the rest of us, Asa’s fiancé
kept encouraging him to try YouTube.
Less than a year later, when we spoke, Asa was a
YouTube partner, with more than 100 videos posted, tens of
thousands of subscribers, and hundreds of thousands of views. Yep, he was already a YouTube success. “My key ingredient,”
he told us “is to get people to watch by being real
and relatable. You have to have a level of connectivity with
people.” To that end, he draws a lot of his material from his
family life. One of his videos is entitled Li’l Asa vs. Big Asa.
It would ring true to anyone who has ever tried to care for a
toddler, let alone be the parent solely responsible for his
care. Asa also touches on political and social issues, but always
in a way that allows his viewers to be “in” on the joke.
And, he stays sensitive to the needs and desires of his audience.
For example, “I have to watch CNN less,” he confessed
to us, “because I could go on and on over that.” Although he
might feel better after this venting, he recognizes that it may
not be what his audience wants to see every time he posts a
new video. He brings his own sensibility and attitude to his
work, but he does it with warmth and humor that allows
everyone to feel connected.