It’s not every day that your local waiter at Olive Garden moonlights as a comedian. But for Tim Hawkins, at one time, it was reality. While he was serving up pasta and never-ending salad and breadsticks to customers, some of his fellow co-workers encouraged the natural entertainer to sign up for an open mic night at St. Peters, Missouri’s Funny Bone Comedy Club. His “day job” might have paid the bills, but once he found himself on stage tickling the audience’s funny bone, Hawkins realized he might have just discovered his destiny.

“I think I knew comedy was my calling, if you will, because I would fail at it, but I would not even think about quitting. Really, I tell people I do comedy out of desperation. I’ve tried every other job. I mean, I’ve rented cars. I was a substitute teacher. I worked customer support jobs,” he shares. “There was no manual for it. There was no school of Hogwarts for comedy. So you just try to find an audience and start doing your thing.”

Over the past three decades, Hawkins has gone from opening bits at regional comedy clubs to headlining 90-minute sets nationwide and 100 performances per year in front of audiences numbering in the thousands. A committed family man, Hawkins built his career poking fun at the things in his world that he finds funny, intentionally keeping his comedy clean, without sacrificing the quality of his work. Influenced by comics like Brian Regan, George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld, the Missouri native has released eight full-length DVDs, as well as five albums, amassing fans thanks to countless song parodies like “Chick-fil-A,” where he proclaims his unadulterated love for the popular fast food chain; “Cletus, Take The Reel,” his ode to fishing loosely based on Carrie Underwood’s classic hit; and his most-streamed song, “Pretty Pink Tractor,” his original spin on a signature Jason Aldean track. His parodies have made him a YouTube sensation. Hawkins has been sharing his original songs live alongside his stories and stand-up bits, averaging in excess of 100 shows annually for more than ten years. In addition, he’s recorded over a hundred episodes of his popular “Poddy Break” podcast and currently hosts “The Tim Hawkins” podcast, which also features his wife Heather, daughter Olivia and son-in-law Luke.

Regardless, long before he had a captive audience that would eagerly purchase his products, in the early-2000s, Hawkins was earning one follower at a time on a then unknown platform called YouTube with his bits based on his aforementioned love for chicken nuggets and fishing, as well as anecdotes about homeschooling, marriage and real-life mishaps.

Although he might express his opinion under the guise of humor, the clean comedian is far from controversial. While he has his own thoughts on certain topics, he’s not trying to convert anyone to his side; he’s simply trying to make people belly laugh.

“Comedy, for me, comes from passion; it doesn’t come from funny. You don’t try to write funny; you write what you’re passionate about. The truth is the funniest,” he attests. “And the more detailed, the better. I learned quickly to just live my life and take notes. I’m not witty; it’s just that people relate to what I’m talking about.”