After graduating, former Panthers wide receiver Desi Banks (B.A. ’15) turned to comedy, slowly building up a brand and a career for his million-plus followers on social media.
By Adina Solomon
Not long ago, after years of building his comedy career, Desi Banks (B.A. ’15) reached a milestone: getting ready in his very own movie trailer for the first time.
“I was sitting in that trailer like…dang!” Banks said, describing his experience playing a Postmates delivery guy in the comedy movie “Little,” out in theaters now. “It’s moving for me. It’s what I dreamed of and what I’d been watching all my life, without knowing I was going to be doing it. It’s amazing.”
Banks’ journey to becoming an actor and comedian began when he was 5 years old, growing up in Atlanta’s eastside.
“I was always the funny kid growing up,” he said. “I was the one who had the whole family laughing, stuff like that. It’s always been a part of my life.”
When he was a child, Banks’ grandmother introduced him to the work of comedians Martin Lawrence and Eddie Murphy, who remain his biggest inspirations. Then comedy took a back seat when Banks got to Cedar Grove High School, where he focused more on track, baseball and football.
But Banks’ fervor for making people laugh reignited when he was at Georgia State. In 2012, a friend told him about Vine, where users could share six-second videos. Banks’ first Vine video went viral. It was the beginning of his comedy career.
Sports still took up much of Banks’ time at Georgia State, where he played wide receiver on the Panthers football team during the 2014 season. After he graduated with a degree in sociology in December 2015, Banks started taking comedy seriously.
“Football didn’t work out for me,” he said, “so I had to find something else to do.”
The same friend who got him on Vine encouraged him to start producing comedy videos on Instagram in 2015.
“Once I started to get into it more and more, it’s like I found my purpose in it,” Banks said.
To build his brand, Banks dropped three or four comedy videos a day. Today, in addition to producing videos, he has done stand-up comedy for the past one and a half years. He is on the nationwide “Nothing But Funny Comedy” tour until August. He has 1.7 million followers on Instagram and more than one million followers across Facebook, YouTube and Twitter.
When making his online videos, Banks tries to make them as relatable as possible. One of the main themes he covers is relationships.
“Something in that video is going to have someone think, ‘Oh, I’ve been through that. I know somebody like that. I’ve seen that before.’ I want everything to hit home,” he said. “It’s like a Martin or Eddie Murphy. That’s what I watched growing up. Even though I do like other comedians, those are my main two because they were so relatable. And if you can relate, that’s a big deal. That’s more interesting and makes it funny.”
Banks has also expanded into acting. For his supporting role in the 2017 film “Love by Chance,” he traveled to South Africa for 12 days. And he had a role in the Universal Pictures and Will Packer Productions film “Little,” which shot in Atlanta in 2018.
In addition to that personal trailer, Banks got to meet Will Packer and Regina Hall, one of the movie’s stars.
“It was very inspiring. It just let me know I was taking a track to bigger and better things,” he said. “I’m very thankful for that opportunity.”
Banks also wants to create opportunities for others, so in 2018, he started Desi Banks Productions, which hires writers and actors and curates digital content. It also produces short films and is now expanding into TV shows and longer movies.
Banks has a lot ahead of him as he progresses in his career. He wants to act in more movies and TV shows. And he has more standup planned: After the “Nothing But Funny” tour ends in August, he will begin the Desi Banks & Friends comedy tour.
“Acting and comedy allow me to connect with way more people than football would have,” he said.
Photos by Brian Jones