Before Howie Mandel pushed the Golden Buzzer for Drew Lynch during the 2015 season of America’s Got Talent, the Indiana comedian had no idea how his act would land. Performing with a stutter, he turned his speech impediment into stand-up material both self-deprecating and inspiring. When Mandel sent him straight to the AGT finals, it felt personal. “Howie, who has his own set of neuroses, championed me,” Lynch says. “I felt he was talking to me peer-to-peer.”
Lynch, who eventually placed second, was no comedy neophyte before his TV debut, performing 500 sets in 2014 alone. “I’ve done shows in living rooms, cancer units and laundromats,” says the 27-year-old, who hits Hilarities Aug. 8-10. “There’s always an uphill battle with my situation. People sometimes wonder if my stuttering is an act, if I’m pulling their leg. It can be frustrating.”
Moving to Los Angeles at 19 to pursue acting, Lynch sustained vocal chord damage and a concussion when a ground ball struck his throat and knocked him down during a softball game. His stutter was caused after sleeping on the concussion. “No one would hire me after that,” he says. “I needed an outlet to talk about my problems. Initially, stand-up was therapeutic. It was a way of building my confidence back up as a performer and a person.”
Today, that means incorporating hecklers into his act, turning jeers into empowering comedy. “I’m an easy target,” he says. “At first, the heckling was born from people in the audience feeling uncomfortable. Now it’s mainly people who are either super intoxicated or super unaware.”
With more than 1 million YouTube subscribers and a hefty touring schedule, Lynch inspires many. “People resonate with adversity,” he says. “I’ve been able to impact people with disabilities who were about to give up. That gives what I do such a greater purpose.”
