Mandal’s Comedy is a Controlled Unraveling and He’s Owning It

Image: Provided by Mandal.

Atlanta Comedian Tevin Williams’, better known as Mandal, comedy feels like a controlled unraveling: observational, precise and just offbeat enough to make you wonder if you’re the weird one. This past July, he had his Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show debut, but if you’ve been paying attention, you know this wasn’t an overnight thing. Mandal’s been running indie shows, writing for TV, and consistently putting in reps on big stages and in rooms that smell like both beer and broken dreams.

When I caught up with Mandal, he was on tour with Josh Johnson from The Daily Show on his “Flowers Tour.” Mandal was gracious enough to make time to talk about his late-night prep, the myth of “making it,” and why producing your own shit might be the new flex.

The Artist, Not Just the Comic

“I am a stand-up comedian,” Mandal said, then paused. “And I want to start using the word artist.”

“People don’t let you get that word off when you do funny stuff, but yeah ... I’m a comedic artist.”

— Mandal

It’s not about being self-serious. Mandal’s voice lives on the “sillier side,” and he knows it. He describes his act as “a little absurd” and full of “egregious stuff that we’re in on — like, the thing I’m saying is dumb, and we all know it’s dumb.” His goal isn’t truth-telling in the political-comic sense. “I just like making silly stuff. Very escapist,” he said. “I’ve tried the important-things-to-say thing. And every time I tried, the joke just wasn’t funny. So now I’m doing exactly what I would pay to see.”

Like most late-night debuts, Mandal’s Tonight Show appearance was years in the making, which then all came together at warp speed. For those in the know, Michael Cox is the late-night booker whose radar they’re all trying to be on. Mandal reflected on first meeting Cox at the Lauging Skull Festival in 2018. And then again at Moon Tower in 2025. “I told my manager I wanted to do it. I submitted a set, cut the stuff that didn’t work with their rules, sent a second one, and three weeks later, they gave me a date,” he shared.

Three weeks isn’t much prep time, but for Mandal, the crunch helped. “I’m super ADHD, so the time crunch made me lock in,” he said. “I ran it a bunch, switched one joke three days before, and then just hoped it panned out.”

And it did. Despite a rehearsal sock wardrobe malfunction, he performed a set that felt fresh and nostalgic, fun all at the same time.

Today, most comics will tell you that late night doesn’t move the needle, but for Mandal, the impact was real. “Even if I didn’t get a single follower from it, TV still means something different than the internet stuff,” he said. “My family had watch parties. My grandmother cried It’s still legitimizing.”

Roots in Atlanta’s Indie Scene

Mandal, or maybe I should say "Tevin,” grew up in southwest Atlanta, watching Comic View, Premium Blend, and, against his grandmother’s wishes, Kings of Comedy. He flirted with acting as a kid, even landing an extra role in a BET movie, then shelved the dream for a marketing degree, which, in his own words, he was “trash at” until a friend pushed him toward stand-up.

“I was built in the indie rooms,” he said. Pre-2020 Atlanta was full of them: Star Bar, Joe Pettis shows, Kat’s Cafe. “That’s where I grew the most. Clubs make you feel official, but indie shows let you be your full self.”

These days, Mandal’s “comedic artist” instincts extend to animation. He co-created Little Daddy for Adult Swim and runs a YouTube short series called Big Biz on the Big Fun Network.

“I’m finding my niche,” he said. “Animation has been a good space for me. I’ve got one idea that’s more internet-friendly and another that’s more like a background show, the thing you put on while you’re working from home.”

Scene Builder & Influences

When asked who people should be watching from Atlanta, Mandal doesn’t hesitate he had a list on the ready.

• “Clayton English is prolific

• “Rob Haze — clever, nuanced, finds angles nobody else finds.

• Michael Rowland - helped me get a lot of my chops.

He also shouted out Sonya Gokhale Candy, his former roommate Callie Del Chufy, Katie Hughes, and Lauren Knight.

It’s not as easy to catch Mandal live in Atlanta these days. He recently made the jump to Los Angeles, where he currently does warm-up for Everybody’s Live with John Mulaney. The move was not necessarily a product of being on The Tonight Show, but “It lined up perfectly,” he said.

When asked what advice he’d give his younger self, Mandal doesn’t miss a beat: “Stop whining and work. All the issues I’ve had in comedy were solved by working. And save some money. When I went full-time in 2019, I didn’t, and when the pandemic hit, it wrecked me.” He paused. “Oh — and invest in the community. That matters.”

““I realized how much Atlanta’s scene invested in me. Now I’m figuring out how to invest back.””

— Mandal

If success in comedy is measured by longevity, adaptability and making your grandmother cry happy tears in Studio 6B, Mandal’s doing just fine.

Follow Mandal: @themandalman on socials, Big Fun Network on YouTube (Big Biz, Little Daddy). And yes — go comment something nice; the trolls have been loud lately.