The comedic idols who inspired Emmanuel “Manny Griggs” Greer growing up – Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, and Tyler Perry – built their fanbases through nonstop touring and recording albums.
But much like everything else that has evolved in the last three decades, this is not how the game is played in 2025.
To make it to the top of the comedy world, Manny says you need to perform in front of live audiences while also building a following on social media. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook are virtual comedy clubs, and a college degree, he explains, is one of the biggest keys to helping him stay in the spotlight.
“People, especially comedians, need to understand the importance of marketing yourself on the Internet,” says the comedian and influencer who earned a BA in Marketing from the University of Arizona Global Campus (UAGC) in 2025. “I started seeing results shortly after graduating, and the courses I took helped me polish so many areas of my work, especially marketing and video editing. Now, when I run into other comedians, they ask me how they can capture that viral moment.”
The Future Belongs to Content Creators
Of course, Manny didn’t grow up with the goal of becoming a comedian. The California native who now lives in Houston joined the United States Air Force out of high school and was deployed throughout the world during his seven years of service. He worked in security while in the military and enrolled at UAGC as a criminal justice major.
Soon after, he got an urge to become a content creator, inspired by the comedians he grew up watching. That led to his Bachelor of Arts in Marketing.
“I kept changing my major several times because I started making content around 2019,” Manny explains. “I realized that if I wanted to keep making content, my degree needed to mirror everything that I was doing.”
Content creation is the career of the future, according to Fortune. The generation of young people growing up almost entirely online is driving them toward life in front of the camera as product reviewers, critics, and influencers, and, notably, entertainers.
“You don’t need a degree to be a comedian, but it helps,” Manny says. “My courses have helped me sharpen the tools that I can use to further my reach. When I started marketing myself and making videos, I grew a following of 15,000 in less than two months. I owe that to UAGC and the marketing courses.”
The art of performing, and the business of marketing, are two different worlds, but must be brought together in “one giant lane” to succeed as a content creator, Manny explains.
Both involve aspects of his personal life. Manny’s jokes are pulled from real-life experiences, including his college experience, and are inspired by his youth. At the same time, his business acumen comes from UAGC, and his degree serves as the “professional proof” that makes him a leader and mentor to others in his field.
The Business Side of Being Funny
Though he just finished his bachelor’s degree in early 2025, Manny has been putting his marketing skills to work for years. So far, it’s paid off.
He’s had plenty of “wow” moments, like meeting superstar comedian Tiffany Haddish at the Laugh Factory in Long Beach, California, or getting some words of encouragement from rapper/actor 50 Cent.
Networking, as business students learn very early on, is essential to your success, Manny says. He’s also quick to point out three critical courses from his bachelor’s degree program that have helped him grow his brand.
BUS 340 Business Communications teaches students the principles of business communications and how to use modern software tools to effectively deliver your message. Manny implemented the learnings and saw the results.
“People want access to you, and you need to promote yourself and become a jack of all trades in order to really flourish,” Manny says. “When I see people respond or recognize me, it makes me try harder. If you put me in a room, I’m going to work it.”
BUS 317 Intro to Advertising introduces students to the advertising industry and concepts of media buying, copywriting, production, and research, among others, and Manny immediately understood the benefits of the coursework.
“Intro to Advertising helps so much with brand awareness, and if you’re presenting a marketing plan, you’ll know what to put in there and what to pitch,” Manny says. “When you’re a subject matter expert, you need to know how to sell things. You need to be good at pitching products, or yourself, and explaining why someone needs to buy it.”
BUS 495 Marketing Capstone brings everything together as students create a real-world marketing plan. For Manny, the final course of his degree was “the icing on the cake.”
“It made my brand more established, and gave me more of a foundation, more purpose behind what I’m doing,” he explains. “It makes you comfortable with your brand and talking to people.”
Manny doesn’t have to look far to see how his degree is paying off. The numbers tell the story, and as of July 2025, he’s amassed more than 582,000 fans on Instagram and nearly 10,000 on YouTube.
Conquering the Content Cycle
Just as Manny’s comedy heroes spent weeks on the road, moving from club to club, winning over new fans and polishing their routines, the budding superstar has learned that to succeed in the entertainment industry, you can never really slow down. Every day he’s working on new jokes, new monologues, and new methods of telling his story on social media.
During his conversation with UAGC, Manny shared three of his methods for conquering the content cycle.
- Adapt a good workflow: Virality is a tricky thing, he knows, and audiences are fickle. Succeeding on social media, when you’re at the mercy of the platform’s algorithm, requires constant work and self-evaluation.
- Manage your time: Time management is a skill Manny learned at UAGC, and it’s helped him stay in the social media conversation.
“I do the work two weeks out, so I can give myself a break and proper rest, because you have to learn to decompress,” Manny says. - Be your biggest cheerleader: When content doesn’t perform right away, there’s a natural urge to question what went wrong. It can be deflating, but Manny says you need to expect life’s curveballs and know how to navigate around them.
“Always remember to never give up” he encourages. “I was going to school on my phone the whole time I was at UAGC, and that taught me I needed to be extremely adaptable, and that sometimes you have to motivate yourself.”
Celebrate your accomplishments: After a milestone, some people immediately pivot to what’s next? Manny says to avoid this and instead take a moment to enjoy your accomplishment. “Enjoy the people cheering for you and then see what’s next. Enjoy your wins.”
Defining Success
For some aspiring entertainers, success comes with a trophy, a magazine cover, or a big payday. For Manny, success is defined by perception.
“When I think of the things I’ve done, what I consider being successful is having peace and being okay with who I am and the path I’m on,” he says.
Manny has plenty in his life to keep him grounded. He’s active in his community, a supporter of Houston’s food bank, and he stays close with his family. After all, his brothers and parents are among the first ones to ever laugh at his jokes.
“My parents instilled in me the idea that I can do whatever I want if I put my mind to it,” he says.
While he continues to work on his act, Manny is also putting his mind toward another degree. Shortly after graduation, he re-enrolled at UAGC to earn his Master of Arts in Organizational Management. The degree will give him even more skills he needs to treat his career like a business and grow his brand through social media.
The experience might even become inspiration for some new material.
“What gets the most laughs is when I talk about myself,” he says. “Everybody has a way that they see the world, and when you convey how you’re going through it, you can find the comedy in that.”
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