Druski posted his first comedy videos on Instagram in 2017. On Nov. 7 he walked onto the stage at Saturday Night Live as its host, the first digital-native creator in the show’s 52 seasons to get the job.
Days earlier, Netflix announced a multi-year deal with the Atlanta comedian. It runs through his own company, 4LIFERS Entertainment, so what he makes there is built on something he owns, not a development contract at a network.
It starts Dec. 1 with Collect And Praise, a semi-scripted series in which Druski plays a megachurch pastor opposite Mike Epps. Netflix will also license his YouTube series Coulda Been Love, Coulda Been Daddy and Coulda Been Records Auditions.
“This partnership with Netflix will give me the resources to build on that comedy foundation and bring my work to a new global audience,” Druski said. Netflix’s John Derderian said: “Druski has a gift for building characters that people can’t stop talking about.”
The characters did the work first. As TheWrap reported, his sketch as Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk passed 100 million views in two days, and his megachurch sketch drew more than 70 million. Forbes ranked him No. 9 on its top creators list, reportedly after he earned $14 million.
He also built the stage. Coulda Been Records grew out of his Instagram Lives, and Coulda Fest, a hybrid comedy and music festival, sold out in the fall of 2024. An arena tour followed in 2025.
Hollywood is now coming to him. He appears in the romantic comedy The Catch with Emma Stone and Chris Pine, and Kenya Barris is adapting his viral sketch Diggers into a film.
For Black comedians, the old route to a stage like SNL’s ran through someone else’s audition room and someone else’s contract. Druski reached it with an audience he gathered himself and a company that carries his name, and Netflix is paying to be part of that, not to replace it.
Other Black creators building audiences without a gatekeeper should watch the terms. The first episode of Collect And Praise arrives Dec. 1.
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