Out on Austin’s Sixth Street, there is always a palpable chaos looming beyond the neon signs and the constant flow of Lone Star beers. The people who party a little too hard traipse along the fault lines of reality and spilled vodka. And out there is Phillip Garcia, capturing the madness. His Man on The Street video, “What The F*&K Is Going On?” landed him millions of views. Still, he remains a working comedian who just happens to live in the world of social media — while also trying to capture some of the insanity that bubbles up from the Texas Capitol’s gutter.
Garcia’s short interview series has taken off across Instagram and TikTok, landing him partnership deals and viewers globally. The form is simple: capture the folks who’ve probably had one too many cocktails along the row of bars on Sixth Street, Austin’s party destination, and ask, “What the f*&k is going on?” What comes from people’s mouths is hilarious, shocking, or strange. One moment, people are screaming; the next, someone is grabbing a microphone and letting people know they’re celebrating a birthday or that they just vomited.
It’s a chaotic sprinkle of The Jerry Springer Show that people can’t stay away from.
The Man on Sixth Street’s Origin Story
But, for Garcia, the idea for the show just happened out of the ether rather than be a formulated plan to get people invested in his comedy. Speaking to me from The Sunset Strip, one of the city’s premier comedy venues, Garcia was candid about how he’s taken this little idea and ran with it. “I went to Sam Houston State University and I got a degree in journalism. After working a while in journalism, I felt the call to be a standup again, something I had dabbled in during college.” Now, Garcia is a working comedian who hits every stage in Austin, from Rogan’s Comedy Mothership to Creek in The Cave and Cap City Comedy Club. Every night, he’s out there crafting jokes and building a set that keeps more and more people coming to see him as his name appears on show rosters.
Working in the Dallas/Fort Worth comedy scene, Garcia heeded the call of comedy superstar Joe Rogan and moved to Austin. “I was like Rogan, Kill Tony? Boom. We all moved down here. Comics realized that this was going to be the new place for us to really hone and craft our style. I worked as a door guy at a lot of the clubs, specifically Vulcan Gas Company. And I saw enough of Sixth Street during those hours that I started to ask myself, why is no one videotaping this – all the time?”
As Garcia put in the stage time and mentally took notes about what he’d seen manning the door at various spots, he let the idea ferment. “Jack Timmons, another comic here in Austin, has a weekly show with Mikey Biggs called Good Evening News. They were looking for segments. And I figured, what better thing would it be than to put a man-on-the-street segment on the local comedic news show? It started as a joke, and then it was received so well that I continued to make five- to 10-minute-long videos interviewing drunk people.” (What The F*&K is Going On? is a weekly segment on Good Evening News and happens to be at Sunset Strip every Tuesday. Garcia also works there.)
Sampling the Sixth Street Buffet
With so many places offering hearty pours and cheap drinks, the people spilling onto the streets of downtown Austin are plentiful, with stories to tell at every turn. Garcia sees himself as more of a twisted documentarian than a guy just wanting to know what’s happening on a weekend night. “I was able to capture really interesting parts of these people’s lives. That Friday, Saturday mentality—I’m getting to capture it and release it on a Tuesday.”
As with most things online, there’s always a moment when everything falls into place, and for Garcia, that was Buffet Girl. He had simply asked a girl on the street, “What would you do if you won the lottery?” Her answer was: “Open a buffet.” Then, as the internet does, it did its thing. “Buffet Girl was a huge catalyst. That clip got 55 million views — over 500 million across the entire internet. It launched me forward, but it also set me back a bit. You start feeling boxed in. Like, okay, now I have to make this kind of content to keep people watching.”
He reacted sincerely to how going viral boosted his presence across channels. That moment opened many doors as a content creator, “That’s not to say that I don’t owe the Buffet Girl a lot of respect and thanks. But I wonder how other content creators deal with something going so viral and also trying not to let it define your creative bounds.”
Garcia reflected on the pressure to maintain momentum. “For those first few months, I felt like I couldn’t drop the ball. I told my best friend, ‘This feels like the most important thing I’ve ever done.’ But I also felt like the ship was taking on water as fast as I was building it. It’s a crazy situation to be in.”
As people began filing into the comedy club, Garcia reflected on his growth. “I made money off ad deals for about four or five months after that video blew up. I signed two contracts a month for more money than I’d ever made. But you also learn those deals come with bills. I had to reinvest in the work to keep things moving.”
What it Means to be a Comedy Creator
For Garcia, being a creator means juggling endless demands on his time while protecting his creative energy. “Time is the worst, man. You want to get your fans content every single week, but sometimes it just doesn’t line up.” Taking breaks has been critical. “I know when I’m about to burn out, and I just take the time off. There’s enough content on the internet to keep people happy. But as a standup comic, you don’t tell a new joke until it’s ready for a paid audience. You work it at open mics first. It’s the same with content. I’ll sit on an idea or edit until it feels right. There’s no point rushing it.”Being a creator comes with its pitfalls and learning moments. Phillip Garcia continually weighs what it takes to be a content machine against the desire to hone his jokes as a standup constantly. It ain’t easy being in these streets — especially Sixth Street.
