Louisiana man achieves digital fame on TikTok with comedy

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — Dressed in a pig suit, a Shreveport man luring wild hogs from his treestand had a modern thought: I should shoot my first TikTok.

Now, Leigh McClendon, 27, has 2.2 million followers.

The norm on that social media app is to pursue your successful niche, and McClendon followed that mantra, buying more costumes and pumping out hunting inspired videos as turtle, pig, deer, squirrel, chicken, dog, cat, turkey, crawfish, corn, cow — with captions like “just a squirrel and his nuts” and plot lines depicting squirrels punishing dogs for their “war crimes.”

“Done the whole wazoo — I’ve tested out tons of video things,” says McClendon, who’s known online as Leigh McNasty.

“I’ve posted videos of me singing and some of them have gotten millions of views,” McClendon said, pointing to one opera style TikTok that won a follow from McClendon’s all-time favorite music artist, Josh Groban, and 50,000 other accounts.

His sister Haley McClendon believes he’ll be the next Seth Rogan or Chris Pratt, pointing to his good-natured silliness and long brown hair as the qualities of cinema heartthrobs.

“This is actually the first time he’s washing his hair. He’s actually using shampoo and conditioner nowadays, now that he has fans and stuff. I’m proud of him,” Haley said.