Back when he was a college student at Samford University, John Crist was cracking jokes about an internship he was frustrated with, when a co-worker suggested he try his hand at stand-up comedy. Though Crist didn’t hit the stage at his first open mic for several more years, the conversation planted a seed in his mind that he never forgot.

Two decades later, it’s safe to say that advice has worked out pretty well for Crist. In the middle of the biggest tour of his career, which has stretched to over 150 dates, the comedian has been selling out venues across the country for the last year-and-a-half.

Next month, local fans will get a chance to take in Crist’s unique brand of stand-up for themselves, when he brings the “Emotional Support” tour to Williamsport for his first ever performance in the area. Scheduled for 7 p.m. on June 6 at the Community Arts Center, 220 West Fourth St., the show is one that Crist describes as “comedy for the everyman.”

“It feels like people can’t get enough of (this tour). They keep filling up these venues and we will keep coming to town,” said Crist. “The demand has been through the roof and these shows have been on fire.

“It’s nice to come to all these cities like Williamsport, where we aren’t talking about New York, LA or Chicago, and we can get to some of these cities with comedy that are a little closer to the middle of America,” he added. “It has been unbelievable.”

Raised in the deep South as the son of a pastor, Crist said he was a respectful kid growing up, but he was always the guy in class that the other students would flock to whenever something crazy happened.

“I was never the guy that was standing up in front of people and having opinions on either side,” Crist said. “But I was always the guy that, when your teacher said something funny, your parents said something that was contradictory or didn’t make sense, everyone would always come to me to help them deal with that and make a joke about it.”

To this day, Crist’s comedy is largely structured around the things he sees in the world that don’t really make sense to him. He said his show is “very honest” and tackles subjects such as dating, politics, family relationships, and certain aspects of modern Christianity.

“(My comedy) is for all ages, all walks of life, all backgrounds,” Crist said. “If you like to laugh, Williamsport is the show for you.”

The name of the “Emotional Support” tour was chosen by Crist as a nod to the long years of social distancing that followed the COVID-19 pandemic. He said during that time, people were seeing crazy things going on in the world, but they were unable to share their thoughts about those things with others because of their isolation.

“Everybody was alone, so nobody could get with their buddies and be like, ‘This is crazy,'” Crist said. “So, you live in Williamsport and you go, ‘I see all these things going on, and I don’t necessarily agree with a lot of it, but I think I’m the only one.’ Then you pack out a theater full of likeminded people and everybody kind of feels the same way; and it is a tremendous amount of emotional support.”

Having been a stand-up comedian for so long, Crist is more comfortable in front of large crowds now than he used to be, but it took him a while to get to that point. Luckily, he grew up watching his father speak in front of congregations weekly, so in a way he had been studying public speaking for as long as he can remember.

“My whole life I watched a guy introduce himself and connect with an audience through humor in a lot of ways,” Crist said. “He could communicate a point with a beginning, middle and close to his sermon, and wrap it up with a call to action of some sort. I was watching my dad do that his whole life.

“When I got off stage — even from the first day — I was like, ‘Okay, we got to fix this joke and that joke comes off as too harsh; we got to move that joke to the end of the show; we should take this joke from a different angle.’ All these types of things, where I was very self-aware, and I wanted to tweak my show and make it better. I can for sure attribute that 100% to my dad,” he added.

Like any other trade, Crist said stand-up comedy takes a long time to become proficient at. Those hoping to make a career out of it will usually need to hit the stage for 10 to 15 years before they have the material that will allow them to financially rely on comedy alone. But the difference between stand-up and other crafts that might take a similar amount of time to hone, is that it’s something you can do from day one.

“I think stand-up comedy is the best job in the world, and I have it,” Crist said. “I think the only barrier to entry is fear. If you want to do it, you can go to New York City tonight and go up on a stand-up comedy show, and they will introduce you as a stand-up comedian tonight.

“You get to practice and be not good for a long time,” he added. “It’s just the fear of continual failure that keeps a lot of people away.”

For Crist, one of the best feelings in the world is hearing an eruption of laughter from the crowd after telling a joke. That’s doubly true if the joke happens to be fresh material in his act.

“A huge laugh is what every comedian lives for, because we all are looking at the world in the same way,” Crist said. “Whether it’s standing in line at a McDonald’s or being in rush-hour traffic or trying to buy a pair of jeans. We all have these observations, and it’s like, ‘I bet other people think this,’ you know?

“A lot of times, I go to an open mic and they don’t connect to it — they’re like, ‘What?’ So, when you tell a new joke that gets a huge pop, you know what a relief it is to you and what a relief it is to other people,” he added. “Because in comedy you aren’t bringing any new ideas. You are bringing to the surface the things that they have already thought in their heads. So, you say something, and they go, ‘Thank you! Yes, we feel that, too.’ It really comes back to the idea of emotional support.”

With nearly four million views on his second YouTube comedy special (“What Are We Doing?”), a bestselling book (“Delete That”) and a popular weekly podcast (“Net Positive”), Crist understands how lucky he is to have the fan support he is currently enjoying.

“It is unique that we found each other, the fan base and me,” he said. “A lot of people go, ‘Jonh Crist is my guy. Whether its politics, family, religion — John Crist has the take on it that is going to uplift and encourage me, and help me deal with life.’

“The longer I do it, the more I’m grateful for every single fan that has ever liked or shared or commented or bought a piece of merch or bought a ticket,” Crist added. “It is unbelievable that it just keeps growing bigger and bigger.”

For more information on Crist’s upcoming trip to Williamsport, visit caclive.com or call 570-326-2424.