A funny thing happened to local funny man Tumua Tuinei.

While he was playing football at the University of Hawaii, he discovered his real talent.

“I took a standup comedy class. I took it just for fun, just to fill up my classes, and to get the easy A. I’d seen it in the class description. I said, ‘Standup comedy? Okay, I’ll try it.’ Did it. Ended up falling in love with it,” he said.

Tumua’s popularity really took off during the pandemic.

His live events were shut down, so he posted comedy sketches on social media. That grew his fan base by leaps and bounds.