Last month, TJ Young left Athens for New York.

The Beards of Comedy, which includes comedian TJ Young, will be returning to Athens to perform. Courtesy Beards of Comedy

“There’s a lot of shows going on in New York and there’s a lot of comedians, so there’s just a lot more opportunity,” he said. “I’m getting to see a lot of good comedy, challenge myself and learn a lot.”

But Young is already on his way back to Georgia.

“It hasn’t been too long, but I’m looking forward to it and having a little bit of a different feel coming back [to Athens],” he said. “Athens has a base of people that like music and good comedy.”

Often the Athens experiences of the hometown comedian have been used for his comedy circuit in New York.

“There are parts of Brooklyn that remind me a lot of Athens,” Young said.

Initially the comedian was a musician — but that all changed.

“I started in stand-up about five years ago,” Young said. “I was in Athens playing music and my band stopped playing regularly. I was looking for something to do, and I had done some improv in college and decided to give stand-up a try.”

That change of pace brought forth new shows in Athens: Young hosted the Loft Comedy nights and later hosted Open Toed Open Mic nights at Flicker.

As a member of the Beards of Comedy, Young, alongside Andy Sandford, Dave Stone and Joe Zimmerman, has found himself touring constantly and nationally. And much of his success comes through his poise on stage.

“I think you have to have confidence in what you think is funny,” Young said. “When you are writing material, you don’t necessarily know how the crowd is going to react to it and you have to trust that if you think it’s funny that somebody else out there does.”

He also said patience is key, which consists of changing things around from show-to-show, and not caring what people think.

“Comedy is not a competition,” he said. “As a comedian it’s just you against yourself, and seeing how far you can take it.”

Young hopes to continue touring and establishing a base in his newly found home.

“I definitely plan on performing as much as I can around New York and the surrounding states,” he said. “There’s a lot of colleges and clubs up in that area of the country. A lot of places I can get to just by train.”

He also plans to submit writing samples to television shows as well as people making short films.

Also important: a trip back home.

“It’s nice to be coming back and doing a show,” Young said.

TJ YOUNG

Where: Caledonia

When: 9 p.m.

Price: $10 (21+)/$12 (18-20)