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Jerry Wayne Longmire Jr. (born July 8, 1977), known professionally as Jerry Wayne, is an American comedian, content creator, podcaster, and author based in Houston, Texas.^[1] Born in Kilgore in the East Texas Piney Woods and raised in the Houston suburb of Alief, Longmire has performed stand-up comedy since 2004, having opened for acts including Ralphie May and Bobcat Goldthwait.^[2][3] He is known for character-driven comedic content rooted in Southern and working-class culture, most notably his viral Faulkner Series, in which he narrates everyday experiences in the literary style of William Faulkner, and Truck Astrology, a long-running series on automotive culture.^[4][5]

Longmire has a combined following of over 1.5 million across social media platforms, with more than 360 million estimated cross-platform impressions.^[6] As of June 2025, his following across Instagram and Facebook alone exceeded 563,000.^[1] His work has been featured in the Houston Chronicle, Texas Monthly, the Chicago Review of Books, and on NBC and FOX affiliates in Houston, as well as in automotive and digital media outlets.^[1][7][8][9]

He hosts The Reckon Yard, a podcast, and is the author of a forthcoming memoir of the same name, scheduled for Spring 2027 through Santa Fe Writers Project. The title references the junkyard property owned by his maternal grandfather in Leverett's Chapel, Texas.^[10][11] He is also a recurring judge on the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, a national automotive competition produced by Mattel.^[12][13][14]

Longmire was born on July 8, 1977, at Roy H. Laird Memorial Hospital in Kilgore, Texas, in the East Texas Piney Woods.^[15] He was raised primarily in the Kilgore area during his early childhood, spending formative years in and around Gregg County. His maternal grandfather, Bobby Eugene Clark, owned and operated a junkyard property in nearby Leverett's Chapel, Texas, which became a central setting of Longmire's childhood and the inspiration for the title of his memoir, The Reckon Yard.^[10]

Clark, a welder, junk dealer, and storyteller who served in the United States Army in Germany in the late 1950s, became one of the most significant influences on Longmire's worldview and his later development as a writer and performer.^[15] Longmire has described his early upbringing as shaped by a strict Pentecostal religious environment, the working-class culture of East Texas, and the outsized personalities of his extended family.^[1][15]

In 1989, following economic hardship in the East Texas oil industry, the Longmire family relocated to Houston, settling in the Alief neighborhood on the city's west side.^[15] Longmire attended Alief Elsik High School, where he studied theater under instructor Ken Dyess. Dyess, recognizing Longmire's talent, encouraged him to read the works of William Faulkner—an influence that would later become central to Longmire's most recognized comedic work.^[1] Longmire graduated from Elsik in 1996.^[15]

Following high school, Longmire held a series of jobs across multiple states. He worked as a nondestructive testing technician in the oil and gas industry, a corrections officer at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, a wrecker driver in Dallas, and a water well driller in Colorado's San Luis Valley, among other roles.^[1][15] He also worked as an educator at nuclear power plants, teaching safety procedures to workers—an experience he has recounted in his comedy, drawing humor from the contrast between his East Texas accent and the technical authority his role required.^[1]

Longmire returned to Houston in the early 2000s. On February 9, 2004, he attended a performance by comedian Ralphie May at the Laff Stop, a well-known comedy club in Houston's River Oaks neighborhood. After the show, May encouraged Longmire to attend the club's open mic the following Monday. Longmire credits this encounter as the catalyst for his career in stand-up comedy.^[1][15]

Over the following years, Longmire developed his comedy career while continuing to work blue-collar jobs, including roofing, construction, and automotive repair. He opened for established acts including Ralphie May and Bobcat Goldthwait.^[2][3] He eventually owned a construction company in Montgomery County, Texas, which he sold in November 2019, with his wife's support, to pursue comedy full-time.^[1][16]

Longmire's transition to full-time entertainment coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, which shut down live performance venues. He began creating humorous content on Facebook, which became the foundation of his digital audience.^[1][16]

By early 2022, Longmire had launched Truck Astrology, a recurring series in which he assigns personality traits to people based on their truck preferences. The Houston Chronicle noted that the series, along with skits about growing up around a father who worked in junkyards, helped Longmire amass a large following online.^[1] His automotive content drew attention from the motorsports outlet DIRTVision, which interviewed him in March 2024.^[17]

Longmire's content is distinguished by an ensemble-style solo performance approach in which he portrays multiple characters within a single video, including his father, uncle, and grandfather ("Papaw"). His recurring series Shoptalk features all three characters in simultaneous dialogue set in a garage workshop.

His most widely recognized work, The Faulkner Series, launched in mid-2025. In the series, Longmire narrates mundane situations—such as reading a $696.27 TXU electric bill or responding to an HOA fine—in the literary style of Southern Gothic novelist William Faulkner. The influence traces directly to Longmire's high school theater teacher, Ken Dyess, who had encouraged him to read Faulkner years earlier.^[1] Longmire has noted that the Faulkner material had been part of his stage act for years but repeatedly failed to land with live audiences; it only found its form when adapted for short-form video.^[16]

The electric bill video became his breakout viral moment. The Houston Chronicle reported that his viral videos had garnered him more than 563,000 followers across Instagram and Facebook by June 2025.^[1] Upworthy profiled the HOA video, Boing Boing praised the series for its command of Faulkner's prose style, and Neatorama featured the electric bill video.^[4][18][19]

Texas Monthly featured a passage from the Faulkner Series electric bill video in its annual "Best Things in Texas 2025" feature, under the category "Best Things We Heard All Year," identifying Longmire by name as a Houston comedian.^[7]

As of early 2026, Longmire's social media following totals approximately 1.5 million across platforms, with estimated cross-platform impressions exceeding 360 million.^[6]

Longmire hosts The Reckon Yard, an automotive and storytelling podcast in which he explores his own history with cars as a lens into themes of family, identity, and upbringing in East Texas. The title references his maternal grandfather's junkyard property in Leverett's Chapel. The podcast is updated semiweekly.^[11]

Longmire has performed stand-up comedy since 2004, including performances for military troops overseas. Early in his career, he opened for established comedians including Ralphie May and Bobcat Goldthwait.^[2][3]

He has toured nationally, with 2026 dates including venues across Texas and Colorado.^[20]

Longmire has made multiple television appearances on Houston-area stations. NBC's Houston Life profiled him in a July 2025 segment covering his career, the Faulkner Series, the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, and his upcoming book.^[16] He appeared on FOX 26 Houston at least twice: in a "Backstage Live" segment^[21] and in a 35-minute appearance on "Texas Live and Local" on July 1, 2025.^[8]

He has been a guest on regional radio and media programs including the John Clay Wolfe Show,^[22] and was interviewed by the Diecast Breakdown podcast in March 2025.^[14] In March 2024, the motorsports outlet DIRTVision interviewed Longmire, introducing him as the creator of Truck Astrology.^[17]

Longmire has served as a recurring judge on the Hot Wheels Legends Tour, a national automotive competition produced by Mattel in which custom car builders compete for the chance to have their vehicle produced as a 1:64-scale Hot Wheels die-cast model. He judged the Houston stop in both 2024 and 2025, alongside Hot Wheels designer Bryan Benedict, among other panelists.^{[12][13][14][16]}

Longmire signed a two-book deal with Santa Fe Writers Project (SFWP). His debut memoir, The Reckon Yard, is scheduled for publication in Spring 2027 as an approximately 300-page paperback (ISBN 978-1-951631-69-7). The book draws on his childhood in the piney woods of East Texas, his coming of age across Houston, Colorado, the Midwest, and the Gulf oil fields, and the collapse of his grandfather's junkyard. The deal includes television and film sub-rights.^[10]

In a February 2026 interview with the Chicago Review of Books, SFWP's acquisitions and developmental editor Adam al-Sirgany discussed Longmire as one of the press's active authors, noting that as a professional comedian and content creator, Longmire's marketing approach would differ from that of the press's other authors. The interview also detailed SFWP's editorial process and international distribution through the Independent Publishers Group, with sub-rights representation by the Susan Schulman Literary Agency.^[9]

Longmire has partnered with brands including Giraffe Tools, EastOak Smokers, BRUNT Workwear, MANSCAPED, Legendary Wall Art, and G5 Wellness.

The Houston Chronicle published a full-page feature on Longmire in its Sunday print edition on June 29, 2025, under the headline "Houston comedian finds his folksy audience." Written by correspondent Jef Rouner, the article profiled his career arc from East Texas to the Houston comedy scene, noting that his unique style blends his blue-collar appearance with literary intelligence.^[1]

Texas Monthly included Longmire in its "Best Things in Texas 2025" annual feature, highlighting a passage from his Faulkner-style electric bill video in the "Best Things We Heard All Year" section.^[7]

His Faulkner Series drew independent editorial coverage from multiple outlets in 2025. Upworthy profiled his response to an HOA fine, MotorBiscuit featured his viral open letter to Cadillac with comparisons to Larry McMurtry, and Boing Boing praised the series. Neatorama also covered the electric bill video.^{[4][5][18][19]}

NBC Houston Life and FOX 26 Houston both aired substantive interview segments profiling Longmire's career and comedic style, with the FOX 26 "Texas Live and Local" segment running over 35 minutes.^[16][8]

In the automotive media space, DIRTVision interviewed Longmire in March 2024, and the Diecast Breakdown podcast featured him in a March 2025 episode discussing his role as a Hot Wheels Legends Tour judge, his junkyard upbringing, and his career trajectory from nuclear safety instructor to comedic storyteller.^[17][14]

Longmire is based in Houston, Texas. He has credited his wife's support as instrumental in his decision to sell his construction company in 2019 and pursue comedy full-time.^[1][16] He has described cars as a lifelong family passion and credits his maternal grandfather, Bobby Eugene Clark, with inspiring both his podcast and much of his creative work.^[15]