They are among the most popular Quebec YouTubers and almost no one knows about them. Having crossed one billion views on their channel, comedians Aba and Preach are even preparing an international tour for 2025.
In August 2023, Aba Atlas and Erich Preach gave three shows in Washington, Detroit and Pittsburgh in venues with 200 to 600 seats. All three evenings were sold out.
“We were doing a test in cities where our channel has almost no views,” Preach mentions to Journal. And it sold out!”
The two comedians have applied for a new visa to return to play in the United States next year. As soon as they have their papers, they will schedule a “25 to 45 date” tour with Live Nation. “We are going to go to big markets like New York, Boston, Texas, Los Angeles and Florida,” lists Preach.
And afterward, they plan to go to Europe, Africa and Oceania. “Australia and New Zealand are in our top 5 with the most viewers [spectateurs].»
Aba & Preach.
Photo taken from Facebook, ABA N PREACH
Paid success
Having launched their YouTube channel in 2015, in Montreal, Aba and Preach saw their popularity gradually increase during the first years. Everything exploded when the pandemic arrived. “All people had to do was watch videos,” notes Preach.
Today, their channel Aba N Preach, where they colorfully comment in English on other videos and current events, has 2.18 million subscribers and accumulates about 30 million views per month, according to Preach. “If I were a TV channel, I would make cash!” says the comedian, laughing.
The two comedians are very well positioned financially. In complete transparency, Preach admits to receiving “between $30,000 and $50,000” per month just from his channel. “In a month really slow [au ralenti]where we don’t publish videos, just with visual videos, I make $20,000 per month. The biggest month I made was about $82,000.”
“We are shunned by language”
Despite the success of the channel, Erich Preach continues to do stand-up and contracts as an actor. “I would say that 90% of my income is YouTube, while 90% of my work is my humor [de stand-up sur scène]says the man who opened several times for Mike Ward. […] There is no one who can say that I do humor because of money.
Why are Aba N Preach little known in Quebec? “We are shunned by language,” notes Preach. Every time there is a list of the biggest Quebec YouTubers, we are not there. It’s okay, I accepted it a long time ago.”
“At the start of the channel, we did things in French. But we said to ourselves after that that we were going to target the world. We were right. After that, all the humor I do [sur scène] is in French. I work most often in French. […] Having another language, I don’t see it as a handicap, but as an asset. If I could do humor in Spanish, I would.”
WHO ARE ABA N PREACH?
- Comedy duo created in 2015, it is made up of Aba Atlas and Erich “Preach” Etienne.
- Aba Atlas was born in Canada 34 years ago. He has Ethiopian origins and spent most of his childhood in Africa. He worked for three years in the Canadian Armed Forces before making the jump to comedy in 2015.
- Preach, aged 42, is a former doorman at the Bordel Comédie Club and dance teacher who also took his first steps in comedy in 2015, after the invitation of Mike Ward. Since then, he has also been an actor and host.
- On their YouTube channel, which they operate from Montreal, Aba & Preach comment on other videos or current events. They have crossed the billion views mark and accumulate around 30 million views each month.
- The two comedians are preparing an international tour for 2025 with Live Nation.
