Man Who Worked as a Server for Over 20 Years Quit His Job to Make Skits Based on RealLife Experiences in Restaurants (Exclusive) Meredith WilshereSun, March 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC 0 'Bistro Huddy' Creator Drew TalbertCredit: TikTok/Angella Choe Drew Talbert and his wife, Andrea, created Bistro Huddy, the fictional backdrop for their viral TikTok series The restaurant skit series features different cooks, servers and a manager, all played by Talbert himself Talbert is featured on TikTok's The Discover List 2026 as an icon, defined by creators who set trends, build expansive communities and red...
Man Who Worked as a Server for Over 20 Years Quit His Job to Make Skits Based on Real-Life Experiences in Restaurants (Exclusive)
Meredith WilshereSun, March 1, 2026 at 11:00 AM UTC
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'Bistro Huddy' Creator Drew TalbertCredit: TikTok/Angella Choe -
Drew Talbert and his wife, Andrea, created Bistro Huddy, the fictional backdrop for their viral TikTok series
The restaurant skit series features different cooks, servers and a manager, all played by Talbert himself
Talbert is featured on TikTok's The Discover List 2026 as an icon, defined by creators who set trends, build expansive communities and redefine what it means to be a modern creative
Generations of kids grew up playing restaurant, imagining fake dining scenarios and serving up pretend meals — and decades later, Drew Talbert is still at it, but now it's his full-time profession.
The TikTok creator, actor, and writer now makes skits for his account, Bistro Huddy, the name of his fictional restaurant and the backdrop for his viral series of hilarious interactions between customers, staff and cooks, all played by him.
"The inspiration was my wife and I. My wife, Andrea, and I write all of these together, and she is instrumental in everything from giveaways with fans to being part of our Patreon," Talbert, 49, tells PEOPLE. "We both worked in restaurants for years."
Talbert worked as a server for over 20 years while pursuing his dreams of becoming an actor and writer in Los Angeles. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, however, he found himself without a steady income when the restaurant where he worked and the Groundlings Theater, where he taught sketch comedy and improv, both shut down.
Drew Talbert in characterCredit: TikTok/Angella Choe
It was then that Talbert and his wife decided to start sharing content on TikTok. Soon after, one of his skits about working in restaurants went viral.
"It did numbers, and I was like, 'Oh,'" Talbert shares. "It was this light-bulb moment, thinking, 'If they like this, I've got a million of these from my years as a server.' That's where it started."
While it "started more as a funny restaurant-based relatable idea" that was "unconnected day to day," he knew making it a series with characters people recognized might keep users coming back for more.
"We had this moment where we thought that if we could get people to care more about the characters, this could go on forever. We started really focusing on character, which is also what I learned at the Groundlings," he shares. "It teaches character-based improv sketches. I was used to thinking in terms of creating characters, playing characters, but thinking about the way characters think."
From there, he developed a host of characters, creating fictional servers Nicole, Brad and Bridgette, hostess Amber and the manager, Terry. The skits also feature various cooks, rotating staff and restaurant regulars who have their favorite servers.
Bistro Huddy creator Drew TalbertCredit: TikTok/Angella Choe
Talbert plays all of the characters, usually putting on wigs and different outfits to signify who he's portraying in that moment.
"I love Nicole as a character. She's also based loosely on Andrea. When I started working at this restaurant with Andrea, I was struck by how she stood up for herself and how, as just an employee, she ran the restaurant," Talbert shares. "Nicole's far more exaggerated, but I do love Nicole."
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The manager of the restaurant is a man named Terry, whom Talbert admits is "100% based on a real person who was a manager."
"I even stole his name. I worked for Terry, a manager at a place in Nashville, one of my earlier restaurant jobs," Talbert shares.
Talbert tells PEOPLE that it was a bit weird when he quit his job working in an actual restaurant, only to begin working in a fake one.
"I worked for years as a server, and I remember when this all started happening. I was living with my wife and her sister, and the TikToks were taking off," he recalls. "I don't have to be a waiter anymore, but I would put my kid to bed, go in, put on an apron and stand in front of this camera being a waiter again. I would laugh. Like, here I am, I can't escape this."
The reception to his videos "blows us away," Talbert says.
"People say that the funniness of the content has gotten them through a rough patch," he shares. "I've had people in the hospital say the thing that got them through is just rewatching these videos. Or a salesman at the end of the night, saying, 'I just unwind in the hotel room watching your videos.' It is overwhelming and surprising and very gratifying."
He hopes that through his videos, people "feel an escape."
"I want them to feel like they can safely enter this world where they're gonna be just immersed in a funny yet dramatic environment and just feel like they can escape a little bit," he tells PEOPLE. "If nothing else, my wife and I really want to entertain people. That's what we're trying to do. We want you just to be entertained. It gives us a great deal of satisfaction to do that."
Bistro Huddy creator Drew TalbertCredit: TikTok/Angella Choe
Talbert, who has over 10 million followers across platforms, is featured on TikTok's The Discover List 2026 as an icon, defined by creators who set trends, build expansive communities and redefine what it means to be a modern creative. Being recognized for his content later in life is an interesting feeling for Talbert, who says he now can't go to a restaurant without being recognized.
"It just means a lot. It's very exciting. We're at that level where it's still very exciting, it makes us feel really good, and it's not too much," Talbert shares.
The success has also allowed Talbert to give back to the community, as all the merchandise sales through his store are donated to a different charity each month. For February, he's highlighting Drexell and Honeybee's, which is a pay-what-you-can restaurant, so "people that may not be able to afford a restaurant typically, can go in and have the dignity of a real restaurant experience."
on People
Source: "AOL Entertainment"
Source: Entertainment
Published: March 1, 2026 at 08:09AM on Source: PRIME TIME
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