When Matt Mathews posed for photos to promote his new comedy tour, he brought along two of his best friends: Chickens named Fluffy and Sister. The Alabama man was wearing a bathrobe — his fans will know why — and Mathews let out a holler when Sister, who was perched on his shoulder, pooped down his back.

“Oh, girl, it’s time for you to go home!” Mathews declared. But this was pretty much business as usual.

Fussing at animals who misbehave is part of his daily life on a farm in McCalla, about 20 miles southwest of Birmingham. The critters — and Mathews’ indignant reactions to them — are crucial keys to his success as a social media star. Millions of people follow Mathews, 30, on TikTok and Instagram, and his videos about farm life are viral sensations.

“I hate it here!” Mathews will moan, trudging out to the barn on a rainy day to feed the horses. “Come on, Fluffy, hell!” he scolds, addressing the sassy hen who struts, pecks and otherwise rules the roost. (Fluffy’s also a social media star, by the way, and her image adorns one of Mathews’ signature T-shirts.)

“Everybody loves Fluffy,” Mathews says during an interview with AL.com. “I think it’s because she’s got so much personality, and she is just a handful. The fame has gone to her head. Like, she is a trip. She comes running when she sees me. She is a mess. And I never thought I would be known as ‘the chicken man.’ But I’m here for it.”

Mathews typically rocks a bathrobe, bare legs and boots while doing farm chores, and his early morning fashions — confusing to some, delightful to others — are part of the attraction for his fan base. To date, Mathews has 3.1 million followers on TikTok and 1 million followers on Instagram. He’s lagging behind on Facebook, with more than 615,000 followers, but Mathews says it’s because he neglected the platform until recently.

Twitter? Mathews has no time for it. “I can barely keep up with the three I got,” he says.

“It started with TikTok,” Mathews says. “I posted during the pandemic and just blew up. I shared one video (of farm life), and that one video got millions of views. And I was like, what the hell? I started reading the comments, about how I made people smile and how great they felt after watching my videos. And I was like, well, s–t, I’m just doing the same thing that I would naturally everyday be doing. I’ll just keep filming it.”

Despite his complaints about the critters and the work they require, Mathews knows exactly how to care for 50-plus animals on the 11-acre farm he shares with his husband, Rob Killgore. Well, with one notable exception.

“The goats, my husband takes care of, because I don’t do the goats,” Mathews says. “They are gross, and they stink, and the goats are just not my thing.”

For the record, the couple has eight goats, four horses, two pigs, one donkey, two dogs, three cats and about 30 chickens. More than a dozen chicks hatched in late February; you can see Mathews rejoicing over his “new babies” in a video that has 1.5 million views to date on TikTok.

He’s closing in on 1 million views for a TikTok video that introduces the piglets, Winston and Winnie, and shows Fluffy’s reaction to them. (”Lemme tell y’all right now …. Fluffy ain’t studying her new siblings,” Mathews said on Instagram, where the video has more than 65,000 likes.)

Mathews didn’t grow up on a farm, and he realizes that his past — as a poor kid from Bessemer with an alcoholic mom — isn’t the usual launching pad for farm life. He did grow up with horses, courtesy of a stepmom who introduced him to riding, and Mathews says he’s learned plenty of farm skills through extensive research and trial-and-error.

He’s an unexpected farmer, and proud of it.

“I am definitely unexpected,” Mathews says. “People are like, ‘Why is a city boy on the farm? Whose farm is this? Who’s animals are you taking care of? I’m like, ‘They’re mine. This is my farm, that I bought. I built all of this. This is all me.’ Just because I’m not your average farmer, I’m not what you think that you’re going to see. But it takes all kinds of kinds. We are all so different and so unique. … I’ma do me, all day. And if you don’t like it, don’t watch.”

Sharing his life on social media isn’t a new concept for Mathews, although his previous posts didn’t draw the blockbuster following of his farm videos. Initially, Mathews showcased his career as a boudoir photographer, along with his weekend hobby of barrel racing. (Yes, just like on the TV series “Yellowstone.”)

“Barrel racers are notoriously known to be crazy, which is true,” Mathews says. “You’re riding a 1,200-pound animal that is hyped up and ready to run as fast as they can and turn three barrels. You kind of have to be crazy to do that. You know, not just anybody does that.”

Talk to Mathews for a while — AL.com spent about 90 minutes with him recently, in his downtown studio — and it’s clear the phrase “just anybody” does not apply here. Mathews exudes the vibe of a self-motivated achiever, while describing himself as “a crazy, animal-loving, goofy-ass person.”

He sets his sights on something and makes it happen: a task, a job, a brand, a career. He’s never “fixin’ to do” anything, as they say in South. Instead, Mathews works toward a specific goal with determination, focus and an ever-present sense of humor.

That’s why he forged a successful career in boudoir photography, making clients look beautiful and setting them at ease during photo sessions. It’s also why he wrote a book, established a product line, conquered social media and developed a reality TV series. (A major network was interested, Mathews says, but balked at greenlighting a full season.)

READ MORE: The double life of Birmingham photographer Matt Mathews

“I always say that we all have superpowers, and my superpower is humor,” Mathews says. “I’m able to make people laugh.”

Now his superpower is on display at the Comedy Club Stardome in Hoover, where Mathews is pursuing a new challenge: Standup comedy. Three shows booked at the Stardome’s Broadway Room (which holds about 70 people) sold out quickly, within 20 minutes of going on sale, Mathews says.

Those dates in February and March — Mathews’ first as a headliner — prompted the venue to add another show on April 12, this time in the main showroom. The space holds more than 400 people; tickets go on sale Tuesday, Feb. 28, at 10 a.m. CT, prices TBA.

It’s a rather remarkable feat for Mathews, who took comedy classes for just three months with Eunice Elliott at the Stardome. She helped him to write his show and work on his stage delivery, Mathews says, and encouraged him to keep going when he bombed during his first appearance as an opening act in December.

“It sucked,” Mathews admits. “I got off stage and was like, ‘Oh, well, that was not good.’ Eunice, my mentor, was like, ‘It wasn’t bad. You just memorized everything that you were going to say, and you just got out there and recited a TED Talk.’ It wasn’t me. … But I was like, OK, I’m going to do better next time. And the next time, I was 100 percent better.”

Mathews, who describes himself as a “comedic storyteller,” also has a national tour in the offing for August — one that will take him to venues in 12 cities including Atlanta, Nashville, Dallas, Chicago, Kansas City and Tampa. The tour, called “When That Thang Get Ta Thang’n,” allows Mathews to polish his craft, share autobiographical anecdotes and meet his fans in person.

“People see the farm Matt, and the chickens and the robe, but they don’t know the rest of me,” Mathews says. “And that’s what I’m really excited about. The first 10 minutes are going to be about the farm, and about Fluffy and the robe. But then I take my robe off, and the show really starts.

“I talk about living with my mom, and I go into when my dad got custody of me. And then I go into growing up with my dad, and losing my virginity at 19 and realizing I was gay, and being with a guy for the first time, but being super-religious at that time of my life,” Mathews says. “I was saving myself for Jesus. And then meeting my husband, and growing to where we are now, being a boudoir photographer, all of that is in it.”

His comedy show also features audience interaction, via a segment called Live Confessions. Mathews originally did this on Instagram, responding to messages from followers that reveal “their deepest, darkest secrets.” At the Stardome, Mathews says, people can scan a QR code to relate their confessions, and he’ll respond to them, impromptu, on stage.

Jitters? Mathews admits to a few butterflies in the stomach, but he’s mostly jazzed up about his new opportunity. True to form, he’s working hard to make sure his show is as professional as possible, and he wants fans to leave the venue smiling. (Mathews’ dates include meet-and-greets, of course, and he has merch on display, including T-shirts that say, “I hate it here!”)

“I told myself, b—h, you better commit,” Mathews says. “You have to get up there and put on a show. Don’t get nervous, because you think: ‘Oh my God, I’m in a robe with a stuffed chicken, and I’m twerking to Nicki Minaj.’ Part of me was like, ‘People are going to be literally laughing at me.’ But it’s a comedy show, you know?”

Mathews regards standup comedy as a natural outgrowth of his social media videos, and he’s certainly primed for any hecklers in the house. Haters are part of the bargain when you’re an online celebrity — “I don’t consider myself famous. At the end of the day, I’m just Matt,” Mathews says — and Mathews has fielded plenty of negative comments on his accent, his flamboyance, his interactions with the animals and more.

Some people have wondered if Mathews created a character for the farm videos or if his personality changes when the camera stops filming. Are followers seeing the real Matt Mathews on social media or a heightened version of the same?

“I don’t think it’s a character,” Mathews says. “It really is me. Even without the camera, I’m out there saying the same s–t. And you can ask my husband and my best friend — anyone who’s been out there with me — I’m saying the exact same things to (the animals), even with the camera off. So it’s not a character. Now, there are times that you have to heighten it a little bit. You know what I mean? To be entertaining. Because, at the end of the day, that’s why people have followed me, because I make them laugh.

“I get messages every single day, ‘I thought about committing suicide’ or ‘I just lost my husband,’ really, really dark messages, (and then they say) ‘but you saved me because you made me laugh,’” Mathews adds. “That’s why I’ve kept doing them. I love to be a smile in somebody’s day. That’s what important. If I’m a little extra sometimes, it’s still me.”