@JOHNSTONE.GREGORY
By Nicole Riemma · Photography: Dutch Doscher
Around town, Gregory Johnstone is the beloved Director of Tennis at the New Canaan Racquet Club, known for his expertise and his hilarious spirit. But to his over 3 million social media followers, Greg is a viral comedy sensation, whose blend of satirical humor, political acumen, and infectious charm makes him their source for daily social media news updates.
“Tennis has been a major part of my life for as long as I can remember,” Greg recounts. “I grew up in St. Albans, England. I started playing tennis when I was 5, when a neighbor took me to their club and recognized my natural ability. I’ve been hooked since that day! As a kid, I would practice before and after school. I would finish school at 3:30 p.m. and go straight to the tennis club and stay until 8 p.m. or 9 p.m. I was a top junior in Europe and came to the United States to play college, first at Morehead State and then at the University of Kentucky. I was nationally ranked in singles and I’m proud to say I was recently honored by being named to the Ohio Valley Conference All-Time 75th Anniversary Team. …After college, I began teaching and coaching tennis professionally, and quickly became the Director of Tennis at the prestigious Armonk International Tennis Academy in New York. In 2014, I also became the Director of Tennis at Old Oaks Country Club in Purchase, and in order to start developing players of my own, I also established my own Johnstone Tennis Academy. In 2022, I relocated my base of operations entirely, to become the Director of Tennis at the New Canaan Racquet Club.”
“I attribute whatever success I’ve had in life to the strong work ethic I developed with tennis. I think you have to be the hardest worker in the room. It’s why and how I do all the things I do. Like, how to deal with adversity, how to work hard, how to stay positive, how to be on my own, how to time manage, how to deal with setbacks. Tennis is a microcosm of life,” Greg says. “The challenge with many tennis players is not how to swing the racquet, it’s more psychological and personal. Within the mind of the athlete, you have to frequently face self-doubt, nervousness, lapses in concentration, and even gaps in motivation. To achieve peak performance levels, learning to trust your intuitive wisdom is the key, but many still struggle with it. The most important lesson I’ve learned thus far is to be consistent. If you work hard at anything, eventually you can succeed.”
I’ve wanted to make people laugh for as long as I can remember.
“When Covid caused a global lockdown, I saw it as an opportunity to start posting comedy on social media,” Greg explains how his second career got started. “I began posting videos on Instagram featuring little idiosyncrasies or making silly jokes, frequently related to my newly married life with Farah,” Greg explains. “I’d done about ten of these videos when a friend suggested I try TikTok…and within two days I had hundreds of thousands of views and thousands of followers! …Two months later, I posted a video that kind of changed everything. I realized people were watching me, so I started making comedy sketches. One of my first sketches got almost 40 million views in two days and yielded 350,000 followers! I realized that I had something!”
“My brother Dom and sister Xanthe were always the loudest and funniest people in the room, so I had to figure out how to be funny in order to be seen and heard. Even on the tennis court, I’m always thinking about how I can be entertaining. How am I going to keep everybody happy? All day, every day…What’s funny? That’s how I enjoy life. If I’m making you laugh…I’m happy!” Greg reveals.
…Five years into his second career as a comic, Greg is prolific with what’s considered short-form content, at 60 to 90 seconds per video, and his ‘Followers’ continue to grow by thousands daily. He has a sharp wit, does hilarious impressions, and has a down-to-earth style. His ability to apply comedic satire, global awareness, and understanding of politics to difficult concepts, illustrates his innate humor, emotional intelligence, and sensitivity, and resonates with an audience looking to laugh and be educated at the same time. “It’s all about the ability to connect…with my players…and with my audience, and I think the ability to connect is based on the power of authenticity. Being yourself allows for much deeper and more genuine connections,” Greg declares.
“I sometimes know when a video is going to do really well because it makes me laugh while I’m writing it. There’s two different parts of gaining engagement on social media. There’s trying to make content for the algorithm that’s going to get views. And then there’s trying to make content that I’m proud of - that I think is funny and that I think is clever. I try to be educational about stuff that people might not think about, and comedy is often about finding humor in challenging situations.
I try to point out hypocrisy. Like, hang on, just because the left hand is waving up here, what’s the right hand doing down here? That’s what you should be looking for in politics,” Greg explains. “The fragmented media landscape plays a huge role in why independent social media content creators have become so valuable. Audiences are now dispersed across a wide variety of platforms and channels, making it difficult for advertisers or anyone to reach a large, unified audience. Currently, sixty-two percent of adults get their news from social media platforms and that number is increasing. Having your own audience not only allows for genuine relationship building and consistent messaging but also provides a path to maintaining authenticity and not sacrificing to feed the algorithm. This is the new norm.”
On a follower-to-views percentage basis Greg’s content outperforms traditional news outlets, his reliable and hilariously entertaining coverage of current events means his videos often go viral – gaining millions of views, and in the five years he’s been producing comedy he has over 1 billion total views and 150 million likes! Greg elucidates, “This is actually how people consume information - so I don’t just see being a content creator as just a step to something…it’s the destination. The evolving role of comedy in addressing tough or taboo topics in a digestible way might just be the solution to combating the oversaturation of everything going on in the world today. …At first I thought social media platforms would morph into another form of entertainment and, like a lot of people, I doubted the longevity of this fickle environment. But now - although I might be borderline delusional - I’ve embraced being a social media comic as a full and sustaining part of my life! I don’t know if everything is going to work out - but I have the attitude that I’ll figure it out. I always have. …As long as everyone around me is smiling and happy, it’ll all be okay!”
“At 40, my life is pretty crazy,” Greg admits. “On a typical day, I get up at 4:30 a.m. to get to the gym and I’m at work at New Canaan Racquet Club at 6. I run lessons and clinics until 3 or 5 p.m., before I head home to work on creating content…and spending time with my wife, Farah, and my 3 year old son, Jack. Being a Dad has been the greatest gift in my life…and I’ll alter my daily schedule whenever necessary if it means I get to do something, or just have some extra time with him. …It doesn’t feel like a challenge balancing everything - because none of it feels like actual work. I love what I’m doing with tennis and with comedy. And if I’m feeling laggard one day, I just look at myself in the mirror and say ‘Get on with it, Old Boy’! …And then maybe I’ll blast some music to help me get fired up.”
“Ultimately, I define success on a very personal spectrum,” Greg says. “Too many people think success is compared to other people. I remember when I first started on TikTok, my goal was to get 10,000 views per video - and when I got 10,000 views I thought I was the most famous person in the world! Now, I can get 10 million views on a video…and it doesn’t even register! So it’s all relative - and very personal. I’m not competing against anybody. It’s me against me. Like, did I do the best I could today? If I did - then all is good.”
“Without a doubt, the proudest moments in my professional tennis career and my career on social media have been those centered around emotional connection and building community,” Greg declares. “In tennis, I’ve been fortunate enough to have had long-term life-changing relationships mentoring my student athletes - in what is otherwise usually a rather transactional profession. And with comedy, there’s the total satisfaction of knowing that I’m having a positive impact in a lot of people’s lives. I even get messages saying ‘We’re grateful for what you’re doing!’ or things like ‘I used to watch your videos when I was sad and you would make me feel less alone - my life would have gone a very different way without you’. For me, success is having had a personal, emotional, even life-altering impact on my student athletes and with my social media audience.”
I’m a happy guy - getting to make others happy!
As featured in the May/June 2025 issue of Bedford & New Canaan Magazine