When Preacher Lawson started work as a comedian 14 years ago, the stage at Austin’s Coffee helped strengthen his chops at stand-up during its weekly Comedy Night.
Years later when the Winter Park fixture for arts and entertainment was threatened with closure, Lawson joined two others to buy and relocate it. His role was quiet at first, but Austin’s new management revealed it this week as the shop prepares to shut its doors on Saturday night at its longtime 929 W. Fairbanks Ave. home.
A week later, on Nov. 1, Austin’s is eyeing a soft opening at its new 2240 W. Fairbanks Ave. location — about a mile west of its current site near Interstate 4.
“I just wanted to make sure Austin’s is OK,” Lawson told the Sentinel on Tuesday in his first interview about it. “It’s really a pillar for comedy in the Orlando scene.
“It’s one of my favorite mics ever. It really helped me grow as a comedian.”
In 2011 he came to Orlando from his native Portland, Oregon, because his mother lived here. He became a regular at Austin’s Comedy Nights until he left the area in 2016.
Comedian Preacher Lawson performs at Austin’s Coffee in Winter Park in 2012. Earlier this month Lawson became one of the shop’s three owners. It will close Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025, with plans to reopen a week later at its new location at 2240 W. Fairbanks Ave. (Courtesy of Preacher Lawson)
From there he was a finalist on NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” in 2017, finished in the top five of “AGT Champions” in 2019 and was a semifinalist on “AGT Fantasy League” in 2024. Amazon Prime recently debuted his second stand-up special, “My Name is Preacher.” His YouTube channel has more than 677,000 subscribers.
Lawson, who now lives in Los Angeles, said it’s important to support the local community and when he’s in Orlando it feels like home: “I don’t feel like a have a home anywhere else.”
He’s currently headlining the DisFunctional Family Tour with his mother, Mama Lawson, and his brother, Justin Lawson.
“I’m not really political, I just go up there and share my viewpoint,” Lawson said. “I just say what I think is funny on stage and hopefully people will agree with me.”
He said comedians who’ve influenced him the most include Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx and Will Smith.
Lawson owns Austin’s with Richard Whitmer and his sister, Angela Whitmer. Richard said Tuesday that he and his sister plan to handle day-to-day operations. The trio bought it from Jackie Moore, a co-owner with two others, who said she and her family won’t be involved in the shop going forward but she’s glad it will live on after its lease with the City of Winter Park ran out.
Richard Whitmer is a longtime Central Floridian who until 2022 was an owner of now-closed La-Kuma Coffee in Longwood. He said he wants to continue the 25-year cultural legacy of the quirky shop that has built its popularity in part through the regular live performances it’s featured for decades.
He said even though plans to reopen in the new location Nov. 1 are ambitious, things are going smoothly.
“Everything is lining up really well right now,” Whitmer said. “Everybody who’s come in has been very impressed with how large it is.”
Richard Whitmer is one of the new owners of Austin’s Coffee in Winter Park. The longtime community fixture will close later this month and reopen at 2240 W. Fairbanks Ave., about a mile east of its current location at 929 W. Fairbanks Ave. (Provided photo)
He said the site is about 2,400 square feet compared to the current 900 — with a bigger kitchen and stage. Some of the current Austin’s employees are expected to work at its new location. A previous tenant at the site was Loving Vegan Market & Cuisine.
Despite moving from its home of more than 25 years, much of the new Austin’s will look familiar, Whitmer said.
“We’re going to be bringing over lots of furniture and art,” he said. “We’re going to bring all the things that people really love.”
Winter Park bought the land beneath the existing Austin’s last year after coveting it for decades, in part to help relieve nasty traffic congestion at a nearby intersection. The city didn’t renew the shop’s lease and set an Oct. 31 closure date.
Austin’s is the closest business to the troublesome intersection; the other businesses on the land, including Michelin-starred Japanese restaurant Soseki, will continue. The city plans to add dedicated left-turn lanes (in both directions) from Fairbanks to Denning Drive. It also wants to expand Martin Luther King Jr. Park, improve drainage in an area which often floods in heavy rains, and beautify Lake Rose (created by a sinkhole).
Originally Published: October 21, 2025 at 5:41 PM EDT