These teachers have turned their classroom anecdotes into laugh-out-loud stand-up comedy

PHILADELPHIA -- Though you might know Lisa Ann Walter as the ever-iconic Melissa Schemmenti on ABC's "Abbott Elementary," her comedic chops extend beyond the (fictional) classroom: she's also a standup comedian, with her first-ever standup comedy special, "Lisa Ann Walter: It Was An Accident," now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

Filmed at the Helium Comedy Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this special pulls no punches, filled to the brim with crowd work and anecdotes that are both hysterically funny and deeply relatable, much like Ms. Schemmenti of "Abbott Elementary" herself.

For one comedy troupe, seeing this special come to fruition feels particularly 'full circle.' Meet Philip Lindsay, Andrea Forcum and Gaspare Randazzo, full-time educators, comics and members of the comedy trio aptly-named The Teacher's Lounge.

"The Teacher's Lounge is a show presented by teachers, because we're all actively teaching, but it's not just for teachers only," Randazzo explains.

A high school history teacher in New York City, Randazzo has tallied up over 180,000 Instagram followers with his stand-up comedy.

"It's for anyone who's ever stepped foot in a classroom, anyone who's ever known a teacher. Everyone has been something involved with teachers at some point in their lives."

"One of my favorite things is hanging out in the teacher's lounge and venting and telling funny stories about what the kids are doing," Andrea Forcum says.

With over 620,000 followers, a laugh-out-loud book, and a PhD to her name, Forcum's education-laced comedy has proved resonant with hundreds of thousands of people.

"We're trying to kind of encapsulate the feeling of hanging out with other teachers who really just get it."

Gauging their audience's glowing reviews, the trio has certainly succeeded at encapsulating that feeling.

"It's relatable, it's honest, they did not sugarcoat anything," one audience member raves.

"On Sunday night, we're in a room of, like, five hundred people and making them laugh," Randazzo says. "And then, Monday morning, I'm in my classroom."

A very special stop on their comedy tour was their show at the Helium Comedy Club, the same venue where "Lisa Ann Walter: It Was An Accident" was filmed.

"Knowing that Lisa Ann Walter filmed her special here at the Helium in Philly, and that now I'm about to step foot on the same stage to perform here. I think that's one of the coolest things about comedy," Philip Lindsay, middle school teacher and comedian with over one million followers to his name, says.

Reflecting on their incredible and unexpected journeys to becoming comedic icons across social media and beyond, the teaching trio point out the largely-accidental nature of success such as theirs.

"I think that in a lot of this business, things happen by accident. Just, like, right place, right time. All three of us coming together was kind of an accident, in a way!" Randazzo says.

At the same time, these happy 'accidents' can't come to fruition without a great deal of hard work and dedication.

"In the same way that [Lisa] had all these things that were accidents, but in the background of that is all the hard work, I feel like it's the same for all of us," Forcum reflects. "For every one video that each of us has had done well, there's been two dozen where no one saw it."

Beyond the social media fanfare and sold-out comedy shows, the trio's main focus has always been to connect through the shared experience of education, and to celebrate the immense impact that educators have on all of our lives.

"People come up and talk to us about how we've impacted their career as educators," Forcum says. "That is really cool, when people come up and are just like, 'I've found community with listening to you guys over the past few years.' That is just so meaningful."

Click here to learn more about The Teacher's Lounge.

"Lisa Ann Walter: It Was An Accident" is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC Localish and this station.