For years, Dave Jorgenson has been nearly synonymous with The Washington Post on social media. He has been a familiar bearded face of the brand on TikTok and YouTube, dropping into users’ feeds to crack wise about elections, wars and business news for millions of followers.

So, what would The Post do if Mr. Jorgenson left? And can he be a star without The Post? Both are about to find out.

Mr. Jorgenson, 34, is leaving The Post next month to start an online video company based on his personal YouTube channel, Local News International, which blends the topical wit of “The Daily Show With Jon Stewart” with the surreal antics of Ron Burgundy, the fictional star of “Anchorman.” Joining him are two former colleagues: Micah Gelman, who until recently was The Post’s director of video, and Lauren Saks, Mr. Gelman’s former deputy.

Mr. Jorgenson’s break with The Post is the latest test of whether a journalist’s personal brand can thrive when it is detached from a nationally known newsroom with huge online reach. Other journalists have left traditional journalism to start their own businesses on Substack and YouTube, with varying degrees of success.

But Mr. Jorgenson is betting that many of the people who signed up to watch him on The Post’s channels — which have more than three million subscribers across two YouTube accounts and 1.9 million followers on TikTok — will follow him to his new venture. The goal of the new business, he said, is to provide a “sanity check” for news consumers on social media.