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Callaroga Shark Media. Hello, Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news.
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You know, normally I record the entire weekend in one shot.
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I've been down here in this studio I recorded at
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my guest appearance on The Letterman Podcast. If you haven't
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heard that yet, that came out yesterday The Letterman Podcast
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Special guest Johnny Mack. Then I did Friday's episode. Now
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I'm doing Saturday. But this room, it's kind of small,
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and I feel like I'm running out of oxygen. So
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I'm gonna wait a day and record Sunday. I need
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to breathe. On the interview on The Letterman Podcast, I
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mentioned how I put the show together, and I'll put
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a shiny name in the title and move that to
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the first story. So I was happy when Bloomberg wrote
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a lengthy article that I haven't read yet. I'm reading
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it cold here to you how Joe Rogan became comedy's
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new king maker. Okay, let's see what Bloomberg has to say.
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One day in March, during the taping of his podcast,
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Joe Rogan looked over at his guest comedian Kevin James,
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and delivered a will Paula Shales pitch it was time
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Kevin James consider a permanent change of scenery. Rogan said,
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come to Texas. Come on, buddy, I got you. The
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article then tells us how Austin is now being pitched
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as the new center of the comedy universe. Rogan had
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a podcast studio, a sauna, a bow hunting range, and
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most importantly, a new club, the Comedy mother Ship. Rogan says,
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the club is always available. You'll have fun, we can
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work out together. We've got a beautiful gym. Rogan is
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a fan of Texas, saying they're not interested in controlling
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what you buy and where you go and what you
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do on your land. You can own a zebra. Kevin
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James declined, I wonder where Kevin lives these days. He
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definitely doesn't live in Queens. Even I don't live in
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Queens anymore. Queens is nice, but you know, sometimes you
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gotta move to the suburbs. Get a pool. Over the
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past two years, a glowing cadre of comedians and podcasters
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have heated Rogan's Sirens song. They include Shane Gillis, Brian Simpson,
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Duncan Trussell, Matt mccuster, and Tony Hinchcliff. Within the industry,
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Joe Rogan is widely believed to be the most popular
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podcaster on Earth. Now, Rogan is cranking up is Austin
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comedy podcasting machine to magnify the talent, wealth, and influence
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of his recruits and allies. The rewards of securing a
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close spot and the Rogan Verse are significant. Is blessing,
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guaranteeing a nice boost and audience share, and in advertisers
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looking to sell their products to consumers. Bloomberg tells us
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it's a good sign to be investing in comedy infrastructure.
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You know, maybe advertised on a daily comedy podcast. That's
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all I'm saying. Stand up comedy gross ticket sales between
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twenty twelve and twenty twenty three nearly tripled, going from
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a three hundred and seventy one million dollars to nine
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hundred and nine million dollars according to Pollstar. Steve Adler,
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the former mayor of Austin, Texas, says, our tolerance for
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taking risks is higher than any other city than I've
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been to in the world. The article then tells us
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what Rogan tends to talk about on a show and
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his bio fear factor UFC. You probably know that if
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you're listening to me. Bran Gar, a Cap City regular, says,
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before Rogan, Austin was a good place for smart comedy,
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known for comedians who didn't do a lot of easy jokes.
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Most stuck around and enjoyed the low key community. It's
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always been a little bit of a sibling to the
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music scene. Rogan decided build a club of his own. First,
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he considered buying a ranch, constructing an amphitheater, and throwing
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outdoor comedy shows featuring barbecue and a gun range. He
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scrapped that idea and overhauled The Ritz, a historic theater
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on Sixth Street. Since opening in nineteen twenty nine, the
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Ritz had evolved several times. It was the city's first
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integrated movie theater, a center of Austin's country music scene,
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a rock venue, a punk hotspot, and a porn hall.
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Most recently had been a two screen movie theater. Is
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that different than a porn hall? Was the porn hall
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not showing movies? I mean, we can argue about the
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equality of the movie Is a pornhole not a movie theater?
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What's a porn hall if it's not a movie theater?
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Brogan spared new expense. He wanted a comedy club designed
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by a comedian, four comedians, with state of the art lighting,
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sound system, and camera, a place where Netflix producers would
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be thrilled to film and from which new and influential
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comic voices would emerge. He had the ceiling lowered in
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the main performance room and make it feel more intimate.
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That was a suggestion from Louis c K, which Bloomberg
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calls the semi canceled comic Louis c. K. At the door,
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customers must hand over their mobile phones, which are sealed
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in pouches and made inaccessible. Rogan is set on his
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podcast this helps improve the audience's focus. Of course, it
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allows him to control what the public seeds from inside
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the Mothership. Social media can cut both ways. This article
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is long, and I'm skimming it. The Mothership takes no chances.
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During a recent visit, a security guard not only inspected
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a Business Week reporters perse, but also her sunglasses, explaining
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that sunglasses can be outfitted with recording equipment. Joe Man,
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if you're worried about me wearing like Google glasses to
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bootleg a Tuesday night show, stop, just stop The only
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images from inside the club that make it to social
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media are the ones sanctioned by the Mothership's producers. This
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article just went sideways on you, Joe. This started off
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as a wax job, and now we're getting into the oh,
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Joe Rogan exposed a part of this. The tight control
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also allows Rogan and his colleagues to work on new
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material without having to worry that'll get out into the
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world prematurely on the wrong hands. Comedians of the Mothership
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get paid from one hundred dollars to five hundred dollars,
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dificly more than what they'd make at other Austin clubs.
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According to one comic, that's not why most comics are there.
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The money is made by hosting ads, supported podcasts, tory
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arene is, and selling stand up specials top acts. Selling
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such specials can get anywhere from five million dollars to
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at the very high end, twenty million dollars. According to
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comedy agents. Rogan typically performs three days a week at
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the Mothership, making jokes about such things as Neanderthal jeans,
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the pregnant man emoji, donkey sperm, and Jeffrey Epstein. Rogan says,
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I think we need another club. It's mobbed every night.
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We then get into kill Tony, a wonderful podcast that's
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every Monday night of the mother Ship. Hingecliff sits at
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a table flanked by fellow comedian Brian Redband, the original
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producer of Rogan's podcast. They're joined by a rotating guest
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entertainer or two, such as David Spade or Post Malone
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or theo Von. They then explain how kill Tony works.
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Since the show's relocation of the Mothership, new episodes of
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kill Tony typically get more than two million downloads. It's
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currently ranked number nine on Spotify. On YouTube, the show
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has more than a million subscribers. In August, Kill Tony
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will do two nights at Madison Square Garden in New York.
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I didn't know that, Wow, Which is not to say
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the club is for everybody. There are plenty of established
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comedians who will probably never perform at the Mothership, whether
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because they belong to other less aggressive schools of comedy
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because an association with Rogan would feel too off brand.
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At some level, it's a club for joke tellers who
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are already in Rogans circle or do whatever it takes
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to work their way in Wow, there's a lot more
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left to this article. So this is what I was
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talking about with Mike on the Letterman podcast. He said,
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you know, do you plan to do these special episodes?
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This is a perfect example of I thought this was
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just going to be story number one. As I mentioned
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the beginning, I didn't preread it. Could I preread these things?
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I could, but I like to react to them as
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we go. If I pre read it, then not that
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I'm faking it, but I don't react the same way
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as whereas I go, oh wow. I like to hear
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these things first try. But boy, there's a lots of
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this article left, and as I mentioned, there's no oxygen
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in this room. So I'm going to take a break, literally,
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go upstairs and have a drink of water and breathe,
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and I'll come back and we'll do more of this.
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It is not a slow news day, I could tell you. Now.
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I'm gonna bump five, six seven stories into tomorrow and Monday,
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which is great from a creator standpoint. I like having
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extra stuff. But yeah, this is Bloomberg's look at Joe Rogan.
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I'll be back in a second. This article we're looking
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at is from Bloomberg. It is titled How Joe Rogan
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Became Comedy's New King Maker. Bloomberg tells us when local
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comedians first heard Joe Rogan was coming to town, some grumbled.
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One local comedian, Ariel Isaac Norman was not a grumbler,
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but says the downside to the Rogan invasion is a
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boom and open mic nights around town that are borderline
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unwatchable thanks to a certain strain of amateur who thinks
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aggressively attacking wokeness, no matter how ham handedly amounts to
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comedy gold. She says, it can be really awful to
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listen to men making disgusting reap apology jokes, that kind
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of stuff, saying big getting things, talking disgustingly about women.
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I'm not one of those people who's easily offended, but
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it needs to be funny. Inside the mother Ship, on
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the top floor is the green room and inner sanctum,
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where the regulars of Rogan's clan can catch up with
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visiting comics, trade gossip, chomp on cigars, shoot tequila, crush chackos,
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or watch whoever's performing. From a balcony overlooking the main stage.
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A private tunnel system allows comedians to arrive at the
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back entrance and travel up to the green room. When
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somebody like Chappelle stops by, the crew can get him
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into the club and on stage without spoiling the surprise.
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That's a good thing. On the main floor is the
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bar Mitzi's, named after a comedy store owner, Mitzi Shure,
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mother of poly Shore. The club will hold auditions from
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time to time. The most promising comedians get jobs as
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door guys. They get paid hourly to help around the
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clubs several nights a week and frequent opportunities to perform
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at cast shows. Up and comers get to work on
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their show, grow their stature, and if they're funny enough,
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were in a rare slot alongside Joe Rogan himself. Tucker
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Carlson dropped by the club and said, I remember what
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a big deal it was to fly out to burd Bank.
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Can do Jay Leno? Who'd bother doing that for a
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linear TV show? Now we're in a Rogan moment. Wow,
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What an article. Langston Kerman has announced his next comedy special,
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Bad Poetry, on Netflix August twentieth. Langston Kerman hawks parenting
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a top tier baby teaching mean teens and managing his
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mother in law's dating apps. Directed by John Mullaney, The
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new hour was taped at The Green Meal in Chicago.
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Mullaney said Langston is a champion, said is ridiculously funny.
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The Guardian profiled some shows you might want to say
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the Edinburgh Fringe. These are six of the funniest comedians.
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Number one Joe Kent Walters, who grew up on a
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diet of the Mighty Boosh and Vic and Bob, started
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out running an alternative comedy night in the basement of
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his Leads student house. His show immerses Us in Frankie's
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Mad Place as he stalks the stage, playing with the
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audience and singing catchy tunes. Number two Andrew Dherty, the
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man behind this year's most striking show title Gay Witch
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Sex Cults Love It. He's making his solo debut with
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this queer folk horror comedy. The already hopes he leave
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thinking anything like that before. Number three Kate Chica. Her
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style is chatty, sarcastic, like you would tell stories to
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your mates, A bit gossipy, expect top tier sexual anecdotes,
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dissections of race and gender, and insights from her travels.
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Basically sex and colonialism. Number four Marjoralina robertson I'm putting
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the numbers here. They didn't rank them. I'm just trying
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to keep track of if I've gotten them all. Folk
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tales have always influenced her work. She spent lockdown nights
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telling stories on Twitch and weaves them throughout her stand up.
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She's a compelling narrator. Every show has a folk tale
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to illuminate the story, but there are moments where it's
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brutally real. I want to make people laugh but also
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potentially help people. Number five Sarah Roberts who five years
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ago is a scriptwriter and arts journalist. After her first
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successive stand up, she says, I was so delusional, I
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quit my job the next day. She's crafted a compelling persona,
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a deadpan delivery, and knowing girlishness that give her punchlines
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a sharp but chrimming edge. She admires Catherine Coen and
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Kate Blant and says there's an element. I think it's amazing,
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but nothing's going right. And Number six gin hal Lee
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Jin how Lee was inspired by Eddie Murphy's delirious He
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honed his craft in the clubs of Singapore and Scotland.
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His stand up is sweet, calm and reflective, just like
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Eddie Murphy with tail spanning army conscription at Singapore, Scottish seagulls,
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recurring nightmares and childhood dreams. Jin how Lee says it's
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like a violent children's story book. There are moments when
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animals come alive, but moments when it's grotesque and scary.
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Oh and today up at the Zombie just for laughs,
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Montreal Comedy Festival, Dane Cook. I continue to speculate that
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that was booked when they were going to have a
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traditional festival I'll call it, but here at the zombie
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version of it, Dane Cook. Tonight it just for laughs
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in Montreal. I missed going this year. Hopefully they could
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do a traditional festival next year. With the way it was,
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I understand what happened this year, and I want to
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put down their efforts this year. But you know, it's
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not the same as say the fortieth aniversary just for
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laps where they showed off trying not to be vulgar.