The 800 Pound Gorilla approach to comedy

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Callaroga Shark Media. Hello, I'm
Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news.

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It's a Saturday in the summer,
so that means an interview. This might

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be the last one unless I book
somebody being honest to My guests today are

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the guys from eight hundred Pound Gorilla
Media. They've produced, they're distributed some

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of the biggest things like Mark Norman's
Out to Lunch, Matt Rife's Only Fans,

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Leanne Morgan's I'm every Woman, Sean
Patten's Number One. In this forty

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five minutes or so, we talk
about all things comedy. I started asking

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them about the international comedy scene,
but as we go along we'll get into

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how deals are made and distribution and
who's cool and what they're excited about.

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Founding member Ian Adkins and co founder
Ryan Bitzer are my guests. Let's dive

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in. I love how you guys
are exploring the international comedy scene. Those

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of us who spend a lot of
time in comedy, you get I call

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it the Emperor of Rome syndrome,
where you tend to start at in comedy

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rather than laughing, you stand on
the back of the room and you go,

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oh good callback really well written.
I like how this is structured.

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I find it's the international comedians these
days that are tickling my brain a little

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bit more and coming at me from
angles that I wasn't expecting. Now.

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So I saw as part of the
prep here that you were down at the

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Melbourne Comedy Festival, which I'm just
totally fascinated by. I talked about it

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every day on the pod for about
a month and it just seems so huge.

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So let me actually ask you a
question. What was the Melbourne experience

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for you? Melbourne was great.
It's something that we've wanted to do for

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so long. It's just the logistics
of flying a few people down there,

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and just the time of year it
is and everything. It was quite an

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undertaking to organize and get done.
But it's something we've always wanted to do,

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and really we needed the right reason
to go there. And one of

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the first releases we ever did was
audio for Jim Jefferies, and so we

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got in earlier. And then when
we started to really expand outside of the

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United States and Canada, Australia was
definitely on a radar right after UK and

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and it was just like it was
really great to be able to land there

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and having had conversations with for about
a year with all the agents and artists

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and everything like that, and there's
such a there's such a connection between the

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UK scene and the Australian scene already, and that pipeline existed and we were

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able to land and kick up the
conversations like we were old friends. It

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was really cool and it was a
great experience. And like you said,

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the kind of material they were doing
down there is just different. It's a

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small scene. It's a really support
that everybody supports each other. It's a

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really I had a great time,
really great time, and I've had Auzzie

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comedians explain to me that how it's
more similar to the British scene in which

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you put together a i'll call it
a show an hour, and then you

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do that for a full year,
and then you throw that hour out,

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as opposed to the American I guess
the Americans throw out their material when they

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do a special, But the way
you're throwing in new material, trying out

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new jokes, whereas they're writing performing
starting from scratch once a year, and

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you're expected to do it once a
year. We're not sitting here going just

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top by Deer Welcome. Dan Cook
doesn't have a new special. Actually he

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does this summer. But you can
take three years in America and that scene

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apparently you can't. That's right.
It's one of those things that's fascinating.

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What got our attention is going over
there and being a part of Fringe and

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then Melvin Coobrick's Festival and Citney Comedy
Festivals in the same respect is that so

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many of those great hours never got
captured, whether it's audio, video anything.

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So you've got this these fantastic crafted
narrative hours that have lost and so

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that we're lost to time. And
so that was one of the real big

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opportunities that we saw to go down
there. And this deserves to be put

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out properly because if we're able to
put this in front of the right audience

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internationally, no matter where you are, it's going to resonate. And because

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you are doing fresh hours every year, the budgets just aren't there sometimes to

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do that, and I think that
we strategically take the right projects to preserve.

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How did you navigate the scene?
There's so many shows every night,

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like how do you pick? How
do you even as a podcast host,

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as us going through the schedule trying
to pick out three or four to highlight

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every day for thirty days. There
were so many like how do you even

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navigate that? Yeah, that's a
good question. Laura, who's not on

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this call, heads up our UK
comedy signing and she's watching through all the

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comics all the time. That's her
job, right, And like Ian said,

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there's a close alliance between the UK
and Australia and so there are often

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times going to each festival back and
forth, so she's able to see a

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lot of these folks, also see
their specials on YouTube and things like that.

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And then she literally blocked out all
of our calendars and said, Ryan,

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you're doing the Damian, you're doing
our kid, and you're doing every

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and we would go our separate ways
and then we'd come back for hopefully a

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tent in the middle of it,
talk about what we saw, what we

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liked, and then we'd go back
out and so on and so forth for

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what felt like five or six days. But she did a fabulous job of

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like, everyone, go see these
things, so we can cover a lot

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of ground. And she's also yeah, shout out definitely to Laura and our

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office Laura brooksus She's been going to
the Friends Fringe Festival for years and years.

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This was her first Melbourne comedy festival. She does it right. She

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goes up sometimes at Fringe for twenty
plus days and she's really able to drill

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down and find like the really special
things that we can focus on and then

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we can come in the last few
days and be able to see the best

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of the best, and yeah,
her creation is unparalleled. So are you

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acquiring these shows for US distribution,
worldwide distribution or are you just scouting talent?

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Why are you there? Yeah?
So we enter into relationships in a

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variety of ways, but most of
the time it's for worldwide distribution and an

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investment into the both of the markets. We also like and stuff as well.

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But the goal is really to comedy
so universal and it's not restricted by

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boundaries race, religion, income,
everything like that. So there's really a

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lot of potential for bits and acts
and hours to really succeed in a number

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of countries. And I think it's
really just the lack of promotion and being

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able to find the audience to put
content in front of has always been historically

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the challenge. Just looking at our
data and analytics that we use when we

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market these releases. It's really fascinating
to see the type of people that resonate

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with somebody in Kentucky resonating with somebody
from Glasgow, and it's just it's really

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nice to see. And as you
head towards Edinburgh, will it be the

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same sort of approach that one's I've
never done either, always looking for a

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business reason to do so one of
these years, but that just seems equally

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huge. And from what I've read
in the past, I hope you're not

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sleeping in a tent or in somebody's
garage. I hope you booked your hotel

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early. No, that's funny.
That's one of the last things last year

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because Ryan hasn't been over before and
I've been up the last the past few

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years. And one of the first
things I learned was, you're exactly right.

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Is book your accommodation the year why
the year before so you can get

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something nice. And I was so
excited I found this place last year and

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I caught up Brian. I'm like, guys, we can get a refund,

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but we've got to book it now. Trust me on this one.

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And so that's what we'll see in
a couple months now. So you guys

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have really come on the scene hosting
the show every day for a few years.

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I had seen your name out there, and I guess for me personally,

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the acquisition of the old Laugh Button
website is what really started to get

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the Gorilla name into my head on
a daily business. Can you talk me

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about talk to me about that acquisition, why that website and how the site

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factors and everything you're trying to do. Yeah, that's a good question.

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We entered into a partnership, I
want to say it was like twenty nineteen

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somewhere around there with the syndicate.
The syndicate it's out of New Jersey.

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They owned the Laugh Button I'd been
running in the last ten years, and

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we started to podcast network with them
and Robert Kelly, the comedian, and

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right as we got going, the
pandemic hit and things became difficult, especially

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in New York. You're familiar with
that scene. It was tough to do

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shows and things like that if they
weren't online, and we had the studio

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and it was a lot of work, and so we did a lot of

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pivots during that time, like a
lot of companies trying to find our footing,

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and I think we did good work. I think the amount of time

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we put into that entity didn't equal
what the outcome should have been. And

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we decided we'd all reached the place
at the same time where it was like,

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why don't we just all focus on
our course of what we do and

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part ways and what do you do
with the laugh button? And it was

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something we really liked and something I
think they were like, we want to

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see it have a good home and
continue on. And so the fit was

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good for us because we have so
many people coming to the site every day.

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It's like, how do we what
can we put in front of them

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that's topical, that's the thing they're
interested in, and comedy. It just

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fits really well. And we acquired
it at the end of that relationship and

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then rebranded it over the course of
three to six months dating her Pound World

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News, preserved all the links,
all of the data that was within it,

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and then really you know, honed
out that staff. So we have

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I don't know, six seven articles
coming out a day. I'm not sure

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what it is, and we keep
it refreshed, we try to have them,

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We try to have people at the
festivals, reviewing everything, multiple news

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hits a day, and then the
goal is there is to just hey,

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if you like Kyle Kanaane because you
read you're here for the news article.

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Do you know he has the last
three specials over here that you can watch.

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And that's the idea. It's a
tremendous resource. I love being magicians

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showing each other our tricks. I
have a sub stack and I will write

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article. Here's some podcasts that I'm
listening to this week, and one or

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two of them will happen to be
from my very own network. So I

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appreciate the Gorilla News site. It's
a legit comedy news site that I use

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to prep for this show on a
daily business basis. But I see it's

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in the oh, by the way, and here, we'll totally get it.

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And it's so smart and it's well
done and the whole point and I

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guess it gets back to everything you
guys are trying to do. It's helping

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the artist surface content. Right,
that's what this is all about to begin

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with. Yeah, and that's exactly
right. We have this talk about how

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not to be like Succession, where
you own the news and you just talk

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about yourself or your narrative, and
so we try to really stay out of

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that world and not influence it.
But to say that we don't put things

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in there that we want to showcase
would be silly. Our goal is to

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do everything we can to help the
people on our roster get to their next

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level, and so the news is
one of those. But yeah, we

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do talk about a lout and joke
around a lot about it, but it's

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something we're very conscious of staying separate
and let them do what they want.

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Yeah, I was using it earlier
today. There's a fantastic article up on

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the day that I recorded this with
you guys, the top ten specials for

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the first half of the year,
and it doesn't match my personal list.

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And a part of that is is
there's so much content that I just can't

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consume it all, or sometimes something
comes and goes and I forget. So

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I was looking at your list,
going, oh wow, there's seven here

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that I need to get around to. It's a wonderful resource. It's a

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great job by the editorial team.
That's great. They'll be happy to hear

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that. It's really fun to watch
because there's not many people in the space

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doing daily stand up comedy news and
to see like an a list artists retweet

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something that is throwing like a bunch
of caffeine all over this part they just

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said, pumped like it's the excitement
you can feel in the whole office whenever

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something like that happened. So it's
really nice to see that it's resonating and

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people are finding out and staying current
on what's happened in comedy more with the

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eight hundred pound gorilla guys. In
a moment, I will remind you if

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you would like this program ad free, you wouldn't have to listen to this

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upcoming ad break. You could go
to Calaruga dot com slash plus and for

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four ninety nine a month, the
ads go away. I guess you'd still

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hear me doing this though. Oh
well, if you're on Apple Podcast,

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there's a banner you can click it
there and you can actually do a thirty

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day free trial to see if you
like it without the ads. Maybe it'll

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be like, you know, I
wish there were more commercials, Well here's

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your wish. What's the philosophy here
working with the artists, it seems to

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be more of It's not the Chris
Rocks and the Jerry Seinfelds, who don't

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need anyone's help at this point.
It's more people who need exposure breaking through.

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So walk me through the process with
the artists. What's in it for

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them? What's in it for you? How does this all work? Yeah?

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From the very beginnings, Damien and
I formed the company. We're artist

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managers and we managed comedians for a
while, and Ian comes from the space

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as well. A lot of us
started in music and entertainment and things like

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that, So the idea was always
a necessity. We needed something like this

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for our clients, and it just
didn't exist in the way we wanted to

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see it on so so we would
complain about it all the time, and

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then finally we just decided to start
it, because you start sounding an idiot

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when you complain about the thing that
you could go build, and so we

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started building this. We didn't really
understand the marketplace fully, and I think

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that helped us because we asked a
lot of dumb questions. We stumbled around

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a lot in the beginning finding our
footing, and then once we captured the

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sauce of like how to put a
track into the Internet in a social media

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form and have it spray out across
the world. That that's a cool feeling,

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and so that everything you do is
going to have that virality and you

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can't really plan it, but when
it happens, it's very cool. We

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just try to take every project that
comes in, do the best we can

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buy it, and then let the
fans take it from there. So in

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terms of how we do deals,
we kind of mold to what the artist

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is looking for. There's no set
it and forget it. There's no one

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contract. Every artist comes to us
with a different take on what they're trying

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to do or what's important to them, And so the initial conversation after we

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like an hour or we like what
thirty minutes they have done on tape,

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is what are you trying to accomplish? And then it's always very similar things,

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and then you really try to hone
in on ways that you just want

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more butts in the seats when you
do the tour, do you want to

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make money? You just want more
eyeballs on the special? What's the goal?

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And then we fine tune the strategy
and the deal from there. Who's

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recording it, who's outlaying the money, what's the risk, and then if

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we're putting up the money, then
it's a pretty simple deal where it's late.

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We just want to make our money
back. You're going to prove everything

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that we spend, so there's no
bs, and then once the first dollar

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profit goes in, it's split and
it's we just try to create something that's

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fair. But we also got to
make sure we're a business in twenty twenty

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five. And how do you go
about scouting talent or is it mostly on

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the web these days you're out hustling
in the clubs. You got the younger

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guys doing that. That was my
trick at Series XM as I was middle

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aged manager who is also expected to
be at his desk at eight am.

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I can't be at the truckle huntil
one on a Tuesday. Yeah, exactly,

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we've got we've got a bunch of
Yeah, right, you can probably

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fill in more of this, but
yeah, we've definitely got a bunch of

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people that then do that Laura over
in the UK and several people will go

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out and do the same over here. A lot of our relationships just come

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from the long standing history we've had
with agents and managers that will be able

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to send us like, hey,
this makes sense, but you check her

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out and as we've grown as a
company, if it makes sense for us

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and them, and then we put
it through our own role, our own

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process, vending process, and then
it goes from there. But Ryan,

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you could probably expand a little bit
more on what's happening in Nashville and us

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New York. And yeah, there
there's a lot of younger people on the

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staff that stay out later and they're
going to the shows I know, Katie,

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And our office is up in New
York once a month just going to

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the seller and the stand and things
like that, looking at the talent.

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And then we have folks out in
LA and keep us informed there. A

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lot of it does come from managers
and agents or artists recommending other artists.

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We get a lot of that,
but it's got to go through do we

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like this, Is this something we're
jazzed about, because if not, then

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we're not going to help the artist. You know, once these things come

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in through those filters, then you
run it through. Is this get anyone

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excited here? And someone's got to
champion it through for us to work on

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it. It's really important at a
generic level, what would be something that

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excites people. I'll go first.
I was watching some specials over the weekend

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and there was one that I watched
on YouTube. It's not one of yours,

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and it was fine. As a
bit of a comedy snob, I'm

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like, this is fine. This
is a comedian doing an act and it's

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fine. And if you need an
hour of comedy, it's fine. I

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don't it. I don't hate it. It just is, whereas other specials

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will just really make me go,
oh wow, So how do you what

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is the subjectiveness of Okay? This
is one that gets through. Yeah.

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That's why it's really important to have
a little bit of diversity in the office,

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because not everything I'm gonna find funny
that Katie finds funny. I think

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that's really important. And once you
put enough stuff out, if we put

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up everything I like, it'd be
a pretty boring site, I think for

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most people. So you've got to
be trying a whole bunch of different things.

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And if something really tickles Marcus or
Katie or Mick on the team or

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Evan, Damie and so on and
so forth, you're then and they're going

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to tell the team. This is
why I like it is why I think

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it's important. Then you get the
data on the back end, and the

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data on the back end is going
to tell you, Okay, this is

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working, this isn't working, and
it's important to listen to that. So

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it's this combination of what do we
like as a group, what are we

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thinking needs to be heard, and
then what's the audience saying about that,

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and working that blend constantly. I
think is really important. If you have

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one scout, it just doesn't go
good because there's all different kinds of things

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that make people laugh, is what
I've learned. I think that's smart.

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When I ran Serious XM Comedy,
I really believed in having a diverse staff

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in all ways, and an important
one was age. So when I started

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there, I was probably I don't
know, thirty four or so, and

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I remember telling the staff that we
had to be careful that we didn't age.

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Back then, Jim Brewer was doing
Afternoon Drive and I said, I

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don't want us to go twenty years
later going hey kids, Eddie Murphy and

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denim jackets and rock and roll,
right, because you just you wake up

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one day and you're really old.
So I would always pay attention to the

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kids just out of college and what's
going on. Because it's very easy to

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sit here in an old man mountain
and go, matt Riife, I don't

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get it, but somebody clearly does. Yeah. Yeah, six twenty seven

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million views. It's one of the
highest few comedy specials of all time.

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So it doesn't really matter what we
think about it. The audience has spoken

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and they like it, and what
do you do with that information? You

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are absolutely right, and so we've
got to be listening those people I just

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mentioned earlier, they're all pretty much
out of college, so we try to

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listen to the younger folks as much
as possible. Yeah, and with that

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diverse catalog too, you get if
you're talking about YouTube specifically, you've got

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specials next to specials that the audience
is just they're not going to find both

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funny, right, and so yeah, different funnels coming into your channel,

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and it's really about that recommendation algorithm, and even on our website as well

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as someone coming in to buy a
specific title, how can we position something

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that we know that they're going to
like. And that's where the data comes

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in, and we have way more
control over putting the right thing on our

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own site than we do to YouTube's
algorithm, although it's fantastic, but it's

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just a dance of how how to
get the most out of both platforms.

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Yeah. I remember working with the
comedians the New York brick wall cigarette smokers

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don't like the La All scene,
and neither side likes the blue collar guys

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who were the nicest guys in the
world and making more money than the first

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two groups. It was just always
this whole weird It wasn't like sports teams

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or gangs. It was just like
New York for U s LA. And

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I guess now we're Austin's in the
mix as well. Yeah. Yeah,

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that's that's where Damien in our office
and myself come from specifically, is the

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we were out as promoting comedy promoters
back in the day with Blue Collar Comedy

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Tour and Larry Cable Guy Fox where
they all this and really that's what opened

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my mind is someone that wasn't in
that scene specifically, and I'd go out

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and I see the amount of people
that come out. It's undeniable and it's

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just complete overlooked market and it's I
don't know. It just really opened my

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eyes about different things out there and
how they could really excel. I want

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to hear more about that. I
put together Blue Collar Radio for serious and

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the first time I met the guys, it was down in Nashville, and

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I asked them, don't be ip
me. I don't want to sit in

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the second row. Put me up
in the upper deck and I'm taking notes

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there, mental notes, And I
remember the things that got big ovations were

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y'all ever been to the Walmart?
A Jimmy Buffett reference and Elvis reference And

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it really helped inform me on how
to program that channel and go right down

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the middle where Series XM Raw Dog
was. If it were a person,

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maybe it would be Bill Burr,
Hey, go f yourself, But Blue

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Collar was God, Flag, America, Chevrolet, Chick fil A, whatever

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you want to put in that category. It was just it was a different

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vive. What did you do with
the blue collar guys? So we promoted

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us with outback concerts at the time, and they that was really the premiere

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tour that we did and went everywhere
with it. And really it is how

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we worked with other acts and comedians
and even you know a lot of music

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bands and stuff like that as well, where we would take one artist,

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and then we would tour and we
would we book and rap the tour,

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and there was a level of familiarity
between us in the act, so they

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knew what they were getting through.
The deals were easier, we knew the

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right markets to go to and everything
like that. And so through that,

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just getting thrown into the fire out
on the road like that, finding these

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little towns I had never even heard
of and seen ten thousan fifteen thousand people

334
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showing up, it just blew my
mind. I'm like, where is everybody

335
00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:25.079
else? Like where, why isn't
anybody else doing this? It's and it's

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there are good people, it's a
good show. It made a ton of

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money, and it's just fascinating.
So then you just take that that all

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that knowledge you learn and try to
apply it to what we're doing today.

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But it's not just the blue collars, sub subpopulations of people that are underserved,

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and is how do we connect those
people and how do we identify them

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and then how do we give them
exactly what they want, when they want

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it, and on whatever platform they
wanted. That's what I took from that

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previous life. Yeah, I remember
those days, That's when these days Andrew

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Schultz plays Madison Square Garden and we
could walk down the street and ask one

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hundred people and maybe three out of
one hundred would know who Andrew is.

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And I'm not dissing Andrew. It's
a different time. But twenty years ago,

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that Blue Collar tour, that's when
we started to really see the size

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of arenas ramp up. I remember
I was doing prep. The bosses were

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asking me, it's serious. All
right, we had a clean channel and

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a dirty channel. What else could
we do? And I started noticing all

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the ticket sales on southern comedy or
blue collar is what I meant, And

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all right, we started looking at
that, and then we went down different

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genres and we did the deal with
Jamie Fox, the one we could never

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figure out. I was regularly asked
to do it, and I just couldn't

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solve how to do just at the
top level term Latino comedy, just because

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of the different genres of people speaking
Spanish or Spanglish. We could never really

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figure that one out. Yeah,
talking from that period of the career,

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we had a similar type when Russell
Peters was coming up and we were another

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00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:02.200
huge, huge, But depending on
which hundred people we asked, we might

360
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go ninety nine out of one hundred
or three out of one hundred, but

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he's huge. You're absolutely right.
But when we were going out, when

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he's just starting doing theaters in the
US and out of the clubs, and

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it's about identifying that population that really
his stuff resonates with and then it just

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00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.680
expands from there. It's and that's
exactly the principles we use right now,

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is you put the right thing in
front of this this audience, and they're

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going to come and they're going to
love it, and then you learn a

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lot about those that audience and how
to get how to serve them. But

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yeah, yeah, absolutely, Joe
Koy unfortunately best known right now for I

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think Taylor just murdered him. Is
the way I phrased it on the podcast.

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If she would have just smiled at
the joke and just went ah,

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it would have been fine. But
the story just became Joe Coy Bond of

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00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.200
the Golden Globes, and he deserves
better. But he's another guy that just

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just playing these huge arenas. Yeah, and it's say one of the things

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that to tie back to Australia from
the beginning is when we I think Schultz

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had just been there and did eight
nights. Theovont did six in arenas over

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00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:06.759
there, and that blew my mind
and you start thinking about I mean,

377
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it's the power of the podcast and
that speaking directly to these people that are

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00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:14.559
going to come out and support you. But I could not believe the amount

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of tickets they saw down there,
And it was great to see because we've

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been working with Scholtz for a long
time and just it's fascinating how quick that

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00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:26.000
can happen. You're so right about
the power of the podcast theo Tim Dillon

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00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.680
Quiet Master, which is fantastic.
I love that you guys are doing comedy

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albums here in twenty twenty four.
What's the business of that. A lot

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00:25:36.319 --> 00:25:41.000
of other labels have pulled back over
various royalties fights. As I mentioned,

385
00:25:41.039 --> 00:25:45.720
I programmed series for ten years.
I currently handle the comedy properties on Live

386
00:25:45.799 --> 00:25:49.079
one, and there's a lot of
times not the depth of the librarya that

387
00:25:49.200 --> 00:25:52.640
used to be available because people have
pulled things back. As a programmer,

388
00:25:52.680 --> 00:25:56.079
I love the discovery aspects, so
I like what you guys are doing and

389
00:25:56.119 --> 00:26:00.640
having more lesser known names or new
faces might be a better term. So

390
00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:04.880
what is the state of the comedy
album and are we doing physical releases or

391
00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.640
other than maybe a vinyl to be
cool? Is that business dead? Is

392
00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:12.720
it all Apple? Yeah, let's
start with physical. If an artist like

393
00:26:12.720 --> 00:26:18.440
a Tim Dillon who's going a big
podcast wants to do a physical product like

394
00:26:18.480 --> 00:26:22.519
a vinyl, we're in on that
conversation. It's all about audience and what

395
00:26:22.640 --> 00:26:26.720
is the appetite in that audience for
that product. We don't do a lot

396
00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:30.720
of physical though. In fact,
in many cases we'll give those rights back

397
00:26:30.720 --> 00:26:34.799
to the artists to do their own
physical just because you know, they need,

398
00:26:34.880 --> 00:26:38.440
they like product to sell at the
end of the shows. And why

399
00:26:38.480 --> 00:26:42.799
are we keeping track of that and
sharing pennies with each other. It's let

400
00:26:42.799 --> 00:26:48.119
them have it. It's a moment
anyway for the artists to meet the fan

401
00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:52.400
and to have an interaction. We
don't do a lot of physical unless there's

402
00:26:52.440 --> 00:26:56.799
audience there. With digital, you
know, Serious is still a major player

403
00:26:56.799 --> 00:27:00.920
in that. Spotlight feels like Pandora
paused everything for the time being. And

404
00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:07.039
then Apple has put forth a lot
of interest in comedy. They're not sure

405
00:27:07.079 --> 00:27:11.039
what their strategy is, but they're
interested in this genre. So there's a

406
00:27:11.039 --> 00:27:15.480
lot of conversation around that right now, and then Spotify has just been yeah,

407
00:27:15.519 --> 00:27:18.440
we'll put it up kind of thing. And then Amazon, I just

408
00:27:18.559 --> 00:27:26.319
wish, I wish Amazon would jump
into the space because they're a quiet beast

409
00:27:26.960 --> 00:27:29.640
and they don't no one ever thinks
about it, but they have quite an

410
00:27:29.640 --> 00:27:33.880
audience and quite a lot of power. But we just don't see a lot

411
00:27:33.880 --> 00:27:37.559
of leadership in these DSPs. And
again here we are at this place where

412
00:27:37.559 --> 00:27:41.000
we complain about it, like Apple
and Spotify, the don't even have a

413
00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:47.359
genre really, and to not even
respect a genres is crazy to us in

414
00:27:47.400 --> 00:27:51.839
twenty twenty four of an entertainment form
that's growing double digits. We just went

415
00:27:51.920 --> 00:27:53.200
back to our team and said,
if we're not going to get the attention

416
00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:56.920
we want, then we need to
go build it and complaining. And so

417
00:27:56.400 --> 00:28:02.160
that's what we've been working on,
is filling the void of really what Comedy

418
00:28:02.200 --> 00:28:06.799
Central left. When I was coming
up, Comedy Central was the place I

419
00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:10.200
was there every night, I could
be there when it wasn't working, I

420
00:28:10.240 --> 00:28:15.279
was watching Comedy Central. And it's
been much what is happening, especially recently

421
00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:18.759
with just pulling everything down, and
so we were like that's still a need

422
00:28:18.799 --> 00:28:22.039
in our society. Let's go do
it. Let's go build that. So

423
00:28:22.759 --> 00:28:27.240
we're building out an audio platform right
now on YouTube which will be available is

424
00:28:27.279 --> 00:28:32.880
available, but it's in beta right
now with playlisting and things like that.

425
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:36.880
But we're going to put a lot
of attention into that on YouTube, and

426
00:28:36.920 --> 00:28:42.200
specifically YouTube because that platform is future
proofed with whatever happens with litigation. It

427
00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:48.160
has all the necessary tools in it
already because they've already been down this battle

428
00:28:48.160 --> 00:28:51.079
with music. And we're putting a
lot of BED on YouTube and then we're

429
00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:52.680
putting a lot of BED on our
site. And so what we want to

430
00:28:52.720 --> 00:28:56.319
be able to do is if you
like comic acts, through data, we're

431
00:28:56.359 --> 00:29:00.519
going to be able to figure out
what the YZ is for you specifically and

432
00:29:00.559 --> 00:29:04.680
then keep pushing you down to artists
you maybe haven't heard before. And that's

433
00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:10.640
the idea is discovery, right and
once I get a few data points on

434
00:29:10.720 --> 00:29:14.160
you, we could probably put a
fourth joke in front of you and nail

435
00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:17.759
it, but we need a little
bit of data. So that's the idea

436
00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:22.400
for the next eighteen months. As
a programmer, totally get where you're coming

437
00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:25.200
from. I always explain to folks, I got to play the hits to

438
00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:26.640
bring him into the door. But
once you get in there and you trust

439
00:29:26.720 --> 00:29:30.640
us a little bit, and you
trust the host or the brand, then

440
00:29:30.759 --> 00:29:33.839
you can do the discovery and be
like, Okay, now that you feel

441
00:29:33.839 --> 00:29:36.640
that I might know what I'm talking
about, here is somebody you haven't heard

442
00:29:36.640 --> 00:29:40.920
of yet. That's super awesome.
Yeah, the tools are finally available,

443
00:29:41.319 --> 00:29:45.480
like for us to even be able
to quantify on those data sets. So

444
00:29:45.400 --> 00:29:48.440
that's where I get really excited.
That's where EAM gets really excited because we're

445
00:29:48.440 --> 00:29:52.880
total nerds. But if if we
can figure out a few things about your

446
00:29:52.920 --> 00:29:56.440
and what tickles you, man,
that's going to be fun because then we

447
00:29:56.440 --> 00:30:00.440
can put something right in front of
you and you're like, I've never heard

448
00:30:00.440 --> 00:30:02.839
of that? Have you heard of
this? This is the best and that's

449
00:30:02.839 --> 00:30:04.640
what we want more with the eight
hundred pound gorilla guys in a moment,

450
00:30:04.680 --> 00:30:10.319
don't forget. On Monday, that
new podcast, The Artist a Killer's Canvas

451
00:30:10.319 --> 00:30:15.480
makes its big debut. You like
serial killers? That sounds weird? Yes,

452
00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.440
I love serial killers? Shun Well, good for you. There's a

453
00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:22.160
podcast about one. It's called The
Artist a Killer's Canvas. It's out on

454
00:30:22.279 --> 00:30:25.880
Monday. You can follow it in
your favorite podcast app right now, especially

455
00:30:25.880 --> 00:30:29.599
if you're an Apple podcast hit that
plus you know it'll help climb the charts.

456
00:30:29.680 --> 00:30:33.119
Nuts nudge and know what I mean? So one of your models is

457
00:30:33.319 --> 00:30:37.519
pay what you want as a consumer? Do you mean it? What if

458
00:30:37.559 --> 00:30:40.519
I want to pay you zero?
Is it a dollar? What are you

459
00:30:40.680 --> 00:30:45.119
hoping the price point is? What's
the actual audience behavior? Now? Fortunately,

460
00:30:45.359 --> 00:30:48.599
especially with YouTube and the generation's younger
than me, there's been a good

461
00:30:48.640 --> 00:30:55.240
culture of Patreon or tipping or buy
me a coffee whatever. So I think

462
00:30:55.319 --> 00:30:59.519
there is an understanding that we can't
have endlessly free content and if you like

463
00:30:59.519 --> 00:31:02.319
an artist, actually support them.
So how is pay what you want working

464
00:31:02.359 --> 00:31:06.079
for you? It's good it started
out. It's something that we've tried and

465
00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:11.119
really to get to have a chance
to identify the super fan for the artists.

466
00:31:11.160 --> 00:31:14.559
It's really what it's about. And
we put titles up for a pay

467
00:31:14.559 --> 00:31:18.359
what you want model, And I
should just clarify it's not zero, So

468
00:31:18.440 --> 00:31:21.799
there is a floor to it.
Currently I think it's ten and then it

469
00:31:21.799 --> 00:31:25.720
goes twenty fifty, one hundred.
But what we've found is when we go

470
00:31:25.880 --> 00:31:29.680
up and announce these titles, we
know they're going to be on YouTube down

471
00:31:29.720 --> 00:31:32.319
the road. So most of the
time we'll be able to say, hey,

472
00:31:32.359 --> 00:31:34.960
this video will be available on YouTube
on a certain date. However,

473
00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:40.279
if you want to watch it first
and support the artists, support the comedy

474
00:31:40.359 --> 00:31:44.440
scene, support want to have that
early access to this that you can then

475
00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:48.160
message the artists or talk to your
friends about whatever, you have a chance

476
00:31:48.200 --> 00:31:52.079
to become a super fan and pay
for it. And what we've found is

477
00:31:52.720 --> 00:31:55.319
when you put all that out,
you're not doing any bait and switching on

478
00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:57.680
it saying like you pay it and
then now it's free. You're very clear

479
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:02.079
with it. The people that you
get to buy during that the most valuable

480
00:32:02.119 --> 00:32:06.519
people that you could ever have as
an artist. And so that's really what

481
00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:09.880
it's all about. And when there's
other strategies that make sense, like Ryan

482
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:14.559
spoke about earlier about goyn straight to
YouTube right away if you want tons of

483
00:32:14.599 --> 00:32:16.799
numbers, but in essence you're getting
that data right to Google. At that

484
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:21.640
point you'll never know who those rabid
fans are. So this is just an

485
00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:24.960
opportunity to be able to say here's
who it is here. Here's who knew

486
00:32:24.960 --> 00:32:28.279
it was going to come out in
a month or two, and here's who

487
00:32:28.359 --> 00:32:30.640
reached in their pocket and wanted to
support you and be into that. So

488
00:32:30.680 --> 00:32:36.000
that's really the where it came from. And the art like the fans want

489
00:32:36.200 --> 00:32:38.799
to support these artists. That's the
thing. This was all just a guess.

490
00:32:39.119 --> 00:32:43.240
Like we didn't know. We started
doing a dollar, we started doing

491
00:32:43.279 --> 00:32:46.319
three dollars. We didn't know how
this would work. We just tested and

492
00:32:46.359 --> 00:32:51.240
tested and fans toiled us over and
over again. This is important to me.

493
00:32:51.799 --> 00:32:54.119
I want to spend money at it. And you would be shocked that

494
00:32:54.200 --> 00:32:59.240
the number of people sent through one
hundred dollars. I'm shocked. It blows

495
00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:01.480
my mind. But it's like,
I think these people want to see this

496
00:33:01.559 --> 00:33:06.480
scene develop. They're happy that this
product came out, and they want to

497
00:33:06.680 --> 00:33:09.640
attach themselves to it. And I
think where we're going with that is we

498
00:33:09.680 --> 00:33:13.519
want to lean into that more.
How do we bring the fan and the

499
00:33:13.599 --> 00:33:16.039
artists together in a meaningful way.
Those are some of the things we're working

500
00:33:16.039 --> 00:33:20.920
on in twenty twenty five to get
these projects made. Because we don't have

501
00:33:20.960 --> 00:33:24.440
an endless bank account to go fund
all these things, but some of them

502
00:33:24.480 --> 00:33:27.720
need to be done, and so
how do you choose them, and then

503
00:33:27.759 --> 00:33:30.039
how do you bring in the fans
to support it earlier. I think there's

504
00:33:30.079 --> 00:33:35.079
a some calculus we could do on
that and get really good at that and

505
00:33:35.119 --> 00:33:37.400
make them a part of the process. Because I don't know about you,

506
00:33:37.440 --> 00:33:42.720
but I've bought things online like kickstarters
and things like that, and you get

507
00:33:42.720 --> 00:33:45.839
to see it being made along the
way, and I think there's something to

508
00:33:45.000 --> 00:33:49.559
that. And I think there's a
bond that's developed between the fan and the

509
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:53.640
artist through that process and it doesn't
erode over time. It only makes your

510
00:33:53.920 --> 00:33:58.000
fandom of that person better. Yeah. I think it's a lot like music

511
00:33:58.039 --> 00:34:00.279
I used to love. And I'm
so sad that it's at least on hiatus,

512
00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:04.400
hitting in Montreal just for laughs and
the new faces go up there,

513
00:34:04.440 --> 00:34:07.920
reset my knowledge with twenty comedians that
nobody knows, and then come back and

514
00:34:07.920 --> 00:34:12.679
tell my audience about it and really
champion somebody. I guess at the last

515
00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:15.960
one two years ago, I came
back thinking John Marcos Airesse won the night

516
00:34:15.079 --> 00:34:20.119
and he just put something out over
the weekend, and it's just there's somebody

517
00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:22.960
I'm rooting for this person. I
feel like I'm along for the ride.

518
00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:25.199
They're not yet a household name,
and I feel like I'm in there.

519
00:34:25.599 --> 00:34:30.960
And we've seen in this culture on
YouTube of the super chats. I'll watch

520
00:34:30.239 --> 00:34:35.920
a quote unquote YouTuber and it's hey
Joe in Saint Louis for fifty dollars just

521
00:34:35.960 --> 00:34:38.519
for one comment. And on Old
Man Mountain, I'm like fifty dollars to

522
00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:43.119
text somebody what what? But that's
the culture. So I love what you're

523
00:34:43.159 --> 00:34:49.480
doing because it also allows uh the
artist to get the material out there.

524
00:34:49.480 --> 00:34:52.000
It's at some point we all have
to pay rent, right, there's no

525
00:34:52.199 --> 00:34:57.039
like free Comedy Society endorsing the arts. We all including this podcast. I'm

526
00:34:57.119 --> 00:35:00.239
running commercials. This is a money
making organization here, but I try to

527
00:35:00.280 --> 00:35:05.760
place the commercials not mid sentence.
It can be frustrating to watch a special

528
00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:08.039
on YouTube. So there's two ways
to go about it, or three ways.

529
00:35:08.079 --> 00:35:13.519
One pay for the special and see
it uninterrupted, and you're whether it's

530
00:35:13.840 --> 00:35:16.320
through what you guys are doing or
Netflix or Max, we're paying for this

531
00:35:16.400 --> 00:35:22.320
content. If we consider a quote
unquote free YouTube special with commercials in it,

532
00:35:22.840 --> 00:35:25.519
did anybody bother to place the commercials
with a marker, so at least

533
00:35:25.599 --> 00:35:30.559
it's between chunks. There is nothing
worse than a break coming mid sentence.

534
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:37.480
Yeah, yes, and having YouTube
give you that ability is important too,

535
00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:42.639
So yes, we want to work
more and more with YouTube. They finally

536
00:35:42.920 --> 00:35:46.519
recognize what we're doing, and we
want to get really a lot smarter about

537
00:35:46.519 --> 00:35:52.119
that. There's so much to learn. Every layer you get into that world,

538
00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:55.000
it feels like, oh, there's
another layer, and so I think

539
00:35:55.000 --> 00:35:59.079
we're on our third layer now,
and I just know how far it goes

540
00:35:59.119 --> 00:36:01.559
to be honest. But the bigger
you get, the sort of more things

541
00:36:01.559 --> 00:36:05.000
that are available to you, and
we want to get really good at that.

542
00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:07.280
That's important. If you take a
victory lap, would have been the

543
00:36:07.280 --> 00:36:12.119
big successes so far? What are
the names or the specials or the pieces

544
00:36:12.119 --> 00:36:15.400
of content that would all be like, oh wow, those guys. Yeah.

545
00:36:15.719 --> 00:36:20.440
I always start that conversation with.
The greatest asset we have is the

546
00:36:20.519 --> 00:36:24.239
team we've built here, where we've
got a team around the country and around

547
00:36:24.239 --> 00:36:29.599
the world that is the best in
comedy right now, person here in markets

548
00:36:29.599 --> 00:36:32.920
comedy is the smartest person marketing comedy
in the world in my opinion, right

549
00:36:32.960 --> 00:36:39.280
now, so it starts there again. Like these people develop these talents over

550
00:36:39.400 --> 00:36:45.880
years, these sets over three years, five years sometimes and so they've done

551
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:50.360
all the hard work and all they
really need is an honest partner that knows

552
00:36:50.400 --> 00:36:53.960
how to extract the gold from it
and then put that gold on specific platforms

553
00:36:54.320 --> 00:37:00.440
and get it moving. So to
take credit for Mark Norman's Out to lunchbsolutely

554
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:04.360
ridiculous. That was all Mark Norman. But did we know where to put

555
00:37:04.360 --> 00:37:07.719
it and how to get it out
there? Yes, and that helped.

556
00:37:07.079 --> 00:37:12.880
That helped that career and we couldn't
be happier for Mark because he's a fabulous

557
00:37:12.960 --> 00:37:16.239
comic. So on and so forth. Though with we did some specials with

558
00:37:16.360 --> 00:37:21.360
Nate that I think we're really proud
of with Nate Bergozzi did Greg Warren,

559
00:37:21.440 --> 00:37:25.840
Joe Zimmerman and Mike Fechion, and
those have taken off and I think are

560
00:37:27.159 --> 00:37:30.880
really impressive to see those comics out
there in a big way now. It'd

561
00:37:30.920 --> 00:37:36.800
be stupid not to mention Matt Rife
and was the biggest thing of last year

562
00:37:36.920 --> 00:37:40.480
and continues to be the biggest thing
of this year. Angela Johnson, Michael

563
00:37:40.559 --> 00:37:47.760
Yo has been a big one for
US. Sal Volcano's new special obviously is

564
00:37:47.800 --> 00:37:52.840
taken off, but it's the ones
that you don't expect that really are fun

565
00:37:52.880 --> 00:37:57.960
to see in viral. I've got
one of those, Ryan that the Ferd

566
00:37:58.079 --> 00:38:00.159
Brady would be a great example of
it that for us, it's one of

567
00:38:00.239 --> 00:38:05.519
the first ones we invested in over
the UK. And if you're not familiar

568
00:38:05.559 --> 00:38:10.800
with her, the Scottish Scottish comedian
and we really didn't know how she would

569
00:38:12.079 --> 00:38:15.800
translate to a North American audience,
right, and we had licensed that to

570
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:20.840
the BBC in the UK and it
did fantastic because she's been on Task Match,

571
00:38:21.360 --> 00:38:23.719
she's a star and it was amazing
being I think it was that last

572
00:38:23.800 --> 00:38:28.079
fringe. Actually I was at the
Monkey Barrel and she was in the green

573
00:38:28.119 --> 00:38:30.920
room up there and she was looking
because we had just put up her special

574
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:36.079
and on YouTube and for North America
we had to block out UK at the

575
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:40.079
time, and her Instagram and YouTube, we're just or her Instagram was just

576
00:38:40.079 --> 00:38:44.840
blowing up with all these people from
Texas and she's in this She's like,

577
00:38:44.920 --> 00:38:49.079
where are all these people coming from? And there she got all this surge

578
00:38:49.079 --> 00:38:52.280
of fans when we dropped it over
here and that was the most surprising and

579
00:38:52.400 --> 00:38:55.719
exciting one because it's a fantastic hour. You should check it out. Power

580
00:38:55.800 --> 00:39:02.679
and Chaos. But then such a
great special and really, like Brian said

581
00:39:02.719 --> 00:39:07.360
about Mark, it's all Fern and
people were able to really witness her genius.

582
00:39:07.480 --> 00:39:10.800
And she's got a fantastic Netflix special
now and she's got a book,

583
00:39:12.000 --> 00:39:14.800
she's been on test by all this
stuff around her. It's just so great

584
00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:17.719
to see. But how she resonated
across the ocean really blew my mind.

585
00:39:17.920 --> 00:39:22.440
And who's coming up that we should
be excited about. That's on your upcoming

586
00:39:22.480 --> 00:39:25.639
release roster if you can chare,
We've got some great releases coming up.

587
00:39:27.159 --> 00:39:30.800
We filmed a speaking of up and
comers that were stand out at Fringe last

588
00:39:30.880 --> 00:39:36.159
year, Pat Young and Dan Tiernan
both nominated for Best of Friends. We

589
00:39:36.239 --> 00:39:39.440
filmed them in a really cool spot
in London, just this really special hours

590
00:39:39.440 --> 00:39:44.800
that resonated throughout that whole festival that
honestly was one of those things that may

591
00:39:44.800 --> 00:39:47.599
have gone away Alvi coming was just
such a nice opportunity to be able to

592
00:39:47.639 --> 00:39:51.800
capture that and really looking forward to
putting those out there in the world.

593
00:39:51.840 --> 00:39:54.719
They're just they're wonderful and just something
to build on for sure for the next

594
00:39:54.719 --> 00:39:59.880
one. Those would be the probably
the top two that I'm looking for to

595
00:40:00.159 --> 00:40:02.840
releasing right now. Yeah, Also
Josh Glance, that's gonna be a good

596
00:40:02.840 --> 00:40:07.599
one. We've gotten Nick Swartzon's New
Hour coming out, which would be a

597
00:40:07.639 --> 00:40:12.639
good time. That's not really he's
a known entity. Francisco Ramos another project

598
00:40:12.679 --> 00:40:15.360
from him, which I'm really excited
about. And then one of my personal

599
00:40:15.639 --> 00:40:22.519
favorites is James Adomians never put out
an hour that I know of, and

600
00:40:22.639 --> 00:40:24.960
we've been on him for four or
five years wanting to do this. He

601
00:40:25.039 --> 00:40:30.480
finally committed to it, and so
that'll be out in August. I think

602
00:40:30.519 --> 00:40:35.559
the sixteenth is the date. I'm
really excited about that because he's a voice

603
00:40:35.559 --> 00:40:38.280
that has been left out of this
scene for a while. He's been doing

604
00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:43.360
so many things on television and whatnot, but stand up wise, he needs

605
00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:46.239
to be seen. He's a freaking
treasure for comedy. So I'm really excited

606
00:40:46.239 --> 00:40:51.079
about that one. But there's so
many. Just looking at this list,

607
00:40:51.159 --> 00:40:54.119
it'd be unfair for me just to
run down because there's just so much.

608
00:40:55.079 --> 00:41:00.000
Yeah, and there's a great thing
too about Australia too. There's a fantastic

609
00:41:00.039 --> 00:41:04.519
the agency down there called Token and
there's a lot of titles that they've shot

610
00:41:04.840 --> 00:41:08.800
beautifully that are I have never been
outside of Australia before or New Zealand,

611
00:41:09.320 --> 00:41:14.039
and we're going to have quite a
few of those releases coming out in August

612
00:41:14.599 --> 00:41:19.679
and we're just continuing and building that
Australian comedy audience that we've been working on

613
00:41:19.719 --> 00:41:22.440
for a while. Stiose are really
exciting too. As a consumer, what's

614
00:41:22.440 --> 00:41:24.400
the best way to keep up Subscribe
to the YouTube channel. I don't know

615
00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:30.039
you probably are you subscribed to our
new speed That Monday morning brief of what's

616
00:41:30.079 --> 00:41:34.400
coming in the week. I find
very useful. It's on our site.

617
00:41:34.400 --> 00:41:37.559
You can sign up there at eight
hundred PGM dot com. It hits your

618
00:41:37.639 --> 00:41:43.320
inbox every Monday and it gives you
everything from TV film to stand up just

619
00:41:43.400 --> 00:41:46.000
anything comedy. It hits the highlights
of what's happening in a week. That

620
00:41:46.039 --> 00:41:51.360
way you don't miss things. And
then the email list shoots out every Friday

621
00:41:51.639 --> 00:41:54.880
with what's happening on that Friday and
then during the week and some things that

622
00:41:54.920 --> 00:41:59.760
are like we also have an imprint
here called Clown Jewels, which handles all

623
00:41:59.760 --> 00:42:05.760
the the classical comedy stuff like Bob
Newhart and Bob Hope and Robin Williams,

624
00:42:05.760 --> 00:42:10.480
those sorts of things, and I
think that product has really grown a lot

625
00:42:10.559 --> 00:42:16.159
lately. I think people Generation Z
for some reason, it's really liking classical

626
00:42:16.199 --> 00:42:21.239
comedy, which you wouldn't think makes
any sense. But they love this oldest

627
00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:24.719
new thing and we love serving it
up. So having these older things find

628
00:42:25.239 --> 00:42:29.960
a trip as well. I'm a
big Bob Hope fan. I love listening

629
00:42:30.000 --> 00:42:36.320
to just a standard appearance at a
random army base. It's just the rhythm

630
00:42:36.440 --> 00:42:39.119
of the joke where you don't need
to know any of the specifics, but

631
00:42:39.239 --> 00:42:42.679
hey, General Johnson is here.
I bet he's just here for the free

632
00:42:42.679 --> 00:42:45.760
hot dogs. It's just a joke, joke. Cope delivers it. It

633
00:42:45.360 --> 00:42:47.440
gets a laugh. You don't even
know what it means, but it's just

634
00:42:49.119 --> 00:42:52.360
I love Bob, so that's awesome. Yeah, someone has to do this

635
00:42:52.519 --> 00:42:58.039
work of preserving this stuff because it's
just so important. We just love it.

636
00:42:58.079 --> 00:43:00.199
I mean, is it the thing
that makes who bunch of money now?

637
00:43:00.199 --> 00:43:04.360
But it's passion all the way,
and it needs to be preserved.

638
00:43:04.440 --> 00:43:07.599
Yeah, I'm glad. Check it
out. It's called Clomb Jewels. That's

639
00:43:07.599 --> 00:43:09.679
an imprint we manage. If I'm
an artist and I want to work with

640
00:43:09.760 --> 00:43:12.880
you, how do I reach out
to you? Do? I have to

641
00:43:13.559 --> 00:43:15.800
have been doing this for more than
five minutes, five years? What's the

642
00:43:15.840 --> 00:43:20.719
process? So a lot of our
stuff now comes through agents and managers,

643
00:43:20.800 --> 00:43:24.239
but other comics when a lot of
the comedian community wants to help each other

644
00:43:24.280 --> 00:43:28.719
out just emailing us cold, yeah, you can do that, but it's

645
00:43:28.760 --> 00:43:31.599
better if one of these acts come
to us and says, hey, we

646
00:43:31.679 --> 00:43:36.239
just did that with Blake Wexler,
for example, Siamon said we love came

647
00:43:36.280 --> 00:43:38.519
to us and said, I found
this guy. He's great, Blake Wexler.

648
00:43:38.679 --> 00:43:42.719
We need to do a project together, and we did. And that's

649
00:43:42.719 --> 00:43:46.599
a really good way to come into
the organization because now we're using his audience

650
00:43:47.119 --> 00:43:51.320
to help this new comic who's up
and coming at a phenomenal hour. So

651
00:43:51.760 --> 00:43:53.800
that's really the best way. It's
like anything, right, it's like anything

652
00:43:53.800 --> 00:43:58.239
with relationships. If you intro me
to someone, I'm going to get a

653
00:43:58.320 --> 00:44:01.159
much warmer reception. Yeah. I
just think that's a really great way.

654
00:44:02.039 --> 00:44:06.199
Yeah, I can only imagine back
in the serious days, I would have

655
00:44:06.239 --> 00:44:09.199
this stack of CDs that would sit
on the right hand of my desk,

656
00:44:09.719 --> 00:44:14.719
and every now and then there'd be
a Friday afternoon where all the work had

657
00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:17.400
been done and I'd finally get to
the pile. And if you were lucky

658
00:44:17.480 --> 00:44:21.639
enough that I and I'm not saying
that I'm anybody, but if you're lucky

659
00:44:21.719 --> 00:44:22.960
enough that I had the free time
and I picked up your CD and I

660
00:44:23.039 --> 00:44:28.800
put it in and I hit play, you had four seconds of my attention.

661
00:44:28.960 --> 00:44:30.559
Not that I'm a jerk, but
just I'd hit play and was it

662
00:44:30.599 --> 00:44:34.039
recorded right? Did you come out
of the box with a good joke?

663
00:44:34.119 --> 00:44:37.440
Did a coworker come in and distract
me and I didn't hear your good material?

664
00:44:37.840 --> 00:44:39.880
It's so hard to just cold call
like that, is my point.

665
00:44:39.960 --> 00:44:45.000
Yeah, relationships are everything. Yeah, And I think comics they see other

666
00:44:45.239 --> 00:44:51.679
comics working hard and they finally get
that good fifteen minutes and it's like,

667
00:44:51.679 --> 00:44:53.960
oh yeah, let's make the intro. Let's get this thing going. It

668
00:44:54.039 --> 00:44:58.440
is something that's great about the comedians
as they like bringing younger guys along.

669
00:44:58.559 --> 00:45:04.480
Now, sometimes somebody maybe has a
shorter career path to super fame and the

670
00:45:04.559 --> 00:45:08.679
jealousy kicks in. Another person used
whatever shortcut in the media at the time,

671
00:45:08.880 --> 00:45:12.840
and there's that jealousy there. But
for the most part, if somebody's

672
00:45:12.840 --> 00:45:15.280
out there just doing good work night
after night, the guys in the middle

673
00:45:15.320 --> 00:45:19.920
tier and the cooler A listers will
really stick up for them. It's fantastic,

674
00:45:20.880 --> 00:45:22.840
it's healthy. We get a lot
of that, and I like that.

675
00:45:23.000 --> 00:45:27.159
I like that way it comes in
because then I've been seeing this guy

676
00:45:27.199 --> 00:45:29.840
in the club for a long time
and he's ready. The site is the

677
00:45:29.880 --> 00:45:32.840
eight hundred Pound Gorilla and that's the
YouTube channel. Anything else to plug You

678
00:45:32.880 --> 00:45:37.480
guys have been fantastic and very generous
with your time. I don't think I

679
00:45:37.519 --> 00:45:39.159
don't think we need to plug anything. I just thank you for what you're

680
00:45:39.199 --> 00:45:45.559
doing. Thank you for raising the
visibility of comedy. It's our favorite art

681
00:45:45.599 --> 00:45:47.320
form. We need it, not
more than ever, especially going into the

682
00:45:47.519 --> 00:45:52.760
November elections. Yeah, let's just
keep growing the form and get these artists

683
00:45:52.960 --> 00:45:58.000
raising up, the next wave,
raising up the ranks, and they can

684
00:45:58.440 --> 00:46:01.679
pay their bills. Thank you Ian
Atkins and Ryan Bitzer for a deep dive

685
00:46:01.719 --> 00:46:05.519
on the world of comedy. I
hope everybody enjoy that back in the morning

686
00:46:05.599 --> 00:46:07.039
with a normal episode. See you
then,