WEBVTT 1 00:00:03.240 --> 00:00:11.679 Callaroga Shark Media. Hello, I'm Johnny Mack with your daily comedy news. 2 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:14.519 It's a Saturday in the summer, so that means an interview. This might 3 00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.960 be the last one unless I book somebody being honest to My guests today are 4 00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:23.679 the guys from eight hundred Pound Gorilla Media. They've produced, they're distributed some 5 00:00:23.719 --> 00:00:27.320 of the biggest things like Mark Norman's Out to Lunch, Matt Rife's Only Fans, 6 00:00:27.440 --> 00:00:31.839 Leanne Morgan's I'm every Woman, Sean Patten's Number One. In this forty 7 00:00:31.879 --> 00:00:35.159 five minutes or so, we talk about all things comedy. I started asking 8 00:00:35.200 --> 00:00:38.799 them about the international comedy scene, but as we go along we'll get into 9 00:00:38.840 --> 00:00:42.920 how deals are made and distribution and who's cool and what they're excited about. 10 00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:47.600 Founding member Ian Adkins and co founder Ryan Bitzer are my guests. Let's dive 11 00:00:47.640 --> 00:00:53.119 in. I love how you guys are exploring the international comedy scene. Those 12 00:00:53.119 --> 00:00:56.719 of us who spend a lot of time in comedy, you get I call 13 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.880 it the Emperor of Rome syndrome, where you tend to start at in comedy 14 00:01:00.960 --> 00:01:03.240 rather than laughing, you stand on the back of the room and you go, 15 00:01:03.280 --> 00:01:06.840 oh good callback really well written. I like how this is structured. 16 00:01:07.719 --> 00:01:11.879 I find it's the international comedians these days that are tickling my brain a little 17 00:01:11.920 --> 00:01:17.840 bit more and coming at me from angles that I wasn't expecting. Now. 18 00:01:17.879 --> 00:01:19.079 So I saw as part of the prep here that you were down at the 19 00:01:19.120 --> 00:01:23.000 Melbourne Comedy Festival, which I'm just totally fascinated by. I talked about it 20 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:27.400 every day on the pod for about a month and it just seems so huge. 21 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:32.439 So let me actually ask you a question. What was the Melbourne experience 22 00:01:32.439 --> 00:01:34.519 for you? Melbourne was great. It's something that we've wanted to do for 23 00:01:34.519 --> 00:01:40.120 so long. It's just the logistics of flying a few people down there, 24 00:01:40.280 --> 00:01:42.840 and just the time of year it is and everything. It was quite an 25 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:47.560 undertaking to organize and get done. But it's something we've always wanted to do, 26 00:01:48.280 --> 00:01:52.159 and really we needed the right reason to go there. And one of 27 00:01:52.159 --> 00:01:56.840 the first releases we ever did was audio for Jim Jefferies, and so we 28 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:00.040 got in earlier. And then when we started to really expand outside of the 29 00:02:00.159 --> 00:02:06.120 United States and Canada, Australia was definitely on a radar right after UK and 30 00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:09.439 and it was just like it was really great to be able to land there 31 00:02:09.639 --> 00:02:15.240 and having had conversations with for about a year with all the agents and artists 32 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:19.400 and everything like that, and there's such a there's such a connection between the 33 00:02:19.479 --> 00:02:23.120 UK scene and the Australian scene already, and that pipeline existed and we were 34 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:27.639 able to land and kick up the conversations like we were old friends. It 35 00:02:27.759 --> 00:02:30.280 was really cool and it was a great experience. And like you said, 36 00:02:30.400 --> 00:02:34.560 the kind of material they were doing down there is just different. It's a 37 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:37.840 small scene. It's a really support that everybody supports each other. It's a 38 00:02:37.879 --> 00:02:42.159 really I had a great time, really great time, and I've had Auzzie 39 00:02:42.199 --> 00:02:45.680 comedians explain to me that how it's more similar to the British scene in which 40 00:02:45.719 --> 00:02:50.960 you put together a i'll call it a show an hour, and then you 41 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:53.879 do that for a full year, and then you throw that hour out, 42 00:02:53.240 --> 00:02:59.039 as opposed to the American I guess the Americans throw out their material when they 43 00:02:59.240 --> 00:03:01.280 do a special, But the way you're throwing in new material, trying out 44 00:03:01.280 --> 00:03:07.280 new jokes, whereas they're writing performing starting from scratch once a year, and 45 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:09.159 you're expected to do it once a year. We're not sitting here going just 46 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:12.919 top by Deer Welcome. Dan Cook doesn't have a new special. Actually he 47 00:03:13.000 --> 00:03:15.280 does this summer. But you can take three years in America and that scene 48 00:03:15.280 --> 00:03:19.759 apparently you can't. That's right. It's one of those things that's fascinating. 49 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.439 What got our attention is going over there and being a part of Fringe and 50 00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:28.360 then Melvin Coobrick's Festival and Citney Comedy Festivals in the same respect is that so 51 00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:32.840 many of those great hours never got captured, whether it's audio, video anything. 52 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:39.719 So you've got this these fantastic crafted narrative hours that have lost and so 53 00:03:40.159 --> 00:03:45.120 that we're lost to time. And so that was one of the real big 54 00:03:45.159 --> 00:03:47.599 opportunities that we saw to go down there. And this deserves to be put 55 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:52.240 out properly because if we're able to put this in front of the right audience 56 00:03:52.680 --> 00:03:57.120 internationally, no matter where you are, it's going to resonate. And because 57 00:03:57.159 --> 00:04:00.280 you are doing fresh hours every year, the budgets just aren't there sometimes to 58 00:04:00.400 --> 00:04:05.639 do that, and I think that we strategically take the right projects to preserve. 59 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:11.080 How did you navigate the scene? There's so many shows every night, 60 00:04:11.120 --> 00:04:13.919 like how do you pick? How do you even as a podcast host, 61 00:04:13.960 --> 00:04:16.160 as us going through the schedule trying to pick out three or four to highlight 62 00:04:16.199 --> 00:04:19.360 every day for thirty days. There were so many like how do you even 63 00:04:19.439 --> 00:04:23.800 navigate that? Yeah, that's a good question. Laura, who's not on 64 00:04:23.839 --> 00:04:30.160 this call, heads up our UK comedy signing and she's watching through all the 65 00:04:30.240 --> 00:04:33.000 comics all the time. That's her job, right, And like Ian said, 66 00:04:33.040 --> 00:04:38.600 there's a close alliance between the UK and Australia and so there are often 67 00:04:38.680 --> 00:04:42.079 times going to each festival back and forth, so she's able to see a 68 00:04:42.079 --> 00:04:46.040 lot of these folks, also see their specials on YouTube and things like that. 69 00:04:46.600 --> 00:04:49.480 And then she literally blocked out all of our calendars and said, Ryan, 70 00:04:49.519 --> 00:04:53.079 you're doing the Damian, you're doing our kid, and you're doing every 71 00:04:53.240 --> 00:04:57.519 and we would go our separate ways and then we'd come back for hopefully a 72 00:04:57.560 --> 00:05:00.120 tent in the middle of it, talk about what we saw, what we 73 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:03.240 liked, and then we'd go back out and so on and so forth for 74 00:05:03.360 --> 00:05:08.639 what felt like five or six days. But she did a fabulous job of 75 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:12.120 like, everyone, go see these things, so we can cover a lot 76 00:05:12.160 --> 00:05:15.959 of ground. And she's also yeah, shout out definitely to Laura and our 77 00:05:15.959 --> 00:05:19.839 office Laura brooksus She's been going to the Friends Fringe Festival for years and years. 78 00:05:19.879 --> 00:05:24.079 This was her first Melbourne comedy festival. She does it right. She 79 00:05:24.160 --> 00:05:28.839 goes up sometimes at Fringe for twenty plus days and she's really able to drill 80 00:05:28.920 --> 00:05:32.319 down and find like the really special things that we can focus on and then 81 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:35.920 we can come in the last few days and be able to see the best 82 00:05:35.959 --> 00:05:40.759 of the best, and yeah, her creation is unparalleled. So are you 83 00:05:40.879 --> 00:05:45.800 acquiring these shows for US distribution, worldwide distribution or are you just scouting talent? 84 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.639 Why are you there? Yeah? So we enter into relationships in a 85 00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:55.279 variety of ways, but most of the time it's for worldwide distribution and an 86 00:05:55.279 --> 00:06:00.920 investment into the both of the markets. We also like and stuff as well. 87 00:06:00.959 --> 00:06:04.639 But the goal is really to comedy so universal and it's not restricted by 88 00:06:04.680 --> 00:06:10.279 boundaries race, religion, income, everything like that. So there's really a 89 00:06:10.279 --> 00:06:14.879 lot of potential for bits and acts and hours to really succeed in a number 90 00:06:14.920 --> 00:06:18.160 of countries. And I think it's really just the lack of promotion and being 91 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:24.079 able to find the audience to put content in front of has always been historically 92 00:06:24.120 --> 00:06:28.839 the challenge. Just looking at our data and analytics that we use when we 93 00:06:28.879 --> 00:06:31.720 market these releases. It's really fascinating to see the type of people that resonate 94 00:06:31.759 --> 00:06:36.879 with somebody in Kentucky resonating with somebody from Glasgow, and it's just it's really 95 00:06:36.959 --> 00:06:41.439 nice to see. And as you head towards Edinburgh, will it be the 96 00:06:41.480 --> 00:06:45.560 same sort of approach that one's I've never done either, always looking for a 97 00:06:45.560 --> 00:06:49.839 business reason to do so one of these years, but that just seems equally 98 00:06:50.040 --> 00:06:53.759 huge. And from what I've read in the past, I hope you're not 99 00:06:53.800 --> 00:06:56.959 sleeping in a tent or in somebody's garage. I hope you booked your hotel 100 00:06:57.000 --> 00:06:59.839 early. No, that's funny. That's one of the last things last year 101 00:07:00.240 --> 00:07:03.240 because Ryan hasn't been over before and I've been up the last the past few 102 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:06.720 years. And one of the first things I learned was, you're exactly right. 103 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:12.199 Is book your accommodation the year why the year before so you can get 104 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:15.279 something nice. And I was so excited I found this place last year and 105 00:07:15.319 --> 00:07:17.079 I caught up Brian. I'm like, guys, we can get a refund, 106 00:07:17.079 --> 00:07:19.519 but we've got to book it now. Trust me on this one. 107 00:07:19.560 --> 00:07:23.120 And so that's what we'll see in a couple months now. So you guys 108 00:07:23.120 --> 00:07:26.560 have really come on the scene hosting the show every day for a few years. 109 00:07:26.680 --> 00:07:30.959 I had seen your name out there, and I guess for me personally, 110 00:07:30.279 --> 00:07:35.360 the acquisition of the old Laugh Button website is what really started to get 111 00:07:35.399 --> 00:07:40.399 the Gorilla name into my head on a daily business. Can you talk me 112 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:44.800 about talk to me about that acquisition, why that website and how the site 113 00:07:44.920 --> 00:07:46.639 factors and everything you're trying to do. Yeah, that's a good question. 114 00:07:46.759 --> 00:07:50.800 We entered into a partnership, I want to say it was like twenty nineteen 115 00:07:51.240 --> 00:07:56.279 somewhere around there with the syndicate. The syndicate it's out of New Jersey. 116 00:07:56.360 --> 00:07:59.439 They owned the Laugh Button I'd been running in the last ten years, and 117 00:07:59.639 --> 00:08:05.000 we started to podcast network with them and Robert Kelly, the comedian, and 118 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:11.680 right as we got going, the pandemic hit and things became difficult, especially 119 00:08:11.720 --> 00:08:15.600 in New York. You're familiar with that scene. It was tough to do 120 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:18.199 shows and things like that if they weren't online, and we had the studio 121 00:08:18.360 --> 00:08:22.160 and it was a lot of work, and so we did a lot of 122 00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:24.360 pivots during that time, like a lot of companies trying to find our footing, 123 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:30.519 and I think we did good work. I think the amount of time 124 00:08:30.600 --> 00:08:35.840 we put into that entity didn't equal what the outcome should have been. And 125 00:08:35.200 --> 00:08:39.279 we decided we'd all reached the place at the same time where it was like, 126 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.679 why don't we just all focus on our course of what we do and 127 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.000 part ways and what do you do with the laugh button? And it was 128 00:08:48.039 --> 00:08:52.200 something we really liked and something I think they were like, we want to 129 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:56.639 see it have a good home and continue on. And so the fit was 130 00:08:56.679 --> 00:09:01.639 good for us because we have so many people coming to the site every day. 131 00:09:01.320 --> 00:09:05.039 It's like, how do we what can we put in front of them 132 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:09.639 that's topical, that's the thing they're interested in, and comedy. It just 133 00:09:09.679 --> 00:09:13.200 fits really well. And we acquired it at the end of that relationship and 134 00:09:13.200 --> 00:09:16.840 then rebranded it over the course of three to six months dating her Pound World 135 00:09:16.960 --> 00:09:22.759 News, preserved all the links, all of the data that was within it, 136 00:09:22.360 --> 00:09:26.360 and then really you know, honed out that staff. So we have 137 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:30.840 I don't know, six seven articles coming out a day. I'm not sure 138 00:09:30.840 --> 00:09:33.639 what it is, and we keep it refreshed, we try to have them, 139 00:09:33.679 --> 00:09:39.120 We try to have people at the festivals, reviewing everything, multiple news 140 00:09:39.200 --> 00:09:41.639 hits a day, and then the goal is there is to just hey, 141 00:09:41.879 --> 00:09:46.759 if you like Kyle Kanaane because you read you're here for the news article. 142 00:09:46.360 --> 00:09:50.960 Do you know he has the last three specials over here that you can watch. 143 00:09:50.000 --> 00:09:54.039 And that's the idea. It's a tremendous resource. I love being magicians 144 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:58.480 showing each other our tricks. I have a sub stack and I will write 145 00:09:58.559 --> 00:10:03.600 article. Here's some podcasts that I'm listening to this week, and one or 146 00:10:03.639 --> 00:10:05.200 two of them will happen to be from my very own network. So I 147 00:10:05.320 --> 00:10:11.240 appreciate the Gorilla News site. It's a legit comedy news site that I use 148 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:15.120 to prep for this show on a daily business basis. But I see it's 149 00:10:15.360 --> 00:10:16.919 in the oh, by the way, and here, we'll totally get it. 150 00:10:16.960 --> 00:10:20.519 And it's so smart and it's well done and the whole point and I 151 00:10:20.519 --> 00:10:24.360 guess it gets back to everything you guys are trying to do. It's helping 152 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:26.679 the artist surface content. Right, that's what this is all about to begin 153 00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:31.240 with. Yeah, and that's exactly right. We have this talk about how 154 00:10:31.320 --> 00:10:35.080 not to be like Succession, where you own the news and you just talk 155 00:10:35.120 --> 00:10:39.240 about yourself or your narrative, and so we try to really stay out of 156 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:43.200 that world and not influence it. But to say that we don't put things 157 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.519 in there that we want to showcase would be silly. Our goal is to 158 00:10:46.519 --> 00:10:50.960 do everything we can to help the people on our roster get to their next 159 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:54.440 level, and so the news is one of those. But yeah, we 160 00:10:54.480 --> 00:10:58.080 do talk about a lout and joke around a lot about it, but it's 161 00:10:58.120 --> 00:11:01.679 something we're very conscious of staying separate and let them do what they want. 162 00:11:01.799 --> 00:11:05.759 Yeah, I was using it earlier today. There's a fantastic article up on 163 00:11:05.840 --> 00:11:09.320 the day that I recorded this with you guys, the top ten specials for 164 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:11.080 the first half of the year, and it doesn't match my personal list. 165 00:11:11.120 --> 00:11:16.159 And a part of that is is there's so much content that I just can't 166 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:18.799 consume it all, or sometimes something comes and goes and I forget. So 167 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.559 I was looking at your list, going, oh wow, there's seven here 168 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:24.320 that I need to get around to. It's a wonderful resource. It's a 169 00:11:24.320 --> 00:11:28.159 great job by the editorial team. That's great. They'll be happy to hear 170 00:11:28.200 --> 00:11:31.559 that. It's really fun to watch because there's not many people in the space 171 00:11:31.639 --> 00:11:37.039 doing daily stand up comedy news and to see like an a list artists retweet 172 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:41.279 something that is throwing like a bunch of caffeine all over this part they just 173 00:11:41.279 --> 00:11:43.799 said, pumped like it's the excitement you can feel in the whole office whenever 174 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:48.080 something like that happened. So it's really nice to see that it's resonating and 175 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:52.919 people are finding out and staying current on what's happened in comedy more with the 176 00:11:52.919 --> 00:11:54.799 eight hundred pound gorilla guys. In a moment, I will remind you if 177 00:11:54.799 --> 00:11:58.120 you would like this program ad free, you wouldn't have to listen to this 178 00:11:58.200 --> 00:12:03.200 upcoming ad break. You could go to Calaruga dot com slash plus and for 179 00:12:03.279 --> 00:12:05.440 four ninety nine a month, the ads go away. I guess you'd still 180 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:09.000 hear me doing this though. Oh well, if you're on Apple Podcast, 181 00:12:09.320 --> 00:12:13.200 there's a banner you can click it there and you can actually do a thirty 182 00:12:13.279 --> 00:12:15.879 day free trial to see if you like it without the ads. Maybe it'll 183 00:12:15.919 --> 00:12:18.039 be like, you know, I wish there were more commercials, Well here's 184 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:24.000 your wish. What's the philosophy here working with the artists, it seems to 185 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:28.639 be more of It's not the Chris Rocks and the Jerry Seinfelds, who don't 186 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:33.919 need anyone's help at this point. It's more people who need exposure breaking through. 187 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:35.840 So walk me through the process with the artists. What's in it for 188 00:12:35.879 --> 00:12:39.039 them? What's in it for you? How does this all work? Yeah? 189 00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:43.360 From the very beginnings, Damien and I formed the company. We're artist 190 00:12:43.440 --> 00:12:48.120 managers and we managed comedians for a while, and Ian comes from the space 191 00:12:48.120 --> 00:12:50.960 as well. A lot of us started in music and entertainment and things like 192 00:12:50.000 --> 00:12:54.879 that, So the idea was always a necessity. We needed something like this 193 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:58.279 for our clients, and it just didn't exist in the way we wanted to 194 00:12:58.279 --> 00:13:01.039 see it on so so we would complain about it all the time, and 195 00:13:01.039 --> 00:13:05.559 then finally we just decided to start it, because you start sounding an idiot 196 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.759 when you complain about the thing that you could go build, and so we 197 00:13:09.799 --> 00:13:15.879 started building this. We didn't really understand the marketplace fully, and I think 198 00:13:15.879 --> 00:13:18.960 that helped us because we asked a lot of dumb questions. We stumbled around 199 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:24.799 a lot in the beginning finding our footing, and then once we captured the 200 00:13:24.919 --> 00:13:28.799 sauce of like how to put a track into the Internet in a social media 201 00:13:28.879 --> 00:13:35.720 form and have it spray out across the world. That that's a cool feeling, 202 00:13:35.840 --> 00:13:39.679 and so that everything you do is going to have that virality and you 203 00:13:39.720 --> 00:13:43.120 can't really plan it, but when it happens, it's very cool. We 204 00:13:43.240 --> 00:13:46.720 just try to take every project that comes in, do the best we can 205 00:13:46.840 --> 00:13:54.720 buy it, and then let the fans take it from there. So in 206 00:13:54.840 --> 00:13:58.600 terms of how we do deals, we kind of mold to what the artist 207 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:01.120 is looking for. There's no set it and forget it. There's no one 208 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:05.960 contract. Every artist comes to us with a different take on what they're trying 209 00:14:07.000 --> 00:14:11.240 to do or what's important to them, And so the initial conversation after we 210 00:14:11.879 --> 00:14:16.080 like an hour or we like what thirty minutes they have done on tape, 211 00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:20.840 is what are you trying to accomplish? And then it's always very similar things, 212 00:14:20.879 --> 00:14:24.279 and then you really try to hone in on ways that you just want 213 00:14:24.279 --> 00:14:26.519 more butts in the seats when you do the tour, do you want to 214 00:14:26.519 --> 00:14:31.240 make money? You just want more eyeballs on the special? What's the goal? 215 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.600 And then we fine tune the strategy and the deal from there. Who's 216 00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:39.519 recording it, who's outlaying the money, what's the risk, and then if 217 00:14:39.559 --> 00:14:43.399 we're putting up the money, then it's a pretty simple deal where it's late. 218 00:14:43.559 --> 00:14:46.799 We just want to make our money back. You're going to prove everything 219 00:14:46.279 --> 00:14:50.639 that we spend, so there's no bs, and then once the first dollar 220 00:14:50.679 --> 00:14:54.639 profit goes in, it's split and it's we just try to create something that's 221 00:14:54.679 --> 00:14:58.960 fair. But we also got to make sure we're a business in twenty twenty 222 00:14:58.960 --> 00:15:01.399 five. And how do you go about scouting talent or is it mostly on 223 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:05.159 the web these days you're out hustling in the clubs. You got the younger 224 00:15:05.159 --> 00:15:09.480 guys doing that. That was my trick at Series XM as I was middle 225 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:11.399 aged manager who is also expected to be at his desk at eight am. 226 00:15:11.440 --> 00:15:16.519 I can't be at the truckle huntil one on a Tuesday. Yeah, exactly, 227 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:20.000 we've got we've got a bunch of Yeah, right, you can probably 228 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:24.399 fill in more of this, but yeah, we've definitely got a bunch of 229 00:15:24.399 --> 00:15:28.639 people that then do that Laura over in the UK and several people will go 230 00:15:28.639 --> 00:15:31.360 out and do the same over here. A lot of our relationships just come 231 00:15:31.399 --> 00:15:35.159 from the long standing history we've had with agents and managers that will be able 232 00:15:35.200 --> 00:15:37.600 to send us like, hey, this makes sense, but you check her 233 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:41.919 out and as we've grown as a company, if it makes sense for us 234 00:15:41.960 --> 00:15:45.759 and them, and then we put it through our own role, our own 235 00:15:45.799 --> 00:15:48.799 process, vending process, and then it goes from there. But Ryan, 236 00:15:48.840 --> 00:15:52.039 you could probably expand a little bit more on what's happening in Nashville and us 237 00:15:52.120 --> 00:15:56.320 New York. And yeah, there there's a lot of younger people on the 238 00:15:56.360 --> 00:16:00.200 staff that stay out later and they're going to the shows I know, Katie, 239 00:16:00.200 --> 00:16:03.720 And our office is up in New York once a month just going to 240 00:16:03.720 --> 00:16:07.600 the seller and the stand and things like that, looking at the talent. 241 00:16:07.639 --> 00:16:12.039 And then we have folks out in LA and keep us informed there. A 242 00:16:12.039 --> 00:16:18.240 lot of it does come from managers and agents or artists recommending other artists. 243 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:22.039 We get a lot of that, but it's got to go through do we 244 00:16:22.240 --> 00:16:26.639 like this, Is this something we're jazzed about, because if not, then 245 00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:30.600 we're not going to help the artist. You know, once these things come 246 00:16:30.639 --> 00:16:33.799 in through those filters, then you run it through. Is this get anyone 247 00:16:33.840 --> 00:16:37.200 excited here? And someone's got to champion it through for us to work on 248 00:16:37.240 --> 00:16:41.919 it. It's really important at a generic level, what would be something that 249 00:16:41.200 --> 00:16:45.759 excites people. I'll go first. I was watching some specials over the weekend 250 00:16:45.879 --> 00:16:48.960 and there was one that I watched on YouTube. It's not one of yours, 251 00:16:49.200 --> 00:16:52.519 and it was fine. As a bit of a comedy snob, I'm 252 00:16:52.559 --> 00:16:56.360 like, this is fine. This is a comedian doing an act and it's 253 00:16:56.399 --> 00:16:59.600 fine. And if you need an hour of comedy, it's fine. I 254 00:16:59.600 --> 00:17:03.840 don't it. I don't hate it. It just is, whereas other specials 255 00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.400 will just really make me go, oh wow, So how do you what 256 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:10.559 is the subjectiveness of Okay? This is one that gets through. Yeah. 257 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:15.839 That's why it's really important to have a little bit of diversity in the office, 258 00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:18.960 because not everything I'm gonna find funny that Katie finds funny. I think 259 00:17:19.000 --> 00:17:23.720 that's really important. And once you put enough stuff out, if we put 260 00:17:23.799 --> 00:17:29.039 up everything I like, it'd be a pretty boring site, I think for 261 00:17:29.160 --> 00:17:33.000 most people. So you've got to be trying a whole bunch of different things. 262 00:17:33.200 --> 00:17:37.759 And if something really tickles Marcus or Katie or Mick on the team or 263 00:17:37.759 --> 00:17:42.599 Evan, Damie and so on and so forth, you're then and they're going 264 00:17:42.680 --> 00:17:45.039 to tell the team. This is why I like it is why I think 265 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:49.200 it's important. Then you get the data on the back end, and the 266 00:17:49.279 --> 00:17:52.200 data on the back end is going to tell you, Okay, this is 267 00:17:52.279 --> 00:17:56.880 working, this isn't working, and it's important to listen to that. So 268 00:17:56.920 --> 00:18:00.319 it's this combination of what do we like as a group, what are we 269 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:04.200 thinking needs to be heard, and then what's the audience saying about that, 270 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:10.480 and working that blend constantly. I think is really important. If you have 271 00:18:10.559 --> 00:18:15.160 one scout, it just doesn't go good because there's all different kinds of things 272 00:18:15.160 --> 00:18:18.000 that make people laugh, is what I've learned. I think that's smart. 273 00:18:18.119 --> 00:18:22.480 When I ran Serious XM Comedy, I really believed in having a diverse staff 274 00:18:22.480 --> 00:18:26.480 in all ways, and an important one was age. So when I started 275 00:18:26.480 --> 00:18:30.880 there, I was probably I don't know, thirty four or so, and 276 00:18:30.920 --> 00:18:33.960 I remember telling the staff that we had to be careful that we didn't age. 277 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:37.359 Back then, Jim Brewer was doing Afternoon Drive and I said, I 278 00:18:37.480 --> 00:18:41.759 don't want us to go twenty years later going hey kids, Eddie Murphy and 279 00:18:41.799 --> 00:18:44.720 denim jackets and rock and roll, right, because you just you wake up 280 00:18:44.759 --> 00:18:48.480 one day and you're really old. So I would always pay attention to the 281 00:18:48.559 --> 00:18:51.960 kids just out of college and what's going on. Because it's very easy to 282 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:55.039 sit here in an old man mountain and go, matt Riife, I don't 283 00:18:55.039 --> 00:19:00.920 get it, but somebody clearly does. Yeah. Yeah, six twenty seven 284 00:19:00.960 --> 00:19:03.880 million views. It's one of the highest few comedy specials of all time. 285 00:19:04.599 --> 00:19:10.839 So it doesn't really matter what we think about it. The audience has spoken 286 00:19:11.279 --> 00:19:14.240 and they like it, and what do you do with that information? You 287 00:19:14.240 --> 00:19:18.079 are absolutely right, and so we've got to be listening those people I just 288 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:22.839 mentioned earlier, they're all pretty much out of college, so we try to 289 00:19:22.880 --> 00:19:26.559 listen to the younger folks as much as possible. Yeah, and with that 290 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:32.400 diverse catalog too, you get if you're talking about YouTube specifically, you've got 291 00:19:32.440 --> 00:19:36.480 specials next to specials that the audience is just they're not going to find both 292 00:19:36.559 --> 00:19:40.079 funny, right, and so yeah, different funnels coming into your channel, 293 00:19:40.279 --> 00:19:44.079 and it's really about that recommendation algorithm, and even on our website as well 294 00:19:44.119 --> 00:19:48.640 as someone coming in to buy a specific title, how can we position something 295 00:19:48.680 --> 00:19:51.279 that we know that they're going to like. And that's where the data comes 296 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:53.720 in, and we have way more control over putting the right thing on our 297 00:19:53.720 --> 00:19:57.920 own site than we do to YouTube's algorithm, although it's fantastic, but it's 298 00:19:59.000 --> 00:20:02.440 just a dance of how how to get the most out of both platforms. 299 00:20:02.640 --> 00:20:07.640 Yeah. I remember working with the comedians the New York brick wall cigarette smokers 300 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:11.400 don't like the La All scene, and neither side likes the blue collar guys 301 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:14.160 who were the nicest guys in the world and making more money than the first 302 00:20:14.200 --> 00:20:18.599 two groups. It was just always this whole weird It wasn't like sports teams 303 00:20:18.680 --> 00:20:19.720 or gangs. It was just like New York for U s LA. And 304 00:20:19.839 --> 00:20:23.519 I guess now we're Austin's in the mix as well. Yeah. Yeah, 305 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:29.480 that's that's where Damien in our office and myself come from specifically, is the 306 00:20:29.759 --> 00:20:33.400 we were out as promoting comedy promoters back in the day with Blue Collar Comedy 307 00:20:33.440 --> 00:20:37.720 Tour and Larry Cable Guy Fox where they all this and really that's what opened 308 00:20:37.759 --> 00:20:41.200 my mind is someone that wasn't in that scene specifically, and I'd go out 309 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:45.799 and I see the amount of people that come out. It's undeniable and it's 310 00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:49.400 just complete overlooked market and it's I don't know. It just really opened my 311 00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:55.480 eyes about different things out there and how they could really excel. I want 312 00:20:55.480 --> 00:20:59.000 to hear more about that. I put together Blue Collar Radio for serious and 313 00:20:59.279 --> 00:21:02.240 the first time I met the guys, it was down in Nashville, and 314 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:03.480 I asked them, don't be ip me. I don't want to sit in 315 00:21:03.480 --> 00:21:07.319 the second row. Put me up in the upper deck and I'm taking notes 316 00:21:07.359 --> 00:21:10.680 there, mental notes, And I remember the things that got big ovations were 317 00:21:10.759 --> 00:21:15.400 y'all ever been to the Walmart? A Jimmy Buffett reference and Elvis reference And 318 00:21:15.440 --> 00:21:18.519 it really helped inform me on how to program that channel and go right down 319 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:22.920 the middle where Series XM Raw Dog was. If it were a person, 320 00:21:22.960 --> 00:21:26.400 maybe it would be Bill Burr, Hey, go f yourself, But Blue 321 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.799 Collar was God, Flag, America, Chevrolet, Chick fil A, whatever 322 00:21:30.799 --> 00:21:33.000 you want to put in that category. It was just it was a different 323 00:21:33.079 --> 00:21:34.960 vive. What did you do with the blue collar guys? So we promoted 324 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:41.000 us with outback concerts at the time, and they that was really the premiere 325 00:21:41.559 --> 00:21:47.039 tour that we did and went everywhere with it. And really it is how 326 00:21:47.039 --> 00:21:49.960 we worked with other acts and comedians and even you know a lot of music 327 00:21:51.440 --> 00:21:53.240 bands and stuff like that as well, where we would take one artist, 328 00:21:53.279 --> 00:21:56.720 and then we would tour and we would we book and rap the tour, 329 00:21:56.880 --> 00:22:00.240 and there was a level of familiarity between us in the act, so they 330 00:22:00.279 --> 00:22:03.680 knew what they were getting through. The deals were easier, we knew the 331 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:07.519 right markets to go to and everything like that. And so through that, 332 00:22:07.839 --> 00:22:11.240 just getting thrown into the fire out on the road like that, finding these 333 00:22:11.240 --> 00:22:15.799 little towns I had never even heard of and seen ten thousan fifteen thousand people 334 00:22:15.839 --> 00:22:21.240 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 336 00:22:25.119 --> 00:22:26.640 there are good people, it's a good show. It made a ton of 337 00:22:26.680 --> 00:22:30.680 money, and it's just fascinating. So then you just take that that all 338 00:22:30.720 --> 00:22:34.559 that knowledge you learn and try to apply it to what we're doing today. 339 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:40.440 But it's not just the blue collars, sub subpopulations of people that are underserved, 340 00:22:40.759 --> 00:22:42.960 and is how do we connect those people and how do we identify them 341 00:22:44.359 --> 00:22:45.759 and then how do we give them exactly what they want, when they want 342 00:22:45.799 --> 00:22:49.519 it, and on whatever platform they wanted. That's what I took from that 343 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:56.680 previous life. Yeah, I remember those days, That's when these days Andrew 344 00:22:56.720 --> 00:23:00.240 Schultz plays Madison Square Garden and we could walk down the street and ask one 345 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:03.359 hundred people and maybe three out of one hundred would know who Andrew is. 346 00:23:03.400 --> 00:23:07.000 And I'm not dissing Andrew. It's a different time. But twenty years ago, 347 00:23:07.480 --> 00:23:11.440 that Blue Collar tour, that's when we started to really see the size 348 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:15.200 of arenas ramp up. I remember I was doing prep. The bosses were 349 00:23:15.200 --> 00:23:18.880 asking me, it's serious. All right, we had a clean channel and 350 00:23:18.920 --> 00:23:22.200 a dirty channel. What else could we do? And I started noticing all 351 00:23:22.240 --> 00:23:26.559 the ticket sales on southern comedy or blue collar is what I meant, And 352 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.799 all right, we started looking at that, and then we went down different 353 00:23:30.799 --> 00:23:33.440 genres and we did the deal with Jamie Fox, the one we could never 354 00:23:33.519 --> 00:23:36.960 figure out. I was regularly asked to do it, and I just couldn't 355 00:23:37.000 --> 00:23:41.960 solve how to do just at the top level term Latino comedy, just because 356 00:23:41.960 --> 00:23:48.400 of the different genres of people speaking Spanish or Spanglish. We could never really 357 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.799 figure that one out. Yeah, talking from that period of the career, 358 00:23:52.839 --> 00:23:56.759 we had a similar type when Russell Peters was coming up and we were another 359 00:23:57.079 --> 00:24:02.200 huge, huge, But depending on which hundred people we asked, we might 360 00:24:02.240 --> 00:24:04.000 go ninety nine out of one hundred or three out of one hundred, but 361 00:24:04.039 --> 00:24:07.519 he's huge. You're absolutely right. But when we were going out, when 362 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:11.279 he's just starting doing theaters in the US and out of the clubs, and 363 00:24:11.359 --> 00:24:15.559 it's about identifying that population that really his stuff resonates with and then it just 364 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:19.680 expands from there. It's and that's exactly the principles we use right now, 365 00:24:19.759 --> 00:24:22.799 is you put the right thing in front of this this audience, and they're 366 00:24:22.839 --> 00:24:26.240 going to come and they're going to love it, and then you learn a 367 00:24:26.279 --> 00:24:30.480 lot about those that audience and how to get how to serve them. But 368 00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:38.359 yeah, yeah, absolutely, Joe Koy unfortunately best known right now for I 369 00:24:38.359 --> 00:24:41.319 think Taylor just murdered him. Is the way I phrased it on the podcast. 370 00:24:41.400 --> 00:24:45.440 If she would have just smiled at the joke and just went ah, 371 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.240 it would have been fine. But the story just became Joe Coy Bond of 372 00:24:48.240 --> 00:24:51.200 the Golden Globes, and he deserves better. But he's another guy that just 373 00:24:51.200 --> 00:24:55.519 just playing these huge arenas. Yeah, and it's say one of the things 374 00:24:55.559 --> 00:24:59.640 that to tie back to Australia from the beginning is when we I think Schultz 375 00:24:59.640 --> 00:25:03.799 had just been there and did eight nights. Theovont did six in arenas over 376 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:06.759 there, and that blew my mind and you start thinking about I mean, 377 00:25:06.759 --> 00:25:11.799 it's the power of the podcast and that speaking directly to these people that are 378 00:25:11.799 --> 00:25:14.559 going to come out and support you. But I could not believe the amount 379 00:25:14.599 --> 00:25:18.400 of tickets they saw down there, And it was great to see because we've 380 00:25:18.440 --> 00:25:22.920 been working with Scholtz for a long time and just it's fascinating how quick that 381 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:26.000 can happen. You're so right about the power of the podcast theo Tim Dillon 382 00:25:26.359 --> 00:25:30.680 Quiet Master, which is fantastic. I love that you guys are doing comedy 383 00:25:30.720 --> 00:25:36.319 albums here in twenty twenty four. What's the business of that. A lot 384 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,