Speaker 1: Caloroga Shark Media. Hey there, I'm Johnny Mack, who with
Speaker 1: your daily comedy news today honestly weekend filler. Look, man,
Speaker 1: it was Christmas and I've had a couple of lists
Speaker 1: that I've just been holding on to for you. Now,
Speaker 1: this first list has been completely blocked by an ad
Speaker 1: for Brad Pitt's f One the movie. Now I could
Speaker 1: just edit this out, but that's not fun. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: I'm trying to read the list here. How do you
Speaker 1: clear this ad? Oh? There it goes from Deadline Comics
Speaker 1: who Won twenty twenty five? The ad is back again.
Speaker 1: I could edit this out, but wouldn't you rather just
Speaker 1: hear me slowly lose my mind as I tried to
Speaker 1: do this? Where was I? Comics who won twenty twenty five?
Speaker 1: A look at fourteen? Who leveled up with explosive professional Growth?
Speaker 1: Why fourteen? What a weird number? This is by Matt
Speaker 1: Grobar in Deadline, as I like to do with most
Speaker 1: of these lists. I haven't looked at it yet, but
Speaker 1: I am going to hit command plus plus to make
Speaker 1: the font bigger. Somebody's scatt and old. You can't see
Speaker 1: anymore Deadline rights. We've honed in on fourteen comedic performers
Speaker 1: who achieved explosive professional growth in twenty twenty five, whether
Speaker 1: by substantially boosting their ticket sales or social media following,
Speaker 1: landing a coveted roll or development opportunity, or elevating to
Speaker 1: a new tier of venue as a headliner. It should
Speaker 1: be noticed this list isn't all encompassing. You won't find
Speaker 1: Jim Gaffigan listed here, even if he did the unthinkable
Speaker 1: by putting together nearly forty five great minutes just on
Speaker 1: the topic of bourbon. I'll push back on the word great. There,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna use both hands to push back on the
Speaker 1: word great. You won't find Nikki Glazer, who's elevated to
Speaker 1: the A list with an array of starring vehicles lined
Speaker 1: up Nord Tom Sagora, who landed his first Emmy nominee
Speaker 1: for Bad Thoughts, and I'll point out play at the
Speaker 1: reON Comedy Festival. Deadline says, we generally try to avoid
Speaker 1: arena tier comedians, though a couple's not through. Let's look
Speaker 1: number one, Max Amini. Now I'm already fascinated by this list.
Speaker 1: Max Amini. You know how many times I've mentioned Maxsimini.
Speaker 1: This year prior to today's episode, none, and I can
Speaker 1: see I suck at this. I'm the worst. I don't
Speaker 1: know anything about comedy, and I'm terrible at hosting a podcast.
Speaker 1: But I can tell you almost every day I google
Speaker 1: the word comedy, and I also google the word comedian,
Speaker 1: and I also read several entertainment websites, including Deadline and
Speaker 1: I'm sitting here right now going Maximini, who Deadline tells
Speaker 1: us this year he has performed one hundred and fifty
Speaker 1: sold out shows in nineteen countries, selling over two hundred
Speaker 1: thousand tickets. In March, Amani released his latest special, Randomly Selected,
Speaker 1: seeing it pull out a whopping sixteen million views on
Speaker 1: YouTube Deadline rights. Remarkably, this special is not only the
Speaker 1: top performing special of the year across all platforms per
Speaker 1: Nielsen numbers, it's also the ninth and most viewed on
Speaker 1: YouTube of all time. Now again, I'm terrible with this.
Speaker 1: I suck, But I did read other people's lists. No
Speaker 1: one mentioned this. The La Times didn't mention this. Vulture
Speaker 1: didn't mention this. The YouTube algorithm hasn't put this in
Speaker 1: in front of me. What is going on here? Did
Speaker 1: I move to like a parallel universe where this guy's
Speaker 1: the top comedian, described by Jerry Seinfeld as one of
Speaker 1: the hottest comedians to watch in the next generation of comedy.
Speaker 1: As of this month, he's Instagram's number two creator period,
Speaker 1: behind only mister beast a Meani, generating two point seven
Speaker 1: seven billion views on the platform this year and has
Speaker 1: now surpassed six billion all time. I know somebody out
Speaker 1: there is screaming, okay boomer at me right now. I
Speaker 1: get it. I totally get it. I see these numbers
Speaker 1: and I'm like wow. And I'm not saying anything negative
Speaker 1: about him. I'm just saying, wow, how is all this
Speaker 1: happening without hitting the mainstream media at all? Like zero?
Speaker 1: I listen to podcasts about comedy. Haven't heard the name.
Speaker 1: I read Deadline, I read Vulture, I read Variety, I
Speaker 1: read the Hollywood Reporter. I haven't seen the name. Am
Speaker 1: I insane? Am I losing my mind? All right? I
Speaker 1: guess we got to pay attention to Max Amini. Respect
Speaker 1: and fine, I'm an old man. Call me whatever you want.
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm stunned right now, which is why I
Speaker 1: don't read these articles in advance. I'm just done, Okay,
Speaker 1: Number two Leanne Morgan, Leanne, I've heard of She's in
Speaker 1: the news all the time. Number three Josh Johnson again
Speaker 1: makes sense. Is Josh in the mainstream press every day? No?
Speaker 1: But is he in the comedy press a lot? Yes?
Speaker 1: Do the people I interact with regularly mentioned Josh Johnson, Yes,
Speaker 1: Maximini not so much. Again, I'm just confused, London writes.
Speaker 1: This year, Josh Johnson elevated into the rotating host schedule
Speaker 1: on The Daily Show. His tours kicked off in January
Speaker 1: and continues through February with three hundred shows and one
Speaker 1: hundred and eleven markets. Is all more impressive that he's
Speaker 1: done it with zero promoter marketing money. He's gonna play
Speaker 1: four sold out shows at the Palladium in London at
Speaker 1: the end of January, and we'll play five shows of
Speaker 1: the Beacon in New York City, then five sold out
Speaker 1: shows at the Chicago Theater on Valentine's Day weekend. Yep. Massive.
Speaker 1: He's known for taking the YouTube with his new long
Speaker 1: form topical stand up set on a weekly basis. Forty
Speaker 1: nine of his last fifty videos have reached over a
Speaker 1: million views. Absolutely breakout Yearnumber four Ali Sidik again, a
Speaker 1: name that has come up a lot per Nielsen numbers
Speaker 1: reviewed by Deadline. My Two Sons was the third most
Speaker 1: viewed special on any platform in the last year. Sadiq
Speaker 1: is also on the twenty stand ups to keep an
Speaker 1: eye on in twenty twenty six. I'm saving that list
Speaker 1: for January first. Haven't looked at it yet, but now
Speaker 1: I just got spoiled by one of the names. Number
Speaker 1: five Jimmy O Yang. Johnny Mac loves Jimmy O Yang.
Speaker 1: Deadline deep dives here into Jimmy O Yang's international success.
Speaker 1: Good call there. Number six Nurse John. Now, Nurse John
Speaker 1: is someone who's been on my radar, but not someone
Speaker 1: who I talk about on the show. A nurse turned
Speaker 1: viral creator and comedian who blew up online with relatable
Speaker 1: portrayals of life working in healthcare. Number seven Morgan Jay again,
Speaker 1: a name that has come up a couple times, which
Speaker 1: is why I'm just totally just bewildered by Maximini And again,
Speaker 1: maybe you're all listening to the podcast hitting delete, going
Speaker 1: what is wrong with this Johnny Mack guy? But I'm
Speaker 1: just bewildered because the name did not come up this year.
Speaker 1: Morgan Jay now has a full live band a company
Speaker 1: him at some of his larger shows. This year, Jay
Speaker 1: boosted his profile and film and TV with appearances on
Speaker 1: Apple TV's Stick Opposite Owen Wilson and Mark Marin, and
Speaker 1: on NBC's Saint Dennis Medical eight Osco at Cotska. You've
Speaker 1: heard me talk about her for the past few years.
Speaker 1: Good call there. Number nine Moe Ammer. I'm a big fan.
Speaker 1: I've liked all of his specials and as I always say,
Speaker 1: he's got something to say. I like him a lot.
Speaker 1: Ten three time guests. John Marco Soiresi still comes on
Speaker 1: the show, hasn't. Jim Gaffigan me cool guy. I've been
Speaker 1: a follower since I saw him at New Faces and
Speaker 1: he's hilarious, and you watched his YouTube special, and I
Speaker 1: think we all love John Marco Siresi. Number eleven on
Speaker 1: Deadlines list. Robbie Hoffman, yep, like I said, once I
Speaker 1: saw Mulaney was producing her special, I was like, all right,
Speaker 1: I got a beef up on Robbie Hoffman and I
Speaker 1: became a big time believer, and I think a lot
Speaker 1: of you became big time believers when you watch that special.
Speaker 1: Robbie Hoffman is fantastic. I mean the trivia guys have
Speaker 1: conversations with me about Robbie Hoffman at the Brewery. Umber
Speaker 1: twelve Caleb Hearn not my cup of tea, but sure.
Speaker 1: His top episode of his podcast reached over five million
Speaker 1: viewers on YouTube. That's not how podcasts work, don't get
Speaker 1: Johnny Max started on podcasts versus YouTube shows. You listen
Speaker 1: to a podcast, read my substack if you want to
Speaker 1: hear me rand about that. On number thirteen, jeff Ercurrie.
Speaker 1: All right, let's see what they say here. The other
Speaker 1: comic who won twenty twenty five, who was part of
Speaker 1: our twenty twenty four Comics to Watch the list is
Speaker 1: jeff Er Currie, who recently completed a nine sold out
Speaker 1: show residency at the Wilburn Boston with nine thousand tickets sold.
Speaker 1: Curry rescheduled a good chunk of this year's tour to
Speaker 1: be by his wife's side during her treatment, and pledged
Speaker 1: to donate one dollar for every ticket sold on the
Speaker 1: tour to breast cancer research. Recently, he taped a Netflix
Speaker 1: special during five shows at the Celebrity Theater. Number fourteen.
Speaker 1: Zakir Khan, India's Zakir Khan leveled up from theaters to arenas,
Speaker 1: going from playing the theater at MSG to Madison Square
Speaker 1: Garden itself. He did CON this year, became the first
Speaker 1: comedian performing in Hindi to play Madison Square Garden, New York,
Speaker 1: as well as Scotiabank Arena Toronto twice and the Coca
Speaker 1: Cola Arena in Dubai. He's also the first Asian comedian
Speaker 1: in a headline and sold out Royal Albert Hall in London.
Speaker 1: Really really fantastic list by Deadline here, great job, and
Speaker 1: I think it's just illustrative of just how much comedy
Speaker 1: is out there. I meane, a couple of those names,
Speaker 1: I imagine we're off your radar, clearly, some of them
Speaker 1: off my radar. Really, really great job by Deadline. All right,
Speaker 1: let's take the break and then I've got a different
Speaker 1: list for you. I've been sitting on this one, and
Speaker 1: this list came out well well before the murder of
Speaker 1: Rob Reiner. This from the Boston Globe. They were ranking
Speaker 1: the top ten network sitcoms of all time, and their
Speaker 1: headline was All the Family Seinfeld ranking the top ten
Speaker 1: networks it comes of all time. So I'm just pointing
Speaker 1: out the timeline there to show it. Whatever is to
Speaker 1: come here was not influenced by the Reiner Murders's see
Speaker 1: what the Boston Globe says. Here are the criteria rules.
Speaker 1: Network only thirty minutes strictly comedy. I love Freaks and Geeks,
Speaker 1: but it was one show. I also love kerb but
Speaker 1: it was part of HBO, which, as the old catchphrase
Speaker 1: told us, wasn't even TV. All right. The Globe says
Speaker 1: they've tried to avoid recently bias, and here is their list.
Speaker 1: Number ten Good Time CBS nineteen seventy four to seventy nine.
Speaker 1: It's easy and not unfair to dismiss Jimmy Walker's dyno
Speaker 1: mites antics as a modern da appendage to minstrelsy. But
Speaker 1: consider how radical it was to put on a show
Speaker 1: about life in the Chicago projects, created by two black
Speaker 1: men on a primetime network in nineteen seventy four, and
Speaker 1: that gospel funk theme song. Hard to front any of that,
Speaker 1: all right. Number nine The Office NBC twenty five to
Speaker 1: twenty thirteen. I imagine if you listen to this podcast
Speaker 1: every day, you are familiar with the Office, so I
Speaker 1: won't bog down on that. But it's crazy to have
Speaker 1: the office behind Abbot Elementary ABC, twenty twenty one to
Speaker 1: the present. The Globe Rights, but Abbot moves towards the
Speaker 1: top of the class, largely through the easeful, good humored way.
Speaker 1: It addresses the perils facing public education. So were you
Speaker 1: saying the office walk so Abbot could run? On? Number
Speaker 1: seven The Honeymoons, CBS nineteen fifty five to fifty six,
Speaker 1: So they're including the classic Honeymooners. There there's a if
Speaker 1: you deep dive on the Honeymooners. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: later episodes and like TV movies and weird stuff. Number
Speaker 1: six Cheers, NBC, nineteen eighty two to nineteen ninety three.
Speaker 1: The Globe Rights. Yes, I'd get run out of Boston
Speaker 1: if I didn't include Sam Alone and his beloved bar.
Speaker 1: Number five The Simpsons. Is The Simpsons a sitcom? Interesting?
Speaker 1: I guess we could argue that I don't feel like
Speaker 1: The Simpsons is a sitcom. I feel like it's a cartoon.
Speaker 1: I feel like that's its own thing. Number four All
Speaker 1: in the Family, CBS from nineteen seventy one to seventy nine.
Speaker 1: Debates raged over where the series was lampooning a bigot
Speaker 1: or celebrating him all in the family matter and known
Speaker 1: a way that few, if any other sitcoms have. Number
Speaker 1: three The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Now, if you ever
Speaker 1: go back and watch that, that has aged really well.
Speaker 1: They point out that Ted Knights Ted Baxter was Ron
Speaker 1: Burgundy before Ron Burgundy really really well said, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: steal that line next time. I'm about my love of
Speaker 1: Will Ferrell movies. Boy, that that is a great, great, great,
Speaker 1: great great point about Will Ferrell. Wow, Yes, okay, love it.
Speaker 1: Number two Seinfeld NBC from nineteen eighty nine to nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety eight. And I was going to sit here and
Speaker 1: wonder and speculate what they would have at number one,
Speaker 1: and then my eyes went down and I accidentally spoiled myself.
Speaker 1: So I know the answer. But how about you? What
Speaker 1: do you think? What haven't we mentioned yet? I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to rack my brain here, Happy Days mash. What
Speaker 1: else do people like? People like Parks and rec people
Speaker 1: like thirty Rock Raymond, people like that one. Nope, they
Speaker 1: have as number one. I Love Lucy from CBS from
Speaker 1: nineteen fifty one to nineteen fifty seven. Again can't argue
Speaker 1: with the pick. But on the other hand, we've been
Speaker 1: doing TV now for another seventy years and no one's
Speaker 1: been able to do better than I Love Lucy. That
Speaker 1: in itself says something they write. It's the fountain head
Speaker 1: of the sho genre. Not the first sitcom, but the
Speaker 1: one that showed how it's done. It still helps that
Speaker 1: it's still very, very funny. Okay. I won't lose my
Speaker 1: mind about that list. That list is not awful. I'm
Speaker 1: sure if I sat here and thought about it and
Speaker 1: made a list out of a different list, but not crazy. Okay,
Speaker 1: And as weekend filler goes, I enjoyed today's episode. I
Speaker 1: hope you did too. Tomorrow a look at the top
Speaker 1: twenty five stand up comedians of the twenty first century
Speaker 1: so far. I've got some thoughts. Meet you back here tomorrow.