For decades, people have been asking me about the future of the comedy business, and I’ve always said, if I really did know, I wouldn’t broadcast it around. But I have seen the future, and it now appears that the Google/YouTube juggernaut is the most important development in comedy since the rubber chicken.
Right now, there isn’t a comic without at least a couple of clips on YouTube. Comics who want to work at my clubs now opt to refer me to their YouTube channels. Major production companies and agencies no longer show up nightly at the clubs and festivals; they have juniors who troll the Internet in search of the next big thing.
Using the Internet is far from new. Dane Cook used it to become a phenomenon over a decade ago. Russell Peters was the first comic to establish a global following using video clips that went viral and allowed him to fill stadiums without a TV or movie deal.
Then Bo Burnham and Jon Lajoie posted videos on a nascent YouTube, hit millions of viewers and forged careers that came out of nowhere.
Now every comic is hoping for that success, posting their bits and waiting for fame.
If you don’t have a million views, YouTube still works to create interest in your act and can help get you a legion of rabid fans that will pay good money to see you in clubs. But that’s just chump change compared to the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow: Google ads.
They pay at a constant rate per thousand. But it’s pennies until you start hitting seven or eight million figures. And then you can make a very good living without leaving your house. These numbers may sound daunting until you calculate the number of English-speaking Internet users in the world and then start your calculations. So why hasn’t every good stand-up comic become rich? Original content.
If you can see a video anywhere and everywhere, it loses its value. To make money, you have to have your entire viewership watching the same source. And that means original content that can only be seen, at least in the beginning, on your dedicated platform.
Right now, the most successful YouTube producer/performer is Ray William Johnson.
His hundreds of videos, which range from animated hip hop songs to Video on Trial–style commentaries on amateur video clips, each rack up close to 30 million views.
Do the math and sell your current business. It’s the gold rush out there. And he’s not even funny.
This year, YouTube added “premium channels” to its vast inventory. These are channels you pay for, like cable TV, with content that is deemed to be worth purchasing.
In May, YouTube presented its first online comedy festival, featuring new work by Sarah Silverman, Vince Vaughan, Rainn Wilson, Seth Rogen and many others. The VJ interstitials were annoying, and the critical reaction was tepid, but it really felt like the start of something.
Silverman is one comic who grasps the potential of the New Comedy Order. Her channel, JASH, with cohorts Michael Cera, Tim and Eric, and Reggie Watts, is a model of the way comics will be performing and promoting their work on the web.
All hail the revolution.
It’s no joke.
Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.