Illustration by Annelise Capossela/For The Washington Post; iStock
Creators have disrupted comedy — from the talent pipeline, to the types of jokes being told, to the projects being pursued.
While there’s been much written about how creators have disrupted the larger entertainment industry, comedian creators in particular are charting new paths to success through social media’s algorithms. One only needs to look at last week’s Netflix is a Joke Festival, which featured many acts who straddle the roles of creator and comedian, and was described by the New York Times as ruled by “the attention economy.”
Comedians today are “building their own platform, and they're not beholden to the same sort of gatekeepers that traditional Hollywood was once held by,” said UTA Creators agent A.J. Leone.
With social media, the entry point to comedy has changed. Even the definition of a comic has become nebulous, said Danny Frenkel, co-founder and CEO of Punchup Live, a site designed to help comedians connect directly with their audiences. “It's not the same system where you need to get good at open mics, so that then a booker will see you, so then you'll get stage times that then you can sell tickets. It's totally different now.”
“It has allowed for more access for comedians that just wouldn’t have had it through those older channels and legacy media and everything,” comedian Josh Johnson said. “It has almost created a sort of democratized version of comedy.”
Social media has also enabled comedians to reach a more global audience. “Stand-up comedy is so American — but it doesn’t have to be,” comedian Atsuko Okatsuka said, pointing to audiences she’s grown from Iceland to Indonesia.
For some comics, however, the rise of social media and creator-led comedy isn’t without its downfalls.
“Unfortunately it kinda cheapens us a little bit, because anybody who makes somebody laugh on the internet gets the title of comic” said stand-up comedian Ali Siddiq, a tension he partly attributes to the formats social media algorithms tend to reward. “Slapstick and sketches do real well on the internet, that’s not an audience-type performance though,” he said.
“It rewards quick jokes, it rewards hot takes … not deep, thoughtful things,” said Christopher Guerrero, who for the past six years has taught a course called “Viral Comedy” at the University of Southern California.
The dominance of vertical, short-form content has reshaped how comedy is made, not just how it is consumed. “Because of the rise of vertical content … you have a very different approach with your comedy,” Leone said, pointing to a surge in man-on-the-street style videos that can be produced with a small crew.
That shift in format and platform preference has affected comedians across the industry.
“Creators have impacted the comedy space, but also the platforms have impacted the traditional comedians,” Leone said, adding that traditional comics are still touring but are also experimenting with formats or using social media to promote their characters.
Amid the upheaval, comedians — like creators across industries — are focused on owning their distribution and prioritizing real-life connection.
“The artists who build that bond online and then mobilize fans to act — buy tickets, show up, watch longer-form content — are the ones turning views into a real touring business,” said UTA Comedy Touring agent Amy Lynch. “One thing that has not changed, though, is that retention is the real test. Viral moments can sell a first tour, but talent and a great hour on stage are what bring people back.”
“The mindset is, grow what you own — your channels, your content library, your tour — and then use that to choose the right traditional projects that fit into that world,” she said.
Guerrero’s pro tip: Build a brand and community rather than rely too heavily on any single platform.
“TikTok is not going to be forever, Instagram's not going to be forever, there's always going to be something new that pops up out of nowhere, that's just the nature of the internet,” he said.
This story is part of Verified, a newsletter that is published by Washington Post Creator, a team outside The Washington Post’s newsroom that is focused on the creator economy and content partnerships with independent creators. Learn more about Washington Post Creator.
