2023 has been a great year for stand-up fans, with over 200 one-hour specials released. Why are we getting such record-breaking production volumes? Case in point: After comedy venues reopen in 2021, the entire industry has painstakingly honed, filmed, edited, released, and promoted their material. It clicked into his typical two-year cycle of doing things.
“There was a huge upsurge in stand-up because everyone was on strike,'' says “Rough After Dark'' director Kelsey Bolan. Bolan, along with partner Robert E. Lee, started out with Kalea McNeil at Santa Monica comedy club The Crow and independently produced seven 2023 specials from comics in Los Angeles and Las Vegas. Furthermore, she says: “Many people who have been in games for a long time are proud of everything they've accomplished. And now, as with music and most creative endeavors, the barriers to entry are lower and more equal. It’s now an independent economy.”
For the record:
December 28, 2023 11:59 a.m.A previous version of this article stated that Runel's stand-up special aired on Max. It was broadcast on Netflix.
Netflix stars Chris Rock, Ricky Gervais, John Mulaney, Wanda Sykes, Bert Kreischer, Trevor Noah, Amy Schumer, Monique, Tom Segura, Andrew Santino, Hannah Gadsby, Mae Martin, and Beth.・The year ended with a special program featuring Stelling, Michelle Wolf, and others. , Jim Jeffries, Pete Holmes, Mike Birbiglia, Runel (under Chappelle's home team banner), and more. Rebel Crawford appears on Showtime. Max was joined by Marc Maron, Tracy Morgan, Marlon Wayans, Sarah Silverman, Sam Jay, and John Early.
Elsewhere, Whitney Cummings continued her relationship with OnlyFans, Justin Martindale was featured on OutTV and Zainab Johnson, Trevor Wallace and Jimmy O. Yang hit their primes. For every “Peacock” special with Kevin Hart and Chris Fleming, fans could track Roseanne Barr and Rob Schneider on Fox Nation. Before he was accused of sexual assault in the fall, Russell Brand was doing pay-per-views on Rumble, a platform that bills itself as “immune to cancel culture.”
“It's rare for large brand distributors to be on these platforms,” director Delmar Washington said of large brand distributors. “If you can, great. But if you can't, self-distribution or accessing some smaller networks is just as powerful.” Washington's “By Kanisha Bass, Ron G., Brandon Lewis. The “Mike Masters” trio special was filmed at North Hollywood's El Portal Theater in July and will appear on Comcast's Xfinity this month in The Black Experience.
Other December entries include Eagle Rock's signature show Maria Bamford on AppleTV and Brian Posen's two-week exclusive on Moments. His livestreaming platform, Veeps, owned by Live Nation, has offered specials with LA-based comics Brad Williams, Blair Socchi, and Mor Welch. Taylor Williamson rented the main room of his comedy store for his YouTube release timed for Hanukkah.
Matt Life.
(Anthony Acero)
Matt Rife's two 2023 specials proved the power of self-production and direct-to-YouTube uploads, racking up 18 million and 10 million views. Los Angeles talent including Maz Jobrani, Bob the Drag Queen, Kelsey Cook, Nate Craig, Jamar Neighbors, Angela Johnson-Reyes, Drew Lynch, Alex Nussbaum, Ian Bag and Brad Wenzel As artists have demonstrated, monetized streamers have also contributed to the international growth of local performers. Tuesday Thomas, Nick Youssef, Jeremiah Watkins, Ryan Schickler, Jay Larson, Brett Ernst, and Noah Gardenswaltz, who recently moved to Las Vegas. (Leah Ruddick combined the release on Apple and Prime with a special premiere on his YouTube.)
The biggest advantage, according to Jesús Trejo, is “the freedom it offers,” which means “flexibility in editing and release timing, in addition to creative freedom to shape the look and feel of the special.” To do. vision for life. ”
Trejo's 2020 debut hour, “Stay at Home Son,” aired on Showtime. “I wanted to use that knowledge to create something new,” he says, and chose to do it at the Hollywood Improv Lab.
“The journey an artist takes, from the simple spark of an idea, “I want to make an independent comedy special,'' to the moment when it becomes a reality and is uploaded for people to see, is truly magical. There's stuff. It's on YouTube,” Trejo says. “The best part was learning that I would be returning to 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon' to perform and promote a self-released special.”
Bolan said his first independent stand-up comedy, “Laugh After Dark,'' was released on Amazon in 2018. “Comedy is like most things in our society. There's the 1%, and then there's the she-99. Most of the industry is the she-99.” Production and distribution are also important, though. , she calls marketing “the most important part.” You are in a business and you are a business and must be treated as such. Instead of thinking of yourself as an artist, you need to think of yourself as a marketing manager. ”
Kalea McNeil takes to the Crow stage to film a comedy special.
(Arthur Hamilton)
Bolan describes YouTube as “the democratization of creativity, that a $100,000 camera isn't the only way to make things happen. You can do it on your iPhone, and you can make a living putting it on YouTube.” It's called. That's what we're doing. ”
“We have the flexibility of not having to wait for a gatekeeper anymore,” said host and executive producer of “Mike Masters,” whose 2019 debut was distributed by Kevin Hart's LOL through Peacock, Xumo and others. Affion Crockett agrees. “The majors are in complete control of everything, they're going to play the special twice, they're in full ownership of it and they can just shelve it. If you do it yourself, you have ownership of it. This gives us the opportunity to play it again or relicense it.”
He feels like Houston's Ali Siddiq “goes straight to YouTube and drops an hour-long special every quarter. And his touring numbers are increasing. He's doing hundreds of shows. It boasts millions of views.”
Director and executive producer Washington agrees. “It's very important to take control of your own career and intellectual property,” he says. “We have complete creative control over how the set looks, the lighting, and the type of audience we want to attract.”
YouTube half-hours by Sarah Tiana, Natalie Cuomo, Omid Singh and others show similar career progression. “The beauty of independent specials is that you have 100% control over your art. No one told me what to do or what not to do on my special,” said Brad. said Singh, who filmed his first comic at Garrett's Comedy Club (in a special that Garrett also produced). “The downside was in the marketing, but the special still managed to get millions of views on her TikTok and her Instagram. Thanks to Brad, he posted the clip on YouTube and For the first time, we were able to monetize and start gaining subscribers.”
Even after Life's third comedy special of 2023, Natural Selection, debuted on Netflix in November, the reaction to his earlier self-released work remained far more positive than his debut on the major streamer. (currently 17% audience rating on Rotten Tomato). As stand-up content continues to trickle in toward the end of the year, this points to the decisive benefit of his impending DIY feature in 2024.
“It's nice to make a few bucks, but that wasn't my main goal,” Trejo says of his accomplishments. “My dream has always been simple: to write, to make people laugh with jokes, and to share my work with the world. Anything beyond that is a bonus.”
