DELRAY BEACH – Flip Schultz recorded a library of performance videos during his more than two decades as a stand-up comic.
Now he’s making them available for public viewing – one minute at a time.
Beginning in January, Schultz has posted a short video featuring his comedy every day on his social media channels.
“I wanted to set a goal for myself that combined motivation and my career,” Schultz said.
Schultz habitually records his sets. With video from some performances dating back to the last century – originally recorded in Hi-8 format – Schultz has plenty of material to choose from.
“It will make me appreciate how much material I have and, at the very most it, will move the needle on my career one way or another,” Schultz said.
Not all of that material is suitable for the age of social media. Schultz cringes a bit when he watches the inexperienced comic feeling his way through some of those late-1990s performances.
But he’s already created about 250 clips and expects to soon have at least one for every day of the year.
“I’m of the opinion that quantity says a lot,” Schultz said. “The fact that I, at this point, have 250 clips that I can put up – some stand-up, some sketch, some improvised songs, some crowd work – it says that, Wow, this guys been around and he’s a good writer.”
Posting pre-recorded performance clips wasn’t Schultz’s original plan. Late last year he began creating a segment he called “60 Second News,” where Schultz picked an unusual news story and offered his take in a segment akin to Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update.
An enjoyable project initially, Schultz soon decided that the writing, editing, and posting process consumed too time when weighed against viewership.
That’s when he pivoted to creating clips from his years of material, then posting the clips on his YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Clapper and TikTok accounts.
Schultz found the greatest success on the most controversial platform.
Not completely trusting of TikTok, Schultz uses a special process to upload videos to that platform in order to prevent internet spying and hacking.
So far, TikTok’s been worth the extra effort. After one of his videos went viral – it’s been watched more than 1.4 million times to date – Schultz’s TikTok following jumped from 1,300 to 30,000.
“TikTok, it’s really opened my profile and gotten my name out there,” Schultz said.
Meanwhile, Schultz continues to perform live. Having relocated from Los Angeles to South Florida early in the pandemic, Schultz quickly became a coveted headliner on the burgeoning Palm Beach and Broward County comedy scene.
On Tuesday Schultz headlined at Delray Beach’s Turtle Tavern. On Friday he’s headlining at Pompano Beach Brewing. And on Wednesday Schultz co-headlines at the Sadman Speakeasy Comedy Club. He also performed a corporate gig on Tuesday via Zoom.
Fans who can’t attend those events can always receive at least a quick Flip Fix on social media.
