DELRAY BEACH – The rise of streaming services created another goal for stand-up comedians – their own streaming special.
Initially, platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime appeared to be a bullet train for comedians hoping to accelerate their rise stardom.
Recently, however, such services have been limiting specials to the biggest names. Now, some comedians are saying that’s not such a big deal. The top story in today’s Stand-Up Spotlight features four comedians giving their takes on streaming services vs. self publishing. There’s some agreement that self-publishing on, say, a YouTube channel is, if not a good start, arguably a strong end game.
A few months ago Applause Break wrote about Mike Vecchione’s “The Attractives,” which he created for his YouTube channel. Since it’s launch two months ago, “The Attractives” boasts more than 1.3 million views. Now, Vecchione is one of Applause Break’s favorite comedians. He certainly has the chops to attain national celebrity. That being said, developing that kind of viewership certainly seems like an attainable goal for other talented rising comics looking to expand their bases.
Heading into the weekend, the Spotlight also offers a recap of comedian Bill Burr joining the broadcast team for a Red Sox game; a feature on a small comedy club in Amsterdam that helped launch some big-name comedians; and news of a new exhibit at a comedy museum in Jamestown, New York.
The final story begs the question: “Did you know there is a comedy museum located in upstate New York?”
It just goes to show, the funny is everywhere.
STAND-UP SPOTLIGHT – June 23, 2023
Stand-up comics on selling specials to the streamers: ‘You do not need them’
Netflix’s first live stand-up special, Chris Rock’s “Selective Outrage,” was an all-around success for the streamer, landing among its Top 10 U.S. shows for the week and becoming Nielsen’s most streamed comedy special in a measurement week, with 798 million viewing minutes. And it earned Rock $20 million from Netflix.
Paired with last summer’s Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival, which ran for 11 days and spanned 25 venues across Los Angeles, it would appear that Netflix is seeking to establish itself as an eminent hub for comedy — even though the next installment of the festival is skipping a year and will return in 2024. Many of the festival’s shows were quickly made available for streaming on the platform, and 12 additional specials have been released since “Selective Outrage” premiered in early March.
Comedian Bill Burr Joined The Boston Red Sox Broadcast Booth Tonight & Twitter Is LOVING It
On the modern day list of the world’s best comedians, Bill Burr has to be somewhere near the top.
His angry antics and brutally-honest commentary have made for quite the successful career, and if he ever wanted to hang it up with stand-up comedy, it looks like fans would love for him to try out broadcasting.
Burr joined in on the Boston Red Sox broadcast as they take on the Minnesota Twins, and the reviews so far have been extremely positive. NESN’s Twitter account posted a video earlier of Bill entering into the booth, with him excitingly saying in his Boston accent: “Let’s do it. I’m keeping score.”
This Little Amsterdam Improv Club Launched Big American Careers
Seth Meyers had no idea what to expect when he got a job in 1997 performing at a fledgling comedy club in Amsterdam called Boom Chicago. He was in his early 20s, and had never traveled outside of the United States. He had to apply for a passport.
“I knew not one thing about the Netherlands,” he said in a recent interview. “My first thought was to get some good hiking shoes, I guess because I thought I was going to Switzerland. And then I showed up in literally the flattest place I ever lived.”
National Comedy Center in Upstate NY honors NYC institution with new exhibit
Upstate New York’s funniest museum is paying tribute to an iconic New York City venue integral to the art of stand-up comedy.
The National Comedy Center in Jamestown has opened a new exhibit dedicated to legendary New York City comedy club, Carolines on Broadway. For 40 years, comedians appeared on the Carolines stage including Jerry Seinfeld, Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, Jay Leno, Michael Che, Sandra Bernhard, Billy Crystal, Amy Schumer, Tracy Morgan, Norm Macdonald, Kevin Hart, Iliza Shlesinger, Bill Burr, Rosie O’Donnell, and many more.
