Intro for July 12, 2024

Dear Gossips,   

In the grand tradition of cable channels before it, Netflix has built a stable of standup comedy to bolster their original library. It makes sense—standup is relatively cheap to produce, and there’s no shortage of new comics arriving on the scene every year to keep adding fresh faces to the rota. 

But over the last several years, Netflix has been ground zero for the comedy culture war, as they stood by Dave Chappelle as his rhetoric grew increasingly transphobic, not to mention they pay a lot of money to comedians like Shane Gillis, Ricky Gervais, and Joe Rogan for new specials. Rogan has a new special coming next month, and Gervais will have one next year. Ellen DeGeneres is also prepping a Netflix special, which is apparently doubling as her “I was cancelled because I’m mean” non-apology tour.

For those of us who love standup, Netflix has become a love-hate relationship. Because while they love sh-thead standup, they also have specials from Fortune Feimster, Leanne Morgan, Wanda Sykes, Jo Koy, John Mulaney, Nate Bergatze, Demetri Martin, Anthony Jeselnik, Sheng Wang, Mike Birbiglia, Neal Brennan, Taylor Tomlinson, Katt Williams, and Netflix was the place Hannah Gadsby became an international breakthrough with Nanette.

It's hard to write Netflix off in re: comedy when they feature such a wide range of comedians, which is the point, of course. They both-sides comedy, platforming Gervais and Chappelle, but also Gadsby and Sykes. For every raunchy comedian, they’ve got one who works clean. They have absurdists, storytellers, one-liner artists, and John Mulaney’s every whim. It’s something for everyone, a big tent approach that shows the inherent flaw of the big tent, which forces the out group to act as shields for the in group. “You can’t be too mad about Chappelle, because here’s our cadre of queer comics for Pride!”

With the news that Joe Rogan has a new special coming to Netflix month, the “I can’t stand Netflix” conversation flared up in the comedy space once again, and someone asked me for non-Netflix standup recs, and while Netflix does have some really good specials, there are a LOT of great standup specials…on Youtube. 

It makes sense, like any creator, a standup can offer their special on their page and make money through advertising, which is the route comedians like Joe List, Matteo Lane, Josh Johnson, and Rory Scovel have gone (though Rory’s last special, Religion, Sex, and a Few Things In Between, is on HBO/Max). Or they could work with a platform like 800 Pound Gorilla or All Things Comedy, the latter of which was founded by Bill Burr and Al Madrigal as an artist-owned cooperative. Those labels are meant to offer network support to comedians in an era when networks are no longer reliable.

For decades, the only way for people to see full standup sets was either live, or on HBO or Showtime. Netflix wants to be the new HBO, a renowned home for standup, but they’ll always have a fluctuating audience as long as they try to both-sides comedy. There will always be people who vote with their wallets, which will always cause churn. But while Youtube is a far from perfect digital landscape, it does at least offer comics a direct-to-audience option with a more independent sheen—it’s the garage bandification of standup comedy. So, if Joe Rogan and Netflix bum you out, but you’re looking for something to make you laugh, search Youtube for standup specials, there are a lot of good ones out there, like Joe Pera’s Slow & Steady. He is inventing slow comedy in real time, there’s nothing else like it.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah