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Caloroga Shark Media. Hi there, Johnny Mack with your Daly comedy news. Vulture had a big piece about the state of Netflix comedy in twenty twenty five. They interviewed Robbie Bram, who oversees Netflix comedy. I worked with Robbie and everything back at Serious Now is fifteen plus years ago, back when we used to do stuff with just for laughs.
Got to know Robbie a little bit. They opened up with Mullany and this article came out before Mullenie’s show debuted last week, so they were talking about everybody’s in LA from last year. It turned out the audience for LA wasn’t huge rights Vulture and average of one point one million views an episode. What made you do the show anyway? Robbie said, well, there’s only one John Mlaney.
He’s such a singular artist that when presented with the opportunity to do this with him, like you said, it was a no brainer. That number seems low, and maybe that explains why when I was watching it live Onnesday night, there wasn’t really all that much buzz on social media about it. Interesting, good follow up, Is it really more about gut and taking a chance on talent, and I’m a big believer in taking a chance on talent. Absolutely, Robbie said, if you look, John mullanie is not only one of the most viewed stand ups on Netflix, he’s one of the top tickets selling stand ups in the world. So we had a lot of confidence of the new show we’re doing, Everybody’s Live is going to break through.
These types of shows have always grown over time. And look, there’s nobody like John out there. If you watched SNL fifty with fifty years of some of the biggest stars in comedy, John Mulaney stood out in that room and on that show. So we have a lot of confidence him and in this new show that’s not crazy. How soon after LA did you start talking to Mallani about doing more, Robbie, I don’t want to use his words, since I don’t remember what the word exactly, But John had a lot of fun with the fact that there were no stakes and everybody’s in LA because he couldn’t be renewed.
But he came to this. Honestly, what we did last May wasn’t a pilot. It was truly being done as a six day show.
And then he was so great and so natural in the seat.
I think we started the conversations pretty much immediately to see if he’d be interested. Then they got into how Malanie is a collaborator on the show. Again, this is Unvulture. You should read it new topic Vulture. Netflix has done weekly talk shows and Talk to Jason shows with everybody from Chelsea Handler, Joe McHale, Norm Michelle Wolfe other than the Letterman’s Project.
They didn’t really stick. If this one works, we make a lot more talk shows. Again, Robbie said, it’s not something we’re focused on. I mean this show. We weren’t looking for a show like this.
The show exists because we had an opportunity to work with John Mulaney, and we think there are things you could do live that are just really, really exciting for the viewer. We’re definitely gonna be looking at doing some things live when it makes sense, but it’s not necessarily a concentration Vulture. What about a live sketch show now? Bill Simmons talked about this. Bill flowted the theory that Netflix is waiting for Lourene Michaels to step down, at which point SNL would be theoretically vulnerable.
Simmons also suggested that the SNL calendar leaves a lot on the table, specifically in the election cycle, when the big conventions are happening and all the fun stuff is happening, SNL is dark. Maybe Netflix does something in the summer, which I think would make a lot of sense strategically. I don’t have any insight into Netflix view patterns in which months are more or less popular. I do notice they tend to drop a lot of big, shiny things around holiday weekends. Robbie said, I think down the line would be open to it.
Down the line, Simmons, maybe right there, you’re bringing up SNL in fifty years as some of the best TV of all time. I’m sure we’d love to one day be in that business, but no plans for it at this point. That’s a pretty clear answer. Great question by Vulture. Does having that big library of stand up specials have an impact on how much you green light?
Now you don’t need as much as you did early on when you’re starting from zero. Great question. Robbie said, it hasn’t affected our volume at all. What it has done, it’s given more of a journey to when people discover the new favorite comedian on Netflix to be able to see more from that comedian or similar comedians. A recent example of that is Nate Brighetzi or Moa.
Mayer just released his comedy series last month, and you’re seeing more viewing on his old specials. Another great question by Vulture. Nice job, Vulture. You used to make headlines for paying crazy sums of money to comics for their future specials. I’m sure you’re still writing Big Chicks, but you’re trying to spend less on stand up.
Robbie said, I think it’s that different. We’ve always bought shows that have been produced and put on Netflix. I mean, for example, Chappelle’s for specials, well us, we’re produced before we purchase them. We’re just looking for the best specials out there for our members, and people have such different tastes that sometimes quite frankly, it’s really great opportunity where you see something that’s pre produced because you gets sense of exactly what the creative lens is. But I don’t think the strategy has changed.
It’s still about trying to find the best things out there, whether we do a deal in advance or whether it’s licensed. Fultcher brought up Bert Kraser, saying he seems to be everywhere on Netflix. Does having talent all over the service help them attract talent? Great question? Or Robbie said, it’s probably the thing I’m the most excited about.
I mean, Netflix is obviously a really big company, and you know all the buyers across film and nonfiction and series. We talk a lot about this with talent. You mentioned Bert Krascher. Bert was just all over the NFL Christmas Game. We talked about Mulaney.
We have a sketch show coming out with Tom Segura and season two of Michelle Butteu’s Survival of the Thickest. And this is the way we’ve thought about things since we start in the space with people like a Zi’s and Ali Wong. I know that was the serious model. It was a great way to attract talent because you could come up and say to anyone from Bruce Springsteen or a NASCAR driver or I don’t know, a comedian, Hey, come on up, and you can go on the country station, the rock station, the comedy station, the sports station and hit all these different audiences and they could do like a big media tour just walking down one hallway at series make you know, come up for three hours and you could hit eight different audiences. It’s one of the reasons we were able to get so many people.
Vulture asked about the competitors, Amazon, HBO, Hularius, Hi Publicist, how you guys doing. Hulu even did a deal with Bill Burr, who’s been a regular on Netflix. How much of a threat to your dominance are these other players? Vulture, You crushed this interview. Robbie said, I think the eyeballs to come to Netflix to watch stand up and the deep bench of library titles that we have in our festivals and radio stations and all that make it pretty clear we’re invested in the space and are very proud of had this leading role in the comedy business.
But the truth is it’s very good for the stand up business that there are other buyers in the space. I mean, first and foremost, we’re huge stand up fans. Boy, this is a nice polished answer, Robbie, good job. So all these great comedians having homes is great. Oftentimes different comedians go to different places, like Nate Pergetzi, he went to Amazon and came back to Netflix.
We think the fact that competition is out there is a great thing and just shows how big a business. Stand up has become Vulture again. Good question. Was there a bidding war for Burr’s special and was Netflix interested? And is it something Netflix was interested and went after?
Robbie said, I mean, Bill’s one of the best stand up comedians of all time. We’ve had a lot of business with him, so yeah, there was definitely interested in that, and we look forward to working with him again down the line. Vulture, one person you said you have no plans to work with again is Louis C.K. But last fall you bought a special he directed from Adrian Appolucci. I know that’s not the same as doing deal directly with him, but something changed.
Sounds like Robbie was ready for this one. Adrian is such a hilarious comic that our team’s been tracking for a really long time. Who were thrilled to put out that special, But there are no plans to work with Louis at this point. Yeah. Is there going to be a Netflix comedy festival at twenty six?
Robbie said, I have nothing to talk about right now, but we love a big comedy festival at Netflix. More news to come. Vulture. Uh poked him in the ribs and said, uh, so you just confirmed it, and Robbie said, I understood the nature of your backdoor question and I appreciate it. Nice job.
Vulture people. Deadline spoke to Amy Gravitz, who is HBO’s head of Comedy. She says, I have full support inside the comedy to continue to keep the HBO comedy brand thriving. This is a broader interview, not just stand up. She spoke a little bit about untitled Steve Carell comedy that’s about to start production.
It centers on Steve Carell’s character, who’s an author. That character’s complicated relationship with his daughter, which told the character gives some crazy, stupid love vibes, which is a twenty eleven movie Steve Currell started. Amy said, I’ve always wanted to do a show set in a college environment, and adding Steve at the center of it is a way into that world as a character who’s exploring college experience for the first time later in life really felt like the way for us to do it. And of course working with Bill Lawrence has been a really fantastic partnership. A lot of pedigree there and could curb your enthusiasm come back, She says.
Larry David has not spoken in HBO about doing another season, but she’d love it. We’ve been chatting. It seems like he’s got some good ideas for me. Hmm. Outdoors Comedy Festival announced that Jim Gaffigan not coming.
He’s quotes unavailable to perform at the three day event July eighteenth through the twentieth. I wonder what has changed on Jim’s schedule. They sub somebody in for Jim gaff again, now performing Martin Short, who will co headline alongside John Mulaney on Sunday, July twentieth. They also announced Short will replace Jim Gaffigan at the Winnipeg Festival on July eighteenth. Verydas told Yahoo Canada, you know, comedy is always sort of counter cultural.
Trump brought a different kind of comedy into the mainstream, and I think that will make more nuanced voices counterculture. And I think that will make more thoughtful voices counterculture. So I actually think what’s happening with that will be very good for comedians. What I do know is your content can become controversial, but controversy should never become your content. Smart, he says, you can’t predict what will go viral, and if you try to second guess that as an artist, you drive yourself insane.
Your best bet is just to have it and go at it and then deal with it when they’re upset. I don’t think there’s any predicting what makes people upset. Russell Martin is starting a US tour today at the House of Blues in Dallas. He told the Dallas Observer. The thing about gigging internationally is it gives you more strings to your bow because you’ve got street level knowledge of what it feels like in Holland, Denmark, Auckland, Wellington, whatever it might be.
You’re not getting material from the interne out of your country. Traveling as a comedian gives you more spices to add to your comedy cast role. He declared himself the king of adapting to different crowds and comedy styles, conceding that American humor can be a difficult bridge to cross for some British acts. He explains American audiences of such a reputation as being big fat laughers. The big difference between US and British comedy is it maybe we’re a bit less high status can take the seriousness.
It’s a word this little vulgar in the States and not so vulgar in Britain. One of those words starts with the pee, rhymes with hiss out of ourselves in a way that doesn’t happen broadly speaking as much as in the US. That’s self deprecating. Humor is a big part of being British. He believes the only way to test new materials to show up unannounced at smaller venues.
If people already fans, they have a vested interest. There’s no point in getting rid of that and being statistic and going out of your way to perform people and make it hard for yourself. There’s a useful amount of dress when you’re creating new stuff. If you just do it in front of your fans, it makes you a wee bit narrow. He’s taking an advantage of the US comedy club scene.
I figure out what works and what doesn’t, what needs changing. Otherwise you’re leave me it to chance. It’s a real kick in the ego. Teach sometimes to rock up a comedy club in New York. We’ve just done ten nights at the Royal Albert Hall and broken the record, and then we were in a comedy club in New York and there’s sixty people there and you’re dying thinking, oh, Ef, this worked a week ago.
But that’s the process, man, You just got to do it in order to make the shows great. I would rather go to a comedy club and try out new jokes than go to a red carpet event, unless it was a film I wanted to watch. If you’re just gonna be photographed to be in the Daily Mail, I couldn’t think of anything worse and happy Saint Patrick’s day. Let’s catch up with Enia Martin the Irish Times did. She explains she was named after the singer Y but I honestly never heard her played once in the house ever, so I don’t know if that was a spur of the moment thing.
But thank god my parents didn’t like meat loaf, because I would have been a target for bullying at school. She says, I love the Irish sense of humor. You could say something so offensive to someone Irish and they’ll just laugh it off. They’ll know you’re not serious. I think I got my mad is from my mother.
She’s not shy at all. I would say if she were born in this generation and she had the freedom I did. I definitely think she’d be in this industry and she’d be graded as well. I would say the highlight of my previous year was being able to buy my own car. It was my third car, but being able to buy my dream car was a symbol of how far I’ve come and how hard I’ve worked.
When I was coming home from the US recently, I asked at the desk how much was to upgrade Supremium Economy. She told me, and I was like, yeah, I’ll upgrade two do things like that. When I grew up in a working class area, I thought, there’s not much I’m gonna a mount to. I’m probably just gonna have a great job like everyone else. It’s something I thought i’d never be able to do.
But now that I’ve broken in the UK, I try not to play the comparison game. Don’t compare your chapter one of someone else’s chapter ten. Good advice. She want to go see her. She’s at TF Royal Castle Bar on the twenty first, Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.
And that’s your comedy news for today. See tomorrow