We’re in a new age of comedy thanks to diversification by brick-and-mortar clubs and social media, which has leveled the playing field for talent. There is not, however, a direct correlation to a comedian’s viral success online and that person’s ability to land a spot on a comedy club’s mainstage.
Erin von Schonfeldt, the exec VP of programming for Improv Comedy Club owners Levity Live, has booked shows for the network of clubs since 1997. “There are those, especially today given the viralness of digital media, who can find an audience from a single online clip and find initial success,” she notes. “But if you want to be a professional stand-up comedian, there’s really no substitute for working in front of live audiences, night after night, in multiple cities to build a real foundation.
“Some comedians get there by their sheer work ethic; they watch their performances over and over, refining their words and delivery,” she continues. “They study other comedians. They study audiences. They understand there is no short-cut. You have to put in the time and gain mileage.”
Comedian Taylor Tomlinson equates digital work to “doing radio back in the day. You just have to do it to sell tickets.
“A lot of people — myself included — get overwhelmed with the amount of content you have to produce now,” Tomlinson says. “But it’s necessary unless you’re super famous. And even then, you need an Instagram.”
On the plus side, Tomlinson adds, “the internet has made it so much easier to find your specific audience. Nobody is truly for everyone and now you don’t have to be.”
But what about “cancel culture” and work being taken out of context online? Comedian Whitney Cummings says she is “way more concerned about disappointing somebody who came to see me because I’m working on new stuff and it’s not super-polished than being canceled by some fake Twitter mob that weren’t comedy fans in the first place.”
Still, Cummings knows her success didn’t happen by accident. She remembers comedian-actor Bobby Lee telling her when she started to “not worry about jokes for the first two years; just worry about getting comfortable on stage.”
Comedy clubs have a reputation for being hostile spaces, both from the stage and the seats. They’re also for-profit industries that need to cater to ticket sales.
Writer-director Andrea Blaugrund Nevins, who made the 2021 documentary “Hysterical” about female comedians, notes that comedy used to be the provenance of the marginalized, and there were many women performing “until money could be made in the comedy space.” once that happened, she says, they were pushed out for men. But this, too, is changing. While making this film, Blaugrund Nevins saw “audiences who were definitely not all male and they definitely were not all straight.”
According to comedian and screenwriter Iliza Shlesinger, “doing stand up and getting into it is so much more accessible” than it used to be. “The good news is, now, if you have a point of view and you are a hard worker and you are — the last piece of the puzzle — very funny, you will find your audience.
“Hopefully, you find an audience that’s big and you’re successful,” she says. “But plenty of people have a niche audience and that can be a career too.”
There’s also no set trajectory with what to do with a career once someone is established.
Tomlinson revels in “the freedom to do shows anywhere I want, to perform for audiences that are there specifically to see me,” while Maz Jobrani wants to go the classic route with his own TV show. “I want to cast my friends to come on set and play with me,” he says. “In success, I would love to produce shows for other talented comedians that I know.”
Judi Marmel, senior partner at Improv Comedy Clubs owner Levity Live, points out that there’s a big difference between fame and success.
“Success, to me, is making a living doing this art form that gives you gratification every night,” says Marmel. “And if you can make a living and pay your bills doing that, then that’s the definition of success. Fame is fleeting. The goal shouldn’t be fame; it should be success.”
