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Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing

The Road to Success in Comedy

Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing

The Motley Fool

Investing, Business

4.33.1K Ratings

🗓️ 7 July 2020

⏱️ 3 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Back in the day a great stand-up comedy set on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” meant instant success, but so much has changed since then. Greg Fitzsimmons, stand-up comedian and host of the long-running comedy podcast “Fitzdog Radio”, explains that despite the increased competition comedy is still a meritocracy for those willing to work for it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

With the monthly full money extra, I'm Chris Hill.

0:09.0

Back in the 1970s and 80s, there was a surefire way to succeed in the world of stand-up comedy.

0:15.3

Get on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.

0:17.9

If you could nail a five-minute set and make Johnny laugh, it was like a gold stamp of approval

0:23.3

that made it easy to get booked in comedy clubs across America.

0:28.4

In the comedy, Bubble Burst and things began to change.

0:32.3

Someone who's lived through those changes is comedian Greg Fitzsimmons.

0:36.7

Greg has a stand-up special on Netflix and comedy central.

0:40.1

He's also an Emmy award-winning comedy writer.

0:43.6

Last year I got the chance to sit down and talk with him about the business of comedy,

0:47.8

the long road to success, and the role of social media.

0:52.0

There are a lot of headliners around the country that have social media following,

0:57.0

and the club's book them when they have a million followers because they know they can get a crowd.

1:01.6

This is what happened when the last comedy bubble burst.

1:07.0

They were booking headliners that they thought could draw because there was a soap opera star

1:11.2

named Walt Willie, who was like, exactly.

1:13.9

They would put him into clubs and crowds would leave and they would go,

1:17.6

I'm never coming to the date and funny bone again because that was such a terrible experience.

1:22.5

And clubs have to book great comedians.

1:25.4

And there are enough great comedians right now, and they don't do that, and it's going to ultimately burn them.

1:31.9

But now I think it's a meritocracy.

1:34.1

I think if you're a really good comic and you're in a big market,

...

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