At least I know where to look for stand-ups and podcasts on Apple, SiriusXM and Pandora
Is this what your search page looks like, too?
Comedians scored a minor victory earlier this month when a judge dismissed Pandora’s countersuit, pushing back on the efforts of Word Collections and Spoken Giants to seek writing residuals in addition to the recording residuals for albums by stand-up comedians (source: THR). But it’s a year and a half since their spat with Spotify over payouts went public over Thanksgiving weekend 2021, and we don’t seem any closer to a resolution or a compromise. What gives?
So this week’s top story finds me still wondering about the current state of streaming for stand-ups.
After holding out on subscribing to any streaming service (only sometimes making use of my Alexa and my Amazon Prime account to call up mood music), I finally succumbed to a full-fledged trial of Spotify this spring, and quickly saw why so many people love it enough to share their year-end listening habits. At least when it comes to music. It’s easy to keep up with new music releases — Spotify even updates several specialized playlists weekly to help pump new jams into your ears. And yet. Discovering new comedy, or finding out what’s popular in comedy on Spotify, remains a baffling experience.
Apple, though splitting Music and Podcasts into separate apps, still has specific genre pages for comedy albums and comedy podcasts, plus continually updated charts for the most popular tracks, albums, and podcast episodes. SiriusXM, which also owns Pandora, operates their own niche radio stations tailored to whatever kind of comedy you’re into, either spinning new comedy tracks your way via DJ or via algorithms. But Spotify? Searching for comedy only pulls up albums and tracks with comedy in the title, and the artists page just shows me a collection of high-profile dudes. I don’t know why Spotify chose these particular comedians. I certainly haven’t been giving them hints in the direction they chose (not that I don’t enjoy them, but still, just the facts here).
If you Google most popular comedy on Spotify, it leads you to a Spotify comedy genre page, but only for podcasts, and little explanation for why they’re showing you these particular pods. Searching for Spotify podcast charts, on the other hand, hews much closer in April to what the platform announced as their top podcasts of 2022.
Chartable attempts to offer a comedy-specific podcast ranking on Spotify, for what that’s worth.
That said, if it really still feels as though Spotify is pivoting toward podcasts to avoid the hassle of paying stand-ups for their recorded albums, then it’s still not clear what’s going on with Spotify and podcasts, either.
After Joe Rogan came under fire for a number of misinformed, outdated and sometimes kinda racist takes on his podcast over the years (pre-and-post his move to go Spotify-exclusive, which was worth upwards of $200 million, and seen by Spotify as worth it considering it’s their top podcast globally), Spotify’s CEO pledged $100 million toward “historically marginalized groups” (Netflix also found itself in a similar bind over Dave Chappelle, bending over backward to keep Hannah Gadsby in their fold). And yet. Bloomberg found that Spotify’s “Creator Equity Fund” had spent less than 10% in its first 14 months.
Meanwhile, in January, Spotify parted ways with Dawn Ostroff, the chief content officer who helped lure Rogan and other famous names to the platform.
In March, Spotify claimed it had paid out almost $40 billion over the course of the company’s history to music rights holders, and the RIAA reported all-time record revenues of $15.9 billion in 2022.
And in April, I’m hardly hearing anyone talk (inside or outside of comedy) about a Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode — whether that’s due to fans losing interest, or due to all the Rogan hubbub shifting to the opening of his Austin comedy club, Comedy Mothership, or a combination of both, there’s definitely been a shift in Rogan’s place in the cultural zeitgeist this year.
When there’ll be a shift in residuals from the streamers to the comedians is a better question.
At least plenty of comedians still have writing gigs with the Writers Guild to count on…for another couple of weeks?!?!? Stay tuned.
R.I.P. Darryl Lenox
Sad news that hits close to home for this comedy journalist. Darryl Lenox died Sunday in the hospital in Vancouver, B.C., after suffering “a devastating aortic dissection (aneurysm of the aorta).” He was 57.
Lenox’s death sent shockwaves throughout the Pacific Northwest. I interviewed him in 2012 when he released his comedy special, Blind Ambition, on Starz — but I’d actually performed with Lenox, opening for him on the road in Seattle, Bellingham and other places back in the late 90s (it was one of the rare times Jon Fox paid me in money and not in Swannie’s chicken fingers, fries and beer). Lenox won the Seattle Comedy Competition in 1999, then scored plenty of spots on JFL galas, other TV showcases, Conan, etc.
Here he was on Conan in 2013.
Lenox was a friend to so many comedians, no matter their status in the industry. Here’s Seth Rogen telling Marc Maron how Lenox gave him sage advice as an aspiring 14-year-old comedian in Vancouver:
Lenox moved around a bunch, but always wound up back in Vancouver. In 2021, he released the comedy album “Super Bloom.”
Last summer, he was featured on Episode 775 of This American Life.
Damn. I’m gonna miss him. A lot of us are.
Industry News and Notes
What else is new?
Besides the initial announcement of headliners and themed acts performing this July at Just For Laughs in Montreal, you mean?
The Ringer sat down with iconic Twitter poster Dril (Substack thinks the at sign only means Substackers!) because you might want to know who he is before Elon finally sinks Twitter for good.
Among the shows nominated for Peabody Awards this year (winners announced May 9): Abbott Elementary, Atlanta, Bad Sisters, Better Call Saul, Bob’s Burgers, Documentary Now!, Los Espookys, Mo, Our Flag Means Death, Reservation Dogs, Severance, Somebody Somewhere, We’re Here, George Carlin’s American Dream, Lucy and Desi, We Need to Talk About Cosby.
Tickets went on sale over the weekend for new tour dates for David Cross, Chelsea Handler, Dethklok from Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, and Jo Koy.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus has a podcast now. WISER THAN ME, from Lemonada Media, is 10-part series starring the comedic actress speaking with older and wiser women such as Jane Fonda and Carol Burnett.
Comedy Central and Yes, And… Laughter Lab launched a digital series “The Drawing Board,” highlighting rising new voices in animation, debuting last week on Comedy Central’s social platforms. Among the featured creators: Maddie Brewer, Noah Cutwright, and Xano Cuervo, Mario Garza and Daniel Napoli.
The Hollywood Reporter exposed Amazon Prime Video for paying Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s $60 million from 2019-2022 with nothing to show for it on Amazon. Waller-Bridge and Amazon renewed their deal last year.
Amazon Studios also has scored a deal with Flint Wainess and John Hamburg o develop Sharps, a sitcom about a 30-year-old nice guy who’s secretly a sports gambling addict. Kapital Entertainment and TrillTV are attached.
Netflix announced the voice cast for new animated series, Mulligan: Nat Faxon, Chrissy Teigen, Tina Fey, Sam Richardson, Dana Carvey and Phil LaMarr. Recurring Guest Stars include Daniel Radcliffe, Ayo Edebiri, Ronny Chieng and Kevin Michael Richardson. Mulligan, from Robert Carlock and Sam Means, is set on Earth after an alien attack. It premieres May 12, 2023.
Roku Channel has renewed Kevin Hart’s Die Hart for a third season. Does that make Die Hart the most successful survivor of Quibi?
Speaking of channels we sometimes forget still exist, Fuse has a second season premiering May 10 of We Need to Talk About America, featuring observations and conversations among first-generation American comedians — Chinedu Unaka, Tim Chantarangsu, Sherry Cola, Jesus Trejo, Marcella Arguello, Danielle Perez, Dumbfoundead, Simmi Singh, Robin Tran, Fahim Anwar, and Drea Okeke.
Deadline reported that the cast of Bob ❤️ Abishola had to agree to a pay cut somewhere between 10-25 percent so they could get a fifth-season renewal this year from CBS.
Fresh off of her Netflix debut, Mo’Nique is suing CBS and Paramount, alleging they’ve withheld her portion of the profits from starring on The Parkers, which aired on UPN from 1999-2004.
This Week’s Most Special Special Promotion
Hari Kondabolu’s new special, Vacation Baby, premieres Tuesday on YouTube. And would you look at who he got to promote it: Hank Azaria. That’s one way to solve The Problem With Apu once and for all. Right?
Last Week’s Specials
New on Netflix
New on Amazon for rent/sale
New on Dry Bar
Rhonda Corey: Wizard of Walmart
Andy Woodhull: Middle Parent Syndrome
New on NextUp (all released April 10)
Henning Wehn: It’ll All Come Out In The Wash GERMAN
Hal Cruttenden: It’s Best You Hear It From Me BRITISH
Rob Rouse: No Refunds BRITISH
Shelf: Hair BRITISH (Rachel WD and Ruby Clyde) BRITISH
Jamie D’Souza: Stop Drawing Willies On My Poster BRITISH
Will Duggan: Iceberg BRITISH
Rajiv Karia: Gallivant BRITISH
Sam Rhodes: Colossus of Rhodes BRITISH
The Gorgeous Diva: Songs In The Key Of Me (Jay Bennett) BRITISH
Tarot: Cautionary Tales BRITISH
New on YouTube
Adam Ray: Read The Room (via 800 Pound Gorilla Media)
Brian Roe: That’s My Vibe (via Four by Three)
Frenchy: The Accidental Crowd Work Special AUSTRALIAN YouTuber
IIT Tough Hai | Indian Stand Up Comedy by Chirag Panjwani INDIA (only 20 minutes long but already 608,000 views!)
Stavros Halkias: Four Nights In New York (Crowd Work Special)
Goran Vinčić – Dežurni krivac CROATIAN
— plus Stuart Goldsmith’s I Need You Alive (from 800 Pound Gorilla Media, previously released this year on Moment); plus several old Comedy Central special re-released to CC’s YT channel; plus a headlining show by T.J. Miller in Chanute, Kansas?!
THIS WEEK: 23
LAST WEEK: 15
THIS MONTH (APRIL): 18+23=41
RUNNING TOTAL for 2023: 204+23= 227
Fun Things To Do In NYC
This past weekend’s show(s) I plugged in The New York Times: Max & Nicky Weinbach hosted their weekly variety showcase, Vintage Basement, at Young Ethel’s in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Their guests were Jim Tews, Mike Hanford, Clare O’Kane, and Rachel Green. You can keep up with their future Vintage Basement dates here.
This coming weekend? If you’ve enjoyed seeing Tape Face on America’s Got Talent, then you’ll love seeing the New Zealand clown-mime-prop act this coming Saturday at Palladium Times Sqaure.
Would you like to promote your comedy show or album or special or whatnot on this newsletter???
You can plug your projects in the comments if you’re a PAID SUBSCRIBER of Piffany! Or, if you’d rather have me include your project in the body of the weekly From The Comic’s Comic roundup, please let me know and we can work out the details.
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