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I follow Shane Gillis pretty closely. His podcast is alright (I mostly don't care for his co-host), but his appearances on other podcasts are often great. I don't really follow anyone on SNL. I do wonder if he had kept that job if I'd even know about him.
There is a growing cadre of comedy podcast hosts realizing that all the old gatekeepers, like SNL and comedy central are no longer gate keepers. These comedians can create their own path, with their own money, and their own talent picks. Louis CK released a full length movie. Tom Segura spent over a million dollars on some new content (and he has released about 8 'live' shows that are pay per view events online). Bert Kreischer just starred in a movie about himself, and has his own line of flip flops. Mark Normand and Sam Morril released Bodega Cat whiskey to go along with their podcast "We Might be Drunk". Tim Dillon is the number two earners on the website patreon, and makes about 225k a month.
What is funny to me about the this "rehabilitation" of Shane Gillis is how much he doesn't need it from the New Yorker. Shane needed the support of his fellow comedians and podcasters, and he mostly got it. His cancelling from SNL was painful and something he has said was pretty terrible. Ten years ago that would have been a nearly permanent cancellation, but nowadays it just meant he was forced to go into the route of podcaster/businessman. I won't say I'm happy he was "cancelled" but I am happy where he ended up.
I looked at the top earners in Patreon and the ones that stood out to me are 'Chapo Trap House', 'Time Dillon, ' The CumBoys', 'RedScare'.
All "dirtbag-left" and vaguely "comedic" podcasts. Why are the fans of this specific group (they all appear in each others podcasts) of podcasters so loyal?
Is there something to this? I am assuming millenials with too much disposeable income. Or is it just because other types of/entertainers have other income streams?
Rogan brings in huge $ s. Patreon more popular with the left anyway.
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It seems like an audience that was formerly catered to by Hollywood and network tv because it is a lucrative demographic. But those industries have stopped trying to cater to them for ideological reasons. Obviously entrepreneurs spotted the gap and are filling it as quickly and as cheaply as possible.
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What stands out to me is the "on Patreon" part. There are plenty of other platforms with plenty of other types of top-earners (like Substack - I think Scott sounds like he's on that order of magnitude) but that's how things shook out on that site.
I do wonder how much of that is due to "because Patreon would censor other views" - clearly not "all of it," because there are still any other creators on Patreon - but it's my understanding that it's got nonzero censoriousness about it. (But even that doesn't guarantee that this group would escape the Eye of Sauron - I recall Chapo Trap House's subreddit was banned, for example.)
I know The Dick Show, which I consider akin to a right wing version of chapo, got kicked off patreon a while ago, and I believe it was because of the eye.
TDS is still on Patreon. He did try to make a Patreon alternative for those who had been kicked off, but it kept getting shut down by the credit card processors/banks.
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Your comment makes me fantasize of a world where the traditional gatekeepers wind up making themselves irrelevant. In one giant bandaid-ripping, society our culture finds that it's dragged itself into a whole new paradigm such that those who had seemed to be at the steering wheel are revealed to be just as irrelevant. Alas, I don't think this daydream is likely to be realized.
The gatekeepers will tolerate you longer if you are profitable, like Dave Chapelle but no guarantee either.
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It is the truth if that's how you want to live and consume.
Ask yourself, who are the gatekeepers to the entertainment I currently consume?
Right now I am reliant on some internet giants to remain open platforms, and otherwise my attempts to find good content are limited by my ability to find it. I mostly consume podcasts for comedy, and indie games on steam for gaming.
I watch a little Netflix but not much. And rarely any TV. So network executives are not really gatekeepers for me. They have gatekept their areas so well that I have lost interest and abandoned those areas.
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