Top Comics Skip Networks To Sell Work Online

Today's New York Times reported an interesting trend emerging from the intersection of the Internet and professional comedy. It turns out selected comics are going straight to the audience/consumer via the Net. In exchange for this unfiltered access to presumably unfiltered content, the comedians don't have to share any revenue with networks or cable companies. (That assertion excludes any contract agreement in which the comedian pays a network for content outside its broadcast programming.)

This phenomenon to some extent parallels the move by "brand-name" authors to a direct-to-consumer sale via their own websites or through the likes of Amazon. The comedians interviewed in the Times story, as were many of Amazon's hand-picked B2C writers, were positively giddy over the income they were generating and ostensibly retaining.

However, whether it's ultimately wise for the creative talent to form its own "brand" and market it independently of the cable/network hegemony is not quite clear. Significantly, the networks and cable providers have reach that's tough for independents to reach. I'm not convinced on the "strong" case for promotion via social media. And, if you're lifeline is the online world, you had better be on it all day, every day.

I suppose the proposition comes down to this question: how much would you pay for a laugh?

PS. Once upon a time, there was something called "Dial-A-Joke." It apparently was legit. You called up a phone number and there was a tape recorded joke ready and waiting for the caller. Was "Dial-A-Joke" ahead of its time? Hell, yeah. According to the Wikipedia link about DaJ, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak supposedly met his first wife via Dial-A-Joke.