Comedy Means Business

Could Ali G: Who Iz I? mark the end of Sacha Baron Cohen’s high-stakes clowning era? On this episode of Comedy Means Business, he joins Matt Grobar to discuss why he brought Ali G back after 20 years — and why he expects this to be the last film in his undercover-comedy series. Cohen breaks down the extraordinary level of planning that has made these films possible — from Ali G Indahouse to Borat,...

Kate Berlant joins Comedy Means Business to discuss her debut HBO special Parmesan and finding the humor in today’s very weird and “precarious” new reality. She talks about growing up around artists, the influence of academia on her work, the instinctive nature of her approach to physical comedy, and her tendency to deconstruct her art form as she performs it. She also discusses reluctantly enteri...

This week on Comedy Means Business, Matt Grobar sits down with American High’s Jeremy Garelick and Will Phelps to discuss the genesis of a singular comedy business. Based out of a decommissioned middle school in upstate New York that they converted into a private production facility, American High has in less than a decade produced more than 20 films, amassed billions of views on social, incubated...

In this week's episode of Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar speaks with Jeremiah Watkins about his new self-financed special, Crazy Pizza, and how he hopes the meticulously crafted hour reflects on him as a comic. Alongside discussion of the special, Watkins dissects the blood, sweat and tears of his nearly 15-year comedy grind — including the four-and-a-half years it took to get p...

Carisa Hendrix found her niche in live entertainment — and built an entirely unique business around it. On Deadline’s Comedy Means Business, the Canadian magician, comedian and variety artist traces her path from arts programs for at-risk youth to the creation of Lucy Darling, the glamorous, razor-tongued vintage socialite character that’s helped her become a global touring phenomenon. In a discus...

In this episode of Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar sits down with Kountry Wayne to break down the blueprint behind one of the most unusual comedy empires in entertainment. Alongside his work on stage, the comic is making eight figures annually on social media — not with stand-up clips, but with serialized micro-drama soap operas that generate billions of monthly views. Wayne gets into the...

In the first-ever live edition of Comedy Means Business, kicking off ComedyPRO programming at Just for Laughs Montreal 2026, host Matt Grobar examines the state of comedy development from three distinct vantage points. Guests on the panel included Reg Tigerman, manager/producer and founder of The Laugh List; Maureen Taran, former JFL VP and newly appointed head of original content at Helium;...

Jeff Arcuri joins Comedy Means Business to promote his debut special — and first for Netflix — Jeff Arcuri: Nice to Meet You, which cracked the global Top 10 for English TV series in its first week. At the heart of both the hour and this conversation: the hardest stretch of Arcuri’s life, navigating a year-and-a-half saga with his now-wife Katie Thurston’s stage 3 breast cancer diagnosis. We get i...

Comedian Josh Johnson joins Matt Grobar to discuss Symphony, his first HBO special, and how it represents the beginning of a new creative chapter, reflecting his longtime interest in juxtaposing music and comedy in his work, and his interest in crafting timeless art. As someone who has built something genuinely singular in comedy — pairing the mainstream credibility of work on The Daily Show with...

Eric André joins Comedy Means Business to discuss the making of his new Netflix comedy Little Brother —which he describes as What About Bob? meets Parasite — and the discipline with which he’s cultivated his singular brand of raunchy chaos, on and offscreen. In conversation with Matt Grobar, he also delves into mob-run comedy venues, his punk rock ethos, his admiration of Jackie Chan and new album...

Sarah Sherman joins Comedy Means Business to discuss the crafting of her gonzo, body-horror variety hour, Sarah Squirm: Live and in the Flesh (HBO), and the building of one of the most singular brands of anyone at SNL. We get into the craft and cost of making a tactile, visually ambitious hour, the challenge of scaling weirdness without sanding off its edges, and what it takes to tour material thi...

As traditional late-night contracts under the weight of collapsing linear economics, Ben Gleib is making a bet on what comes next. In this episode of Comedy Means Business, the comedian, host, and entrepreneur breaks down the launch of Good Night with Ben Gleib, a late-night show built natively for YouTube — which he’s taping at his house. He reflects on what YouTube offers that network TV can’t,...

Atsuko Okatsuka joins host Matt Grobar to discuss her latest special, Father, and the long journey toward trusting what she had to offer as a stand-up. She also talks growing up undocumented in Los Angeles, learning stand-up in a class off Craigslist, performing at the ocean and to the trees in her backyard, her appreciation of recent performances from Justin Bieber that prove “it’s ok to go small...

Ari Shaffir joins Matt Grobar to discuss The End, the culmination of work producing longform comedic storytelling shows that goes back 15 years.. Fresh off seven months off the grid in Latin America, he also reflects on the nomadic lifestyle that’s shaped both his material and his outlook on the business. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pete Holmes chats with Matt Grobar about coming up through a version of Hollywood that no longer exists — and how he’s reclaiming that magic on his own terms. Promoting his new special Silly Silly Fun Boy, Holmes reflects on the disappearance of talent incubators that once helped build careers, the importance of mentorship and knowledge-sharing across generations, how he would approach building a...

David Cross speaks to host Matt Grobar about his new special The End of the Beginning of the End, his return to comedy clubs after decades away from that circuit, the impact of the recent Live Nation-Ticketmaster antitrust settlement, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matt Grobar speaks with comedian Ali Siddiq about his commitment to a direct-to-consumer career where he retains full ownership over his work, a journey that has recently led him to win an NAACP Image Award, becoming the first comic to achieve major awards recognition for an independently produced special. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Max Amini joins Comedy Means Business on the heels of his biggest year yet. We unpack how he cultivated one of comedy’s biggest and most passionate audiences — with nearly 26 million followers and billions of views across platforms — how India became a major international stronghold for him, and what it means to him to have become the first Iranian-American to headline Madison Square Garden. Learn...

In this episode of Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar talks with Matt McCusker about his first Netflix special and the path that led there. McCusker reflects on experiences with social anxiety, his brokest years as a comic, and working with Shane Gilis to turn Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast into a major grassroots success story. He shares how a “small business” mindset fuels everything he do...

Matt Grobar speaks with Michael Strassner, the co-writer, producer, and star of SXSW breakout The Baltimorons, about turning personal setbacks into creative fuel, culminating in the best year of his life. Strassner reflects on getting sober, his collaboration with filmmaker Jay Duplass, and how his scrappy, deeply personal indie built its audience through word of mouth. Learn more about your ad ch...

Matt Grobar sits down with Stapleview founders Sam Grey and Daniel Lantsman to discuss the origins of their comedy-focused management and production company and how they’re looking to rethink how comedy gets made, distributed, and monetized. On Comedy Means Business, the pair share their predictions for the next era of digital comedy, touching on what it takes to turn internet bits into valuable I...

Matt Grobar sits down with comedian Nurse John and his manager, Logan Watkins of Select Management Group, to unpack John’s extraordinarily rapid transition from nurse to internationally recognized touring stand-up. The pair breaks down what it took to translate digital fandom into sold-out live shows and get into the realities of scaling a live business at warp speed, plus what John’s building tow...

Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar speaks with Kumail Nanjiani about returning to stand-up after more than a decade and the process of crafting new special, Night Thoughts. Kumail breaks down the unglamorous reality of restarting this side of his career, also revisiting the Chicago alt scene that shaped his voice and the wild energy of L.A.’s Meltdown era — including an unforgettable...

Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar chats with the sketch group Business Casual and their manager Carly Hoogendyk of Omnipop Talent about the mechanics of developmental representation — from the POV of both the artist and their rep. Jeremy Elder, Corey Peter Lane, and Hunter Saling trace their path from UCLA improv kids to Edinburgh Fringe regulars and the creators of their signature...

Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar speaks with Authentic Talent’s Logan Potter and Allen McRae about the social media strategies they’d recommend to any comic, in a moment when the digital space has become an essential revenue driver. They explain why Reddit is the platform every stand-up should be looking further into, why “influencer” shouldn’t be a dirty word, the value a manager...