Social Media is No Joke for Comedians

Social media has changed the game for comedians. And not just in the way you might think.

“Comedians are trying to be more like online creators,” Scott Dunn, co-founder and CEO of Unicorn, told us on the latest episode of Scalable. Unicorn, which raised nearly $1 million in funding last year, is a creator management and content studio that helps comedians and other creators develop their own IP.

The traditional route for comedians went something like this: Perform on stages, hope to be discovered and get a special. Then TikTok gave comedians a way to quickly go viral with their clips, build an audience and get discovered that way.

While Dunn told us that those days haven’t ended, more comedians are now developing shows designed specifically for social media, rather than using it just as a discovery channel.

Take “Human Trials,” a new YouTube show with comedian Mark Normand. The show keeps the audience’s identity a secret from Normand until moments before he goes on stage. The twist is that the group of 50 audience members all have something in common. In one episode, all audience members were bald men. Another episode featured an audience of just Gen Z girls.

“Human Trials” hit 40,000 YouTube subscribers in just 10 days. About a month in, the show has twice as many followers across social platforms and 25 million views across its channels.

Even so, Dunn told us that the North Star for many comedians is still a comedy special on a streaming service like Netflix. And many aspiring—and established—comedians are still performing live, sometimes multiple nights or even every night per week. 

“You’re doing stage work, you have a podcast and once every year or so you do a special. All things ladder up to that special,” Dunn said.

The popularity of comedy on social media has also made it incredibly crowded and hard for individual comedians to break through. Comedy was the most popular content category among social media users in the US, according to YouGov data from March. It’s also worth noting that content categories are not mutually exclusive, meaning that content in the animal and pet category can also be considered comedy, for example.

Dunn told us that one way for comedians to stand out is by finding a format that is different from a traditional special. He likes to sign talent and create shows that are “visually different.”

“The Void” by former SNL star Michael Longfellow is one example. The show is made for Instagram and TikTok, with episodes lasting between one to two minutes. In each, Longfellow appears as a floating head against a dark backdrop and asks guests to share one thing they’ve never said out loud before.

“That one is just short, snackable. It’s kind of like our ‘Subway Takes,’” Scott said of the show. “Usually we like to tailor things for YouTube,” he added.

That makes sense. While short-video platforms are great for discovery, they are hard for creators to build a loyal audience on as algorithms often dictate what people see. Comedian Matt Rife addressed this issue on a recent episode of the Club Shay Shay podcast, claiming he can’t reach his audience on TikTok. “It was an explosion of exposure on there and then little by little, it started to go away,” he said.

Then there’s the money challenge. Most short-form video platforms don’t share ad revenue with creators, meaning that these types of shows are primarily built to earn money through brand deals. The problem is that most brands are wary of partnering with comedians as their jokes can be controversial and often crude.

For Dunn, that means thinking beyond sponsorship and ad revenue for the shows Unicorn develops. “If it doesn’t have four or five, potentially 10 plus revenue streams, I’m not as interested in making it,” he said.

For more from our conversation with Dunn, including what revenue streams he prioritizes, tune into our podcast, embedded below. We also share more of our experience at the Cannes Film Festival, including the surprising things that aren’t allowed on the red carpet!

Meta announced new publishing tools for creators on Facebook. They include a content planner with an option to schedule posts and a bulk upload tool, which allows creators to upload and schedule multiple Reels at once. These may seem like small updates, but they build on Facebook’s recent efforts to become a creator hub by encouraging creators to post more original content.

Spotify announced it would launch memberships later this summer that allow creators to charge for bonus content and experiences, similar to offerings from Patreon, YouTube, Snapchat and others. 

LinkedIn is using AI to crack down on AI slop on its platform, according to a new blog post. Its new tools, which were built in partnership with its editorial team, will help the company identify content that “adds perspective, context, or expertise” and content that “feels generic or repetitive,” including posts, comments and responses. Content that LinkedIn suspects is generated by AI won’t be shared beyond the user’s immediate network. Sorry to all the faux thought leaders out there using ChatGPT! 

Vox Media sold parts of its business to James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems, including Vox, its podcast network and New York Magazine in a reported $300 million deal. Its other brands including The Verge, Eater, SB Nation and The Dodo will be part of a separate company.

“Twilight” star Kristen Stewart wants to make her next movie and put it on YouTube. 

Stewart’s comments come as the film industry is undergoing major upheaval. On the ground at the Cannes Film Festival, many industry insiders expressed frustration at how hard it can be to secure funding and distribution for a film and suggested that traditional filmmakers need to think more like creators.

One example is Markiplier, who self-financed and distributed his horror movie “Iron Lung.” At the festival, he announced that the movie will be available for purchase on YouTube at the end of this month.

Cue the headline: YouTube isn’t just TV. It’s now the movie theater, too.

A Message from Cannes Lions

Join us at LIONS Creators to hear from Steven Bartlett, Adobe’s David Wadhwani and Creator Vision’s Jamie Gutfreund on modern day creator leadership. Exploring how leadership style and creativity are essential to remaining competitive in the age of AI – this is a must-attend session. Be part of it. 

 LIONS Creators | 22-26 June 2026 | Cannes, France 

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, the hosts of the business podcast Acquired, will write a regular column in the Wall Street Journal. The column will include an excerpt from their episodes, which run for multiple hours and dive deep into the histories of companies, such as Hermes, Visa and JPMorgan. 

It’s the latest example of how traditional news outlets are working with creators. The move comes after Acquired wrote a column for WSJ about Ferrari in April.

In related news: Condé Nast is open to working with Substack writers, CEO Roger Lynch told Business Insider. The rise of independent writers “does make us think differently about how we operate. We have to be more creative,” he said.  

Sam Kimmel joined WME as a creator partnerships executive. She’s previously held partnerships and creator roles at TikTok, Hello Sunshine and NowThis. 

Claire Zau joined Lightspeed Ventures as a partner on the early-stage investing team. Zau, who has about 238,000 followers on Instagram where she posts about tech and startups, will also help to build the VC firm’s new media efforts. Other firms such as Andreessen Horowitz have also launched new media initiatives recently. Previously, Zau was a partner at GSV Ventures. 

Jessica Williams, head of brand and partnerships at Shopify, announced she’s leaving the company. She hasn’t yet announced her new role. 

Kelly Gordon is now a principal at Night Ventures. Previously, she was associate director of talent marketing at Creative People. 

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