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Notes -
The New Yorker has published a 9000-word article rehabilitating Shane Gillis (archive), the comedian who was prominently fired from SNL in 2019 after clips surfaced of him making racist remarks against asians.
(almost immediately after being announced as part of a new cohort including the first asian cast member, the shitstorm centered on a clip which included him saying the word "chink" on his podcast (original instigating tweet, offending clip, full episode), and he was fired 4 days later)
(fwiw, this was in the context of doing an implicit impression of "the kind of guy who would say that"; but he's said "worse", about even more protected groups, in ways which would require even more discernment than this to escape, which is already impossible enough that he didn't ever publically attempt it)
That they attempted to bring Shane Gillis into as hallowed an institution as SNL in the first place was remarkable and seemed to me at the time like it could even have been an early sign of a potential vibe shift (at a time which absolutely did not have a lot of that). He was explicitly intended to be red-tribe outreach, and as far as I know SNL has not attempted anything like that again since.
That he even lasted 4 days at that level of shitstorm in a cultural place so far behind the lines is remarkable, and there is all kinds of kremlinology you can do at any level of suspicion about how deliberate or coordinated any of it is about how that went down.
Similarly with this rehabilitation.
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?
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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