Comedian Ryan Davis stops by The Punchline Academy on Shade 45 with Da Inphamus Amadeuz to talk about his brand-new comedy special, Underrated!
In this interview, Ryan breaks down how Netflix passed on his series, leading him to take control of his own destiny by releasing it independently. He shares the challenges, triumphs, and the grind of being an independent comedian in today’s industry.
Tune in as Ryan Davis keeps it real, raw, and hilarious proving why he’s truly Underrated!
In the mid-2010s, Ryan Davis would begin to garner fame as a humorous online personality.
His unique reality-based opinions recorded from his home in Charlotte, NC, would collect between hundreds of thousands and a million views daily on iconic platforms Vine, Facebook, and World Star Hip-Hop.
In 2016 alone, Davis’ internet show would generate over 100 million views.
Eventually, Ryan would evolve from the laptop to the main stage, quickly becoming one of the best young comedians in the country.
He would also attract the bright lights of Hollywood with small but impactful roles on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm and Insecure while releasing viral content with millions of views.
In 2024, considered the genre’s best established young act, Ryan would spend over $150,000.00 of his own money to self-produce a comedy special in hopes of landing on Netflix, the world’s biggest streaming platform.
With a solid history in personal viewership, game-changing new material, and a proven fanbase, streaming services should be salivating at the chance of adding this project to their services.
Unfortunately, his dreams would not become a reality as the company would pass on the opportunity to feature the comedy special on their site. Shocked and in disbelief at the rejection, Davis began to question Netflix’s corporate decision-making.
Eager for the company to regret their decision, Ryan would begin to post mini clips of his comedy special to his personal social media platforms in December 2024. He would instantly see significant success as the clips would garner more views and interaction than any comedic clip that Netflix would upload to their platforms for the next four months.
This would lead Ryan to take matters of his career into his own hands as he would discuss the entire situation in a personal video posted to his Instagram account on March 11th and announce that he will be releasing his debut comedy special Under-Rated independently on his exclusive patreon page on March 26th.
