In 2025, one of the smartest places for a comic to be isn’t a club or a podcast studio — it’s Reddit.
Why? Because Reddit is built for connecting with niche online communities, both in comedy and beyond.
There’s a subreddit for just about every topic you can imagine — from golf to F1, makeup, sobriety, and gaming — and on each one, there are always users who could use a laugh. Used properly, the platform can be a powerful way to grow an audience that will pack in for shows, long before a comic is on the radar of Hollywood executives.
That’s one of the big ideas at the heart of today’s episode of Comedy Means Business, featuring managers Allen McRae and Logan Potter of Authentic Talent & Literary Management.
McRae is a former comic and theater manager; Potter, an expert on digital who began her career working alongside influencers before pivoting toward comedy. Both describe today’s world as one where traditional paths have crumbled for comics — as they have for so many others in entertainment — and where breaking through requires far more creativity and entrepreneurial thinking.
The world the duo describes is one in which late night has become a shadow of its former self — same for pilot season. Studios and streamers have focused less on incubating talent and cut back significantly on programming as thousands have been laid off around town. And so, in the absence of the kinds of opportunity that used to exist, many a comic has found that the real money today is online, whether in the form of branded content, a YouTube series, or projects for forward-looking outfits like Dropout and Smosh. These kinds of projects are not necessarily the ultimate dream, but rather stepping stones offering artists the financial freedom to chase their greater goals.
On Comedy Means Business, Potter and McRae offer their two cents on how to navigate the oft-overwhelming world of the internet, advising on how comics should be thinking about the “Big 3” platforms of Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, when it comes to their business. They explain why they feel “influencer” shouldn’t be a dirty word, even if tensions abound between digital-first talent and some traditional stand-ups who fear the theft of their spots and their spotlight. Additionally, the managers address the skepticism comedians sometimes have of reps, as artists used to bootstrapping their own careers, demystifying the role a manager plays in a comic’s life and the value they can bring to the table in this day and age.
