Women Comedians Must-do “Digital Work”: Breaking through Ceilings and Career Paths

Before an upcoming comedian (or a big name), commits to the hard work of making digital content, it would be helpful to know what actually “works” and what is worth the personal investment.

The answers to the most important questions have so far been a mystery; what platforms are the most efficient for gaining fans? How can a Tweet or Instagram post gain press coverage? How does anyone go from YouTube to paid work for TV networks, cable, or even Hollywood film? And what are the best ways to use the platforms to get results? Is TikTok worth it?

To answer these questions, in 2022, I collected extensive data on 100 women comedians working in US media industry, from Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Nikki Glaser and Ms. Pat, to upcomers like Esther Povitsky, Annie Lederman and Natalie Palamides, charting their presence and subscribing followings for each across YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, Twitter (now X), as well as audio and video podcasting. It turns out many are working incredibly hard, but in very different ways.

I got to know them well by scrutinizing their often-grindingly hard “digital work” across all their platforms: their Instagram posts working to amuse and establish their "brand," their fledgling web series (zero-budget, kind of like TV), their hours of video interviews on YouTube, their own podcasts, their collaborations, their TikTok (if indeed, they dared to make one), and their posts on Twitter/X, promoting themselves and striving for relevance with topical issues in America.

Most important, I also measured their career outcomes to find out proven methods; what kind of “digital work” generated press coverage in Variety, the Hollywood Reporter, or the New York Times? Or even blogs, lifestyle magazines, and Reddit? And whose YouTube series led to high-paying employment with networks like NBC or cable like HBO? Whose 30-second TikTok videos gained them a millions of comments, and lucrative, if frivolous, sponsorships?

It is necessary to note that social media is hardly an ideal environment to work in. Scholars like Alice Marwick have warned about the commodification of self in "personal branding" - how women are forced to "sell" themselves, turning their private lives public to an exhausting extent. At the same time, others like Dhiraj Murthy have warned about the strain algorithms place on behavior, forcing conformity and even putting activist-inclined comedians at risk of reputational risk.

The results were clear; evident in collated numbers, and with many patterns of concrete examples. Here are some of the main conclusions:

Unpaid… but Essential.

Nikki Glaser put it best, digital work is like a “television show that never ends.” There can be no vacations anymore (in the old days, appearing on a TV show meant comedians breathe before beginning the next gig). Instead, the endless chore has begun of maintaining “visibility” at all costs – mostly on the individual themselves. Every day is a task to post on Instagram, appear in podcasts interviews, and appear “relevant.” Put simply, YouTube and Instagram are the new CV for comedians working today.

Today, Broadcasters like the BBC, and US networks like ABC, and HBO, all search on YouTube for proven talent... with followings. No longer are stand-ups being hand-picked for starring in sitcoms or their own stand-up specials. Today, ready-made comedy stars are prepackaged through years of YouTube “content”, viral videos (those mysteriously picked up in the algorithm), and press coverage generated by “breakthrough” posts.

“How many followers do you have?” is a now a key question, meaning comic skill is less about intuitive brilliance and intellectual originality – or even honed performance. It is about understanding the platforms, what works best, and what kind of content can gain leverage for the next career step.

TikTok has a Ceiling, but Solid Gains

It’s hard to transition from TikTok work to careers in TV or film. Making funny content that “works” on TikTok, like Brittany Broski and Sarah Cooper, is very far from “TV ready.” Instead, it’s often focused on super-inappropriate “cringe” jokes, visceral moments of emotion – and bizarrely, with an almost “avant garde” aesthetic, through very creative filters and editing.

So TikTok as a platform does not lend itself to the family-focused, narrative-based mediums like TV, or even stand-up work. This starkly apparent when Sarah Cooper jarringly appeared on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon (NBC, 2014-), and in her own TikTok-inspired sketch, politically-aware show, Sarah Cooper: Everything’s Fine (Netflix, 2020). While a resourceful pioneer herself, she did not go much further in TV.

Most women comedians do not create videos for TikTok, or run an official account. This could be said to be a big mistake given that for those who do, they often reap big rewards, dramatically increasing their digital presence (more followers which increases visibility). At the same time, TikTok videos can "work" despite being very cheap to produce, requiring little preparation, and can made with only a low level of personal labor (intuitive reactions, spontaneously posted).

In one standout case – an anomaly – comedian Taylor Tomlinson, a good friend of Whitney Cummings, earned a sponsorship with Hotels.com from her hotel-room TikTok videos skits, sometimes simply talking into her hairbrush. She quickly transitioned to Netflix, now with multiple specials – but it must be stressed this is by far not at all typical (she was “selected”).

YouTube-to-TV Can Happen

I found there are two kinds of YouTubers, with drastically different outcomes.

Firstly, there are those YouTubers with high-aspirations, who unashamedly and skillfully “copy” television  cinematography, editing and narratives (making just 2-3 minute episodes which establish their character, a concept and look). There work translates well, catches the eye of prospective producers, giving them a better shot at working in “mainstream” TV industry. This kind of work produces a strange, new creation (TV shows-in-the-YouTube-space), echoing the intermedial adaptations pioneered by Mel Brooks.

The premier example of YouTube-success would be Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson’s Broad City (Comedy Central, 2014-2019) – as a web series on YouTube it was cheap, quick, and hilarious… delivered with exterior shots on the NYC streets, and quick edits to emotively-delivered punchlines. It was quickly picked up by Amy Poehler acting as executive producer, and the transition was smooth.

Secondly, there are those YouTubers, like Lilly Singh, who make videos, following the platform’s norms (recording to-camera monologues, two-shot skits playing two different characters in signifying different clothing). These creators express their cultural selves themselves fully (for Singh, it was her second-generation Indian heritage in Canada, imitating her mother).  But these YouTubers are not as attractive to producers, and do not transition well to TV.

When Lilly Singh was afforded a talk show based on her YouTube fame, A Little Late with Lilly Singh (NBC, 2019-2021), it was notoriously short lived. Working collaboratively in a studio and with executives did not come naturally (rather than on her own, in her bedroom). And to reach “middle America” executives want her to tone down the core of her appeal – the minutia references to her Indian cultural identity (YouTube is niche, NBC is “mainstream”). In the end, Singh actually preferred YouTube.

So, if upcoming comedians want to start a YouTube channel to transition to TV, it’s best to think of your channel as a pilot episode and your working practices as a test run of what the network will expect from you. Buy your own equipment, work with others. Make your own “show.”

This story of "digital work" is far bigger and with more variables, best practices, and complications relating to the comedy industry (a lot of which are actually positive). You can read more about it in my book, Women Comedians in the Digital Age (Routledge):