Making Creativity Pay Dan Barnett

This episode is with Ian Adkins and Laura Rouxel of 800lb Gorilla a comedy media company produce, distribute, and market stand-up comedy video specials and audio albums around the world.

We talk in particular about the work of 800lb Gorilla in the UK, filming and promoting specials for comedians such as Stuart Goldsmith, Fern Brady, Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, Ivo Graham and many more.

We talk about their relationship with artists, promoting UK acts in America and Australia, the importance of social media and finding the right clip or chunk of a show for the right platform.


You can watch 800 Pound Gorilla Media’s catalogue of stand-up specials via their site here (https://800poundgorillamedia.com/).

You can also catch their stand-up alumni showcase at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year on 21st August - tickets here (https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/800-pound-gorilla-alumni-showcase).  



Established in 2016, 800 Pound Gorilla Media was started by managers of comedians in need of a company that would bring a modern focus of behavioural targeting, digital marketing and fan engagement around comedy albums, podcasts, and video projects.

The record label division has over 500 comics on their roster and works with Netflix, Kevin Hart’s LOL, All Things Comedy, and others.

The company has also produced over 100 stand-up comedy video specials both in the US and the UK; on various platforms including Netflix, Amazon, HBO, Showtime and BBC.  

Instagram:@800pgm (https://www.instagram.com/800pgm/)

Twitter:@800pgm (https://twitter.com/800pgm)

Site:https://800poundgorillamedia.com/

Facebook:

www.facebook.com/800poundgorillamedia

TikTok:800pgm (https://www.tiktok.com/@800pgm)

YouTube:800pgm (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ9hfZ2sU7jFT9isA2rN58Q)

It’s impossible to move at the moment for think pieces about the future of AI and for better or worse you’re getting another one here.

In this episode I’ll talk a bit about examples from art, music, writing and coding and how what could be an incredible advance for some will bring consequences for others.

I show how with text to speech advances it's hard to tell real and AI adverts apart, how whole songs can be created from just a sentence and the argument around 'homeopathic robbery' in that if you train on so much data it's impossible to tell where you've taken from then is it really theft or just a paradigm shift.



Links:

Text to Speech with Eleven Labs: https://elevenlabs.io/

Text to Music with Udio: https://www.udio.com/

Full episode of 'Hard Fork' that includes discussion around AI art and copyright issues:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/20/podcasts/20hard-fork-elon-empire-artists-ai.html

Full episode with Andy Stanton on his book
Benny the Blue Whale: A Descent into Story, Language and the Madness of ChatGPT

https://podcasting.makingcreativitypay.com/chatgpt-and-creativity-andy-stanton/


Find More about ‘Making Creativity Pay’

Website: https://podcasting.makingcreativitypay.com/episodes/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beyond_the_Pod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingcreativitypay/

“It feels like people do have to almost have a second career to support themselves. And it's not clear where the kind of goals or the safe spot is anymore where you can just fully concentrate on that thing”

Rachael Healy is an award winning journalist and the current British Journalism Awards Journalist of the year for Arts and Entertainment.

Rachael is a freelance journalist working predominantly with The Guardian and the i newspapers and we talk about getting articles commissioned, from show reviews through to in-depth investigative reporting.

We also discuss the star rating systems of reviews, building a personal brand as well as her repeated focus in her writing on the financial impact of being an artist including the experience of performers at the fringe

Rachael Links

Rachael’s Best In Class article https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/feb/29/woke-tv-comedy-workshops-infuriating-right-wing-press 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ohrhealy 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachaelhealyjournalist/ 

Website: http://www.rachaelhealy.co.uk/ 

British Journalism Awards Winners: https://pressgazette.co.uk/press-gazette-events/british-journalism-awards-winners-2023/ 

Find More about ‘Making Creativity Pay’

Website: https://podcasting.makingcreativitypay.com/episodes/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beyond_the_Pod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingcreativitypay/

“...people who go into medicine, often it's not so much just pure science people, it's people who've got maybe a bit more of a broader interest range than your standard person who just wants to be a scientist or a mathematician or something like that. So I think often you find people going into it who've got a bit of a second interest, even at the point of sort of choosing what career they're going into.”

This episode is with Comedian Matt Hutchinson we talk about his experiences of the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe with his show ‘Hostile’ from promoting the show on Social Media and Flyering through to working with PR and Production companies.

We also discuss how being a comedian interacts with his day job as a Doctor and how he somehow manages to combine all this with studying for a research PhD as well as currently being in the middle of writing a book based on his experiences as a Doctor.

Matt Links

Twitter: https://twitter.com/hutch_up 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthutchinsoncomedy/ 

Find More about ‘Making Creativity Pay’

Website: https://podcasting.makingcreativitypay.com/episodes/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beyond_the_Pod 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingcreativitypay/ 

Ahead of the Glasgow comedy festival which runs from the 13th to the 31st March I spoke to comedians Jay Lafferty and Kathleen Hughes two Scottish comedians who are performing at the festival. 

We talk about Kathleen’s experiences as a relatively newer comedian who after a two week run last year is currently preparing for her first full Edinburgh Fringe run in 2024.

We also discuss Jay’s experiences as a full time comedian, going on a nationwide tour with her show ‘Bahookie’ and how the Scottish comedy has changed and the supportive nature within the scene.

See Jay and Kathleen Live

Jay Lafferty - Bahookie at Glasgow Comedy Festival (29th March):

https://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/performances/jay-lafferty-bahookie-special-live-recording/ 

Bahookie On Tour:

https://gildedballoon.co.uk/bahookie/ 

Kathleen Hughes - Cryptid (WiP) at Glasgow Comedy Festival (24th March):

https://www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com/performances/kathleen-hughes-cryptid-work-in-progress/ 

Cryptid at Edinburgh Fringe:

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/kathleen-hughes-cryptid 

Jay

Website:https://www.watchthisspaceproductions.com/ 

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jayjaylaffs 

Joy Agenda Podcast: https://pod.link/1719574893 

Kathleen

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kathleenwho_ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathleenwho_ 

The Humour Mill: https://www.humourmillglasgow.co.uk/ 

Find More about ‘Making Creativity Pay’

Website: https://podcasting.makingcreativitypay.com/episodes/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beyond_the_Pod 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingcreativitypay/

 

Episode Photos:

Kathleen: https://www.instagram.com/_dunkan_/ 

https://www.instagram.com/tjstade/

“Finding out information about comedy, if you don't already know what you're looking for can be ridiculously overwhelming”

This episode I spoke to Zoë Paskett founder of LMAOnaise a website, newsletter and soon to be newspaper that covers some of the less mainstream areas of comedy.

The ethos of this podcast has always been that even if your art may not be driven by money, without the money it’s difficult to keep creating the art and so marketing matters and my chat with Zoë was a great example of this, creating a print version of something when even web journalism is collapsing is an ambitious aim. 

We discuss Zoë’s plans for the newspaper and her work setting up and promoting the crowdfunder along with her experiences as a journalist for publications such as the London Evening Standard and from running her weekly newsletter for the last three years as well as the value of curation when it comes to comedy.

LINKS

Crowdfunder for Newspaper

https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/help-lmaonaise-comedy-launch-a-print-newsletter/ 

Website:https://www.lmaonaisecomedy.com/ 

Instagram:  http://instagram.com/lmaonaisecomedy 

Threads: https://www.threads.net/@lmaonaisecomedy 

Find More about ‘Making Creativity Pay’

Website: https://podcasting.makingcreativitypay.com/episodes/ 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Beyond_the_Pod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/makingcreativitypay/