In this episode of Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar talks with Matt McCusker about his first Netflix special and the path that led there. McCusker reflects on experiences with social anxiety, his brokest years as a comic, and working with Shane Gilis to turn Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast into a major grassroots success story. He shares how a “small business” mindset fuels everything he does and why his only real goal is to make bored people at work laugh while also delving into his passions for long-form writing and animation.

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Matt Grobar speaks with Michael Strassner, the co-writer, producer, and star of SXSW breakout The Baltimorons, about turning personal setbacks into creative fuel, culminating in the best year of his life. Strassner reflects on getting sober, his collaboration with filmmaker Jay Duplass, and how his scrappy, deeply personal indie built its audience through word of mouth.

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Matt Grobar sits down with Stapleview founders Sam Grey and Daniel Lantsman to discuss the origins of their comedy-focused management and production company and how they’re looking to rethink how comedy gets made, distributed, and monetized. On Comedy Means Business, the pair share their predictions for the next era of digital comedy, touching on what it takes to turn internet bits into valuable IP and what’s required to generate long-term careers from short-form content.

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Matt Grobar sits down with comedian Nurse John and his manager, Logan Watkins of Select Management Group, to unpack John’s extraordinarily rapid transition from nurse to internationally recognized touring stand-up. The pair breaks down what it took to translate digital fandom into sold-out live shows and get into the realities of scaling a live business at warp speed, plus what John’s building toward as he expands into a multi-platform career.

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Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar speaks with Kumail Nanjiani about returning to stand-up after more than a decade and the process of crafting new special, Night Thoughts. Kumail breaks down the unglamorous reality of restarting this side of his career, also revisiting the Chicago alt scene that shaped his voice and the wild energy of L.A.’s Meltdown era — including an unforgettable Robin Williams drop-in. Kumail also opens up about navigating the “actor doing stand-up” stigma, his plans to get behind the camera for his feature directorial debut, and how he came to join Fallout Season 2.

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Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar chats with the sketch group Business Casual and their manager Carly Hoogendyk of Omnipop Talent about the mechanics of developmental representation — from the POV of both the artist and their rep. Jeremy Elder, Corey Peter Lane, and Hunter Saling trace their path from UCLA improv kids to Edinburgh Fringe regulars and the creators of their signature show Cowboys, while Carly breaks down how she scouts talent and helps artists to scale their careers responsibly. The group also digs into the realities of a “no new friends” Hollywood, why loss-leader gigs are worth the investment, and how long-game relationship building and relentless output have shaped Business Casual’s rise.

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Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar speaks with Authentic Talent’s Logan Potter and Allen McRae about the social media strategies they’d recommend to any comic, in a moment when the digital space has become an essential revenue driver. They explain why Reddit is the platform every stand-up should be looking further into, why “influencer” shouldn’t be a dirty word, the value a manager adds to a comic’s rep line, and more.

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Today on Comedy Means Business, host Matt Grobar sits down with Danny Frenkel, co-founder and CEO of Punch-Up Live, who unpacks his vision to build the company into “the Amazon of live entertainment.” From his early years in ads measurement at Facebook to rolling out his own e-commerce platform, the goal of which is to give comedians more direct ownership over their audience, Frenkel breaks down the issues plaguing the broader ticketing ecosystem and the solutions as he sees them.

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Today on the Comedy Means Business podcast, host Matt Grobar speaks with Caleb Hearon about his debut special, HBO’s ‘Model Comedians,’ and how he built a major platform for himself in the digital space.

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Deadline’s Comedy Means Business today profiles Tamra Goins, who details her journey from the Oakland rap scene to her current role of Managing Partner & Head of Comedy at Innovative Artists. Tamra gets into the A-to-Z of modern agenting and what it takes to properly support a comic’s career today.

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