Hello, everyone! Welcome to the first Industry Spotlight column of the week. We have been looking forward to this interview for quite some time and could not be happier with the results. The topic has very little to do with music, but if you read on you will discover there is more to the Haulix community than record labels and DIY musicians.
This blog exists to promote the future of the entertainment industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your entertainment-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Haulix is most commonly associated with helping musicians fight piracy and securely distribute their media, but we also work with a large number of comedians every single year. Standup comedy has made a huge resurgence in the last half decade, and Haulix has been there to help various labels keep their media safe every step of the way. We have previously spoken to publicists who worked in the comedy realm in addition to dabbling in music, but today we are dropping music for the first time ever in order to talk about the life of a company that specializes in making people laugh.
Brian Volk-Weiss is the man behind Comedy Dynamics, which until a few months ago was known as New Wave Dynamics. Together with his team of standup loving employees, Brian has been bringing comedy into the lives of people around the world for the better part of the last decade. He’s worked with virtually every big name comic today, and those he has yet to connect with will likely join the Comedy Dynamics family in the years to come. I had the opportunity to discuss Brian’s work life with the man himself earlier this week, and now I am sharing that insight, as well as a preview of what Comedy Dynamics has in store for the future, with all of you.
H: Hello, Brian. Thank you for joining us today. How are things in California?
B: Yea, morning is my favorite time of day. It’s funny I’m saying this on a call, but it’s typically before phones start to ring. I love getting in before 730, and I usually get more done between 730 and 9am than any other 90-minute period during the day.
I do have an advantage of being out here on the West Coast. I can get up and work with our East Coast offices before things get too crazy over here. I digress however, we could talk about scheduling and time codes all day.
H: We’ve been looking forward to speaking with you for a while, so let’s go ahead and dive right in. I want to talk about Comedy Dynamics, but first I would like to learn a little about you. You’re known for working in comedy, so I’m curious when your interest with standup began. Is there a particular special that caught your interest at a young age?
B: This is going to sound a bit cliche, but it’s [Eddie Murphy’s] Raw. I grew up watching Star Trek, Star Wars, and Raw. The funny thing is, by the time I got out of college I had probably seen Raw 100-150 times and no other comedy special.
H: Just that one?
B: Yes. When I got out to LA I went to the Laugh Factory and I saw three shows on a Saturday night. That was all it took. I was hooked. It has not surpassed Star Wars in my book, but it has tied it.
H: We might as well cover this early on, who is your favorite comedian?
B: My favorite is Bill Cosby. Even though Raw was the special I watched a lot, Cosby created the albums that I grew up listening to. They were my parent’s records.
We’re working with Bill now on a few projects, and it’s literally the most surreal thing in the world. I’m not able to speak with my heroes.
H: My research shows that you attended the University of Iowa. What did you study?
B: I studied what they called Communications. For whatever reason, the program I was in was never called Film, it was called Communications, but in reality it was the film department. So I made a bunch of student films, learned the history of movies, and ironically my favorite class was a course on Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. I had no idea I would work in comedy at the time, but that was probably my favorite class in college.
The story I always tell is one about the last day of school. As I was saying goodbye to my professors they were wheeling out the analog editing system and bringing in their first digital setup. I believe I was the last class to actually cut film.
H: How did you first get involved in the entertainment industry? Did you first go to college, or was there perhaps an internship that introduced you to the business side of things?
B: If it wasn’t for Star Wars I would be a dentist, or lawyer, or doctor in New York. I’m the first person in my family’s four or five generation history to only have a Bachelor’s degree. Went to Iowa, graduated, got a car and moved out to LA. I did every job I could find for about nine months and then ended up at a management company that was very focused on comedy. I rose to the position of manager and managed talent for about a decade. From management, I went to producing, and from producing I went to distribution, and through all that the company continued to grow. That company was sold to New Wave eleven years ago, and basically three years ago I retired my management cleats to focus on producing and being an executive running the company.
One of the greatest things that could have ever happened to me was being a manager for so long. Doing that taught me what is really important to comedians, and I think it’s what I learned through those efforts that makes us so good at what we do today.
H: New Wave recently became Comedy Dynamics. When did the name change take place and why?
B: We launched the first piece of the consumer facing part of our company in July, and that was on Hulu. Next month is Roku, and between now and June we will be on all the streaming platforms.
This is a true story. As we prepared to launch with Hulu, more and more people told me we should consider having Comedy in our name. As we got closer I realized they were right, and part of that is due to the fact ‘new wave dynamics’ is actually a real life engineering term. That, combined with the fact we wanted comedy in our title, made us Comedy Dynamics.
H: Comedy Dynamics has a record label, but you’re probably best known for the numerous specials you have produced over the years. What came first, the label or the video side of things? Did they launch simultaneously?
B: Great question. It was always the same, so we would launch the special side with the audio (digital) side. About 18 months after that we began releasing physical titles as well.
H: Comedy Dynamics has worked alongside Comedy Central Records in the past. Are you partnered in any way?
B: No, not at all. We’ve had a long and wonderful relationship with them, but we are not partnered with them in any way.
H: I’ve noticed there are several releases, like Marc Maron’s ‘Thinky Pain,’ where Comedy Dynamics handles DVD/Digital, but Comedy Central Records presses the special to vinyl. So I was curious as to how that works.
B: Basically, sometimes we approach an artist about working with us and we’ll sit down to draw up a deal. When that happens, their representatives will tell us that artist already has a standing deal with someone else. So ‘Thinky Pain,’ Marc Maron had a multiple record deal with Comedy Central Records. They told us, and we carved vinyl out of our agreement. That’s not something we like to do necessarily, but it comes up from time to time and we have a good business relationship so we make it work.
H: I follow. Have you gotten into the vinyl world yet?
B: Yea, we just released Chris Porter’s recent standup special as our first vinyl.
H: Can we expect more vinyl releases in the future?
B: Here’s the thing. Nobody is ever going to make a lot of money off vinyl. The thing that makes vinyl great is that when artists want to do it they are very invested in doing so. They want to give their fans, the true comedy aficionados, what they want, and those are the people we are trying to target. They want high quality vinyl, and we will do anything to keep them happy.
H: You’ve been fortunate enough to work with a lot of big names, so I’m curious as to how you go about recruiting talent to work with your company.
B: There are two answers:
Answer number one is this – I go with my gut. If they make me laugh, or I find them interesting, great. Sometimes I find people where their standup is not something I would have on repeat or listen to on a regular basis, but I recognize their genius and that they’re doing something great. I want to support that
The other answer, which comes from my management days, is that I take notes or suggestions from people I have become close with through the business. They know I trust them and they reach out to showcase new talent, pass along links, and generally recommend comedians they think we may be interested in working with.
H: Do you have a standing deal with Netflix and Comedy Central, or do you work on a special-by-special basis?
B: Comedy Central is special-by-special. Netflix is a combination of the two. We are very fortunate that we get in business with them (Netflix) when we did. We sold our first special to them four years ago, and things have been great.
H: You’re very engrained in the modern comedy scene. Can you offer any advice to aspiring comedians on networking and making friends within the entertainment business?
B: This is 95% of the story: Practice, practice, practice. Go into this knowing, and I’m speaking from my experience, that is takes six to seven years of performing regularly to get good.
The second part is location. If you were not fortunate enough to be born in New York or LA, go there. The chances of being discovered in other cities are far less likely than the big city. Start there, definitely start at home, but move when you’re able.
Lastly, be everyone’s friend, or at least try to get along with everyone. You need to be in a position where everyone you interact with, especially other comedians, will be friendly. You are going to rise through the ranks with these people, and it’s far easier to do with support from others. That’s where your first break will come from.
H: That’s all I have for you. Before we part ways, do you have any upcoming releases you wish to promote?
B: We have quite a few projects lined up before the end of the year, but our three big specials will be coming from Doug Benson (on Netflix November 6), Chelsea Peretti, and Bill Burr. We only produced Chelsea and Bill, which I always like to clarify.
We are also about six special into 2015 already. The one I’m most excited about right now is Lisa Lampenelli. We are shooting her new special in March. We’ve tried to work with her for a long time, and I’m excited that it’s finally coming together.
