This Comedy Show Podcast Network Got Its Start Prior to COVID

The People of Comedy Network Aims to Be the Digital Content Hub for All of Chicago Comedy

BY GIANFRANCO CAMPO

James Webb started providing fledgling Chicago-area standup comedians a showcase eight years ago to try to keep them from fleeing to the coasts for bigger venues. But his next brainstorm was a comedy show podcast network — The People of Comedy Network — that took off in late 2019 in his Roscoe Village house basement.

The coronavirus pandemic shut down the entertainment and service industry — home to many stand-up showcases. Half of Webb’s podcast shows cancelled, as many hosts quarantined. The pandemic was the perfect cocktail of unfortunate circumstances that could have interrupted the network.

“I panicked and even took back my day job,” said Webb, 35, recalling the pandemic’s start. “I managed to get the unemployment [benefit] that I needed. I mean this was my job. I was barely able to keep the lights on here during the worst of the pandemic.”

But Webb had no intention of halting the network’s production, or even putting it on temporary hold.

“Always forward, momentum and acceleration,” he said. “You can’t stop. Putting a stop to something is tantamount to giving up, and I don’t give up. Giving up is death. If you believe in the greater purpose of something you’ve built, no matter how many iterations, stopping is out of the question.”

“A lot of people who use this space have made connections with the community through this stop,” he said. “Maybe some would figure out how to do it on their own but, I have a responsibility to these people now.”

The People of Comedy Network — An All-Out Fight to Lead the Way, Including in Diversity

In February, Webb had finally signed on some new shows, including Live From the DMs, with Ty Riggs, former co-host of The Hood Nerds show, and Christian Royce.

After receiving the necessary unemployment checks to maintain the studio in his Roscoe Village apartment, Webb fine-tuned the production quality and set up a new hybrid of in-person and virtual podcasting to maintain the quality of the Network throughout the pandemic.

“In the face of adversity, you find solutions and we found solutions to a lot of problems we had very quickly. It’s taught me so much,” Webb said. “I wouldn’t have learned so much if I was just coasting like we were before. It forced me to be better. Normalcy? No, better than normal.”

Webb and the comedians hosting shows on the network continue to work to bolster the local Chicago comedy scene.

“The main plan hasn’t changed. I’m trying to build a digital content hub for all of Chicago comedy, so that we can present the best of what we have to the world and compete with the coasts,” Webb said. “We want to be in the same conversation as ‘All Things Comedy,’ ‘Your Mom’s House’ and ‘The Joe Rogan Experience.’”

Webb let his in-person showcase in Wicker Park, called Stand Up Stand Up, come to an end so he could focus on the podcast network, People of Comedy, which has hosted at least 30 shows throughout its run so far, since its January 2019 launch.

“Everyone was kind of disjointed, would start something up, and fail at it,” Webb said. “It’s hard to put a production together and people don’t really have the time. This is picking up all the slack from the old days.”

“We have podcasts for parents, the Latinx community, the Black community, a podcast for Millennials and Gen Xers,” Webb said. “There’s no end to the range of audiences and shows we have going on here.”

Local Chicago Stand Up: The Problem

Webb’s experience stems from over 15 years of fascination and employment with Chicago standup, its rich history and the city’s need to keep talented, fledgling comics from fleeing to the coasts.

Chicago — known as the home of Second City, the birthplace of Saturday Night Live’s original stars Gilda Radner, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, and a host of others who followed — had blossomed into a standup comedian’s dream in the mid-2010s, with showcases every night.

That changed in 2016 and 2017.

That’s what numerous local comics called “The Mass Exodus.” Chicago stand-up comedians started leaving in droves for better opportunities in New York and Los Angeles. With less headline talent alongside, numerous comedy clubs and featured showcases shut down.

Among the comics who left and succeeded in that exodus were Liza Treyger, Megan Gailey, Dave Helem, Mike Lebovitz, Joe Kilgallon, Drew Michael, Josh Johnson, Sean White, Lara Beitz and Clark Jones.

Lia Berman, 41, host of Parental Advisory, aims to combat this problem alongside Webb and a handful of other comics.

“A lot of people go to New York or California after they get their chops in Chicago. James and I were asking why they can’t stay here,” she said. “What could keep them here? What about a podcast studio? A place that could be a center for all comedians to put their stuff out.”

Abi Sanchez, 43, host of Legal Aliens, who has performed standup comedy for 10 years in Chicago, never took the bait — but he understands it.

“Chicago doesn’t have that [comedy club] industry like LA or New York,” he said. “You might get some commercials, or Chicago Fire style of shows, but I feel like people think the goal is to go out and be seen in places like New York.”

Barnes, a former co-host of the Hood Nerds, after three years of being a Chicago comic, moved to the Bronx for three years for different opportunities in that scene, and LA for less than a year, before returning to Chicago.

“New York is the premier stand-up scene,” he said. “You have these historical comedy clubs and there would be multiple times I would do a show and Andrew Schultz or Chris Rock would walk in, and it’s great for the standup and the audience attending.

“It was a great experience and it taught me a lot,” Barnes said. “Everybody is always being entertained, so when you get on that stage, you have to be funny; can you make people laugh? That’s what New York instills in you.”

But there’s a downside.

New York and Los Angeles are such a comic magnet, it can be tough to get spots on stage.

“You don’t want to go LA where it’s predatory, [where] these jagoffs who will assault you in their office to get a bit part in the movie,” Webb said. “Or New York where you will get buried under 500 names.”

“Chicago has a very community focused standup comedy industry. Stand up is run by people who are our age, or even younger who care about you. Stand-up is a competition, but the thing we have here is worth preserving,” he said.

“People of Comedy better be the best network, or else I’m not doing this right,” Webb said. “We’re back with a better model than before.”

People of Comedy and Chicago Stand-Up Surviving

Riggs believes that the prospects of his new show, ‘Live From the DMs” is promising.

“It’s all about relationships, dealing with toxic partners, and topics going on in pop culture as far as it pertains to relationships as how men and women deal with each other,” said Riggs.

“The worlds opening back up and people are starting to date again in person instead of in private so…we back. This new show has potential to do big things,” he said.

Before Riggs had come to the network, along with Jarrell Barnes, they had hosted the original Hood Nerds in their own apartment with their laptop mic.

“With the studio, it gives us more focus. We need to make these points. We have an hour. James keeps us on track of time,” Riggs said. “It was a better way to push the content with live streams and much better audio with a studio. We didn’t have [a studio]. We were just doing it in an apartment.”

“James makes it very easy helping with the marketing plan. All you need is a name and logo for him, and he will help you with the vision,” Riggs said. “I always like going to James first with these kinds of projects because I know the type of work he does. I can trust he can get the work done efficiently in a comfortable environment.”

Parental Advisory, one of the network’s debut shows, continues to be a mainstay.

“It’s for parents who are like, ‘My life doesn’t look like the ones on Instagram with the perfect mom and dad in their perfect home,’” Berman said. “I clean up puke at home with a T-shirt. It’s a very real take on parenting.”

“I want to take this to the top. I really want to put all my eggs in this basket. These real conversations are what people want to hear,” she said. “I’m excited for what this podcast has in the future. “I know this is going to be a slow roll. I know I’ll have to be patient. But I truly believe in this cause.”

The network’s production value led to Zanies Comedy Club at Rosemont to arrange for Webb to help set up a Zoom show for in-person comics.

“People in the Zoom call could see the comic and the comic could hear them laughing with no lag. It was just like having people in the building where it wasn’t painful,” he said. “Normally, Zoom shows are so bad, people are just sitting in their house and it can be lazy. We found a way to get high production. The show sold well.”

Although Webb’s passion for the network had halted his ambitions for his own comedy showcase, Stand Up Stand Up, he said the network really is an extension.

“Hearing a room full of laughter for the first time in six months, it was harrowing,” he said. “Nothing like it. As cool as this room is, as fun as these podcasts are, stand up will always win. This helps stand up.”

“We’re not out of the woods, but we know how to navigate the woods now,” he said. “The woods are no longer scary. This is normal now.”