Funny Money and the Business of Comedy Writing
Thriving as a Comedy Writer
This is Funny Money. What does that what does that mean? When I say funny money, I mean that you're going to make money by being funny. Now a lot of comedians every day, wish that they made more money as a comedian. Now whether that's a stand-up comedian, comedy writer, puppeteer, musical comedian, whatever it is. Too many comedians are broke. Too many comedians don't make money. And that's a dang shame to me.
I don't like that they don't make money. But I didn't like that when I was starting out in comedy people told me it was gonna take years for me to start making money from comedy. And guess what? They were wrong.
Within my first year as a stand-up comedian. I was making more money as a comedy writer than I was. As a stand-up. I was making half of my day job income as a comedy writer within the first year of doing stand-up.
By year two, I was making equal to my 40-hour-a-week day job. By year three, I lost two jobs, and I was making so much money, that I didn't work a regular job anymore. And I haven't worked a regular job since 2020.
It's now 2024! That's four years of me not working a regular job. And guess what, you can do it too. You don't have to work a regular job. You don't have to listen to the naysayers. You don't have to listen to the people who say there's only one way to make money as a comedian that's being a stand-up. And then someone hires you to write on a TV show and then if you're lucky, you get to be staffed on a TV show.
Or maybe you get lucky, and you get to be at Judd Apatow and make what you want to make. But guess what? Then you have to give up stand-up. Why? Can't you have both? And you can. I'm proof. I've traveled from coast to coast from Alaska to Texas, doing stand-up. I am also a comedy writer. That means when I'm on the road, I'm also writing stuff and I'm still making money. So I'm double dipping.
Well, I would say triple dipping because I am also podcasting. I'm making money doing that. And I have gigs that are reoccurring every month. I have gigs that are reoccurring every week. I have gigs that are reoccurring every six months or a year. So I have all kinds of things that I'm getting paid for. I have one job right now that I've hired to do that makes $500 a week for a couple of hours of work. 500 hours a week! For a couple of hours of work!
About 100 bucks an hour, maybe a little more depending on how fast I write that day. But then I have other jobs that I make thousands of dollars. In fact, in December of 2023, I made over $10,000 as a comedy writer. Remember when the writer’s strike was happening? I wasn't worried about it. I was still getting paid. I was still making money. Right?
I read a thing talking about the web saying that most of the writers who are WGA writers don't make a living as a WGA writer. That is sad to me. I'm not a WGA writer. I don't think I'll ever be a WGA writer but guess what? I make a living as a comedian. That means stand-up comedy and comedy writing. I make money doing what I love.
I make funny money. And so can you. So if you want to make money with your humor, with your wit, with your skill, with the ability to write, you've come to the right place. You've come to funny money.
Let's get you paid.