Decoder with Nilay Patel · Monday, September 14, 2026
Adam Conover describes his current business structure as a blend of live touring, podcasting, and YouTube content creation. He notes that while live comedy remains a robust business, the digital content landscape is heavily disrupted, with fewer opportunities for pre-funded projects and a reliance on freelance support over larger teams.
“I have a live touring business, I touring as a stand-up comic. That is luckily a very durable business because, you know, no matter what the tech industry, you know, people will always go and sit in the dark with a drink in their hand a round other people.”
“And then I also, um, currently buy weekly monologues, or what I call them, which are scripted and I work with a couple freelance researchers, you know, in order to, you know, we write them together.”
“But now I have a couple freelancers instead of a room full of writers, a room, you know, uh, uh, cinematographers, actors, all these funny people who made a really good comedy product, you know?”