#2455 - Donnell Rawlings

Bullish:

• $KILLTONY - Kill Tony has become the premier platform for discovering comedy talent, similar to what Def Jam was in its era, with comedians traveling across the country hoping to get on the show.

  • “When I was staying at the hotel the other day, three people traveled across the country like with the hopes of that.”

    Donnell·1:18:49

  • “It used to be you remember back in the day, was like, oh, I need to be on Letterman. I need to be on Carson or whatever. That is the I gotta get on Kill Tom. A 100%.”

    Donnell·1:18:30

  • “Kill Tony is one of the rare places where you can be a comic that's been doing comedy three, four years. I mean, even just start now, but you got some talent, you could have a fucking career. Yeah. Like, a real career and it'll launch.”

    Joe·2:08:56
• $COMEDY - The comedy industry has been transformed by the pandemic, with comedians realizing they don't need traditional Hollywood and can build successful careers independently through podcasts and direct-to-audience platforms.

  • “you're an example of of what happens when you finally realize that you don't need Hollywood the way it used to be.”

    Donnell·2:06:46

  • “I realized that. I was like, this is I don't need TV shows anymore. We figured that out in, 2013, 2014.”

    Joe·2:07:05

  • “there's no way anybody cannot agree with, like, what you did and what you made it appealing to a lot of people is that you could go somewhere else, get a better quality of life”

    Donnell·2:08:00
• $PODCASTS - Podcasting has become the dominant platform for comedians and content creators, replacing traditional TV as the primary way to build an audience and career.

  • “Whenever you hear about somebody saying that they wanna do a podcast, the first thing is certain names like, I wanna be Joe Rogan.”

    Donnell·2:09:27

  • “We figured that out when the podcast started kicking off in, like, the early two thousand tens.”

    Joe·2:06:59

  • “The podcast community grew during the pandemic as people did shows remotely and new platforms emerged.”

    Donnell·40:16

Bearish:

• $SUGAR - Sugar industry is facing exposure for its harmful health effects and historical misinformation campaigns, with increasing awareness of its role in diabetes and health problems.

  • “sugar is fucking terrible for you. It's terrible in in basically every way, especially added sugar.”

    Joe·22:21

  • “the sugar industry, they paid a bunch of Harvard scientists. It was Harvard. Right? I believe it was. They didn't even give them a lot of money.”

    Joe·21:54

  • “That's where people are getting type two diabetes. They're getting it from excess sugar. Specifically, excess sugar, like, in a liquid form”

    Joe·23:36
• $HOLLYWOOD - Traditional Hollywood entertainment model is declining as creators realize they can succeed independently without the traditional gatekeepers and infrastructure.

  • “Hollywood is not like it used to be.”

    Donnell·2:07:12

  • “you couldn't make it in this business. You had to be in New York or LA. Yep. There was no producers going to they wasn't going to Toledo, Ohio.”

    Donnell·2:07:20

  • “The problem with the LA is always going to be poisoned by the the idea of going there to become famous.”

    Joe·2:08:18
• $ZOOM - Zoom's pandemic-driven growth has peaked and usage is declining as people return to normal, with competitors emerging and the platform becoming just an excuse to avoid meetings.

  • “Is anybody using that anymore?”

    Joe·2:04:56

  • “They use it for an excuse not to talk to somebody.”

    Donnell·2:04:59

  • “Do they do Zoom podcasts anymore? Do people do Zoom podcasts? I never hear that term.”

    Joe·2:05:02

  • “A few other platforms exist now. I don't even think people discuss it.”

    Jamie·2:05:11