Story
Fastest comic to a network special — and it backfired
Brendan Schaub got a Showtime hour-long special after only 2 years of standup, the fastest ever. He assumed people would be impressed by the speed; instead it pushed established comics away because most take 15-20 years to earn the same thing.
“I'm doing standup for about 2 years. I think I'm the fastest comic to ever get a network special at Showtime. And, you know, I just— in my eyes, I thought at the time, I'm proud of that special. Don't get me wrong, I challenge any comic who's been there 2 years to do a network special and have 60 minutes, you know. Now, is it as good as Bill Burr's special? No.”
Take
Moving fast pushes peers away, not closer
Schaub thought achieving a milestone quickly would make him peers with veteran comics. Instead it had the opposite effect — when you skip the long grind others paid, it rubs people the wrong way and isolates you.
“No, man, when you do that, what happens is it actually pushes you further away from them. I thought it would bring me closer to being legit and be like my peers. No, it pushes you farther away because a lot of those guys that I mentioned earlier on, and even outside of those guys, a lot of famous comedians, it took them 15, 20 years to get a network special.”
Story
Why Schaub walked away from Showtime to own his IP
After 6 years building Showtime's podcast branch, Schaub turned down a new 6-year contract to start Thick Boi Studios because he owned the IP to all the shows he created and wanted to bet on himself.
“6 months prior, they offered me another 6-year contract. And I was just looking around, and Showtime was great to me. You know, I was getting a salary, and, you know, they're reaping the benefits. It was good for both sides. I just thought, man, I I feel like I could do this on my own. You know, I am an entrepreneur. I feel like I could, I see what they've built and, you know, and I've helped them out a lot.”
Number
Thick Boi network at $160-170K a year after going solo
A year after leaving Showtime to run his own network, Schaub says he's profitable but had to start from zero subscribers again — the 600,000-subscriber audience he built over 6 years stayed with Showtime.
$165K
Annual revenue · USD/year
“I think we're at like $160,000, $170,000 now a year in, which isn't bad, but it's, you know, it takes time to keep chipping away, chipping away.”
Number
Thick Boi network at $160-170K a year after going solo
A year after leaving Showtime to run his own network, Schaub says he's profitable but had to start from zero subscribers again — the 600,000-subscriber audience he built over 6 years stayed with Showtime.
$165K
Annual revenue · USD/year
“I think we're at like $160,000, $170,000 now a year in, which isn't bad, but it's, you know, it takes time to keep chipping away, chipping away.”
Take
Audio is king — don't obsess over YouTube numbers
Schaub argues the podcasting world over-indexes on YouTube views, but most people listen via audio on their commute or at the office. He tracks audio as his core health metric, not video.
“I think a lot of people in podcasting, because it's the thing in 2023, is they look at YouTube, YouTube, YouTube, YouTube. Audio's king. For the most part, people listen to podcasts on their way to work or when they're at the office. Nobody's sitting down watching a podcast for 2 hours or 3 hours, however long your podcast is. The audio is key. So my main metric that I focus on is always audio.”
Take
Comparison kills happiness — your $1B friend chases $10B
Schaub argues social media makes you constantly compare yourself to someone doing better, which is why happiness never arrives — the friend who made a billion immediately chases ten because he saw someone else make ten.
“you can always compare yourself to somebody doing better. So for your friend that made a billion, next thing was $10 billion because he saw a guy make $10 billion. So if you're constantly chasing that, comparing yourself to others, that's where the happiness never comes. So I try not to compare myself to the others, especially me, because my journey is so different than those guys.”
Take
In the business of likability, don't feed the trolls
Schaub says he makes a living off likability — tickets, merch, whiskey, podcasts — so he refuses to give haters energy. He'll accept witty roasts but draws a hard line at attacks on his family or personal life.
“I'm in the business of likability. So if you watch my podcast, you buy a ticket to my stand up, you buy the merch, you buy the whiskey, you're a fan. I make a living off likability, so I just don't— I don't give the hate energy.”
Story
The golden age you don't notice until it's gone
Schaub describes the pre-pandemic Comedy Store 'Rat Pack' era — Rogan, Segura, Theo Von, D'Elia all parking together and swapping podcast spots — that scattered when COVID hit and everyone made it. He wishes someone had told them it was the golden age.
“I wish 5, 6, 7 years ago somebody would've tapped us on the shoulder and like, hey fellas, in 2 years this is all gone. You, I didn't realize at the moment that that was the golden age and what we were doing was so special and we took it for granted.”
Story
The golden age you don't notice until it's gone
Schaub describes the pre-pandemic Comedy Store 'Rat Pack' era — Rogan, Segura, Theo Von, D'Elia all parking together and swapping podcast spots — that scattered when COVID hit and everyone made it. He wishes someone had told them it was the golden age.
“I wish 5, 6, 7 years ago somebody would've tapped us on the shoulder and like, hey fellas, in 2 years this is all gone. You, I didn't realize at the moment that that was the golden age and what we were doing was so special and we took it for granted.”
Take
Pre-fight terror is intelligence, not weakness
Schaub says he may have been one of the first fighters to admit the anxiety before a fight is overwhelming — he's seen grown men cry backstage. He reframes the fear as your body and mind correctly warning you that you're about to get hurt.
“I've seen dudes cry backstage. They don't want to go out there. I've seen their coaches slap them like, dude, you have to go out there. It's just, I, I just don't think it's natural. You know, I think it's a level of intelligence of your body and your mind going, hey, you're about to get hurt. Do not go out there.”
Story
The Reebok deal cost Schaub $100K a fight — and freed him
When the UFC signed an exclusive Reebok apparel deal, fighters lost individual sponsor logos. Schaub estimates it cost him ~$100,000 per fight and took it personally at the time, but now credits it with pushing him faster into podcasting.
“Yeah. I lost, you know, probably $100,000 a fight and, you know, and I took it personal. But being a business owner now, Dana wasn't make— when the Reebok deal came, he went, man, how's this gonna affect Brendan Schaub? No, dude. I'm one of the, you know, I'm one of the elephants in the circus. You gotta do what's great for all the elephants, not just me.”