Jourdain Fisher is a Brooklyn-based comedian who has written for 50 Cent's BET sketch comedy series, 50 Central, appeared on After Midnight, and performed stand-up on both Comedy Central and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. His debut self-produced hour Bits & Pieces premiered exclusively on 800 Pound Gorilla's new streaming service, Gorilla Comedy+, in May 2026 with a worldwide YouTube release slated for June 2026. Fisher sat down with me over Zoom to talk about the economics of stand-up comedy today, how much the comedy landscape has changed in the decade since he moved to New York City from North Carolina, how his Tonight Show debut led to a writing gig for Fallon inside 30 Rock, how the pandemic brought him back to Carolina but also gave birth to his social-media character, "Gangster Chef," and why he doesn't do Southern accents much in his stand-up but will pull out a killer Trump impersonation. There's a lot to get to, so let's get to it!

Emmy Blotnick is a New York-based comedian who has written for and performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. You may also have heard her joking multiple times on NPR's Wait Wait…Don't Tell Me! or seen her performing stand-up on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Conan. Her writing credits are even longer and more varied, including not just Colbert and Fallon, but also The President Show, Mel Brooks's History of the World: Part II, English Teacher, Bust Down, Pause with Sam Jay, Nikki & Sara Live, Not Safe with Nikki Glaser, plus a few roasts, including Netflix's most recent live Roast of Kevin Hart. Her new stand-up special, What's Her Secret?, premiered in May 2026 exclusively on the new streaming service, Gorilla Comedy+, and will be available on YouTube starting June 16, 2026. Blotnick caught up with me over Zoom to talk about her experiences behind and in front of the camera, how her new hour evolved over the course of four years, and how this special finally got her posting on Instagram again. There's a lot to get to, so let's get to it!

When Netflix held its first-ever Netflix Is A Joke festival in Los Angeles 2022, stand-up comedian Leslie Liao was working for Netflix in human resources and had to buy tickets to see shows in the festival. For the second Netflix Is A Joke fest in 2024, Liao had just quit her day job, and her former Netflix co-workers paid to see her headline a festival show. In May 2026, she was already booked elsewhere, and celebrating the release of her debut comedy special, Silky Smooth, out now through 800 Pound Gorilla Media. She caught up with me over Zoom to talk about the art of writing hyperlocal comedy routines while performing on the road in far-flung places from Maine to Alberta, how she put aside fears of starting comedy at 30, and what it was like trying to balance her day job at Netflix with her nights and weekends developing her stand-up voice. There's a lot to get to, so let's get to it!