Netflix made waves two years ago by ramping up production of stand-up specials to almost one per week. Last year, the streaming giant also introduced a handful of half-hour specials called The Standups. In 2018, they’re halving that half!
Netflix will make at least 16 new stand-up specials that each only last 15 minutes.
As first reported by Jesse David Fox in Vulture: “Netflix’s yet-to-be-titled stand-up series will tape next month at Atlanta’s historic Terminal West; the 15-minute specials will be released in bundles throughout the year. The initial lineup is as follows: Aisling Bea, Michelle Buteau, Tim Dillon, JR De Guzman, Sabrina Jalees, Janelle James, Sam Jay, Josh Johnson, Ian Karmel, Jak Knight, Matteo Lane, Max Silvestri, Taylor Tomlinson, Phil Wang, Emma Willmann, and Kate Willett.”
What a great idea these shorter specials are. It just seems that these will give these comics a huge platform they wouldn’t have been able to get into unless they could deliver a 30min or one-hour special. I know a few of the comics and I know that they are going to gain huge followings after their specials go live. I’m hoping they get a great response from these 15 minute specials and will continue to give younger/newer comics this huge opportunity. I also wrote about this topic and just the internets influence on stand-up in my blog I just posted.