Podcast-to-Standup Pipeline

A story about how Brendan Schaub transitioned into standup comedy through his podcast partner Brian Callen's clever strategy.

"We were doing live Fighter and the Kid shows, and Brian knew I wanted to do standup but he didn't want to scare me. Since Brian was always late to the podcast, he came up with this idea. He said 'Let's keep up with the theme - we're gonna pretend I'm late, I'm not there, and you gotta start the show by yourself. You'll tell a story for 10 minutes, then I'll come in.'

This carried on for 4 or 5 shows. Then we're at a theater in Portland or Seattle, and I'm backstage pretty nervous. I told Brian 'I don't know what story I'm gonna tell.' Brian was frantic looking for something and goes 'What? I don't know what story - you're doing standup, dumbass!'

That's when it clicked. I realized he just told me it was storytelling because he didn't want to scare me. Shortly after that, we did a live Fighter and the Kid at the Comedy Store. Six days later, I get a call from Emily at the Comedy Store saying 'Hey, great show the other day. We're seeing if you'd like to do a set in the belly room - give you 6 minutes.'

I was like 'Let me call Brian Callen to see if he's available.' She goes 'No dumbass, just you. You had a great set the other night.' That was around end of 2014, and from there it was off to the races."