On September 23rd, exactly on his birthday, comedian Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais gave his fans a great gift: he put his entire show online for free on YouTube. Jokes Hat Mama Magic Piano. This bold idea, a first for an established comedian with a large audience in Quebec, could send the industry into turmoil.
“I wanted to give the show a second life and give it the greatest possible visibility,” Roy-Desmarais explains to the Journal about his idea to publish his show on the Internet.
As soon as he signed his production contract with KoScène [Rachid Badouri, Phil Roy], the comedian told his team that he wanted to stream his show for free on YouTube after his tour ended. The producer Véronique Trépanier, who worked at Just for Laughs for a long time, had never done anything like this before.
“Pierre-Yves comes from the internet and we said if there was an artist we were willing to try this with, it would be him,” she says.
In the past, the model for a show produced by a major company was to release it on DVD after the tour ended and then offer it to television networks. With the introduction of platforms such as Netflix, Tou.tv, Crave and Amazon Prime, comedians have gradually abandoned DVD production in favor of broadcasting their shows directly through these new paid players.
Reinvest profits
Since his tour was very profitable – he performed 256 shows in front of almost 165,000 people – Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais decided to invest some of his money in recording his show.
The comedian and his team at KoScène spared no expense in filming quality content for this show. Director: Alec Pronovost [Maria, Complètement lycée]The recording took place in November 2022, on two sold-out nights at the Olympia. A third day of filming was used for close-ups without an audience.
As of this writing, the show already has over 172,000 views on YouTube. “I told myself that I would be very happy if we had 100,000 views in a month,” says Pierre-Yves. We did it in a week. It’s sick!”
“It’s getting small”
The action sparked a reaction elsewhere in the community. “I can’t speak for others, but such fads in humor often disappear when these kind of really more established comedians do something different and that encourages other people [à faire de même]says comedian Simon Gouache. I’m convinced there will be small specimens, that’s for sure.”
“A recording for YouTube, as in the case of PYRD, will work well,” mentions the producer of Entourage (Mariana Mazza, PA Méthot), Éric Young. Because he has the wind in his sails, he looks interesting. In his case, I am convinced that it is a good strategy.
The producer adds that this strategy doesn’t suit all comedians, however. As an example, he cites his stallion Pierre-Luc Pomerleau, who is enjoying great success with his first show, Moqueur polyglotte, even though he is still relatively little known to the general public.
“We use social media a lot, but I wouldn’t do that with him [offrir un spectacle complet gratuitement]says the producer. It’s in full swing. I can’t stray too far from the beaten path.”
American model
Offering your show for free, with no payment from YouTube other than advertising, is a bold idea in Quebec, but it’s already popular in the US with comedians like Shane Gillis, Joe List, Sam Morril and Stavros Halkias.
“He’s an American model,” notes comedian Charles Pellerin, who also launched his show Cheveux au vent for free on YouTube a few days ago. As a humor lover, that’s how I discovered most of my favorite comedians.”
When comedians are inspired by musicians
Will the comedy industry follow in the footsteps of the music industry and platforms like Spotify? That’s what comedians like Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais and Charles Pellerin think, who see their free shows on YouTube as a way to attract viewers to their venues.
“Martin Matte recently told me that he had sold 100,000 DVDs [dans sa carrière]. It’s unthinkable [aujourd’hui]! says Pierre Yves. There are musicians who have previously sold hundreds of millions of albums. Now they are forced to “stream” their music to distribute it on platforms, but that attracts people to theaters. This is perhaps a bit like the future. Streaming at scale in the hope that it will attract more people to your theaters.”
“I decided to give it away for free so there would be people to see my next show,” Charles Pellerin said. It’s a bit like the model that’s been around in music for years, which is to make your album accessible to everyone.”
Keep your rights
In addition to aiming for universal accessibility, Pierre-Yves also wanted to retain the rights to his show, which is not possible when selling to a broadcaster or platform.
“I have 100% rights to my own content,” he said. I can cut the show into clips and post parts of it on social media. I can do whatever I want with it.”
Currently, a comedian who sells his show to a platform like Netflix or Crave must release his rights for up to “five to seven years,” mentions producer Véronique Trépanier. During this period he cannot use his content.
For comedian Simon Gouache, this pressure is one of the disadvantages of selling his show to a broadcaster. “My first show [sorti en 2017], I would like to release it for free on YouTube since I don’t film it anymore and I want it to continue to grow and reach people. But I have to wait until the license is ready.”
Despite everything, television remains an interesting avenue for someone who wants to reach a large audience. “If you put your show on YouTube, people will go to you. And when you put it on TV, you get to the people, says Simon Gouache, who presented his second show, Une belle soir, on TVA earlier this month. I felt like I had to reach out to people who didn’t know me. […] And unlike Pierre-Yves, I am very rarely present on television and it was a great opportunity for me to be present on television.
They started their show(s) on YouTube
- Pierre-Yves Roy-Desmarais, Jokes Chapeau Maman Magic Piano
- Charles Pellerin, Hair in the Wind
- Adib Alkhalidey, Ingénu, I love you
- Martin Perizzolo, Keeping Up Appearances, Q
- Colin Boudrias, A Ray of Sun
- Charles Deschamps, My father is deader than yours
- Shane Gillis, Live in Austin
- Joe List, Enough for everyone, this year’s material
- Sam Morril, I Got This, Up on the Roof
- Stavros Halkias, Live At The Lodge Room, Four Nights in NYC