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In other news… stand-up comedy has the last laugh, Whatever is the newest people connector, and Ole rolls out on-the-go fashion fitting.
Top Trends
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ENTERTAINMENT
Stand-up soars // Illustration by Kait Cunniff with Midjourney
Stand-up comedy preps for packed interest
The Future. Although culture is increasingly fractured, stand-up comedy may be bringing us together… and becoming one of the most popular and mainstream entertainment formats around. With comics now having more ways to boost their profiles and make money, we may be entering a new influencer era when discovering up-and-coming comedic talent reigns supreme.
Joke economy
Statista found the US comedy event market is worth $3.1 billion — up from $1.7 billion in 2017.
That’s been buoyed by stars like Sebastian Maniscalco (his tour made almost $45 million last year) and Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias (he sold out Dodger Stadium… and then booking it again)...
…and ascendant newcomers like Matt Rife (from going viral on TikTok to selling out a global tour in 48 hours) and Nate Bargatze (setting a streaming record on Amazon Prime with his special, Hello World).
And with comics expanding their brands across podcasts, film and TV, merch, and brand-ambassador deals, their earnings and influence are growing as much as their fanbases.
Deadline asked some top comedians like Bert Kreischer, Fortune Feimster, Fahim Anwar, and Andrew Santino what exactly is behind the surge in stand-up popularity. Answers ranged from comedy being the last bastion where people can say (almost) anything to the rise in social media and podcasting making access easier than ever. Appearances on SNL and late-night shows are still crown jewels, but they’re no longer needed as kingmakers.
One thing everyone can easily agree on is, in today’s climate, people are just looking for a good laugh.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
Courtesy of Whatever
Whatever is serious about connecting people
The Future. A new app called Whatever gives users all the tools to plan and ideate dates (except actually landing them the dates). The hope (and original plan) is to help people get off the group chat and into the real world. As message-based social networking takes off, platforms that are able to inspire the most IRL interaction may be the ones that stand out from the crowd.
Programming relationships
If you’ve ever struggled to plan a date — like a real, in-person hang — then Whatever wants to help.
The company, which launched its app in alpha this past June, uses an in-app discovery feed that aggregates potential date locations across platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Yelp, and Eventbrite.
Users can also generate date ideas by leveraging AI or posting polls to get advice from friends (the human kind) on where to go.
And then, naturally, they can put the planned date in a shared calendar.
While that functionality seems simple enough, it makes figuring out something to do — especially after the novelty of those first few months of dates wear off — much easier.
But co-founder Mallory Loar sees the app both filling a need for more private, small group-focused platforms (what she calls the “relationship economy”) and helping tackle the loneliness epidemic that’s struck Gen Z and millennials (time spent with friends has declined significantly since the mass adoption of the smartphone).
During her five years at Discord, she found most Discord servers had only five to fifteen users. Talk about a canary in a coal mine…
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FASHION
Courtesy of Ole
Ole rolls out an on-the-go fashion fitting room
The Future. Ole (pronounced “o-lay”) wants to be the DoorDash of fashion, giving customers the ability to try on clothes at home, especially if they need something to wear fast. By leaning into convenience, Ole may help cut down both the time and cost of having customers return items they don’t need. In other words, all it took was coming to them.
Fast fashion
Ole’s “Try At Home” service allows customers to order clothes from nearby luxury stores like Miu Miu and Isabel Marant and have them delivered via bike messenger in 50 minutes.
When clothes arrive at their destinations, the messengers will wait 15 minutes for customers to try them on. Customers can then send back whatever it is they don’t want, paying only for what they keep (plus a $5 delivery fee).
Eventually, Ole wants to debut a live chat fashion concierge and AI-powered recommendations (if you really don’t know what to wear).
Ole takes a 25% commission on transactions — not too shabby when the average order is roughly $450 and 40% of customers are repeat users.
Ole recently closed a $1.5 million funding round from investors AI Global and Goodwater Capital to build out the platform and bring on other fashion brands.
Currently, the service is only available in NYC (and on iOS) but has plans to expand throughout the US and Europe next year… just in case you were wondering when you could snag a dress in a pinch.
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Highlights
The best curated daily stories from around the web
Media, Music, & Entertainment
November 9th will now officially be known as Wu-Tang Clan day in NYC. Read more → hypebeast
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the founder of DreamWorks Animation, believes generative AI will cut 90% of the costs of making animated films. Read more → bloomberg
The Sandbox is partnering with entertainment studios like Lionsgate and Skydance on the Cinerama LAND Sale — a way for users to make their own movie-inspired worlds in the metaverse. Read more → deadline
Fashion & E-Commerce
Travis Scott, the king of brand collabs, is getting in on his thirstiest partnership yet — PATH water, which will provide much-needed hydration for Scott’s ongoing Circus Maximus tour. Read more → hypebeast
Puma’s F1 fashion capsule, dubbed “Back to Las Vegas,” is ready to hit the track. Read more → complex
adidas is still wrestling with whether to release the rest of its Yeezy inventory — and is even planning to donate the $150 million it’s made from this year’s drops to anti-discrimination organizations. Read more → hypebeast
Tech, Web3, & AI
After much hype, Humane’s cutting-edge AI Pin and its “ambient computing” future has officially been revealed. Read more → techcrunch
Samsung is getting its own version of real-time language translation on upcoming Galaxy phones. Read more → engadget
A 46-year-old military veteran in Arkansas is the first person to receive a full-eye and partial-face transplant — but it remains to be seen if his vision will return. Read more → forbes
Creator Economy
YouTube is getting its own “For You” section. Read more → tubefilter
Instagram is testing letting users finally turn off read receipts in DMs. Read more → hypebeast
Moonbug is expanding its toy ambitions to more of its properties in its hope to become the first Disney of YouTube. Read more → tubefilter
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Today’s email was written by David Vendrell.
Edited by Melody Song. Copy edited by Kait Cunniff.
Published by Darline Salazar.