Great Job, Internet!: Gianmarco Soresi takes control, shares special Thief Of Joy on YouTube

Streaming comedy has spiked in the last several years; Netflix has fashioned itself as the premier destination for stand-up, but other platforms like Hulu and Amazon Prime Video have made substantial recent investments in the space. Of the many Internet-based options available, YouTube—without a subscription fee or paywall—is surely the most egalitarian. For Soresi, the method offers other advantages. “I released my special on YouTube because I wanted complete control over how I distributed the jokes across social media,” Soresi explained to The A.V. Club. “My dream is for people to watch the full thing but I plan to post bits and pieces on TikTok, Snapchat, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Bluesky, Threads, RedNote, LinkedIn, Imgur, Tumblr, some airline channel that only runs on Domestic South Korean flights, whatever social media app the monsters in Silicon Valley are constructing for smart refrigerators, and I didn’t want to have to ask anyone’s permission to do that. I also got to release it on my own timeline which is good because I need to sell more tickets for my Buffalo shows this weekend.”

You may recognize Soresi from his late night appearances on The Late Late Show or The Tonight Show, from Netflix’s Verified Standup or Dropout’s Game Changer, from his podcast The Downside With Gianmarco Soresi, or those aforementioned viral crowd work videos. The comic reflected on the latter in a recent Reddit AMA. “It’s a concern of mine (and most comics who post crowd work I’d say) that people won’t like their written material or feel disappointed at the lack of crowd work per show,” he wrote. “[Crowd] work lets me post my work online of course in a way that doesn’t give away the show, and lets people see a more unvarnished side of my mind. … [But] I’m hoping the special can show folks who don’t know my written work as much what it is (I think) I’m best at.” You can check it out for yourself below.