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Writer's pictureJohn Brandt

Comedian reveals secret to selling out Madison Square Garden

Last night before I entered dreamland, I caught a bit of the recent Adam Ray interview on Joe Rogan’s podcast. 


If you’re unfamiliar with Adam Ray, you may have seen him dress up and do comedy as Dr. Phil (or as former president Biden). And the two comedians started to talk about the #1 live podcast in the world: 


Kill Tony. 


Featuring the great and powerful Tony Hincliffe, a dude who grew up a stone’s throw away from my neck of the woods in Ohio. 


I’ve written about Kill Tony before. And I probably will again. Because it’s truly a masterclass in content creation, marketing, and yes, running a business. 


Kill Tony recently did two sold out shows in Madison Square Garden, which is not only an arena that can house 18,000 people, but it’s also “the world’s most famous arena.” 


How in the world did a live podcast do this? 


Well, Tony’s a brilliant mind. The whole gist of the show is rather simple: 


Tony is the host, and he has a couple of the world’s best comedians or just famous folk as his panelists. Past panelists have included guys like Post Malone and Tucker Carlson. As well as comedic legends like Shane Gillis, Ron White, Mark Normand, Bobby Lee, the list goes on and on. 


And then, Tony and his panelists judge and interview a collection of up-and-coming, brand-spanking-new, or absolute disaster comedians, who get a full interrupted 60 seconds on stage to tell jokes. 


The best (or mayhap worst) part of this show is the “bucket pulls.” Basically, you can put your name into a bucket and “sign up” for Kill Tony. If your name gets pulled, you get 60 seconds on stage. 


And then Tony has a band of “regulars,” who are up-and-coming comedians and Tony helps launch their career with regular spots on Kill Tony (as well as helping them start touring, and start headlining).


Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, they sold out Madison Square Garden two nights in a row. Not for the first time either. 


But Kill Tony—and this should be obvious—wasn’t always a household name, as Adam and Joe alluded to during their interview.


Quite the opposite, in fact. 

Kill Tony had the most humble of beginnings. I’m not “in tune” with the comedy world, but when Tony first started his show, he hosted it in the smallest of small comedy rooms and venues. 


Yes, he also streamed these live shows to YouTube. (Lesson in there) 


But nobody online watched. Not yet at least. 


So, what changed? 


What helped them scratch and claw their way out of the smallest of small comedy rooms in the smallest of small comedy venues to selling out two nights of Madison Square Garden several times? 


I’ll give you a hint: 

It’s something I say to an almost annoying degree. 


Consistency. 


Kill Tony started in 2013 with a vision. 


Despite all the obstacles that got in Tony’s way, including the 2020 pandemic when it was suddenly illegal to be around other people, Tony stuck stubbornly to his vision. And he stayed consistent (even when there were 40 people at his show instead of 18,000). 


Which brings me to the point: 


Without consistency, you cannot reach the highest level of success. 


This somehow applies even more to email marketing, where people get, on average, 121 emails a day. Failing to consistently send emails sends you to the oblivion of their inboxes, covers you with digital dust, and forbids you from improving their life for some street change. 


That’s the bad news. 


The good news? 


You don’t have to send a daily email to stay top of mind. Sure, it helps. But missing a day or two (or even using a different strategy) isn’t the end of the world. 


The best news? 


You’re one reply (and a quick meeting) away from never worrying about emails getting written, sent, or bought from. Without doing any of the work yourself. 


Hit reply if you wanna see what I mean. 


John

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