What is A Billion Laughs
A comedy lover? Yes. A curator? Yes. A producer? Yes. A distributor? Yes. A Billion Laughs is an entertainment company that produces and distributes comedy shows.
A Billion Laughs was founded by a former comedian who became drawn to the challenges comedians faced, off and on the stage. Infact, our first comedy special, Caveat Venditor: This Joke Is For Sale, explored the highs and lows of young comedians in Nigeria. It was a comedy show about comedy. The performances were a little rough around the edges and the show recording, crappy. But this early effort was a way to show how much comedy matters and how much comedy matters to us. It was a love letter to comedy.
Comedy is catharsis and play. Comedy makes hard truths easier to hear. Comedy exposes hypocrisy. Comedy opens our eyes to experiences that may not be our own. Comedy facilitates community. Comedy challenges the status quo when protocol protects the powerful.
Knowing the power that comedy wields, we aim to be the best at creating comedy shows and distributing them. We simply don’t want to do anything without high quality. We don’t abide by the laws of the attention economy or the algorithm because that drives a “quantity over quality” type of content. We don’t want to feel like we have to churn out ‘content’ even if it’s below our standards of quality.
Comedy is catharsis and play. Comedy makes hard truths easier to hear. Comedy exposes hypocrisy. Comedy opens our eyes to experiences that may not be our own. Comedy facilitates community. Comedy challenges the status quo when protocol protects the powerful.
Knowing the power that comedy wields, we aim to be the best at creating comedy shows and distributing them. We simply don’t want to do anything without high quality. We don’t abide by the laws of the attention economy or the algorithm because that drives a “quantity over quality” type of content. We don’t want to feel like we have to churn out ‘content’ even if it’s below our standards of quality.
Our pitch to comedians is
‘Come create the best work of your life’.
We’re asking them to spend their days making work no one else is making. High-quality, distinctive work for an audience that cares.
Our pitch to audience is
‘Come let’s help you be intentional in determining your comedy diet’.
We are asking them to spend time with artists they deeply value. To spend time with high-nutrition ‘content’.
Just as we strive to make work that is evergreen and unmoved by fads, our distribution approach has to offer an alternative to a virtual world of fast moving pictures and videos. In order to spread our work, we would often need the undivided attention of our audience as well as their money.
Our live shows have always been ticketed but starting with Dexmond’s Servant Of The Most High, our comedy specials would now be accessed for a fee. Great work is valuable and deserves to be rewarded with money. Money is the fuel that makes our entire engine work, and it’s a healthier, more honest metric than “eyeballs” or engagement. It’s no longer about the number of people we can get to click on our reels. It’s about the number of people who see it and love it and are willing to pay for more of it. We believe that comedy has intrinsic value and that it doesn’t have to be given away for free. This is the kind of company we want to be.
We aim to not only make the best work but to also model work as a way to love. We believe work is a way to love our creators, community and customers. This core belief permeates our organization, from how we make art to how we make profits.
These days, creatives are infamously overworked and undervalued. We think this is a crisis. A Billion Laughs aims to use the resources we have – our art, our business and our community – to do something about this work crisis.
While we believe that every worker has a responsibility to choose their work and employer, there is a greater imperative and even incentive for an employer to work towards better conditions for their workers. We hope to model a much-needed benchmark for healthier workplaces – ones that spur creativity, encourage collaboration and, most importantly, foster quality of life for all.
Join us by being an active member of our community.