This week’s conversation is with Brian Volk-Weiss, the founder and president of Comedy Dynamics.

Brian stands at the forefront of comedy’s evolution in the 21st century.

Since the launch of Comedy Dynamics in 2008, he has guided the award-winning brand to becoming the nation’s largest independent producer and distributor of one-hour comedy specials, while initiating innovative partnerships with Amazon, ROKU, and HULU—where it ranks as one of the platform’s top three most popular comedy channels.

The company has worked with a wide range of established and emerging comedic talent including Tiffany Haddish, Kevin Hart, Aziz Ansari, Jim Gaffigan, Ali Wong, David Cross, and many more.

And while comedy is Brian’s passion, this conversation is about intuition and risk.

It’s about having a tolerance for failure and being willing to take a chance when you see there’s an opportunity on the table.

It’s about having a vision for what’s possible and chipping all in.

I found this conversation to be super inspiring – there’s something in it for all of us, regardless of your craft.

I have a staggering tolerance for failure. You do something, it works or it doesn’t work. If it works you repeat it and improve it. If it doesn’t work you stop as soon as you can.”

In This Episode:

  • The specific moments that shaped his life trajectory
  • Why failure fascinates him
  • The book that changed his life: The Long Tail
  • His appetite for risk
  • Why Netflix and the advances in streaming technology were pivotal to his business succeeding
  • Wanting independence+freedom from the major networks/studios and taking a leap of faith
  • Where his biggest ideas and most important creative moments stem from
  • What inspires him … he was obsessed with “Standard Oil”.. how they saw the potential in oil and actually did something about it
  • His guiding philosophy for leading and managing a team of just under 300 employees
  • What are his crown jewels? Emotional resiliency and honesty
  • Why he’s not afraid to be wrong
  • If he could pick one person to sit down and talk with who it would be? President Ulysses S. Grant
  • His driving force… the ability to green-light projects independent of a major company
  • His definition of mastery

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