You know the drill. I find the smartest, edgiest, and hopefully sexiest people I know who have the characteristics of entrepreneurship to contribute advice to The Chancebending Network. Today we’re talking Future of Live Stand Up with Claude Shires from Laugh Lounge.
Claude talks about Future of Live Stand Up and how it’s trending in Entertainment
“Comedy is booming, the internet is becoming cheaper, faster, more reliable. Now is the time for comedians to unite.
Together we’re forming a unified talent network, where we have more say over how our content gets monetized. We want a solution that works for everyone: Comedians, Comedy Clubs, and Consumers.”
A little about Claude
Claude Shires began his career as a stand-up comedian at The Comedy Store in San Diego, California. While a student at California State University, he worked the door part-time. After classes, he would practice his stand-up, and on weekends, he would open at The Comedy Store for touring comedians.
Although Shires earned his degree in Molecular Biology in 2000, he realized comedy was his calling. He moved to Los Angeles to continue as a stand-up comedian, performing at The World Famous Comedy Store. He learned video editing as a way to cut his own material together.
Video editing became his vocation. Having all of the elements to create in one place was invaluable – no need for an audience, lights, drinks, etc. to practice the craft. “Everything I needed to create was right there in front of me,” says Shires.
Shires immersed himself in the medium of digital video, reading every book he could find on the subject and studying techniques that varied from frame-size to frame-rate to bit depth. He learned how the video signals were transmitted from the cameras to the video production trucks, and then formatted for broadcast. He attended industry conferences, learned digital video compression, and worked on mobile video productions. He put his expertise to use editing comedy specials featuring comedians like Andrew Dice Clay, Joan Rivers, and Al Madrigal.
In 2015, Amazon offered Shires his first directing job: a series of one-hour comedy specials called “The Guest List.” Shires produced and directed the shows, which Amazon streamed live before they were edited to fit the one-hour broadcast format. Shires completed sixteen episodes of “The Guest List” for Amazon in the years 2015-2017.
Shires also directed and edited his first HBO special, Felipe Esparza’s “Translate This.”
While working on these shows for Amazon and HBO, Shires recognized an opportunity:“We could put live stand-up comedy in the hands of everyone in the world!” He has spent the last year assembling a team of professionals and building an application to deliver just this. Laugh Lounge was born, and is now available live on Iphone, Android and Apple TV.
Chancebending is all about entrepreneurs like Claude
When we started The Chancebending Network, we had people like Claude in mind. Whether it’s in Entertainment, LiveStreaming, or any startup, our goal is to connect entrepreneurs with the right information when they need it. We’re doing this with online coaching, access to a community of professional entrepreneurs, and business advice.
To learn more about our entrepreneurship community, check out the Chancebending Network now.
