Podcast Summary: Good One – How Gianmarco Soresi Is Conquering Social Media

Podcast: Good One: A Podcast About Jokes
Host: Jesse David Fox (Vulture)
Guest: Gianmarco Soresi
Date: September 25, 2025

Overview

This episode explores how comedian Gianmarco Soresi is navigating and thriving in the era of social media-driven comedy, building an online audience, and negotiating the complexities of "crowd work" content. The discussion also delves into comedic boundaries, language use, responsibility toward audiences, and the business mechanics of being a modern comedian. Specific focus is paid to evolving comedic ethics, creative processes, and how Soresi’s innovative work ethic has carved out his distinct comedic brand.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Comedic Identity and Responsibility Online

• Soresi is lauded by Fox for building an audience without condescension or 'throwing them under the bus', instead choosing to collaborate with and expand his fans’ comedic palate.
  • Quote: "You do not have a perception of what a real audience is... I admire it quite a bit." – Jesse (05:29)
• Soresi stresses that bad jokes, not merely offensive ones, are the real issue when comedians create controversy.
  • Quote: "At the end of the day, I just go, this was not even a deep joke... this was a joke that a black eye joke is something you would tell in middle school." – Soresi (06:17)

2. Navigating Audience Diversity and Language

• A major tension in stand-up now is reconciling inclusive, progressive language with the comedic imperative to connect and get laughs.
  • Soresi adjusts his terminology based on what allows the joke to work while staying true to his worldview.
  • Quote: "My responsibility is to be funny. And I think I have to believe in whatever my own heart is on any certain matter." – Soresi (11:47)
• The "illegal immigrant" vs "undocumented immigrant" example illustrates the challenge of balancing social ideals and audience expectation.
  • Deep dive on this bit, rationale behind word choice, and observation that language can alienate segments of the audience (18:19–23:16).
  • Quote: "I want to not have an audience have a reason to not listen to me right out the gate." – Soresi (18:19)

3. Context & Boundaries in Comedy

• Both host and guest discuss how the context of the room, and the relationship between performer and audience, determine what jokes can land safely.
  • Soresi tells a story about a sensitive, reciprocal interaction with an Indian-dominated college audience, emphasizing jokes that only work in specific live contexts and shouldn’t be clipped for the Internet (09:35–11:29).
• There’s also discussion about treating all audience members—regardless of identity—with equal regard in crowd work, aiming for humor that is “elevated” and not hacky.

4. Post-2020, Social Media and Cancel Culture

• Soresi reflects on his own "progressive socialization" and how it armored him against some missteps, but also inhibited some comedic risk-taking.
  • Quote: "If I live in that fear, I'm not going to make good comedy." – Soresi (16:39)
• Comedians now, especially post-2020, must be wary of how any material can be misconstrued online, but Soresi ultimately chooses to take risks for the sake of authenticity and better comedy.

5. Approach to Darker Themes (e.g., Suicide, Language Taboos)

• Soresi’s special tackles subjects like suicide head-on, insisting that comedy needs spaces for difficult topics, and decrying censorship algorithms that oversimplify risk.
  • Quote: "We have to have spaces that we share darker thoughts with. In a society where we're lonely, we have to say it out loud and then we go, well, that's mean." – Soresi (33:55)
• The “suicide chunk” in his special is rooted in real life—dealing with a friend’s struggles—and is meticulously crafted to balance catharsis, pain, and humor (38:31–41:28).
  • Quote: "It was terrible. And I don't think I even giggled. But in the moment I probably was like, Jesus Christ... I'm talking to this old version presentational of happiness." – Soresi (40:10)

6. Crafting and Workshopping Jokes

• The writing process involves long Word documents full of bits, refined and rearranged into stories or chunks.
  • Stories are built from personal experience and developed piece by piece, sometimes integrating classic "street joke" DNA into individual, autobiographical routines (41:28–44:15).

7. Business Strategy & Team Building in the Social Media Era

• Soresi stands out for running his work with an entrepreneurial mindset: hiring full-time assistants, a social media coordinator, editors, and a business manager (48:58–49:32).
  • He spends at least $20k/month on his operation, reinvesting earnings from content revenue back into the business.
  • Quote: "My monthly overhead is at least $20,000 at least. And I probably make most of that back via the YouTube..." – Soresi (49:35)
• The reasoning: control, security, and creative autonomy, rather than waiting for gatekeepers.

8. The Rise (and Merits/Drawbacks) of Crowd Work

• Crowd work became a dominant online form because it doesn’t “burn” material, is algorithm-friendly, and offers authenticity.
• Soresi’s journey started with necessity (hosting at tough clubs, doing check spots), evolved to deliberate filming, and now, crowd work is an integral, but not overwhelming, part of his live act (52:02–56:47).
  • Quote: "No one comes to my shows and thinks that was too much crowd work..." – Soresi (56:47)
• There’s nuanced debate about crowd work’s place in club shows; it’s vital for one’s own show, but can be disruptive or rude on mixed lineups.

9. Shifting Gatekeepers and Comedy’s New Path

• The old model of succeeding through TV spots and Comedy Central is over; comedians now manage their own careers, content output, and brands across platforms.
• Advice to new comedians: doing lots of stand-up is crucial for development; balancing with online “content creation” is hard but essential (68:53–72:54).
  • Quote: "I made kind of a conscious choice to exist, as if I would never get a booking ever again. That it all was going to be myself." – Soresi (45:50)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On social media reshaping the comedy business:
  "Now with the algorithm, you could really get a fit. I've performed, opened or done a spot where I go, it's all 22 year old girls. That's crazy." (08:07)

• On context & crowd work boundaries:
  “In that space, I could. And by the way, hacky joke, hacky joke to hacky joke. But it was like, to me, it was beautiful. I would hope people would understand the context of it, but in that moment, I was like, I played with the fact that the audience was a particular group of people...” (10:22)

• Business transparency:
  "I have a business manager. I have a full time assistant. I have a full time social media person, but they work in tandem with a social media company. My openers also do editing. I have a podcast producer, I have various editors... my monthly overhead is at least $20,000 at least." (49:32–49:35)

• On the shifting meaning of a "special":
  "In a way it's over. The idea of the special that, that launches it just doesn't exist anymore... I'll never have what Mulaney had, and Mulaney will never had what George Carlin had. And George and, you know, host will never have what Johnny Carson had. You can't spend your life whining over this shit." (74:16)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Funniest thing this week: Lady Gaga concert story – 01:41–04:22
• Discussion of Matt Rife, audiences, and offensive material – 04:27–09:14
• Safe spaces, crowd work, and context-bound material – 09:35–13:49
• Language, progressivism, and comedic responsibility – 17:51–23:16
• Handling dark topics (esp. suicide) in comedy – 34:44–41:35
• Writing process and joke construction – 41:28–44:15
• Team-building and business mechanics as a modern comic – 48:58–50:49
• The economics and creative logic of crowd work – 51:28–65:12
• Changes in the comedy industry; advice for new comedians – 68:00–72:54
• Closing "Laughing Round" with joke stories & comedy Mount Rushmore – 76:55–91:18

Closing Insights

Gianmarco Soresi exemplifies the 21st-century comedian: adaptable, entrepreneurial, and deeply conscious of context—online and off. He’s candid about the pressures and pleasures of algorithm-driven comedy, the nuances of crowd work, and the tension of being both a performer and content creator. Above all, Soresi’s approach is about trusting his comedic instincts, treating audiences as partners in exploration (not adversaries), and using every tool—language, business acumen, and the Internet—to make truly resonant comedy.

Recommended for listeners interested in:

• The inner workings and new economics of the stand-up industry
• How comedians think through offensive/taboo topics in a progressive age
• Crowd work: making it, clipping it, and debating its merit
• Building an online comedy audience and the business of "being your own brand"