Adam Waheed is a comedy actor and filmmaker who delivers skits to 55 million fans across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube. In 2024, Waheed’s funny takes on everyday events—like Googling symptoms when sick and using a public restroom—have attracted 10 billion views across his social media platforms. He’s collaborated with celebs including Kevin Hart, Will Smith, and Paris Hilton. Brand partnerships include Old Spice, The NFL, and Paramount Pictures.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00And that one video gave me the confidence to say,
00:03hey, okay, forget what everyone else is saying.
00:07I actually am gonna still quit my job
00:09and I'm gonna make a video every single day
00:11and I don't care if I have to make a video
00:12every single day for 10 years,
00:14I know that I made something one time
00:16that enough people enjoyed
00:18and I'll do it a hundred more times
00:20to replicate that success.
00:25Hey everybody, I'm Steve Bertone,
00:26Forbes Assistant Managing Editor
00:28and today we're sitting down with Adam W,
00:30a comedian and creator
00:32who has more than 55 million followers
00:34and the new member of the Forbes Top Creator List.
00:38Adam, welcome.
00:39Hi guys.
00:40How's it going, bud?
00:41Good to see you.
00:42We can hug later.
00:43Yeah, we'll hug after this.
00:44We can hug later.
00:45Okay, cool.
00:46So you just made the Forbes Top Creator List
00:48for the third time in a row.
00:49Three Pete.
00:50Three Pete.
00:51You're also a Forbes under 30 member and judge.
00:54Yeah.
00:55So welcome to the Forbes family, baby.
00:56This is great.
00:57I love being part of the Forbes family.
00:58I love you guys.
00:59I want to talk first about where this all began.
01:03What were you doing before you became a professional creator?
01:07What was like, what were you all about?
01:09I was doing valet.
01:10I was doing valet and I was an assistant.
01:12I moved out here to Los Angeles.
01:14I'm from New York.
01:15I moved out here to be an actor.
01:16Okay.
01:17And then when I got here,
01:18I realized that's what everyone else moved out here for too.
01:20And it was really tough.
01:21I just wasn't able to get even audition.
01:23I wasn't able to get a manager, agent, none of that.
01:26I think I might've got like three auditions
01:28like in a whole year.
01:29Obviously didn't get any of them.
01:30That's like cliche,
01:31like a wannabe actor who's parking valet.
01:33Where'd you park?
01:34I actually worked for this company
01:35and they did like different events.
01:37Okay.
01:38Yeah.
01:38Did you have to wear like a little red jacket?
01:39Yeah, I had that red vest.
01:40I still have it.
01:41I had to wear that red vest.
01:42And I remember I always used to park cars and be like,
01:44shit, I hope I don't run into somebody famous.
01:46Like they wouldn't even remember me,
01:48but I was kind of embarrassed of doing it.
01:50And you're from Queens.
01:51Did you do acting growing up?
01:53No, not at all.
01:54I played football my whole life.
01:55My plan A was to go to the NFL.
01:58I ended up playing in college in Texas at SMU.
02:01Oh no, that's a big deal.
02:02Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:03What'd you play?
02:04What position?
02:04Corner.
02:05Oh nice, you were fast.
02:06Yeah, I was fast.
02:07I'm still fast.
02:08But yeah, didn't work out.
02:10And after that I was like,
02:11shit, what am I going to do with my life?
02:14And my sister was like,
02:15oh, you've always been funny.
02:15Why don't you try to be an actor?
02:16So I just moved to LA.
02:18Never been here before.
02:19Tried it.
02:20Nothing worked.
02:21Nothing went my way.
02:22And towards the end of that year,
02:24year and a half,
02:25I saw people creating content online.
02:27What year is this, by the way?
02:28This was 2016, I believe.
02:31End of 15, 16.
02:34Yeah, so long ago,
02:34but not that long ago.
02:35Yeah, yeah.
02:36I mean, it feels like a long time ago.
02:38But yeah, I started,
02:40I saw people making content online.
02:41I was like, all right,
02:42let me try making a video
02:44and maybe a director will see it
02:46and they'll put me in a movie.
02:47That was my whole plan.
02:48Not knowing that directors
02:49weren't even on Instagram at that time.
02:51They had no idea.
02:52Yeah.
02:53Instagram aren't even on there now.
02:55What was your first video of?
02:56Uh, the first one I tried,
03:00I forget what exactly what it was.
03:02I remember the first one I made that took off.
03:04Okay.
03:05But I had tried like a couple videos
03:07and they were just,
03:08I had like 300 followers.
03:10The first video that took me like four months
03:12to make got 90 views.
03:14Four months?
03:15Yeah, four months.
03:16Just because like, you know,
03:17I said I wanted to be an actor.
03:17I never acted before.
03:18Okay.
03:19I wasn't going to acting classes.
03:20I've never created anything.
03:21A lot of people don't realize
03:24that acting is a specific craft, right?
03:26Then you have to produce something.
03:28You have to direct something.
03:29You have to edit something.
03:30These are all different jobs, right?
03:31And a lot of times, you know,
03:33when you see an actor on screen,
03:34that actor's work for hire.
03:35They just show up, they read their lines,
03:37they do a great performance,
03:38but they're not in charge of producing this thing,
03:40directing this thing, editing this thing,
03:42writing this thing.
03:42Yeah, it was like a one man show for you.
03:44Exactly.
03:44So I kind of just had to teach myself
03:46how to do that whole thing.
03:47And, you know, at that time,
03:49and still a perfectionist trying to put out
03:51the best piece of content.
03:52It took me four months to make that.
03:54Wow.
03:5530, 34 second video.
03:56And I put it out and didn't get the result that I wanted.
03:59How'd you feel?
03:59Like you put all that time in
04:00and it was just like,
04:01you're sitting there hitting refresh,
04:03trying to look at views.
04:04Yeah, I thought it was broken.
04:05I was like, my wifi still says five views.
04:08Yeah, when I got that,
04:09when I found out what it got,
04:11I was like, F this.
04:13I'm going to move back home.
04:14I'm going to pack it up.
04:15Just get a real job.
04:16Like everyone's been telling me to do this whole time.
04:18Get a real job, get a real job.
04:20So that's what I was planning on doing.
04:23That happened in the beginning of the month.
04:24And I was like, ah,
04:25I got to wait till the end of the month
04:26to get paid to book my flight.
04:29So I was like, while I'm here,
04:30I might as well shoot a couple more videos.
04:31And the fourth one that I did,
04:34I posted it in the morning.
04:36And by nighttime, it got a thousand views.
04:38Which was just cool.
04:40More than my following,
04:41but didn't think any of it.
04:42Yeah, that was 10 times more popular than your first video.
04:45Woke up the next morning,
04:46had 400,000 views.
04:47Wow, okay.
04:48And it had went viral
04:49and tons of people were texting me
04:51and talking about it.
04:53It was a video about girls.
04:54My girl was doing her makeup while she was driving.
04:57So like the visor was down
04:59and she's like doing,
05:00she's swerving and I'm in the passenger seat,
05:01like panicking.
05:02Stupid video.
05:03I didn't think anything of it.
05:04I was like, ah, whatever.
05:05Let me try this one.
05:07I actually didn't really even like the video
05:09when I edited.
05:10And I was like, what do I have to lose?
05:11I might as well post it.
05:13And it just resonated with people.
05:14People loved it.
05:15It went viral.
05:16And that one video gave me the confidence to say,
05:19hey, okay, forget what everyone else is saying.
05:23I actually am going to still quit my job
05:25and I'm going to make a video every single day.
05:27And I don't care if I have to make a video
05:28every single day for 10 years.
05:30I know that I made something one time
05:32that enough people enjoyed
05:34and I'll do it a hundred more times
05:36to replicate that success.
05:37I love that.
05:38I mean, it's crazy because you said you spent
05:40four months on one video that you loved
05:41and it didn't resonate.
05:43And then the video that you kind of did last minute
05:46that you hated was the one that took off.
05:47Yeah.
05:48And it's almost like, so you're a football player.
05:50So with social media, it's almost like you can throw,
05:52it sounds like your job,
05:53your plan was to just throw as many Hail Marys as you can
05:56because there's no limit, there's no downs.
05:59You can do it as many times as you want.
06:01And it becomes like a numbers game, right?
06:02It's like taking as many swings as you can.
06:04Yeah, you got to be able to definitely take no.
06:07Like even when I played at SMU, I was a walk-on.
06:09So all I heard was no.
06:12I tried to get a scholarship at a school.
06:13I heard no.
06:14I walked onto this team.
06:15I made the team.
06:16I tried to get on the field.
06:17No, no, you can't play.
06:18I finally started to play.
06:20I constantly heard no.
06:21So even when you come to Hollywood,
06:22you're going to hear a lot of no's.
06:25I went into auditions.
06:26When someone says no, it's fine.
06:27I heard no.
06:29And same thing with social media, right?
06:30You put out content, it's not going to do well.
06:32It's not going to do well.
06:33The stuff you put your heart and soul in doesn't do well.
06:36Something you don't try on does well.
06:38You start to figure out the formula.
06:40You start to figure out what's working, what's not.
06:42So you got to really be able to take no.
06:46But once you start hearing yes, you stop hearing no a lot.
06:49And you start hearing a lot more yes's.
06:51So how did your strategy of a video day work?
06:53How did that go?
06:54So there was a lot of videos that would never instill,
06:57would never see the light of day.
06:59A lot of stuff, I would make stuff and just shoot it
07:00and be like, this sucks.
07:01This is not great.
07:02I can't post this.
07:03There's no way I can post this.
07:04But I would still film it every single day
07:06because I'm getting better every single day at the process.
07:10And eventually, a lot of times, you put something on paper
07:14and it sounds good.
07:15There's so many steps in the process
07:17that you can mess up, right?
07:18You put something on paper, it sounds funny.
07:20You shoot it, it ends up not being funny.
07:22You end up shooting it, you think it's funny,
07:23you edit it, it's not that funny.
07:25Sometimes you shoot something and write something
07:27and it's OK, but then you save it in the edit
07:29and it becomes amazing when you put it all together, right?
07:31So there's so many steps that I learned along the way.
07:33But yeah, every day, something is going to get shot.
07:36So when did this become a full-time job?
07:412016, you're doing a video a day.
07:43Some take off, some don't.
07:45When did you start feeling like,
07:46OK, I'm getting some traction here?
07:48So at one point, I had like,
07:49I think it took me like six months to get 500,000 followers.
07:52And I remember I'd walk around and people were like,
07:55oh my God, you're that one guy,
07:56that one guy from the internet.
07:58And I would get stopped everywhere I go.
08:01But at that time, I was living in a two bedroom
08:03with six people.
08:04Two bedroom with six people?
08:05Like AeroBeds everywhere?
08:06Yeah, in North Hollywood,
08:07I had like the curtain in my room and everything.
08:09And I would meet people and they'd be like,
08:11oh, you're probably killing it.
08:12Like everyone knows you.
08:13And I'm like, I'm actually making no money at all.
08:15At that time, my sister was helping me pay my rent.
08:17And I had already quit my job
08:19and I knew that I was going to do this full-time.
08:21And I was never really too worried though,
08:23because I knew like,
08:24hey, I'm getting like tons of viewership.
08:26There's got to be a way to make money, right?
08:28I never really chased the money.
08:29It was more so like,
08:30I know that I've built this platform,
08:32I'm going to keep growing it.
08:33And I mean, sooner or later,
08:35I got to make money, right?
08:36Just doesn't make sense if I wouldn't.
08:37I'm getting millions of views at this time.
08:39Are you still valeting at this point?
08:40Or you just doing this full-time?
08:41No, no, I had quit.
08:43And my sister was just paying my rent.
08:45So shout out to her.
08:46But yeah, I was like, crap,
08:48like I had this following,
08:50not making any money,
08:51but there's got to be a way to make money.
08:52And I remember I started to hang around
08:54some other creators,
08:56bigger creators at that time
08:57who had invited me to shoot days.
08:58And I was like,
09:00how's everyone making money in here?
09:01You know, I never wanted to ask anybody
09:02about like their pockets
09:03or how they make money or like that.
09:04But I was just thankful to even be there
09:06and to shoot with them and collab with them.
09:07But I was like,
09:08how's like everyone,
09:09this guy has a Lamborghini
09:10and they're all making all this money.
09:11How are they doing it?
09:13And I saw that they were doing these brand deals.
09:14Like these brands were paying them
09:16these massive amounts of money
09:18to just post about them.
09:20And I was like,
09:21I got to get a brand deal.
09:22How do I get a brand deal?
09:23And I kind of just manifested it
09:24and prayed on it.
09:25And the first one I got was T-Mobile for 20,000.
09:28Okay.
09:29And it was the most money I ever made.
09:30Yes.
09:31And they said like,
09:32we want you to just do a video
09:33incorporating T-Mobile into it.
09:34Yeah, basically it was a campaign.
09:36I think it was like,
09:37maybe like fastest LT network
09:39or something of those sorts.
09:40And basically they sent a brief
09:42and they were like,
09:43hey, create a concept,
09:46send it to us,
09:47we'll approve it.
09:48And then you get the concept back,
09:49you shoot it,
09:50you edit it,
09:51you send it to them for approval again.
09:52And then you post it
09:53and send the insights afterwards.
09:55And I remember that video that I made,
09:58it got a million views.
09:59Wow.
10:00Because I put so much time and effort into it.
10:02And I actually spent like around five,
10:046,000 to make that video.
10:05Gotcha, okay.
10:06If I were to make that video today,
10:07I'd make it for less than a thousand bucks.
10:10I mean, I have a whole team now, right?
10:11But at that time,
10:12I was just so thankful
10:13that they even gave me a chance.
10:15I was like,
10:16I needed all of that 20,000.
10:17I did every cent of it,
10:18but I was like,
10:19I'll spend five, 6,000 of this
10:21to give them a great product
10:23because they gave me a chance.
10:26And I put it out and it got a million views.
10:28There was no boosting back then,
10:30no ads, nothing,
10:32just straight organic,
10:33a million views.
10:34I ended up doing a year partnership
10:35with them after that
10:36because of the result of that video.
10:37You said you were preying on brand deals.
10:39When this T-Mobile came to you,
10:41did you,
10:42were you out there cold calling brands?
10:43Did you have an agent?
10:44Or were you just waiting for them?
10:45They DM'd you?
10:46Yeah, they DM'd me and I was like,
10:48T-Mobile?
10:49What?
10:50And I had to check the page
10:51to see if it was verified.
10:52And it was legitimately them.
10:53And then we got on email with them
10:55and then we figured it out.
10:56But yeah, it was a DM.
10:58And I just remember,
10:59I remember I woke up that morning
11:00and I saw it on my phone.
11:01I was like, no way.
11:02So T-Mobile was your first big deal.
11:03Now let's fast forward today,
11:052024.
11:07You have 55 million followers
11:08across your platforms.
11:09Forbes estimates you made around 15 million
11:12over the last year.
11:13Tell me, how did you get there?
11:16I didn't plan on doing it.
11:18I kind of just created this thing
11:20and it just kept growing
11:22and it was in my lap
11:23and got better.
11:24And then I started to work with a lot of brands.
11:26And then I kind of started to build this reputation of,
11:29if you want the best brand deal
11:31with the best viewership
11:33and the best content,
11:34you're gonna come to me.
11:35And I've proved that time and time over again.
11:38In the high billions of views
11:40just on branded content alone,
11:41I've worked with mostly all of the Fortune 500 companies,
11:45a lot of long-term partnerships with big brands
11:47like Old Spice,
11:48I've been working with them for five years,
11:49still working with T-Mobile.
11:52And really,
11:53when it comes to branded content,
11:54a lot of creators will just be like,
11:55go buy this phone.
11:56And it gets 200,000 views
11:58and no one's happy.
11:59The audiences are happy.
12:00The brand's not happy.
12:01Maybe the creator's happy,
12:03they get paid,
12:03but it's just a one-time payday, right?
12:05That brand's not gonna come back
12:06because they weren't happy with the result.
12:09But for me,
12:10I'm gonna go above and beyond.
12:10I will go out of my way
12:11to make this the funniest video.
12:12Because what I do
12:13is I'm gonna think,
12:14okay, what is the funniest idea about a phone?
12:17Just in general, right?
12:18Now, let me implement T-Mobile secondhand.
12:20It's clearly a brand deal.
12:22What's the funniest part of a phone?
12:23I mean, not having service,
12:25calls dropping.
12:27Breaking it.
12:28Breaking it, screen cracking.
12:30I mean, you go on for days, right?
12:32Finding that relatability, right?
12:33What's something that actually other people go through?
12:36It doesn't matter what the phone service is, right?
12:38And then now, why is T-Mobile the best?
12:40And whether you agree with that or not,
12:42you still laughed at this video
12:43and you still shared it.
12:44And guess what?
12:45It's still on par with my other videos.
12:47Production value, prop wise,
12:50actor, actress wise.
12:52I'm not just getting a check
12:53and posting something, right?
12:54And brands appreciate that.
12:56They see that and they say,
12:57hey, we gave this guy $200,000 for one video
13:02and he spent 10,000,
13:04at least 15,000 on that video,
13:06where a lot of the creators,
13:08they're not even,
13:09they might not even have a team.
13:10They might just show up.
13:11You're building, you're investing into it.
13:12Exactly.
13:13And I'm gonna guarantee that that video
13:15breaks over a million views organically
13:17without them boosting.
13:18Of course, they'll boost it later on, sure.
13:21As well as, it's gonna be a piece of content
13:23that they can use moving forward
13:26for other brand briefs
13:27and they can even post themselves.
13:28A lot of times, other friends of mine
13:30will text me like, hey,
13:31I just got this brand brief for Walmart
13:35for Old Spice and look,
13:35your video's an example video.
13:37So, really establishing myself
13:39as an authority in that space
13:40and saying, hey, if you're gonna pay me
13:42to do a brand,
13:43I'm gonna go above and beyond.
13:44It's gonna be the best piece of content
13:46you get from any creator
13:47and it's gonna get an insane amount of viewership,
13:50not only just for a branded piece of content,
13:52but just in general.
13:53Yeah, you're saying you'll invest $10,000
13:56into the production of a video for a client.
13:58What is your operation like?
13:59What is Adam W. Inc. look like right now?
14:02So, I have about five employees.
14:04It used to be more.
14:05I actually scaled down
14:06because it didn't make sense.
14:07About five employees.
14:09I have a shooter, I have an editor,
14:10I have a couple of PAs
14:11and a sound lighting guy.
14:14And basically, it's just us five.
14:17We rock it and we get a lot of crazy things done.
14:21It's a little bit easier.
14:22A lot of times when you show up somewhere
14:23with a big crew,
14:24they're like, oh, this is a huge production.
14:26They'll charge you more.
14:27It's more of a bigger deal.
14:28You have to sign releases,
14:29insurance, this, that.
14:30We kind of have just this run-and-gun style
14:32where we show up with a phone
14:34and have lighting.
14:35Everything's portable and we get it done.
14:37What's your creative process?
14:39Being funny is hard.
14:41Just look at SNL, right?
14:42Yeah.
14:43And how do you kind of create your content?
14:47How do you come up with ideas?
14:48Do you storyboard it?
14:49Act it out?
14:50Take me from the first kernel of a video
14:54to like, boom, it's done.
14:56I have a pretty insane process.
14:58So, this is what I do.
14:59So, I post every other day no matter what.
15:01I used to post every single day
15:02for like almost five years,
15:03but my schedule now is every other day.
15:06I refuse to come up with an idea
15:08or do any content creation on the day I'm not posting.
15:12So, for example, when it's a post day,
15:15I wake up at 6 a.m.
15:16and I give myself from 6 to 9 a.m.
15:18to come up with an idea.
15:19Whatever that is.
15:21Are you scrolling?
15:22Are you looking at trends?
15:23Scrolling, looking at trends.
15:25I'll take a walk sometimes.
15:26I'll call people.
15:28I'll try to track back what happened this week.
15:31What are the funny things that happened?
15:32Sometimes I go and chat GBT.
15:34What are annoying things that happen
15:35to people throughout the day?
15:37I'm really just pulling from anywhere that I can.
15:40So, I'll go do that and by around nine, maybe 10,
15:45sometimes I'll have the idea.
15:46Once I get the idea, I tell the crew the idea.
15:49They produce it.
15:50They get the location, the props.
15:52I'll call actors, actresses that morning.
15:55I'll be like, hey, can you get here in 10 minutes?
15:56If they say no, next person.
15:57Hey, can you get here in 10 minutes?
15:59Nope, next person.
16:00Until I finally find somebody.
16:02Shoot the whole thing.
16:03My editor's on set.
16:05Right after we finish it, probably around like 12,
16:08maybe one, sometimes 1.30.
16:12Edit it instantly.
16:13The post goes up by 2.30 and then everyone's off.
16:16And then the next day, I have tons of other things
16:18I'm doing.
16:19Stand up meetings, this, that, whatever.
16:21And then back to a post.
16:22That's crazy, man.
16:22You're a crammer in high school and college.
16:24You're like a cram guy.
16:25Yeah, I'm a procrastinator.
16:26But you know what it is?
16:27I think for me, it's really tough to say,
16:31hey, sit in this room for an hour
16:32and come up with some ideas.
16:34It's really tough.
16:35When I know I have to post by 2 p.m., 2.30,
16:38my back's against the wall, that's when I thrive.
16:40I'm like, I gotta come up.
16:41You'd be a great journalist.
16:42The deadline makes things happen, for sure.
16:44Exactly, yeah.
16:45So I'm like, if I have to post,
16:46I will pull an idea out of the woodwork
16:48from somewhere, something.
16:49But if you just give me a random day,
16:51I'm not posting and go in a room for three hours,
16:54I might get something, I might not.
16:55Yeah, so you need the adrenaline.
16:57You need the pressure of the deadline, yes.
16:59Many journalists in my film crew can agree,
17:02our film crew can agree to that.
17:02No block shooting.
17:04We were talking before off camera
17:05about the Forbes top creator list
17:08and how we look at earnings, entrepreneur score,
17:12engagement, and followers.
17:13And you were saying that it's all about engagement.
17:16Let's talk to me about that and how,
17:18and why is engagement important
17:20and why are engagement in some platforms
17:22different than other platforms?
17:23Yeah, engagement to me is everything, right?
17:26A lot of times you'll see big accounts,
17:27like 30 million, 20 million,
17:29don't even break 20,000 views.
17:30To me, that's like having a Ferrari that doesn't drive.
17:34The engagement is the most important thing.
17:36I'd rather collab or work or have a page
17:38that has a much smaller follower count
17:41and have that audience highly engaged.
17:45Especially as you grow, you want to be in the algorithm,
17:48you want to have high engagement.
17:50Having high engagement leads to converting more
17:52and following, and it might take slower,
17:54but you're much better off having a highly engaged account
17:57than a big follower count.
18:00And yeah, I think on every platform,
18:01it's really important to have high engagement,
18:06especially with a lot of short-form content.
18:08A lot of the viewership's coming
18:09from these For You pages, right?
18:11So ultimately, your follower count
18:14isn't really getting a chance to truly see your content.
18:18I think a stat from, I forget what platform,
18:22but maybe 1% to 2% of traffic
18:25comes from your actual profile page, right?
18:27All the rest is coming from the For You page.
18:29So what does that mean?
18:30That means that-
18:31This is on TikTok, right?
18:32Yeah, on TikTok, and really across all platforms
18:35for short-form, right?
18:37Which means what?
18:38That means that your content has to be engaging enough
18:41and good enough for someone
18:42who's never encountered you to watch it, right?
18:45If you're doing something very niche
18:47just for your follower count that you built,
18:49it might not be getting great engagement
18:51because it's not appealing
18:52and it's not making it on the For You page
18:54for newer people to see.
18:55So you always have to think ahead.
18:57Every time I make a video, I take myself out of my shoes.
18:59Okay, if you've never seen me before,
19:01if you have no clue who I am,
19:02is this relatable, is this funny,
19:04would you laugh at this, right?
19:06But at the same time, pleasing my current audience, right?
19:08So you kinda gotta wear both hats
19:10and be able to play both.
19:12What of other platforms,
19:13of Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube,
19:17which, where is the follower the most valuable?
19:22I'd say YouTube.
19:23I think YouTube, the subscribers,
19:25you know, YouTube is really the home of creators,
19:26in my opinion.
19:28Like, you know, it's the home of community.
19:30Like a lot of the YouTube subscribers
19:31are very dedicated, very loyal.
19:35I think probably on YouTube it matters the most.
19:37Where's the, which followers are the cheapest?
19:40The cheapest?
19:41Least value, I would say.
19:43Tumblr, no, I'm just kidding.
19:44I don't even have a Tumblr.
19:45I don't have a Tumblr.
19:47Tumblr, that's a throwback.
19:49The least cheapest?
19:52I mean, it's tough.
19:53I think with short form content,
19:53like pretty much all of them are,
19:57it really comes down to how much
19:59your community's interacting with you
20:00versus like the number.
20:02And talking about short term,
20:03you have how many views do you get a year?
20:05So just on the last 30 days on IG,
20:08I did 1.2 billion views.
20:10That's crazy.
20:11Yeah, I usually always do over a billion views
20:13across platforms in general every month.
20:15But I think this year, somewhere around like,
20:20I do a count at the end of the year.
20:22And it's tough, because some platforms
20:23will tell you like how much you got in the year,
20:25and some you gotta like manually count.
20:27But I think somewhere around like 18, 17 billion.
20:2917 billion.
20:30And there's a huge move.
20:32Everyone wants to go long form YouTube
20:33because they can serve ads and make money.
20:35And obviously YouTube Shorts, it's getting there,
20:37but they're not paying anyone right now.
20:39Like what is the trick?
20:40If you want to make money by going short,
20:43what, how do you do it?
20:44What's your advice?
20:44So my advice when it comes to short form and long form,
20:46like in a perfect world, you want to do both, right?
20:49But you have to understand what the advantages are
20:51to doing long form and the advantages
20:53to what are doing short form.
20:54So short form, you're gonna get more eyeballs.
20:56You're not gonna get 17 billion views
20:58unless you're Mr. Beast on long form content.
21:00You're just not, right?
21:02However, you might make more money
21:04probably than the average short form creator, right?
21:06With exceptions to a few people
21:08who are doing a lot of branded deals.
21:10Most of the time, you can have maybe two million,
21:12a million subscribers on YouTube doing long form content.
21:15And you'll make double, triple the amount
21:16of a short form creator
21:17that's in the high millions of followers, right?
21:19So you will generally make more money
21:21as a long form creator, but in terms of eyeballs,
21:24you're seen by everybody.
21:27I remember years ago, I did something
21:29with a fellow creator, YouTube creator,
21:32and we did something outside of Foot Locker.
21:34And at the time, I think I had like a million followers
21:37on Instagram, nonexistent on other platforms.
21:41And he had about a million subscribers on YouTube
21:44and nonexistent on other platforms.
21:46And way more people came up to me
21:49and were like, oh my God, I love your stuff.
21:50You're that one guy, you're the one guy, you're the one guy.
21:52And that's because I was getting way more viewership, right?
21:55But the people that came up to him were like diehard fans.
21:59They knew everything about him.
22:00They loved him and they knew him.
22:02But so like-
22:03So they were engaged.
22:04They were really into it.
22:04So it was almost like either you knew him
22:06and you really knew him
22:06or you didn't know him at all, right?
22:08So for eyeballs, you're gonna get way more eyeballs
22:10doing short form.
22:12You're gonna get less doing long form,
22:14but you're gonna make more monetary
22:15doing long form versus short form.
22:17That's funny, that reminds me of like years ago,
22:19I did a cover story with David Chang,
22:20the chef at Momofuku.
22:21And that was before he, you know, he was huge,
22:24but before he blew up on Netflix and that stuff.
22:26And I remember asking him like, do you get stopped a lot?
22:29And he said, I'm like a Star Wars.
22:31I mean, he goes, I'm like a Star Trek actor.
22:32I go, what do you mean?
22:33He's like, most people don't notice me,
22:35but the people that do are huge fans.
22:37They're like-
22:38Yeah, exactly.
22:39I'm either invisible or they freak out.
22:40Yeah.
22:41And it's like nerd out on them.
22:42I'm sure that's kind of like what you're talking about
22:44there with the YouTube.
22:45And that bridge is gapped, right?
22:46Or there's like no gap in that anymore
22:48because now, you know, YouTube is a killer in short form.
22:52Right?
22:53So now you have a lot of creators
22:54who just want to do short form on YouTube
22:55and they'll do that.
22:56Some want to do both, some want to just do long form.
22:58So it's not as imbalanced anymore,
23:01but that's how I always see short form and long form.
23:03So it really depends on what your goals are, right?
23:06For me, I'd rather get the eyeballs
23:08and figure out how to make the money later.
23:09Gotcha.
23:10What are your goals now going forward?
23:12So many creators like yourself
23:14are going from the phone screens to the TV screens,
23:16the silver screens.
23:17Like you said, you're getting 18 billion views a year.
23:20You have huge influence.
23:22Are people coming to you looking at other projects
23:24beyond kind of the social media space?
23:26Yeah, there's definitely a lot of other things
23:28I'm venturing into.
23:29Stand up is one of the bigger ones
23:32that I'm like really focused on.
23:33How's that?
23:34I heard stand up so hard.
23:35I always, I want to do like,
23:37one day I want to do like stand up in front of my friends.
23:39I'll let you open up for me, man.
23:40I'll clear the room.
23:42But how are you finding stand up?
23:44And also who are like your comedic heroes,
23:47both in your skits and in your stand up?
23:49For sure.
23:50One, stand up is you absolutely have to respect the format.
23:54Just because you have a following or you're funny online
23:56doesn't mean you're gonna be funny on stage.
23:58You can be, right?
24:00There's no editing.
24:00Yeah, there's no editing.
24:01It's one shot.
24:04You go out there, a lot of times people know who you are.
24:06Sometimes they don't know who you are
24:07and you got to kind of feel the room
24:09and understand the energy within the room
24:12to make people laugh.
24:13You have to write jokes a certain way, right?
24:15Like something I would write as a sketch
24:17might be horrible on stage.
24:18Something I write on stage
24:19would never work as a sketch vice versa.
24:21So I think for me, the biggest learning curve
24:23is like respecting the format, understanding the format.
24:26And I've been like super lucky
24:28to have some comedy juggernauts mentor me
24:32where I'm like, what the hell?
24:32This person is helping me.
24:33Like who?
24:34Joe Coy.
24:35I just opened up for him in San Francisco
24:38at the Warriors Arena,
24:40which was insane.
24:41In the arena?
24:42Yeah.
24:42Wow, okay.
24:43Yeah, over 11,000 people.
24:45And it was insane
24:46because like if I got 11,000 views,
24:48I would consider deleting my account, right?
24:50But 11,000 people in real life is no joke.
24:53I mean, this is a lot of people.
24:56And it kind of actually shifted my mindset of like,
25:00even if you get 11,000 views, big deal.
25:01That's a lot of people.
25:0211,000 people in one room is absolutely insane.
25:05It's huge and it's big money.
25:06So this year, one of our top creators,
25:08Matt Reif is number three on the list
25:09because he earned around $50 million this year
25:11because of his social media following,
25:15he's doing 30 shows a month and they're all sold out.
25:19And obviously, as you know,
25:20very little production needed for standup comedy.
25:23So he's just banking money on all those seats.
25:25It's incredible.
25:26Yeah, he's a great example of someone who's taken standup
25:28and really leveraged social media
25:29and took it to the next level.
25:31And people don't realize,
25:32Matt, he's been doing this for over 10 years,
25:36doing standup comedy.
25:36He almost quit, he was telling us before.
25:38He was staying in a hostel in New York City doing a show.
25:41And then right before he put up his first thing on YouTube,
25:46and then he blew up and now he's making all that money.
25:48It's crazy.
25:48Yeah, he's a perfect example of a guy
25:49who's a master at his craft.
25:50Absolutely deserves it.
25:51And I think he started a complete wave
25:54of this crowd work clips of crowd work content on social,
25:59where you see a lot of people now replicating it.
26:01So he's awesome.
26:03So congrats to him.
26:04But yeah, Joe Coy, Kevin Hart is another one
26:07who has really stepped up
26:08and has helped me out with a lot of stuff.
26:09Dane Cook as well, I've been opening up for him too.
26:12So these guys, I grew up watching these guys
26:16and these are some of my favorite comedians.
26:17So to be able to share the stage
26:19and to hear their input on what I should do and get advice.
26:23And even if they don't give me advice,
26:24just to be in the room, fly on the wall,
26:26just to be a sponge and absorb everything.
26:29It doesn't matter how many followers you have,
26:31how much money you have.
26:32I think you always have to continue to learn
26:34and it doesn't always have to be from a guy like that,
26:37but from anybody, right?
26:38Every week, I feel like I'm getting better.
26:39Why, what is your, like, what's your material?
26:42What's your style?
26:43Yeah, it's a lot of self-deprecating, make fun of myself,
26:47talk about my platform, having a following,
26:48the struggles of fame, the benefits of it,
26:53just a little bit about myself.
26:54At the same time too, when you first jump into standup,
26:57you start to, okay, what's funny about me, right?
26:59What's funny about my story?
27:01What's funny about my upbringing, my childhood?
27:03And you kind of get that material out of the way.
27:04And then as you start to cook,
27:06you start to find other material, right?
27:09Same thing with videos, right?
27:10Like I would do stuff that happened to me in my life,
27:13like that my mom would do, or this would happen,
27:15or like a girlfriend would do.
27:17And then you start to have to just pull from everything.
27:19Okay, what happened to my friend?
27:20Let me shoot that.
27:21Or what happened to this person?
27:22Oh, that happened today.
27:24So it's just pulling from a lot of real moments.
27:27I mean, you already have a meaty empire.
27:28You're making a very good living.
27:31Standup is hard and you're kind of taking
27:33this like apprentice mindset again.
27:35What is driving you to do the standup?
27:38I just want to cause traffic.
27:40I want to cause traffic.
27:41What do you mean by that?
27:42Like I want people to be like on the 101
27:44and be like, what the hell's going on?
27:45Why is there so much traffic?
27:46And someone would be like, it's the Adam W show.
27:48I just want to cause traffic in cities all around.
27:51I think like live performance is the greatest feeling.
27:54Like even like you go do like a room of 200 people
27:57and you crush it and people laughing.
27:58It's different than getting like the laugh emoji.
28:01I'm used to just seeing laugh emojis, right?
28:03But to hear actual laughs,
28:05forget that these are real people
28:06that are actually watching your videos
28:08that are actually laughing when they're watching them.
28:10So when you hear that laugh,
28:11and even if it's 100 people, 200 people, 11,000 people,
28:14it's just the best feeling.
28:16You leave, you walk off stage and I'm like, I'm hilarious.
28:19It's just a great feeling.
28:20I'm psyched to do the fireside with you today
28:22at Top Creators.
28:23We're gonna have a packed house of 400 people.
28:25So we'll get that energy.
28:26What about other things besides standup?
28:29Obviously you're famous for videos, clips, skits.
28:33Have you been approached by kind of longer form,
28:36mainstream media to do the MW show
28:39that's more a clip based or more do a comedy, do a movie?
28:43Do you have any thoughts about that?
28:44Yeah, so it was something that we were talking to.
28:46I had a partnership with Wheelhouse,
28:48still do to create some content,
28:50working with Heartbeat to also produce some stuff.
28:54So I think the three bugs for me
28:55is I'm never really gonna take my foot off the gas
28:57on social content.
28:58I'm always gonna continue to keep making skits and sketches.
29:03Secondly, standup and third, a longer form content
29:07or traditional content like movies and film and TV.
29:10But, and I was saying this to someone the other day,
29:14there's always this constant pressure of,
29:16hey, you've built this audience.
29:17Oh, let's go to Netflix.
29:19Oh, let's go to Hulu.
29:20But why?
29:21Why can't I just stay on YouTube?
29:22Why can't I make a $5 million movie
29:24and put it out on YouTube, right?
29:25So it's figuring out what makes sense with that,
29:27figuring out what the ROI and how to get,
29:30whether it's a brand evolved or whatever the case may be.
29:32But I kinda wanna just stay on YouTube.
29:35I kinda wanna create these premium pieces of content
29:39and put them out on my socials
29:40rather than having to get people to go somewhere else.
29:43And I do believe that in four or five years,
29:46YouTube will have that prestige.
29:48Instagram, TikTok, these platforms will have that prestige
29:52because right now, those platforms,
29:54yes, in terms of monetary,
29:56it's probably gonna be more than a traditional project.
29:58In terms of fame,
29:59it's probably gonna be more than a traditional platform.
30:02But it's the prestige that is kind of the third bucket
30:04that maybe social creators and social platforms don't get.
30:08And I do feel like that narrative is shifting
30:09and I think YouTube is a leader in that.
30:11And I do think that that prestige will be there
30:14in the next few years.
30:15So maybe I'll shift my audience
30:18to go watch a project somewhere else,
30:19but maybe I also won't.
30:21Maybe I'll stay where I'm at.
30:22Yeah, you have a YouTube film in a movie theater.
30:24There you go. Exactly.
30:25You have 55 million followers.
30:27Before you, when you post,
30:29and you know it's gonna go out to all those folks,
30:31do you feel responsibility?
30:33Do you feel nervous?
30:34Because you're basically doing an audience
30:37of a live NFL game, so to speak.
30:40No, because I'm usually late on my post.
30:42I'm like, hurry up, I'm trying to get this thing out ASAP.
30:44It's coming right off the laptop,
30:46exported onto my phone, I'm putting it out.
30:47But I think I have a very good mindset
30:50of what is appropriate, what would offend somebody.
30:52Look, I'm not always right,
30:53but I think I'm like 98% right at the time.
30:55So I have a lot of confidence,
30:56and I've made a lot of mistakes.
30:57So when I press that button, I'm pretty confident.
31:00If you can go back in time
31:02and give yourself one piece of advice
31:03right before you went viral
31:05and became a creator full-time, what would it be?
31:08I was at a really bad point in my life,
31:10like mentally at that time.
31:11I had a lot of anxiety
31:12because I didn't know what I was gonna do with my life.
31:15I think just with anything, any journey,
31:18it's so important to enjoy it.
31:19Don't be so hard on yourself.
31:20At the same time, work hard,
31:21and you know, dream big, and make it happen.
31:24I wish I wasn't as hard on myself.
31:26What's been the darkest, scariest day
31:29as a creator for you?
31:30The darkest, scariest day?
31:35I remember I think there's more pressure
31:39when you get a following to then post.
31:41When you first start posting, who cares?
31:43No one's watching, right?
31:44You can try anything, right?
31:46I think the first month
31:49that I was starting to really get a million views,
31:51I had a lot of pressure of like,
31:52shit, what if I put this out?
31:54There's gonna be so many people that judge this.
31:55There's gonna be so many people,
31:56what if they don't like it?
31:57So I would put a lot of pressure,
31:58but I don't think there was like a specific,
32:01have I ever got canceled?
32:03No, I don't think I ever got canceled
32:05or had really any backlash.
32:06I think you remember if you did.
32:07Yeah, yeah, no, I don't remember.
32:09I mean, luckily, I don't think I really had a dark day.
32:12What is the secret to getting a massive following?
32:15Consistency, 100% consistency.
32:18A lot of people, you know,
32:19you can get 10 million views on a video.
32:22The next day, someone else is getting 10 million views.
32:23You have to continue to keep putting those numbers up.
32:25You have to continue to keep putting content up.
32:27You can be the most famous person online for a year.
32:30You could be a meme.
32:31Then boom, you go away.
32:32What happens?
32:33How do you make money?
32:34Where does your audience go?
32:34How do you scale, right?
32:36So it's not just about being good, getting views,
32:39putting great content out.
32:41It's about consistently doing it.
32:42How long can you do it for?
32:44And is that the same,
32:45how do you build a really tight engagement
32:47with your community?
32:48Absolutely, yeah.
32:49I mean, look, if you're putting out
32:51banger after banger after banger,
32:53people want to keep coming back and watching.
32:55If you start to put out some videos that aren't great
32:57and then you stop trying and these videos aren't as good,
32:59you start to lose your audience.
33:00You start to lose your community, right?
33:02So it's not only just giving the same quality,
33:05but upping that quality year after year after year
33:08and giving people a reason to want to keep coming back.
33:10It's like a show, right?
33:12The Office.
33:12Why is The Office so great?
33:13It gets better every season.
33:15It's so funny.
33:16It's better every single season.
33:19So I think same thing with being a creator.
33:20You gotta be better every season.
33:22And what is your big prediction
33:24for the creator economy in the next coming years?
33:26I think we're gonna see a lot of creators
33:31start to win Emmys, Oscars, awards.
33:35I think the prestige within being a content creator
33:39will really start to flourish over the next few years.
33:42And you're gonna see creators' businesses
33:45surpass other people's businesses that aren't creators.
33:49I think every day it's getting stronger.
33:51I think even if you were to predict where it's at now
33:54from where it was three years ago has been astronomical.
33:57So I think we're gonna see a lot of prestige, is the word,
34:01in the next few years in the creator economy
34:03and just the creator landscape.
34:04Well said, that's a great place to end.
34:06Adam W., thanks for coming on Top Creators.
34:09Hey, thank you.
34:10Fist bump.
34:10No, this one.
34:11All right, yeah.
34:12Well, we're a mess.
34:13We'll cut this out.
34:14Or we'll leave it.
34:15It's great, authentic.