對于喬治·陳(音譯)來說,和別人對話非常重要。這位從奧克蘭來到洛杉磯的脫口秀演員非常多才多藝。他目前在美國流媒體音樂服務(wù)商Pandora的播客內(nèi)容運營部工作,與別人共同主持一檔自己的播客“Sup Doc”,并在洛杉磯主持三檔現(xiàn)場喜劇之夜節(jié)目。他自己也會上場表演。談話是他謀生的手段,但在更多時候,他是一個聆聽者。
雖然他本人尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)播客有何變化,但Podtrac提供的最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示,可能由于通勤人數(shù)大幅減少,播客下載量總體呈下降趨勢。但到目前為止,新聞類播客依舊最受歡迎,在這個特殊時期,這完全在意料之中。
《財富》雜志采訪了喬治·陳,向他了解在居家時代,作為一名脫口秀演員、播客和全能型協(xié)作創(chuàng)意人,工作受到了哪些影響。以下問答內(nèi)容經(jīng)過精簡和編輯。
《財富》:Pandora在奧克蘭也有分支機構(gòu),但你為什么幾年前從奧克蘭來到洛杉磯?
喬治·陳:我很幸運,因為我的工作經(jīng)常可以遠(yuǎn)程辦公,但我女朋友收到了一份[洛杉磯的]工作邀請,再加上我當(dāng)時得知我在舊金山主持的《迷失的周末》(Lost Weekend)脫口秀節(jié)目即將停播,所以一切似乎都自然而然地發(fā)生了。
大概一年前,我[在Pandora]的崗位確實有調(diào)整,但我還是可以遠(yuǎn)程辦公。我現(xiàn)在的工作是播客內(nèi)容運營,這與我之前從事的脫口秀分析略有不同。我在2014年加入Pandora,到現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)六年了。
所以,新冠疫情并沒有給你的工作帶來大的變化?
是的,我平時工作中也一直在用Zoom通話,在Slack和Zoom上參加會議,通過郵件進(jìn)行溝通。所以,我早就已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了遠(yuǎn)程辦公。比如,人們說“在群視頻時要靜音”,這時候我的反應(yīng)是:“哦,我早就知道了?!?/p>
除了在Pandora工作外,你還在洛杉磯主持現(xiàn)場喜劇之夜節(jié)目,這些節(jié)目最近有什么變化?
我有兩場節(jié)目時間比較固定,也堅持了最長時間,分別是 “真實痛苦”(Real Pain)和在小大阪的巨型機器人畫廊(Giant Robot Gallery)舉辦的“巨型機器人喜劇之夜”(Giant Robot Comedy Night)。但現(xiàn)在巨型機器人畫廊已經(jīng)停業(yè),我不知道它什么時候會恢復(fù)營業(yè),但我想我們要沉住氣,靜待恢復(fù)演出的官方消息。
在“真實痛苦藝術(shù)”畫廊舉辦的另外一檔節(jié)目“真實痛苦”,在本月最后一刻才被迫取消。
我記得在3月12日,我不確定是否要進(jìn)行開放麥演出,演出的地點是回聲公園(Echo Park)的尤尼代爾圖書館(Uniondale Library)。我一直在等消息,我個人覺得應(yīng)該取消演出,后來圖書館決定停辦一切活動。
我更擔(dān)心的是“真實痛苦”這個節(jié)目,因為我預(yù)約了許多人參加3月14日的演出,我現(xiàn)在的想法是等節(jié)目恢復(fù)正常后,盡量重新邀請這些演員進(jìn)行表演。
你上次主持現(xiàn)場喜劇之夜是什么時候?
我們在3月5日舉辦了一場[巨型機器人]演出。這場演出引起了很多爭議,所以我們?nèi)∠?月的演出,我想5月可能也會取消。我們只能像其他人一樣,等等看情況再說。
你是否有計劃或有意進(jìn)行虛擬現(xiàn)場喜劇表演?
我考慮過用Instagram Live做直播。直播是為了我的另外一份工作,有關(guān)紀(jì)錄片的Sup播客。我在Facebook上為藝術(shù)家利茲·沃爾什做了一次直播。我不想做常規(guī)的脫口秀直播,因為這種表演形式并不適合直播,我想針對脫口秀做有點特色的節(jié)目。
當(dāng)你習(xí)慣了脫口秀節(jié)目,習(xí)慣了別人的現(xiàn)場反應(yīng),這些在Zoom里是很難模仿的?;蛟S可以進(jìn)行一對一的表演,但這實際上就是在做播客。直播的時候必須做好準(zhǔn)備——不是每個人都擅長就任何話題即興發(fā)揮,侃侃而談。
我今天就在想,要不要嘗試把“現(xiàn)場脫口秀”搬到直播當(dāng)中,邀請我為4月的演出預(yù)約的所有演員加入Zoom直播間,為那些愿意打開攝像頭的觀眾表演,但我的節(jié)目會不會被錄下來?如果被錄像,這就成了另外一回事,脫口秀演員不喜歡被錄像,而且當(dāng)你嘗試新素材的時候,錄像會留下數(shù)字足跡,但你可能對這些素材還沒有把握,因為你還沒有機會向觀眾表演。脫口秀演員會不斷進(jìn)行內(nèi)容創(chuàng)作,只是會有不同的表現(xiàn)形式。
脫口秀演員必須想方設(shè)法完成他們的作品。
人們現(xiàn)在喜歡藝術(shù)和音樂,因為除了在網(wǎng)上看別人的視頻,你在閑暇時沒有其他事情可做。我的常規(guī)工作沒有因為疫情停止,只是我的戶外活動時間減少了而已。
但我的日常生活確實發(fā)生了一些變化,因為社會上出現(xiàn)的反亞洲人的情緒讓我感到不安。我一直在關(guān)注這方面的信息,我始終以為這種事永遠(yuǎn)不會發(fā)生在我身邊,但事事難料。我以前從來沒有考慮過這個問題,直到有一次我要去農(nóng)貿(mào)市場的時候,我戴上手套和口罩,開始擔(dān)心人們會不會以異樣的眼光看我?只是希望他們不會在6英尺以外朝你扔?xùn)|西。
你的播客有變化嗎?
我的Sup Doc播客的另外一位主持人帕科·羅曼住在舊金山,我們一直都是用Skype溝通。所以這方面沒有太大的變化。
現(xiàn)在大家都待在家里,你認(rèn)為播客的收聽率會上升還是會下降?
最近有一篇報告研究了播客收聽率的變化趨勢。人們喜歡在哪里收聽播客?上下班途中,但現(xiàn)在人們不再通勤。我們做的是影視類節(jié)目,關(guān)注時事動態(tài)的人可能不喜歡這類節(jié)目。我在Pandora的工作是做一個聆聽者,這個工作很有趣。
除此之外,新冠疫情對你個人有什么影響?
變化之一是我女朋友現(xiàn)在也和我一樣待在家中,我們住的是一居室,所以我們必須協(xié)調(diào)好時間和空間。她經(jīng)常用Zoom進(jìn)行通話,還要拍攝視頻內(nèi)容,所以她在另一個房間工作,我在臥室工作。我真的覺得我們很幸運,因為我們能在家工作,還有工資收入。
你現(xiàn)在還玩音樂嗎?[陳先生曾是KIT等多個樂隊的成員,從20世紀(jì)90年代末開始,他就斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地為他的唱片公司Zum制作實體唱片。]
我現(xiàn)在很少玩音樂了,不過我準(zhǔn)備今年發(fā)行幾張唱片,但現(xiàn)在還沒有決定。目前還不了解零售業(yè)、制造業(yè)等受到的影響有多大。我有工作,有收入,可以承擔(dān)發(fā)唱片的費用,但我一直合作的一家唱片廠目前被隔離,他們的封面打印機目前也無法正常工作。國際唱片店日也推遲了。
西南偏南藝術(shù)節(jié)(South by Southwest)被取消的時候,本來可以從中看出一些征兆,但直到很長時間以后,人們才意識到一切都將會長時間陷入停滯。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:Shog
對于喬治·陳(音譯)來說,和別人對話非常重要。這位從奧克蘭來到洛杉磯的脫口秀演員非常多才多藝。他目前在美國流媒體音樂服務(wù)商Pandora的播客內(nèi)容運營部工作,與別人共同主持一檔自己的播客“Sup Doc”,并在洛杉磯主持三檔現(xiàn)場喜劇之夜節(jié)目。他自己也會上場表演。談話是他謀生的手段,但在更多時候,他是一個聆聽者。
雖然他本人尚未發(fā)現(xiàn)播客有何變化,但Podtrac提供的最新數(shù)據(jù)顯示,可能由于通勤人數(shù)大幅減少,播客下載量總體呈下降趨勢。但到目前為止,新聞類播客依舊最受歡迎,在這個特殊時期,這完全在意料之中。
《財富》雜志采訪了喬治·陳,向他了解在居家時代,作為一名脫口秀演員、播客和全能型協(xié)作創(chuàng)意人,工作受到了哪些影響。以下問答內(nèi)容經(jīng)過精簡和編輯。
《財富》:Pandora在奧克蘭也有分支機構(gòu),但你為什么幾年前從奧克蘭來到洛杉磯?
喬治·陳:我很幸運,因為我的工作經(jīng)??梢赃h(yuǎn)程辦公,但我女朋友收到了一份[洛杉磯的]工作邀請,再加上我當(dāng)時得知我在舊金山主持的《迷失的周末》(Lost Weekend)脫口秀節(jié)目即將停播,所以一切似乎都自然而然地發(fā)生了。
大概一年前,我[在Pandora]的崗位確實有調(diào)整,但我還是可以遠(yuǎn)程辦公。我現(xiàn)在的工作是播客內(nèi)容運營,這與我之前從事的脫口秀分析略有不同。我在2014年加入Pandora,到現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)六年了。
所以,新冠疫情并沒有給你的工作帶來大的變化?
是的,我平時工作中也一直在用Zoom通話,在Slack和Zoom上參加會議,通過郵件進(jìn)行溝通。所以,我早就已經(jīng)習(xí)慣了遠(yuǎn)程辦公。比如,人們說“在群視頻時要靜音”,這時候我的反應(yīng)是:“哦,我早就知道了。”
除了在Pandora工作外,你還在洛杉磯主持現(xiàn)場喜劇之夜節(jié)目,這些節(jié)目最近有什么變化?
我有兩場節(jié)目時間比較固定,也堅持了最長時間,分別是 “真實痛苦”(Real Pain)和在小大阪的巨型機器人畫廊(Giant Robot Gallery)舉辦的“巨型機器人喜劇之夜”(Giant Robot Comedy Night)。但現(xiàn)在巨型機器人畫廊已經(jīng)停業(yè),我不知道它什么時候會恢復(fù)營業(yè),但我想我們要沉住氣,靜待恢復(fù)演出的官方消息。
在“真實痛苦藝術(shù)”畫廊舉辦的另外一檔節(jié)目“真實痛苦”,在本月最后一刻才被迫取消。
我記得在3月12日,我不確定是否要進(jìn)行開放麥演出,演出的地點是回聲公園(Echo Park)的尤尼代爾圖書館(Uniondale Library)。我一直在等消息,我個人覺得應(yīng)該取消演出,后來圖書館決定停辦一切活動。
我更擔(dān)心的是“真實痛苦”這個節(jié)目,因為我預(yù)約了許多人參加3月14日的演出,我現(xiàn)在的想法是等節(jié)目恢復(fù)正常后,盡量重新邀請這些演員進(jìn)行表演。
你上次主持現(xiàn)場喜劇之夜是什么時候?
我們在3月5日舉辦了一場[巨型機器人]演出。這場演出引起了很多爭議,所以我們?nèi)∠?月的演出,我想5月可能也會取消。我們只能像其他人一樣,等等看情況再說。
你是否有計劃或有意進(jìn)行虛擬現(xiàn)場喜劇表演?
我考慮過用Instagram Live做直播。直播是為了我的另外一份工作,有關(guān)紀(jì)錄片的Sup播客。我在Facebook上為藝術(shù)家利茲·沃爾什做了一次直播。我不想做常規(guī)的脫口秀直播,因為這種表演形式并不適合直播,我想針對脫口秀做有點特色的節(jié)目。
當(dāng)你習(xí)慣了脫口秀節(jié)目,習(xí)慣了別人的現(xiàn)場反應(yīng),這些在Zoom里是很難模仿的?;蛟S可以進(jìn)行一對一的表演,但這實際上就是在做播客。直播的時候必須做好準(zhǔn)備——不是每個人都擅長就任何話題即興發(fā)揮,侃侃而談。
我今天就在想,要不要嘗試把“現(xiàn)場脫口秀”搬到直播當(dāng)中,邀請我為4月的演出預(yù)約的所有演員加入Zoom直播間,為那些愿意打開攝像頭的觀眾表演,但我的節(jié)目會不會被錄下來?如果被錄像,這就成了另外一回事,脫口秀演員不喜歡被錄像,而且當(dāng)你嘗試新素材的時候,錄像會留下數(shù)字足跡,但你可能對這些素材還沒有把握,因為你還沒有機會向觀眾表演。脫口秀演員會不斷進(jìn)行內(nèi)容創(chuàng)作,只是會有不同的表現(xiàn)形式。
脫口秀演員必須想方設(shè)法完成他們的作品。
人們現(xiàn)在喜歡藝術(shù)和音樂,因為除了在網(wǎng)上看別人的視頻,你在閑暇時沒有其他事情可做。我的常規(guī)工作沒有因為疫情停止,只是我的戶外活動時間減少了而已。
但我的日常生活確實發(fā)生了一些變化,因為社會上出現(xiàn)的反亞洲人的情緒讓我感到不安。我一直在關(guān)注這方面的信息,我始終以為這種事永遠(yuǎn)不會發(fā)生在我身邊,但事事難料。我以前從來沒有考慮過這個問題,直到有一次我要去農(nóng)貿(mào)市場的時候,我戴上手套和口罩,開始擔(dān)心人們會不會以異樣的眼光看我?只是希望他們不會在6英尺以外朝你扔?xùn)|西。
你的播客有變化嗎?
我的Sup Doc播客的另外一位主持人帕科·羅曼住在舊金山,我們一直都是用Skype溝通。所以這方面沒有太大的變化。
現(xiàn)在大家都待在家里,你認(rèn)為播客的收聽率會上升還是會下降?
最近有一篇報告研究了播客收聽率的變化趨勢。人們喜歡在哪里收聽播客?上下班途中,但現(xiàn)在人們不再通勤。我們做的是影視類節(jié)目,關(guān)注時事動態(tài)的人可能不喜歡這類節(jié)目。我在Pandora的工作是做一個聆聽者,這個工作很有趣。
除此之外,新冠疫情對你個人有什么影響?
變化之一是我女朋友現(xiàn)在也和我一樣待在家中,我們住的是一居室,所以我們必須協(xié)調(diào)好時間和空間。她經(jīng)常用Zoom進(jìn)行通話,還要拍攝視頻內(nèi)容,所以她在另一個房間工作,我在臥室工作。我真的覺得我們很幸運,因為我們能在家工作,還有工資收入。
你現(xiàn)在還玩音樂嗎?[陳先生曾是KIT等多個樂隊的成員,從20世紀(jì)90年代末開始,他就斷斷續(xù)續(xù)地為他的唱片公司Zum制作實體唱片。]
我現(xiàn)在很少玩音樂了,不過我準(zhǔn)備今年發(fā)行幾張唱片,但現(xiàn)在還沒有決定。目前還不了解零售業(yè)、制造業(yè)等受到的影響有多大。我有工作,有收入,可以承擔(dān)發(fā)唱片的費用,但我一直合作的一家唱片廠目前被隔離,他們的封面打印機目前也無法正常工作。國際唱片店日也推遲了。
西南偏南藝術(shù)節(jié)(South by Southwest)被取消的時候,本來可以從中看出一些征兆,但直到很長時間以后,人們才意識到一切都將會長時間陷入停滯。(財富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:Shog
You could say that conversation is key for George Chen. The Los Angeles-via-Oakland comic is a jack of all trades who currently works in podcast content operations at streaming service Pandora, co-hosts a podcast of his own called Sup Doc, and hosts three live comedy nights around L.A. at which he also performs. He talks and more often, listens for a living.
While he hasn’t personally seen a difference for podcasts yet, new data from Podtrac shows downloads are down overall in that space—likely due to dips in commuting—though news podcasts are still by far the most streamed, which makes sense in an unsettling time.
Fortune spoke with Chen for a new series, The Coronavirus Economy, to find out what it’s like to work as a stand-up comic, podcaster, and all-around collaborative creative, as the coronavirus pandemic spreads and audiences are told to stay home. The following Q&A has been condensed and lightly edited.
Fortune: What brought you down to L.A. from Oakland, where Pandora has an office, a few years back?
Chen: Luckily my job is something I could always do remote, but my girlfriend got a job offer [in L.A.] and also I knew that the comedy show that I was running at Lost Weekend in San Francisco was about to close down, so it seemed like everything was leaning that direction.
My role did change [at Pandora], about a year ago, but it’s always been something I could do remote. I’m now in podcast content operations at Pandora, which is a little bit different, before I was doing comedy analysis. I started at Pandora in 2014, so six years now.
So nothing major has changed in that role because of the spread of coronavirus?
Right, I’ve been doing Zoom calls this whole time, meetings on Slack and Zoom, and emails. So in that regard, I’m pretty used to it. Like when people are saying things like “You’ve got to mute yourself in a group video” I’m like, “oh I’ve learned that.”
In addition to your job with Pandora, you also host live comedy nights around L.A., how have those shifted recently?
The two that have been running the most regularly and the longest are Real Pain and the Giant Robot Comedy Night at the Giant Robot Gallery on Sawtelle and right now the store is closed. I don’t know when they’re going to reopen, but I think we just need everything to chill out and get the official word that we can start doing shows again.
The other show, Real Pain, which we had to cancel fairly last-minute this month, is at an art gallery called Real Pain Fine Arts.
I remember March 12 I was not sure if I was going to have my open-mic that I also run at the Uniondale Library in Echo Park. I was waiting to hear something, feeling personally like I should cancel it and then the library as a whole decided they would stop doing events.
I was more concerned about the Real Pain show because we had booked a lot of people to do that show on March 14, and now the idea is we’re going to try to rebook some of those people when the show can happen again.
When was the last live comedy night you hosted?
We did a [Giant Robot] show on March 5 and there was obviously a lot of talk in the air. So April we definitely canceled, and I’m imagining that May is probably off the books as well. We’re just going to have to wait it out and see just like everyone else.
Do you have plans or inclinations to do any virtual live comedy?
I’m thinking a little bit about this whole Instagram Live streaming thing. I did it for a separate thing I do, which is the Sup Podcast, a podcast about documentaries. I did one livestream thing on Facebook Live for the artist Liz Walsh. I didn’t want to do standard stand-up because it didn’t fit the format, so my thought process was to do a character for that.
When you’re used to stand-up, to the immediate reaction from someone else, it’s going to be hard to replicate over Zoom. Maybe one-on-one stuff, but then you’re basically making a podcast. You do really have to prepare if you’re doing a livestream—it’s not everyone’s forte to be able to extemporaneously ramble on about whatever.
I was just thinking today, do I want to try and replicate the idea of [live comedy] and ask all the people I had booked for the April show to join a Zoom room and just do jokes to people who are willing to turn their camera on, and then risk having it be recorded? Because that’s the other thing, comics don’t tend to like having their stuff recorded, and this is definitely a digital footprint when you might be trying out some new material that you don’t feel solid about it because you haven’t had a chance to run it by an audience. Comics are clearly going to keep creating content, it’s just going to take different shapes.
Comics will have to figure out a way to do their craft.
And people are valuing art and music now because it’s like, what else are you going to do in your spare time other than stream some content people made. I’m still working my regular job so it’s only taking away my out of the house activities.
My day-to-day has altered a little bit though now as I’m nervous about the anti-Asian sentiment going around. I’m reading about it and being like, that’ll never be in my neighborhood, but you never know. I hadn’t been thinking about it until we tried to do the farmers market and I had gloves and a mask and I was just like, are people going to look weirdly at me? You just have to hope they’re not going to throw something at you from six feet away.
Has your podcast changed?
My Sup Doc co-host Paco Romane is in San Francisco, so we’ve been doing it over Skype [anyways]. So it hasn’t changed too much in that regard.
Do you think people will tune in to podcasts more now that they’re home, or will we see a decline?
There’s a report that just came out about podcast listening trends. What’s one area where people love to listen to podcasts? Commuting, so that’s gone. The type of show we do is just talking about films and television, so those might have fallen off in favor of people trying to keep up to date on current news. For me, I listen to people talking for my job, that’s my job at Pandora, so that’s fun.
How else has the coronavirus pandemic changed things for you personally?
It’s an adjustment that my girlfriend is home now too at the same time as me in a one bedroom apartment, so we really have to negotiate a lot of our time and space. She’s also doing a lot of Zoom calls and making video content, she’s in another room and I’ve been posting up in the bedroom. I do feel we are very lucky to be able to be in that position to have a paycheck and to be working from home.
Are you still playing music? [Chen was a member of several bands, including KIT, and has produced physical music for his record label, Zum, on and off since the late 1990s.]
I don’t actively play music right now but I was gearing up to start putting out some records this year, but now everything is up in the air. It’s unclear what will happen with the retail situation—retail, manufacturers, all of it. I still have a job so I can still pay for something but I’ve been dealing with a pressing plant that’s sheltered in place and their cover printer is not functioning at the moment either. And Record Store Day got pushed back.
When South by Southwest got canceled, that should’ve been a sign but it took some time to trickle down to everyone — everything is going to be put on hold for a while.