EXCLUSIVE: After 16 years years working on a series of stand-up shows oriented around longform storytelling — Comedy Central’s This Is Not Happening being the most famous — Ari Shaffir is winding down his work in the space with the new seven-episode series, The End.
Directed, co-created and exec produced by Shaffir and Eric Abrams, the show will be available to stream exclusively on the direct-to-consumer platform of Tom Segura and Christina Pazsitzky’s YMH Studios beginning April 16.
The End features performances from Shane Gillis, Nate Bargatze, Tom Segura, Tony Hinchcliffe, and many more of comedy’s top storytellers, who share their wildest, most unfiltered true stories in front of a live audience. Others participating include Jim Breuer, Chris Distefano, Jordan Jensen, Robert Kelly, Joe List, Mark Normand, Big Jay Oakerson, Ms. Pat, Jessa Reed, Ali Siddiq, Steve Simeone, Dan Soder, Sam Tallent, Steph Tolev, Sarah Tollemache, Duncan Trussell, Colum Tyrrell, and Roy Wood Jr.
For YMH Studios’ Segura, Ryan P. Hall and Joshua Zollo, who also exec produced, the D2C move is an extension of their commitment to creator ownership and direct audience relationships — a model that has helped the network generate over 430 million annual impressions across their 25-show podcast portfolio.
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In a statement to Deadline, YMH Studios co-founder Segura said, “Ari has been an incredible partner to work with, and anyone who’s been around comedy long enough knows what these storytelling shows have meant to the community. This is a hell of a way to close that chapter.”
Shaffir himself told us, “My storyteller show helped introduce people to so many millionaire comics who now buy me meals. As many of you know, I love money. So I was worried about spending all of mine to make my show again. But then my Peruvian minority friend Tom Segura (who’s more of a Jew than I ever was!) got his YMH miscreants to help me and my guys make it great. The comedians on the show all killed! And the episodes came out so sick that I decided to bypass all the normal streaming services to deliver it directly to the fans who matter most, people with 25 dollars. This way I can afford to pay for Tom’s lunch for a change even though he’s anorexic now and mostly eats radishes.”
A stand-up known for his fearlessly provocative style, Shaffir first experimented with live, longform storytelling with Ari Shaffir’s Storytelling Show, which launched in February 2010 and quickly became one the most respected live showcases in comedy. The format evolved into This Is Not Happening, which ran for five seasons on Comedy Central and became one of YouTube’s most-watched stand-up franchises. After its television run, Shaffir brought the concept back independently as Ari Shaffir’s Renamed Storytelling Show, continuing the tradition of raw, long-form storytelling in front of a live crowd.
The End is the final chapter of that journey — a definitive send-off to a format that helped launch careers, produced countless iconic comedy moments, and proved that audiences hunger for authentic, unscripted storytelling.
One of today’s preeminent comics, when it comes to both touring and streaming numbers, Ali Siddiq spoke to the cultural significance of This Is Not Happening in a recent episode of our Comedy Means Business podcast, indicating that a 2015 appearance, in which he broke down his witnessing of prison riot, was instrumental to his breakthrough.
“Big shout-out to Ari and Eric and the whole team that had to do with This Is Not Happening. Because I don’t think they understood what they did for me,” said Siddiq, who is known for leaning into longform storytelling in his own act.
Whereas the stand-up scene can often be cutthroat and competitive, Siddiq said, This Is Not Happening was “a comics’ environment of happiness” where “every person wanted every person to do well.”
The show was an embodiment of Siddiq’s personal philosophy: “I’m not in competition with you; I’m in competition with my bills, with my form of artistry.”
You can watch the full appearance here.
Shaffir gained widespread attention with Jew, the rare special sought out by Netflix following a successful run on YouTube, which has racked up over eight million views. Premiering his latest hour, America’s Sweetheart, on Netflix last January, he’s also known for Netflix double-header special Double Negative and the Comedy Central special Paid Regular.
An avid world traveler known for going completely off the grid for extended periods of time, Shaffir chronicles his travel adventures on the YMH Studios pod You Be Trippin’. He also co-founded podcast Protect Our Parks alongside Shane Gillis, Mark Normand, and Joe Rogan, and is repped by Levity Entertainment Group and Garrett Legal.