Thanks for all the great comments, I cracked up reading several of them. Ribs etc.
Not to be mean but I’m going to assume people who think CM might be even one light year away from profitability haven’t been involved in running media companies (or ran them into the ground).
My guess is that Anthony thought he could create YouTube for comedy buffs and drunks/druggies. Except there’s already a YouTube for them and his only point of differentiation is that there are no progressive pieces of shit on CM (AFAIAA). As someone else noted, the Trump era brought them more of the MAGA/incel/fuck-the-establishment crowd. But there are plenty of NEETs in every cohort they “specialize” in, it’s not like having a subscriber base of DINK faggots.
Anthony was at least smart enough to understand he needed a grownup to run the business. Keith struggled to make it a success but it would have been even more of a shitshow without him. The basic shit they couldn’t get right was hilariously embarrassing. GAS came along and had actual producers and other support staff for hosts, plus the money was significantly more than what CM could swing. Luis and the guys could at least stay sober long enough to develop commercial relationships with sponsors.
The only people who stayed are those who didn’t get any other offers. Some of them might be savvy enough to generate additional income from fans (e.g. through Patreon, Locals, YouTube superchats, etc.). I’m not super familiar with all the dregs who are still left, but I’m guessing none of them have cultivated a loyal audience that’s so invested in parasocial relationships that they’ll hand over an extra $XX,XXX per month. (You can hate on WATP all you want, and I am legitimately disgusted by them for multiple reasons, but it’s not fraud if people get a kick out of giving you money. It’s not like they’re targeting the elderly or anything, just perpetually online losers.)
But Bill “My Brand Is I’m a Fuckup” Shultz, for example, would be living at Port Authority and panhandling outside the studio if Anthony got rid of him. Thanks to his fellow addict boss enabling his destructive MO, the rock bottom he has needed to hit for a decade-plus has been delayed at least five years. I’m shocked he’s still there, but I guess when your boss forgives every shitty thing you do — not showing up, getting in fistfights, having gay sex at work, stealing from your cohosts, etc. — you can coast a while.
Say what you will about Keith, but the sad, hilarious fact is that he was only adult in the office. With him now gone, shit seems to have declined at a precipitous rate.
It really does look, as others have commented, like CM is just Anthony paying to have a social life. He and most of his pals can’t function in any “career” that doesn’t allow them to day drink Monday through Sunday. He’s aware that this is the best most of them will do unless they get their lives together, and he knows they won’t. Maybe his life as the little brother trying to play peacemaker between two degenerate addict parents (and a retarded older brother and dingbat sister) means he’s comfortable enabling any gutter-dwelling friend he has.
But the money’s almost gone, unless he won the lottery or cashed out millions in crypto at the right time. (Joe would have bragged about that if so.) Their only assets are cameras and tech equipment. He can’t auction those to keep the lights on because then he won’t have any content.
I hate myself for having thought and written this much about it, but I’m frankly astonished CM is still going.
