Hulu is getting into the comedy business

Netflix has established itself as the most important home for stand-up for nearly a decade.

Amazon dipped its toe into streaming stand-up specials, but not much more than that. Apple has sat it out. Peacock has a modest slate, as does the new streaming site Dropout. HBO Max has done the best job lately of positioning itself as the cool alternative with shows from Jerrod Carmichael, Alex Edelman and Ramy Youssef.

But no large competitor has mounted a serious challenge to Netflix. Until now.

The Walt Disney Co. is entering the stand-up game in a big way right after its streaming business reported making a profit for the first time. Along with considerable resources, Disney, under the Hulu banner, has ordered more than a dozen specials — including major stars (Bill Burr, Sebastian Maniscalco) and rising ones (Ralph Barbosa).

Hulu will roll out one special every month. The aim is to turn each one into an event, leaning on the considerable marketing resources of Disney.

Jim Gaffigan kicked off the slate with his new show called “The Skinny,” a family-friendly set of jokes griping about, among other subjects, religion and kids. Perhaps the biggest surprise of the hour is that Gaffigan, who has long specialized in jokes about overeating, has lost a significant amount of weight (thus, the title of the show).

In the coming months, Ilana Glazer’s “Human Magic” and Roy Wood Jr.’s “Lonely Flowers” will follow.

Craig Erwich, president of the Disney Television Group, said it’s good for comedy that Netflix has competition, and that he is focused on “curation, not volume.”

“We’re not trying to do, you know, a hundred things,” Erwich said. “We’re trying to do a few carefully selected things that we really believe in. That, I think, quite frankly, helps quality control.”

He says he’s open to sharing viewership data with comedians, something that Netflix has hesitated to do. This frustrated some comics who were hoping to understand their audiences, for the purposes of where to tour or how to negotiate their next deal.

He also promises to use old-fashioned marketing muscle.

“We don’t believe that it’s just up to, you know, the algorithm to kind of get you at the right time in the right place,” he said.

The last time a major player tried to compete with Netflix was in 2019, when Amazon Prime rolled out a plan for specials. As it happens, it also started with Gaffigan. The comic says the Hulu effort feels different.

“From a promotional standpoint, there’s no comparison,” he said. “I was grateful for the opportunity [with Amazon Prime], but it felt more like an experiment, whereas Hulu has a 12-month to two-year plan.”

The lineup at Hulu is heavy on popular club and theater acts like Zarna Garg, Andrew Santino, Atsuko Okatsuka and Matteo Lane. Asked for his dream get, Erwich pointed to the duo of Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, who had been touring a live comedy show.

Hulu’s challenge is getting consumers to develop new habits. But there also is skepticism about the marriage between the family-friendly brand of Disney and the sometimes controversial art of stand-up. When asked if he would program Dave Chappelle’s “The Closer,” in which transgender people were the primary focus, Erwich said: “It’s probably not what we would want to do.”

More broadly, he added that he would approach controversial comedy this way: “What we would consider is, ‘Does it feel gratuitous and purposefully hateful or provocative? Or purposely controversial?’ No, we’d probably stay away from that. That has nothing to do with Disney.”

He added, “We want these comedies to be enjoyed by as many people as possible, and we don’t feel the need to purposely court controversy to get attention.”

Netflix doesn’t seem to mind controversy. And it has drawn huge audiences for live events like the comedy roast of Tom Brady and a Chris Rock special addressing being slapped by Will Smith. But as the platform has become more established, it often appears to be competing with the vast output of YouTube more than with any traditional producer.