I found her!

This is the woman I was writing about the other day, the one on TikTok.

I spent hours watching female comedians on the service and she never showed up. But scrolling today, while doing my back exercises, she appeared! Nearly instantly!

Her TikTok handle is: @notalimac I’m now following her. I don’t want to lose her again.

So I’m watching her and usually when you come back to something that piqued your interest you’re not in the same mood and it doesn’t resonate. This happens all the time with music. You love a track, and then you come back and ask yourself WHAT WAS I THINKING? But in this case, Ali still resonated.

It’s her voice.

I wrote that it was her deadpan delivery. But that doesn’t accurately describe it. And the funny thing is people e-mailed me with suggestions, but none of them were her. I started to think she was a wannabe.

But she’s a PRO!

Yes, she’s appearing in comedy clubs, she’s even traveling by bus! And that’s a definitive threshold right there, whether you can go on the road. As for traveling by bus… You can’t have a day job and do standup like this.

So I start looking at the statistics.

Ali has 108.4k followers on TikTok. Once you break 100k you’re somebody. That’s the threshold. Actually, I’d say it’s a bit lower than that, around 65k. It’s nearly impossible to get there. Used to be much easier, but today there’s so much competition!

And Ali has 1.3 million likes. Pretty good.

But Ali only has 2,776 followers on Twitter. And that’s better than your next door neighbor, but far from significant. And she hasn’t given up like some do, she’s still posting. And the dirty little secret of Twitter is almost no one sees what you tweet. So, if a tree falls in a forest…

Maybe Ali’s generation is not on Twitter. After all, she’s 26. And in truth, it’s older people who inhabit Twitter.

And all those comedians who used to post on the short message service? They rarely do anymore. Some were funny, like Albert Brooks, but the return on investment was super-low.

Now Ali has 149k followers on Instagram. But most of the posts are static shots. Who wants to see pictures of a comedian? Talk about boring…

And Instagram gained traction long before TikTok.

But then I went to YouTube, where the rubber meets the road. And Ali’s clip “Googling How to Orgasm” had 3,210,403 views. Now that’s popular. That’s for real. Once you hit seven figures you’re way above the hoi polloi, you’re established.

But then I saw it was on the Just For Laughs channel.

She’s got a recent clip from Comedy Central that has 151,075 views. It’s newer than the Just For Laughs one, but that’s not great.

And then I went to Ali Macofsky’s YouTube page and the first video was entitled “Farewell.”

What?

Turns out Ali had a podcast. She’s done 152. Most of the recent ones had around 2,000 views. Going back to the era of the pandemic, of lockdown, there were clips with bigger numbers, one with 6.4 thousand, about “Body Hair & Old Guys.” Turns out those with erotic or dangerous topics, like cannibalism, did best. One even broke five figures (that’s over 10,000 for the math-challenged). But the podcast is not building, numbers are actually a little worse now. So she gave up.

You think you want to start a podcast. The traction curve is near vertical. You ain’t goin’ nowhere, as Bob Dylan sang. I mean Ali’s not starting from zero, and she couldn’t make it happen.

There’s just too much in the channel.

But her jokes, her standup?

Watch this one about body hair:

https://bit.ly/3pmkQvB

And this one about going to the pharmacy:

https://bit.ly/3Arwhsh

And this one about being a bald eagle:

https://bit.ly/3zUn3mI

And finally, one about her crazy mother:

https://bit.ly/3Aob6HA

I don’t expect everybody to like the above clips. Hell, I don’t expect everybody to watch them!

But many of those who do, will send back hate.

Ali addresses this:

https://bit.ly/3QRnJjV

It’s demoralizing.

It’s one thing to have talent, it’s quite another to show it off, to get out there, to subject yourself to feedback.

So, Ali is a relative newbie on TikTok. And her standup clips are great, the ones just taken from life…are not as good.

And then Iliza Shlesinger is ranting about the Kardashians:

https://bit.ly/3QPPSYm

and:

https://bit.ly/3Arj96r

This is not comedy, this is anger. Iliza is standing up for the truth and she’s so frustrated because she has little power, little effect against the tsunami of Kardashian B.S.

Yes, even with status, with specials, you’re still not heard. You’re still upset you don’t reach more people.

This is what it’s like trying to make it in show business today. And believe me, TikTok, as well as Instagram, are show business.

But I dig Ali Macofsky.

And I can own her.

Remember how it used to be in the sixties and seventies?

Maybe you don’t. There was the mainstream and then the landscape was littered with the relatively unknown that you liked, paid attention to, bought, went to the show of, devoted yourself to…because they were good and you were part of a cult, not one of the mindless masses. However, if the act ever broke through to the big time you were happy, you knew everything about them, you’d helped them get there.

That’s how I feel about Ali Macofsky.

There’s definitely something there.

Is she the next Lenny Bruce? I don’t even think she’s the next Mrs. Maisel!

But if Ali hangs in there… She’s got a point of view, and she’s got the delivery down. You can see her development over the three years since that Just For Laughs clip.

I found Ali Macofsky on TikTok. No other outlet could have reached me with her. No other outlet even tried!

It’s all about humanity. Feelings. Stuff too absent from music these days. But it’s there in Ali Macofsky’s standup, check it out!

@notalimac

Who would you like to produce your record, living or dead.

Tune in today, August 16th, to Volume 106, 6 PM East, 3 PM West.

Phone #: 844-6-VOLUME, 844-686-5863

Twitter: @lefsetz or @siriusxmvolume/#lefsetzlive

Hear the episode live on SiriusXM VOLUME: siriusxm.us/HearLefsetzLive

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app: siriusxm.us/LefsetzLive

You’ve got no choice.

That’s what Prof G, i.e. Scott Galloway, said on his podcast.

There are two podcasts featuring Galloway. One is Pivot, with Kara Swisher, the other is The Prof G Pod, which is his alone. You can read about Galloway here: https://nyti.ms/3AoCZ2l

Scott is absent from the Pivot podcast this month, so don’t tune in. The magic of Pivot is Scott’s responses to Kara. Kara alone…she drop names and is so inside as to lose the plot too often. But Scott is on the ball. He called Elon/Twitter right.

In Galloway’s Prof G podcast, which airs twice a week, just like Pivot, he answers questions. And a recent one was whether Twitter made a mistake shutting down Vine. Galloway thought so, but he ended up singing the praises, waxing rhapsodic about TikTok.

It’s about the data points.

Scott said after a brief view Netflix only has a few. TikTok has hundreds! Watch just a little and the algorithm starts adjusting to serve you up what you want to see, even if you didn’t know you wanted to see it. Like I keep getting golf shots on Instagram Reels, whose algorithm is nowhere near as good as TikTok’s, and I’ve never ever liked a golf clip, don’t follow any golfers, but I enjoy what is served up!

Now Scott said the average person takes ten minutes to choose what to watch on Netflix. Which kind of stunned me, since everybody I know seems to go by the algorithms, or what their friends say. I research much longer than ten minutes, because I don’t want to waste any time watching lowbrow, boring, obvious television.

In other words, there’s a barrier. What Scott calls a tax.

And there’s none on TikTok. On TikTok you just launch the app and clips are served up. You get NO CHOICE!

This is exactly what we need in music. I’ve written about this before, and it got no traction then and it will get no traction now. There should be one track a week promoted by ALL streaming platforms. Or at least each platform should only have one. The Track of the Week. We’d all check it out. So we could talk about it! After all, everybody would be exposed to it. Would we like every track? OF COURSE NOT! But we’d check it out. Now many people don’t check out new music whatsoever, it’s too overwhelming.

Of course Spotify has Discover Weekly, a personalized algorithmic playlist, but I gave up on that, too many tuneouts. And Release Radar? The problem with algorithms is they can’t see the facts. If it’s a reissue, a remix, a remaster, IT’S NOT NEW! Sure, you want to make me aware, but it clutters up the flow and I don’t listen.

Now you must know your TikTok thread is personalized to you, AND ONLY YOU!

And what that means is what you may be into, few others may be into.

Last night I got on a comedy jag. I was looking for this young, deadpan female comic who is really good. I hadn’t followed her, which was a mistake, because I still haven’t found her again.

And I found some good stuff, and then researched these comics, and some of their YouTube clips only had hundreds of views. A couple had thousands of views. And in terms of career traction, THAT’S NOWHERE!

I mean you’ve got to start somewhere. But the road to the top is longer than ever before. And concomitantly those at the top reach fewer people than ever before. So, if you’re lucky you’ll be able to give up your day job, AND MOST OF THESE PEOPLE HAVE NOT!

And they don’t understand the basic rules. QUALITY COUNTS! Do not post a TikTok clip with bad audio. Not only does the audience tune out, the algorithm sees you skipping their videos and…they’re out of sight and out of mind! Quality is more important than frequency, remember that.

And the barrier to entry is NONEXISTENT!

This is music on steroids!

I mean it’s simple to make a song and post it. You can buy the beats, Macs come with GarageBand… Whereas every other kind of entertainment on TikTok…requires much less history and much less talent. EVERYBODY knows how to talk, not everybody knows how to play an instrument, never mind write a song.

And in truth everybody knows crappy TikToks go nowhere. And TikTok is not about impressing your friends, but people in general. So why bother if you’re not going to play for real?

And the level of innovation is mind-blowing. Sure, there are clichéd verticals, sex and beauty, but some people say the damndest things. You’ll find more wisdom about relationships on TikTok than you will in a slew of self-help books, and they’re BITE-SIZED!

And sure, special effects, trickery has an audience, but really it’s just about the person/people in the clip. You may be good-looking, but do you have charisma? Are you wooden on screen? Can you connect with people?

TikTok is YouTube on steroids. Because there’s no searching! Oh, you can search. But really, you just see what the algorithm delivers and go on your own personal hejira. There are very few tuneouts, and if you hit one and scroll past it, TIKTOK KNOWS!

TikTok is not pressuring you to watch anything. They just want you to watch period. Which means the same people on all the other social media platforms, the “winners,” don’t own all the airtime. They’re competing with the nobodies for views, you can never rest on your laurels, and nobodies can go to the top with a single clip, even their first one!

As for the comedians…

I was stunned how many there are. I mean I lived through the comedy boom in the eighties. You’d think all these comedians on TikTok would be crummy, complete amateurs. But in reality, they’re all professional. And some have hilarious jokes, that will get you chuckling even though you’re alone. Whereas others will say stuff that you think is funny, but it doesn’t stick with you.

Now I was mostly watching female comedians, looking for that one I’d seen previously. But there were some pros mixed in. Like Jimmy O. Yang, whose name I knew, I’d been exposed somewhere along the line, but I really didn’t know his material.

It’s the bit about the fortune cookie that kept me watching:

https://bit.ly/3Pi50g8

So I watched more Jimmy, he’s a cut above. And he’s got traction.

Not quite as good, from a relative nobody, who’s funny, is Isabel Hagen:

https://bit.ly/3ph3Sib

I could post clip after clip, but I won’t, I just want to say the more you watch the more you see who is a pro and who is close and needs better jokes. And then there are the ones who’ve carved out a career as actors, as voiceover artists, whose material is just not good enough to sustain them as a standup comic.

I don’t even want to listen to the new music.

I mean mediocre music is intolerable, whereas mediocre jokes you can endure.

So you’re now competing with the whole world. Not only those alive, but dead. And every individual only has a certain amount of attention. And multitasking has been proven to be a fraud, that’s not how the brain works, either you’re paying attention or you’re not.

And you thought the road to success was hard before…it’s so steep these days that four wheel drive won’t get you there.

But at least you can expose your work for free and get started.

But when you hear all this crap about going viral on TikTok…

I’m beginning to think it’s pure luck, you can’t really make it happen. The company can push your track, but someone who is creative has to choose to use it and to make a great clip with it. Once again, only great works.

So if you’re a musician…

Sure, the record companies can chase phenoms on TikTok…

But if you play music… Suddenly, you’re not only competing against musicians, but seemingly everybody! They’re all displaying their talent online. And most give up. But those who sustain…

This is not like the days of yore, where you could get by being mediocre in your own market because the big talent never came to town. No, now EVERYBODY comes to town. At least virtually.

The world is decomposing as we sit here. Becoming more and more individualized. We don’t know where to turn, we don’t know what to dedicate time to, and TikTok makes it all easy, IT CHOOSES FOR US!

As for the non-surfers, the non-users, pontificating negatively about TikTok, other than the Chinese data collection, I’m talking about the ones railing about misinformation…they don’t realize there is no mainstream on TikTok, it’s positively rural. A million hamlets and burgs, and there may not be a road from one to another.

But we all want to go on a journey.

If you haven’t been hooked on TikTok, you just haven’t used it.

You’re interested in something. And however obscure that might be, there’s someone talking about or doing it on TikTok. And all you need to do is surf. You don’t need to do any looking, searching, contemplating…just live in the moment and entertainment will come your way.

This is the opposite of network TV.

TikTok is where the algorithm works.

But you can’t beat the game like you can at Google or YouTube. It can’t be wired. You can just dive in and create, or watch.

And the more you watch, the more depressed you will be if you’re a creator. The competition is fierce, and winning the TikTok game, having a viral clip, does not mean you’ll get a big, rich Hollywood contract.

Something is happening here.

And the more you use the platform the more it becomes clear.

But don’t think clarity is just a few superstars at the top of the chart… NO WAY!

You can watch the first season on Amazon Prime.

But you’ve got to pay for the second on Topic. Which made me reluctant to check it out, I’m already paying for too many services already. But in truth, I’ve watched all the great available series on the channels I’m already subscribed to. And the “New York Times” recommended “Lykkeland”:

“‘State of Happiness’

When to watch: Now, on Amazon (Season 1 only) and Topic(Seasons 1 and 2).

This Norwegian drama (in Norwegian and English, with subtitles) starts in 1969, and its characters are connected to the emerging oil industry, as divers, as secretaries, as executives, as farmers in danger of exploitation. Anna (Anne Regine Ellingsaeter) is our Peggy Olsen, straddling class and culture divides to forge a way in the business world.

‘State’ lands right between ‘Call the Midwife’ and ‘For All Mankind,’ shows about drive and social change, with no real villains but many good costumes. There’s also a refreshing lack of twists or schtick; all the energy and urgency of the show come from relatable human behavior. Incredible! If you liked ‘Deutschland 83,’ the newest season of ‘Borgen or PBS shows in which young people hold lambs and fall in love on lush green landscapes, watch this.”

That’s right, Lykkeland’s English title is “State of Happiness.”

Now I’ve never watched “Call the Midwife,” all those PBS classics. And I found “For All Mankind” a poor-man’s “Right Stuff,” the look was good, the script was so average. But I LOVED all the “Deutschlands.” And there’s nothing better than “Borgen,” and the new season was totally up to par, so I felt I had to check out “Lykkeland.”

Now I’ve been to Oslo twice. And it’s not like Sweden. Not everybody speaks amazing English. The country has a different vibe. Maybe because it used to be poor.

Not that I knew any of this, after all, I LIVE IN AMERICA!

The record company guys told me about the sixties, with one radio station and no money. It didn’t sound like Scandinavia, but Eastern Europe.

And then they found oil.

You see there’s a sovereign wealth fund. I’ll make it simple, the overall umbrella is called the “Government Pension Fund of Norway” and everybody in Oslo watches the number just like Angelenos watch the number of smoking deaths on that billboard on Santa Monica Boulevard. Everybody knows the number, you see Norway is RICH!

And despite the country running on oil bucks, it’s an environmental advocate’s paradise. Ten years ago I saw more Teslas in Oslo than America!

But as I said above, I only know all this because I went there.

You probably haven’t.

The two seasons of “Lykkeland” are the story of finding oil and how it plays out with the companies and government.

But it’s not a documentary. The facts are overlaid with identities, personalities, love, changes. It’s not ultra-dynamic and gripping, but you watch a few episodes and you say to yourself…THIS IS FANTASTIC!

Especially the second season. At first it was hard to get into. The years gone by, the changes. And then in the middle I was positively mesmerized, it was so well done.

The glue is Anne Regine Ellingsaeter. Born on a farm, she wants more. She’s engaged to a boy from a rich family and…

What’s it like being the scion of a rich family? That’s Christian’s dilemma.

And you know family businesses, the father starts it and subsequent generations are complacent and run them into the ground. That’s Fredrik, Christian’s father.

And Fredrik is married to Ingrid, who can’t lose her social status.

And the two Texas cowboys who work for Phillips 66 are only interested in oil and money, until…

The whole country is transformed by the oil wealth.

But the oil discovery in Norway was much later than in other countries, they could learn the lessons, forge an independent path, favoring the country and its citizens. Or, should they believe the energy titans who say that drilling is no place for amateurs and…

Do you take the corporate money and shut up?

Or do you stand up for truth?

And there’s plenty of money.

And the Americans believe their way works, that they have all the power, they don’t want to kowtow to the Norwegians. Especially in this offbeat town with a religious bent.

The relationships are done so well. What Anna goes through. And Anna knows business, she knows how to dot an “i” and cross a “t,” but she’s terrible at personal relationships.

You will get invested. You’ll happily pay the $5.99 to Topic for the second season.

And half of the show is in English for those who abhor subtitles, maybe more than that.

And honestly, I was debating whether to give “Lykkeland” a rave review. Because I know it’s not some people’s kind of show. It’s not slow, but it’s not fast. It’s not car crashes. But it is plenty intense, PLENTY intense. Both interpersonally and action-wise.

And that’s what I’m looking for. A show so true to life that I can’t think about anything else when I’m watching it, my mind doesn’t drift.

“Lykkeland” might take place in Norway, but I could see so many parallels to my own life, my own choices, it made me feel connected, even though in no way was I any of the people involved.

You can’t always trust the “New York Times”‘s recommendations. I’ve learned to research them before I watch them. Because I’ve had a couple of bad experiences. But “Lykkeland” researched well.

“Lykkeland” is a winner.

Either you’ll watch three or four episodes (they’re forty five minutes each) and say it’s not for you, or you’ll get hooked, and ultimately you’ll go on the emotional roller coaster.

They don’t make American shows this good.

Unfortunately.