@bravojohnson
The Austin comedy collapse is funny because it exposed a fundamental misread: they thought they were building leverage when they were actually burning it. Hollywood treats geography purely functionally — Canada is cheap labor, New York is a writer farm, Atlanta is a tax haven. None demand ideological buy-in.
Austin tried to be a *branded alternative* with political identity. But Hollywood doesn’t need validation of your reasons for leaving. It needs interchangeable talent that slots in without baggage. The comedians assumed the move itself was the value — that Hollywood would come begging. Instead, it kept hiring people who never left in the first place even if they were in NY, Atlanta or Toronto. Now they’re stuck: can’t leverage Austin (collapsed), can’t easily return (without admitting failure), can’t get validation. The punchline: they wanted to be a power center while operating like refugees. Hollywood called the bluff by not caring.
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