[theme music] Next up, has the internet changed comedy?

Steve Goldbloom reports as part of PBS's "On Technology" series.

HOST (ON VIDEO): As I said, this is his first time so make him feel welcome-- Garry Shandling.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Do you know if there's any rights issues with using YouTube videos?

We can just use whatever we want.

MARIA: Never mind.

He's here.

Hey, Steve, the phone's for you.

Hello?

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Hey, Jordan here.

Hey.

Why aren't you calling me on my line?

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): I wanted to talk with Maria about her future here at PBS.

I was talking with Gwen Ifill.

She really enjoyed your education piece.

Really?

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): No, of course not.

How's the comedy thing coming?

It's actually going really, really well.

Yeah, we've made a lot of progress on it and-- JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Book Funny or Die?

No.

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Did you book Maron?

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: No.

JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Did you book Adam Carolla?

No but the good news is we have-- JORDAN SMITH (ON PHONE): Don;t sweat it, Stevey Bear.

Maria booked them all for you.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Is this the writers room for Maron?

MAN 1: Yes.

This is Dave-- Amazing-- MAN 1: Duncan-- How are you guys doing?

MAN 1: Siebert-- STEVE GOLDBLOOM: Let's do 10 minutes.

We'll do 10 minutes?

Well, let's not waste them, I guess.

MAN 1: We have a presidential setup for the interview, which is nice.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: We're here-- is my mic on?

NOAH: Yeah.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: We're here to talk to Ace Carolla.

A little nervous-- I'm an Adam Carolla fan.

I've been a fan of the podcast for years.

Right.

Right.

Hi.

Right.

Right.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: I don't know that he saw us.

It wasn't a verbal response.

It was a gesture.

I don't know where we are.

We're in Glendale.

I live in San Francisco.

We're in Glendale, California with Marc Maron.

Yeah, yeah, "WTF with Marc Maron," the podcast.

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: I wanted to talk to you a little bit about gatekeepers in Hollywood.

MIKE FARAH: All you have to do is make a video now.

Before, like when Mitzy opened up The Comedy Store, it was all about getting up and getting discovered that way.

Now-- STEVE GOLDBLOOM: You have five minutes.

Exactly.

Now with the internet and social media, there are so many ways to get your voice out.

There's been some examples of shows or videos that have led to TV deals.

Absolutely.

A very successful show we had, "Billy on the Street with Billy Eichner," which is on the Fuse Network, Billy started actually as YouTube videos.

I'm a nose-picking, farting machine but why put your career in the hands of somebody with no sense of humor?

A friend of mine said, You should do a podcast and I was like, Yeah, all right.

It started with me just calling Seth MacFarlane and Jimmy Kimmel and Andy Dick and going, Hey, just come over to my house at like, 8:00 at night.

I built a little studio and just started doing it.

I think we're kind of in the weird adolescence phase between traditional and nontraditional entertainment.

The platforms and what works well for them, whether it's a three-minute Funny or Die video or, you know, Rob Delaney in 140 characters on Twitter, what's funny is funny but people definitely have different strengths when it comes to it.

Do you need cutaways now or we-- NOAH: Yeah.

All right.

So you-- Marc, if you can just say anything to me, I'm not going to speak back.

I'm just going to listen.

Yeah, I did an HBO half-hour, Comedy Central half-hour, ba, ba, ba, a lot of things-- Conan.

And then in 2004, I get an opportunity to do Air America.

It was great, a great experience but they fired me.

Then, you know, my wife left me and I got very messed up on drugs.

And so I got this one cat and the cat had a heart problem and died.

And I came back out here and did radio for a while.

I don't know.

Then, they fired me again.

Oh, this is for you so you're acting interested in what I'm saying.

Mm-hmm.

MARC MARON: So they can cut back to you while I'm talking to you, even though it's not really the conversation we had.

Yeah.

MARC MARON: It's the one we're doing now.

I get it.

Yeah.

Five, four, three-- here we go, Noah.

While digital's still the new frontier in comedy, many comics still hone their skills in the trenches, like at open mics such as this one at the Good Bellies Cafe in Oakland.

One of the [inaudible].

We've all made a-- I really think Michael Jordan should have kept acting after "Space Jam," right?

COMEDIAN: You really-- you don't want plans with your daughter in this-- That's not true.

He did not do that.

COMEDIAN: If we really wanted her, she would make money for her town.

Oh god.

COMEDIAN: And then, she came back and she was like, Yeah, man, I talked to the manager-- STEVE GOLDBLOOM: I'm going to get out of here now.

COMEDIAN: And for the next three months, though, you know-- Steve Goldbloom!

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: You know, I don't need you following me around like this.

You can relax.

All right.

I'm actually not even going to be following you around anymore.

I'm going to New York this week and PBS is sending me to New York.

They're sending you to New York?

Yeah, something new.

What are they-- what are you going to be doing there?

Like a full-time job with benefits and stuff?

You should go up there.

You like comedy?

What do you mean "go up there."

Go where?

To New York?

You should-- Out on the stage?

Are you out of your mind?

No, no, no, I've never done-- no, I do news and I do public affairs and-- ANNOUNCER: Please welcome Steve Goldbloom!

Bloom!

STEVE GOLDBLOOM: [inaudible] ANNOUNCER: Come on.

How are you guys-- how's everybody doing tonight?

Everybody-- MAN 2: Whoo!

Yeah.

MAN 2: Whoo!

But how are you really doing tonight?

Because your whole life is tracked.

You look back, it's like a scrapbook that you never really asked for.

And I had a great weekend.

They gave you a free one-on-one session and as soon as I walked in, she just said-- you know, she was shaking her head.

This guy doesn't have problems.

Yeah, let me get back to the social media part because that seemed to be going so well.

I hope you got some good B-roll out of that, at least.

That was a trainwreck.