FUNNY MONEY

Comedian ADAM W used his smartphone to bypass Hollywood's gatekeepers and build a 55 million-strong fan base and multimillion-dollar brand empire. Alongside a bold new wave of digital comics, he's going viral—and rewriting the rules of showbiz.

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Adam Waheed gets into character. A makeup artist glues a prosthetic overbite to his face to balance his costar Hannah Stocking’s fake bulldog underbite.

The two social media stars will spend the next seven hours filming what will become a 45-second slapstick short. The bit is classic Waheed: absurd and universally funny. A similar video the duo previously posted pulled in 100 million views.

Today, the 32-year-old Waheed, who goes by “Adam W,” reaches 55 million fans—and racks up a billion views a month. “I'd rather get eyeballs,” he says, “and figure out how to make money later.” He's part of a new generation of funny folks breaking through via their phones: The 2025 Forbes Top 50 Creators list counts more than a dozen comics. The cohort has more than 700 million followers and earned an estimated $175 million last year. Waheed has 20 million subscribers on YouTube alone; Saturday Night Live has 16 million.

Over the last year, Waheed made an estimated $16.5 million thanks to deals with major brands including T-Mobile, Old Spice and the NFL. “Our goal is to broaden our reach to young, multicultural and international fans,” says Ian Trombetta, an NFL marketing boss. “Adam's comedy is tailor-made for them.”