FUNNY MONEY

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

- STEVEN BERTONI

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.”

To get guffaws, Waheed’s videos are highly produced. “It takes craft to be able to fit in the setup, the punchline, the ending, and make somebody laugh,” says Justin Antony, head of creator partnerships at Meta.