Ben Sweeny, the salesman-turned-comedian behind that online persona Corporate Sween, says that bosses should waterboard their employees.
“Some companies drown their employees with boring surveys and useless questionnaires,” he proclaims in a satirical video posted to LinkedIn a few months ago. “I drown my employees with two to three gallons of water, an incline table, and a hand towel.”
Though the clip may seem racy for LinkedIn, a social network that’s earned a reputation as a reliable if buttoned-up venue for job networking, it has to date earned over 5,000 views and has reached over 7,000 unique members. And for Sweeny, its success is no surprise: Why shouldn’t job hunters appreciate a little slice of comedy?
“There’s no reason for comedians not to post on LinkedIn,” Sweeny tells Fast Company. “Comedians want to perform on every stage they can, and LinkedIn is another stage.”
Sweeny is not alone in that sentiment: Online and stand-up comics have begun to flock to LinkedIn to expand their reach. (In fact, Sweeny says he’s noticed his LinkedIn usage “growing substantially” among his comedy peers and says it may reach a point where it becomes “inundating.”)
While LinkedIn doesn’t have data on comedy specifically, the platform has seen a general surge in video: The job networking site says video creation is up 36% this year, growing twice as fast as any other post format.
“Humor is part of how we connect at work and helps us develop bonds,” says LinkedIn editor-in-chief Dan Roth. “For leaders, humor helps you show that you also make mistakes and don’t take yourself too seriously. So, we think humor has to be a part of LinkedIn.”
However, Roth adds that LinkedIn pushes for the humor to focus on developing workplace bonds, rather than just “corporate memes or viral videos.”
For many of the online comics, LinkedIn is more than just a new platform; it can also be a powerful networking tool for creators navigating their career. A number of comics tell Fast Company they’ve had brands reach out to them on the platform for collaborations and sponsorships—a large source of income for any full-time content creator.
One newcomer in LinkedIn’s expanding comedy scene, Boston-based stand-up comic Joe Fenti, says LinkedIn isn’t just the best platform for workplace based jokes; it’s also inherently the funniest platform because of its “super serious, buttoned-up” default.
“LinkedIn is very devoid of fun,” Fenti says. “Everyone puts on this very professional face, and they forget that you can laugh and have fun. People take the platform too seriously when it’s just a bunch of showboating, gloating, and bragging.”
After finding success on other social platforms like TikTok and Instagram, Fenti started posting his content onto LinkedIn a little over a month ago. His material often riffs on familiar corporate situations, like a boss hemming and hawing over the color background of a PowerPoint slide deck. He says half his LinkedIn posts “pop off” and the other half don’t really get noticed.
Fenti enjoys adding humor to the platform where sometimes all he sees is someone saying they’re “humble and grateful” for a new job or position. “Why can’t we just talk like human beings?” he asks.
Both Fenti and Sweeny have long focused on workplace humor, even before joining the work-based social media platform. That’s because their career background is corporate, rather than strictly comedic. Sweeny may have performed improv and stand-up in college, but he worked in sales before turning to comedy full time. Fenti similarly began his postgrad career as a consultant before pivoting to professional humor.
These comedians don’t always create material specifically for LinkedIn; rather, the platform fits the humor they already produce. The Venn diagram between videos that Fenti posts on TikTok and LinkedIn is almost a circle, he says.
The LinkedIn comic Your Average Finance Bro (and who declined to share his real name) says he sometimes turns his preexisting jokes into text-based posts on LinkedIn. Oftentimes, those posts perform better than his videos.
“Different comedians take different approaches to LinkedIn,” says Your Average Finance Bro. “Some people post content that traditionally would not be accepted on LinkedIn. My approach is more creating something you could send your coworker as a joke, and you could message each other and be like: ‘that’s funny.’”
Sweeny, for his part, likes to “play the villain” on social media by spoofing corporate bosses. Those characters can evoke big (sometimes shocked) reactions from online audiences. Sweeny says the best audience is those who don’t get the joke. In response to those cartoonishly evil boss videos, Sweeny says that every once in a while a commenter will get really offended.
“People on LinkedIn can get really passionate about work,” Sweeny says. “So from my perspective, it’s obvious that I’m kidding. But I have people that comment all upset and tell me I shouldn’t be treating employees that way. And that’s the funniest thing I could ask for.”
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