No Joke: Hannibal Buress Is Doing Comedy NFTs

Jambb is turning laughs into non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

The comedy collectibles startup has raised $3.5 million to build a comedian-focused NFT marketplace on the Flow blockchain, the company announced Wednesday.

The raise was led by Arrington Capital and Animoca Brands and included investment from Flow developer Dapper Labs, ParaFi Capital, LD Capital, Signum Capital, NextView Ventures, Ascensive Assets and Waterdrip Capital.

Jambb’s marketplace will host collectibles of jokes, sets and memorabilia from various comedians. The Boston-based startup says its marketplace will resemble Dapper Labs’ NBA Top Shot in offering packs of video-based collectibles of varying lengths, a representative told CoinDesk in an interview.

The company hosted the first NFT comedy show back in July – “Non-Fungible Jokin’” – that featured content from comedians Pete Holmes, Maria Bamford, Zainab Johnson and Beth Stelling.

Its next headliner will be Hannibal Buress, whose Oct. 13 set will be repurposed into various digital collectibles.

Like many musician-focused NFT marketplaces that have popped up in recent months, Jambb believes it can help comedians recover from financial difficulties caused by the pandemic, in addition to creating new ways for comedians to connect more personally with their fans.

“Several comedians referenced being on stage 200 times the year before and zero times last year,” Jambb CEO Alex DiNunzio told CoinDesk in an interview. “When we produced Non-Fungible Jokin’ in July, the majority of performers said that was their first time in front of a live audience in over a year. We see Jambb as an opportunity to help comedians create new value from the content they have produced while growing their communities.”