Mona Shaikh has been a touring comedian for about 15 years now, headlining shows in London, Portugal and Dubai. The Los Angeles-based comic has performed on Carnival Cruises, opened for Jay Leno, Jim Gaffigan and Patton Oswalt, and is now using comedy to get the masses into crypto and blockchain.

Shaikh is the founder of Web3 Is A Joke, a stand-up comedy platform that “roasts” the crypto industry in the form of live shows, regularly selling out 120 to 250 person performances at all the major crypto conferences worldwide and at local shows across the U.S.

The local shows are aimed at drawing audiences who are more “crypto curious,” whereas the conference shows tend to draw a more knowledgeable crypto crowd.

Alongside partners EQX and Hype Magazine, Web3 Is A Joke has already sold out its February 19th show at Consensus Hong Kong—more than a month in advance—and continues to generate buzz amongst a growing audience of people who know nothing about crypto, people who are interested in crypto, and people who are already well versed in the cryptosphere.

The show’s appeal

Currently, Web3 Is A Joke offers payment to its comedians in either crypto or U.S. dollars and has plans to launch a proof of attendance protocol (POAP) NFT for its events. The platform is also discussing the launch of a memecoin that would provide utility in the form of access to merch, live shows and other exclusive events.

Part of the show’s appeal is the way in which it distills and demystifies crypto to folks who may be apprehensive about the space.

“I’ve had people come up to me after the shows and say, ‘You know, I actually understood all of that, and that’s great,’” Shaikh said to me during a recent interview. “What we’ve just built is trust and less spookiness. We’re trying to take the spookiness out of crypto.”

The lack of financial literacy amongst the general public, particularly in the U.S., is the main problem, Shaikh said.

“Financial education is not something that’s mainstream for a lot of Americans,” Shaikh said. “When you look at something like crypto, which is a brand new financial system that’s rising, people get very intimidated. They don’t even understand the current financial system and now we’re asking them to learn a new financial system? What are you doing to me?”

It’s why the Web3 Is A Joke show aims to explain blockchain in layman's terms, helping the audience laugh their way to becoming crypto literate, at least on a 101 level.

A Wall Street history

In terms of her own financial literacy, Shaikh is a former Wall Street trader who left the financial industry to pursue comedy.

“I used to work on the trading floor in New York at Citibank and I saw the entire market crash,” she said. “But when the market crashed in 2008, I quickly realized I wanted to do something more meaningful, something that gave me a little more purpose.”

After Citibank, Shaikh took a job at Morgan Stanley, where a co-worker suggested she pursue stand-up comedy. Shaikh initially doubted it was something she could do, but despite her reservations, left the safety and security of her finance job and thrust herself into the New York City stand-up comedy scene.

“There’s this whole business side that you have to learn and a labyrinth of sorts you need to go through to find a career, which is how I ended up in the web3 space,” Shaikh said. “What really got me excited about blockchain is the aspect of ownership—ownership over your data and your fan base.”

Around 2021, Shaikh’s neighbor introduced her to Bitcoin. After reading the Bitcoin whitepaper, she learned more about the technology, went down the rabbit hole and fell in love with everything blockchain had to offer, seeing it as a solution to the content and data ownership problems that plague comedians and other artists.

“Web2 just doesn’t have the tools to provide you with the ownership over your stuff,” she said. “I had three videos that went viral on TikTok, but woke up one day and my account was banned.”

When Shaikh pressed TikTok for a reason for the ban, she wasn’t provided with one.

“You work so hard to build your brand and your account, but the platform can just come in, take control over your entire fan base and all of your data,” Shaikh said. “And then, you’re left with nothing. I think blockchain offers you freedom.”

Blockchain-based ownership

Blockchain presents one of the most unique use cases around ownership, particularly for artists like stand-up comics. While there are numerous platforms that tout the ability for digital and performing artists to own their work, it remains to be seen if artists controlling their content and their fan bases on-chain is something that catches on.

“Since the invention of art on cave walls, and stories by the fire, there has been a conflict between those who enjoy art, and those willing to pay for it,” Justin Hochberg, CEO of Virtual Brand Group, said to me over email. “Every form can now be digitized and shared free. Blockchain might be the arts savior. Imagine if a comedian got paid directly every time their video was watched instead of it going to YouTube.”

Regardless if blockchain catches on with artists, its value as a tool and the benefits it presents are why Web3 Is A Joke will continue to educate its audiences using humor. 

“The future of crypto in comedy is ownership,” Shaikh said. “You want to be able to have comedians—if they decide to leave a platform—gather all their stuff [their data and their following] and leave. I’m all for artists and comedians taking control of their careers and not being locked out.”

lead image: Mona Shaikh