Is it time for a shake-up in the pecking order of the poker creator world?
Two queens of content, Caitlin Comeskey and Nikki Limo, are strong favorites to do just that with the launch of their new podcast, Aceholes.
PokerOrg spoke with the dynamic duo to get an exclusive inside look at the inception of their new venture and what to expect in the coming weeks. Below, you'll find condensed excerpts from that conversation that are slightly edited for clarity.
An audience with the Queens
Mo Afdhal: I'm here with Caitlin Comeskey and Nikki Limo and they're going to tell me a little about their podcast that's dropping...next week, right?
Nikki Limo: Yeah, well, we have our first piece of content dropping on Wednesday. It's kind of a little teaser to the actual podcast, but we did a full produced sketch with Brad Owen and Andrew Neeme. I won't give away too much, but we basically asked them for their permission to start a poker content show.
MA: Ah, right, makes sense as they are the overlords/godfathers of the content world. That's smart, a lot of people don't do that.
NL: Yeah, and a lot of people fail! You gotta ask permission.
Caitlin Comeskey: There's decorum that you need to go by in our community and we respect that.
NL: We respect protocol.
MA: You guys are smart. So, run me through your backgrounds quickly, both in and out of poker, and a little on how you two met.
CC: I have a background in acting, I have my degree from NYU in Drama. I've hosted a burlesque show and toured the country, done stand-up, and I was a student at the Groundlings and did improv training there. And I met Nikki--actually she was my date to the GPI Awards.
NL: My background is very similar to Caitlin's and that's one thing that we connected on right away when we were talking in the car on the way to the GPI Awards. Started in acting and stand-up, but I dropped out of college to pursue acting. I found a conservatory program that was strictly film and television and kind of treated that like college. I was really submersed in that world for a long time, doing acting, stand-up, and improv at Upright Citizens Brigade. And then I kind of fell into YouTube. We both got serious about poker around the same time too. Started in cash, then ended up running deep in a few tournaments. We were actually within a few spots of each other on the top female money list last year.
CC: Like top fifty, by the way, we're no slouches!
"We put a cobra snake on this man's neck"
MA: So, you have the teaser sketch coming Wednesday, do you have an idea of when your first podcast episode will drop?
NL: Yeah, so, after the teaser, we're looking at dropping them every Wednesday. The podcast episodes will run more like a traditional podcast, not as much like a produced sketch. But because we have such a strong background in that, and that's where we find the fun, we are really excited to have maybe a sketch a month that features poker players and puts them in some weird spots. It was very fun working with Brad and Andrew, who aren't comedians, but they pulled it off so well. We put a live snake on Brad, and Brad is terrified of snakes, we put a cobra snake on this man's neck.
CC: He almost died. No.
NL: And he was so good.
MA: That's must see content right there.
NL: We'll obviously have them on the podcast. And in the podcast itself we don't want it to just be a boring conversation, we try to keep it fun and add elements of game show-ness or a party vibe. We have different challenges that the guests will do.
CC: We're not interested in strat talk, we're not interested in controversial drama, we're not gonna touch it.
NL: We might touch it, but--
CC: Just laugh at it, just like a boop. We're not gonna have opinions.
NL: We're gonna be Switzerland.
CC: The goal is we want to make people fall in love with our guests as much as we love them.
NL: We're just here to have fun with the poker community.
Finding drive and inspiration...or not?
MA: Are there any poker podcasts that you're looking to for inspiration? Are you taking any cues from anyone or mostly going for your own unique style?
NL: I actually try not to look at other people's stuff. I think we want something different and we're inspired more by our roots in sketch comedy and variety shows, talk show-type stuff. It's just like a party, when you join in you're getting something completely different.
CC: And I think a lot of the podcasts do a lot to keep poker safe. One of the things that (Matt) Berkey gets a hard time for, but also does really effectively is calling out things in the game that aren't completely above board. I don't think that's our skill set, so we're gonna let Matt take care of that. We'll let Doug does his little roastie-roasts. But, yeah, we're gonna do something different.
MA: What is it about poker that interests the two of you from a content perspective? It's a big game, sure, but it's still a pretty niche community. What drives you to make poker content?
CC: Poker is a sick game. It attracts a lot of people with darkness and weirdness, not a lot of really normal, stable people are playing this game. I think for me it's just the crazy cast of characters, it's like a Wes Anderson movie in here. Everybody's so zany, I love it, I love weird people, save your normies.
NL: I felt the same way, the game is great, we all fall in love with the game. Then when I discovered the community, like poker Twitter and all these different characters interacting, it's already so funny, it's so comedic, but no one is making content about it.
CC: And I think because we're gambling for large amounts of money, people have less of a filter for their emotions or for how they're presenting. They're vulnerable in those situations and that's fascinating to me.
NL: And, yes, it's a niche. You could think of it like "Well, how can this scale if it's so niche?" I've actually found that people who are starting channels on YouTube, the niche-er you go, the better. You get to find a very specific audience, a very loyal and engaged audience. I would rather have a smaller audience to start out that really gets it and then expand from there. I kind of like that it's niche.
MA: Anything else that you want the people to know about the podcast or yourselves?
CC: Absolutely, you can find us at @Aceholespod on the socials, we have an Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and our YouTube channel.
MA: Alright, thank you both so much for taking the time to speak with me. I wish you nothing the best, can't wait to see what you two come up with!
Editor's Note:
The Aceholes Podcast teaser sketch is live now, check it out! And, if you want to hear more from Caitlin and Nikki, the full PokerOrg interview with them can be found below.
