We recently had the chance to connect with Best Worst Cantina Media and have shared our conversation below.
Best Worst Cantina Media, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: What do the first 90 minutes of your day look like?
We do a morning routine, brush our teeth, make coffee then we get to administration. That looks like answering emails, planning content, and writing newsletters and blogs.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Best Worst Cantina is a creative studio and comedy brand I founded to bring together live performance, digital storytelling, and original publishing under one roof. Over the past several years, we’ve produced both stage and screen comedy, including The Dads, a sketch group that carved out a reputation for character-driven humor and clever, world-building themes. Our team staged multiple live productions, created full-length comedy specials, and brought the spirit of late-night sketch into indie venues and streaming platforms alike. We were nominated for Broadway World Regional Awards and also the Lift-off Global Network Film Festival
Beyond live shows, Best Worst Cantina has built a catalog of digital comedy content, from shorts and reels to long-form sketch projects. These works reflect our mix of irreverence, craft, and heart. We treat comedy as both entertainment and cultural commentary, blending the personal with the absurd in ways that resonate across formats.
Most recently, Best Worst Cantina expanded into publishing with the release of Brown Bag Brigadier (written by Gary John Miller), our first literary work. The book showcases the same offbeat, incisive voice that runs through our comedy, proving that the brand’s DNA carries seamlessly from stage to screen to page.
What makes Best Worst Cantina special is our commitment to storytelling across mediums. Whether it’s a live audience laughing in the moment, a digital viewer stumbling onto a sketch at 2 a.m., or a reader diving into a poetry collection. Our work is fueled by collaboration, originality, and a refusal to play it safe, which keeps the creative process just as exciting for us as it is for the audiences we serve.
Currently, we’re developing new projects that extend our footprint into podcasting, animation, and publishing, while continuing to grow our online presence. The goal is always the same: to make stories that connect, surprise, and outlive the night they’re first told.
Thanks for sharing that. Would love to go back in time and hear about how your past might have impacted who you are today. Who taught you the most about work?
Honestly, nobody really taught us. We didn’t have mentors holding our hand through the process. Everything we know about producing shows, making content, and building a brand came from doing it the hard way.
We learned by failing in front of live audiences, by putting up sketches that didn’t land, by burning ourselves out trying to juggle too many projects at once, and by navigating partnerships that sometimes went sideways. Those experiences were brutal at times, but they were also the best teacher.
Every misstep forced us to adapt, refine, and get sharper, not just creatively, but in how we handle business, contracts, and collaboration. We came out of it with a work ethic that isn’t theoretical; it’s tested.
So if there’s one thing we’d say: failure was our mentor. The lessons didn’t come from a classroom or a single person. They came from years of stumbling, recalibrating, and learning to get back up stronger.
If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
Get everything in writing. Everything. If the goal is to make a business out of creating art, don’t cheapen yourself either.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
The biggest lie in our industry is that you have to wait for permission.
Too many creators believe they need someone else: a gatekeeper, a manager, a festival, a network, to validate them before they can move forward. That mindset keeps people stuck.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What are you doing today that won’t pay off for 7–10 years?
We’re carving out a niche in long-form storytelling: books, audio series, and narrative-driven comedy. These projects take years to build momentum, because you’re not just making a single product, you’re building a body of work and an audience that trusts you.
It’s not about chasing quick hits. It’s about creating things that will still matter, and still earn, a decade from now. By then, we’ll have a catalog: published literary works, audio series, and comedy projects that can be rediscovered, repackaged, and continue to find new audiences.
We’re laying foundations for legacy, not just attention.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://garymakesthings.com
- Instagram: @bestworstcantina
- Youtube: @bestworstcantina
- Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/hr7sikMaRYcn1joAFE
Image Credits
Best Worst Cantina Media
