"It seems like the opportunity just increases exponentially. There doesn't seem to be much stopping"
About this Quote
Martin Mull’s line lands with the breezy half-smile of someone who’s watched the entertainment industry reinvent itself so many times it stops feeling like reinvention and starts feeling like gravity. “Opportunity” here isn’t the inspirational poster kind; it’s the sheer proliferation of outlets, formats, and platforms that keep multiplying faster than anyone can map them. The key word is “seems”: Mull isn’t declaring a fact so much as describing a lived sensation of acceleration, the cultural equivalent of standing on a moving walkway that keeps speeding up.
The subtext carries a veteran performer’s ambivalence. “Increases exponentially” is the language of tech and venture capital, not showbiz romance. Mull borrows that vocabulary to describe a world where a comedian can be an actor, musician, writer, painter, podcaster, and meme in the same week. It flatters possibility while quietly hinting at its cost: when opportunity doesn’t have “much stopping” it also doesn’t have much shape. More doors can mean fewer thresholds, less curation, and a constant pressure to self-generate momentum.
Contextually, it reads like a mid-to-late-career observation from someone who came up in an era of gatekeepers and limited slots, now looking at a landscape where distribution is cheap and attention is the scarce commodity. The line works because it’s not triumphal. It’s a shrug aimed at the future: exhilarating, ungovernable, and slightly ominous in its refusal to slow down.
The subtext carries a veteran performer’s ambivalence. “Increases exponentially” is the language of tech and venture capital, not showbiz romance. Mull borrows that vocabulary to describe a world where a comedian can be an actor, musician, writer, painter, podcaster, and meme in the same week. It flatters possibility while quietly hinting at its cost: when opportunity doesn’t have “much stopping” it also doesn’t have much shape. More doors can mean fewer thresholds, less curation, and a constant pressure to self-generate momentum.
Contextually, it reads like a mid-to-late-career observation from someone who came up in an era of gatekeepers and limited slots, now looking at a landscape where distribution is cheap and attention is the scarce commodity. The line works because it’s not triumphal. It’s a shrug aimed at the future: exhilarating, ungovernable, and slightly ominous in its refusal to slow down.
Quote Details
| Topic | Optimism |
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