He bypassed the Hollywood gatekeepers entirely, self-released his comedy on YouTube, drove independent albums to number one on the Billboard charts, feuded with a Pulitzer-winning rapper, and somehow got dubbed America's foremost political journalist by The New York Times. Andrew Schulz's career arc almost defies categorization.

This episode traces how a kid raised in a Manhattan dance studio combined a psychology degree with relentless internet instincts to hack a broken entertainment industry. We unpack his record-breaking independent releases, his podcast empire, the controversies that should have ended him, and the paradox of an anti-establishment provocateur now building deep roots in mainstream Hollywood.

• How his self-released special 4:4:1 and album 5:5:1 proved you no longer needed HBO or Comedy Central to become a supers ...