Viv Ford: The Comedian Who Put AI on Stage (and Survived the Crypto Castle)

If you thought comedy and AI had nothing in common, Viv Ford is here to prove you wrong. Viv is a comedian who once lived in the infamous San Francisco Crypto Castle with 14 crypto bros (yes, really). While most of us were still figuring out what Bitcoin actually was, she was paying $1,400 a month to live in a closet and stumbling into a world of blockchain, comedy, and - you guessed it - artificial intelligence.

She joined AI Haven't a Clue. Listen here.

Comedian Viv Ford

Fast forward to today and she’s built an Edinburgh Fringe show called No Kids on the Blockchain. But here’s the kicker: she road-tested her material on AI. Not the audience, not fellow comics, AI.

In Viv’s words, the results were both hilarious and reassuring. When ChatGPT said a joke wouldn’t land, it usually killed on stage. When ChatGPT wrote a joke, it bombed harder than your uncle’s WhatsApp group memes.

Viv calls AI her “secret weapon.” Not because it’s funny, but because it’s a brutally honest reviewer. She feeds it scripts and pitch decks, asks it to play the role of a grumpy studio exec, and lets it rip them apart. The nitty gritty details? Terrible. But the big-picture notes? Surprisingly useful.

And her hot take? Stop being scared of AI. Viv says San Francisco’s techno-optimism rubbed off on her. Forget doom and gloom, AI isn’t the end of comedy, it’s just another tool. Her advice to fellow comics is to treat AI like a slightly rubbish sidekick. It won’t write your jokes, but it might sharpen your punchlines.

Her boldest claim: babies born today will never be smarter than AI. People scoff now, but she’s betting in ten years we’ll all nod along while wondering why our smart fridge outwitted us again.

Viv’s verdict: comedy will always need humans. Not because AI isn’t clever, but because audiences love seeing people trip up, crack under pressure and be gloriously human. Until robots start bombing on open-mic night, we’re safe.