Abby Roberge

Who is Abby Roberge

Abby Roberge is a stand-up comedian and the co-founder of Melrose Podcasts. Connor Cullip, who hosts the Network of Directors room in Austin, introduced him as a good friend who shows up for everything and gives great advice, with a Melrose studio right upstairs at the venue. He built his comedy the traditional way, working the door at The World Famous Comedy Store in Los Angeles for seven years while performing whenever he could, and he has toured with names like Bill Burr, Russell Peters, and Bob Saget.

How Melrose Podcasts started

Abby and his business partner were both stand-up comedians. His partner had helped start podcasts for bigger comedians that later took off, and had a small makeshift studio in his garage. Abby's idea was to commercialize it, to rent a real space so other comedians could come record at a fair rate. Their goal was modest: cover the rent and maybe clear a thousand dollars a month. They opened two months before the pandemic, which wiped the business out for about six months. Then a major podcaster moved to Los Angeles and started using their studio, which legitimized them, and higher-profile clients followed. The studio grew to three locations, Los Angeles, New York, and Austin, with a guest list that came to include Matthew McConaughey, Sylvester Stallone, Will Smith, and Neil deGrasse Tyson.

What he does now

Melrose Podcasts is built as an all-inclusive production service. Abby says they can handle as little or as much of a show as a client wants, from filming and editing to posting, growth strategy, and clipping. He has watched the medium change since Melrose opened in 2020. It moved from an audio and Apple Podcasts focus, to YouTube driving most of the growth, to clipping becoming the main growth engine, to the current rise in user-generated content and video sales letters, which is where a lot of Melrose's work is coming from today.

What he speaks about

When people ask him where to start a podcast, Abby tells them it is like starting a small business: you get out what you put in. He is direct that a long-form audience is the most valuable audience a business can build, and that even five thousand consistent listeners can convert into almost anything. He also makes the case for a podcast as a relationship engine, since an uninterrupted hour with someone is rare, and many of his clients have left the studio as real friends with their guests. On why shows fail, his answer is consistency, not talent or gear. And for businesses, his advice is to avoid branding the show at all, because people can sense an advertisement and tune out. A supplement brand, for example, should run a health and wellness show and let the connection surface over time.

His talk at the room

Abby was interviewed by Connor Cullip in a short, dense fireside conversation at the Network of Directors room in Austin in June 2026. It covered the Melrose origin story, how the medium has shifted since 2020, his favorite guest stories, what separates the podcasts that grow from the ones that quit, and what Melrose offers end to end. You can watch the full talk and read the writeup on his event page.

Watch his talk from the room