From Comedian to Comedy Agent to ICM’s Youngest Partner in a Decade

Adam Ginivisian ’07

By Benjamin Crosby ’19

Adam Ginivisian ’07 went from the mailroom to partner in just 10 years at the talent agency ICM Partners, making him the company’s youngest partner. Although this feat sounds daunting, it’s not that hard to comprehend after finding out a little bit more about him.

“I’ve always approached every job as if I owned the company,” said Ginivisian.

His hustle mentality started at an early age. Ginivisian recalls a speech his dad gave at his wedding about how he used to collect rocks as a kid and create a rock museum for his neighborhood.

“I would charge my neighbors to essentially see their own rocks, and no one knew it then, but that was the first glimmer that I was going to become an agent,” said Ginivisian.

Ginivisian traded rocks for comedy, producing a weekly sketch show in high school, which led him to hit the ground running once he got to Emerson College. At Emerson, Ginivisian performed stand-up comedy; was a member of Emerson Comedy Workshop; created a sketch comedy show through the Emerson Channel; founded a late-night show called The 2Knight Show that collaborated with all of Emerson’s comedy troupes; worked as the door man at one of Boston’s biggest comedy clubs; and was one of the student organizers of the “Emerson Comedy Celebration,” where alumni legends in comedy came back to celebrate 30 years of comedy at the College.

After graduation, he made the big move to Los Angeles and took a job in the mailroom at ICM after hearing about an opening through an Emerson grad. He sorted through mail all day and performed stand-up at night until a call came into ICM’s office asking if they’d heard of the comic “Adam Gini-something.” The head of the department—and Ginivisian’s mentor to this day—got word of Ginivisian’s second life and told him to get off the phone and come into his office. One of the biggest comedic agents in the industry told Ginivisian they’d never promoted anyone 18 months into the job before, but that they’d promote him. Once promoted, Ginivisian stopped stand-up and never looked back.

“I realized very quickly that representing artists was my true passion, that bringing artists together and connecting dots was what I’ve been doing all along,” he said.

Ginivisian found his true passion by surrounding himself with all aspects of comedy and trying to be the best at everything, from the smallest to biggest tasks. Becoming one of the youngest agents in the ICM’s history only served to light a bigger fire in Ginivisian’s mindset.

“I doubled down on my work ethic,” said Ginivisian, animatedly. “I’m going to keep booking, I’m going to keep signing, I’m going to double my numbers year after year after year, I’m going to keep advocating for artists and helping the company. I put my artists first, I put the company second, and I put myself third, and when you have that mentality, people want to work with you.”

Ginivisian makes this hustle-and-go mentality look simple, summarizing his outlook by saying, “I found out what I was meant to do because I did everything I’ve ever done as if I was meant to do it.”