The Comeback
2022 Webby Award Nominee, Podcast - Documentary
Sylvester Stallone brings you The Comeback: an immersive, cinematic documentary series about meteoric success, devastating falls and inspirational comebacks - all told by the people who lived them.
Presented by Imperative Entertainment and produced by Honora & Balboa Productions in Association with 30WEST.
The Comeback is Executive Produced Sylvester Stallone, presented by Imperative Entertainment, and created, written, and edited by Giles Andrew and Elliott Watson of Honora Productions. Executive Producers are Sylvester Stallone and Braden Aftergood of Balboa Productions, Jason Hoch of Imperative Entertainment, and Trevor Groth of 30WEST.
Our Editor's Take
As the host and executive producer of The Comeback, Sylvester Stallone says, "When you're going through hell? Keep going." The subjects of The Comeback podcast not only kept going, but they beat the odds to cross the finish line.
Producer and DJ Tokimonsta (real name Jennifer Lee) lost her ability to speak, and even to understand music after being diagnosed with Moyamoya disease. Endurance athlete Danelle Ballengee fell from a cliff and found herself injured and stranded in a remote desert. As he puts it, organic bread maker Dave Dahl spent two decades behind bars for some "serious bad guy" stuff. Nothing was going to stand in Ezekiel Mitchell's way from becoming the first Black world-champion bull rider in decades except a devastating hurricane. And the title of jewelry CEO Gerald Ratner's episode is "How to Lose a Billion Dollars in Ten Seconds." Yikes.
"Immersive" and "cinematic" are choice words to describe The Comeback. It's a spatial audio experience. Advanced audio technology drops the listener right into the story. The audience feels the ecstasy, agony, and relief as if they were battling alongside each podcast subject.
Stallone is the perfect narrator for a pod about underdogs, of course. His screenplay for Rocky got picked up against all odds, but executives didn't want a "nobody" to star. Stallone's infamous refusal to sell the screenplay unless he was cast worked. As the "nobody" prizefighter Rocky Balboa, Stallone launched a movie franchise. But more than that, Balboa became a cultural phenomenon. And Stallone went on to play more franchise-worthy characters in the Rambo and Expendables films.
"We've all gotten knocked down at some point," Stallone says in the podcast trailer. "I'm here to remind you that life isn't always about your successes or failures. It's about the courage to continue." And, the icon fans call Sly adds, "Always keep on punching."
Episodes
