Lewis Black was the one that pushed for Corey to get a show based on all the subscribers at Foxxhole asking for him to be given his own show for 3 years
Nick Cannon helps comics get visibility. But he doesn't pay people, Wild n Out is purely for exposure and then they can make money due to their tours being sold out. (like the 85 South guys)
To answer OP's question.
Corey is a fascinating case study on the life a of a black man.
He grew up in the projects of Chicago in a broken home.
Hes interanalized a lot negative traits and feminine behavior from his upbringing.
He has a broken relationship with all his kids.
The mother of his son and his wife Maya according to him were 2 great women, (both left him).
Corey is also a genius comic and cannot be followed by anyone on stage. The likes of Jammie Foxx kinda knew that Corey had enough talent to be accepted on his terms.
But also Corey has a black revolutionary spirit in him, so he can't play any of the roles in life he wants, he's too broken to be a family man/husband /father, he's too miserable to be a genuine friend and is always testing other men that are either smarter, richer, better looking than him, he's too talented to ignore in comedy coz he's Top 5 dead or alive comic, but is too anti gay to keep quiet about the Hollywood gay rituals that all A List celebrities have to be put through.
Luckily he's not into drugs like Katt Williams and is not really an alcoholic like that.
He's a tortured genius who's carrying too much childhood trauma and pain, so inveriably self sabotages anything that could make him happy... But he does want a relationship with his kids, he does want some level of acceptance and money from the Hollywood game, he does wanna be on good terms with the women he loves, he does wanna reconcile with the good friends he had like Zo Williams and Ray Grady, he deeply yearns for these things. But he sabotages them when presented with a real friendship.
E.g. He was so jealous that Ray Grady grew up with a mom and dad and had a great relationship with his sons.
Now Grady does fake that gangster shyt just to fit, which is corny, but Corey would not let it go and basically lost his best friend over his jealousy and projection.
There's no simple answer.
Just like Patrice O'Neal was extremely layered and complicated.
But Corey is a great lesson on how not to move in life and not let your childhood trauma and pain stifle you. Deal with your trauma or it'll consume you
