Harridan
Sunday 12th February 2012 12:03am
3,170 posts
(Not wanting to bump up a thread that seems to have been created just to drive traffic to a YouTube channel, but...)
I think YouTube is a great place to find sketch comedy. It's a great training ground for people to develop without needing to be safe enough to be granted a series so I often find that the comedy I can find on YouTube is more exciting than some of the mediocre stuff that we see on TV. YouTube is also bursting at the seams with absolute trash, but there are certainly some gems out there. It's often a different kind of comedy, sometimes a bit more flippant, sometimes the comedy can't be summed up in one video and you need to watch a lot until you get it (my favourite YouTube comedians are ones I've been watching for years) not unlike most people's experience of The Mighty Boosh.
A lot of the classics of British comedy were commissioned on raw talent and were risky and not very good in their first outings, but those shows wouldn't have been given a chance now and I think that the internet is where we will be finding more interesting comedy in the future.
Even established comedy acts use YouTube to put their work out, particularly musical comics, and great acts who haven't really had mainstream success can be hits online.
Some examples that I particularly enjoy:
BriTANicK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAG9Xn5bJwQ
Dan&Dan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eBT6OSr1TI
Nice Piece Productions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95N3EV4jAoE
Axis of Awesome http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdudKAMOz5s
and finally something silly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-w-58hQ9dLk