Could you rate comedy videos and help creators?

We are running a scheme to help comedy creators get recognition, exposure and feedback for their creations. We are looking for people who love comedy to join our review panel and give ratings and brief reviews. The idea is to help identify talented but undiscovered creators by showcasing work that receives high ratings, but also to give constructive feedback (the non-youtube sort) to all creators.

If you're interested in helping rate videos visit the link below and fill in the form. You can control how frequently we send you videos to look at.

https://thecomedycrowd.com/creators-area/feedback-panel/ask-the-crowd-shape-the-future-of-comedy/

Quote: The Comedy Crowd @ 23rd September 2016, 11:21 AM

We are running a scheme

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Scheme is the operative word.

"Submissions are free for Comedy Crowd members or £14.99 for non-members (membership is only £9 per month and you get access to everything in the community!"

I guess you need to charge a fee to cover costs and discourage halfwits from posting third-rate David Brent impressions. But surely, people with sufficient drive, talent and ambition will put their stuff on YouTube and get noticed (and get brutally honest feedback, such as just being ignored). Perhaps. Anyway, hope you can attract something that grows into something great.

Do you think YouTube is such a good platform for people to get noticed? We've seen lots of really interesting comedy on there that never really makes an impact. A few succeed but as a platform it isn't designed to promote original comedy. And for those who are ambitious and trying to improve do they really get good feedback? Sure they can look at the analytics to see when people stopped watching, or they can scroll into the comments if they really want a knock to their self esteem, but does the feedback on there help them create something better next time?

What we're offering is the opportunity to get the sort of detailed feedback that will help people improve. We do that by asking reviewers, most of whom are creators themselves, to identify the specific sections that worked, and those that didn't, along with general observations. It's feedback that we wanted, but couldn't get when we made our first video.

So yes we do charge non-members to submit, and our members do pay a £9 monthly membership fee (which includes this service and a whole lot more) and we believe it's excellent value. We ran a free trial for 2 months to see if it worked and the response from those who got feedback for scripts and videos was superb.

So we object to suggestions that this is a 'scheme' in the sense you are implying. It is a service, and one that is helping a lot of comedy creators get the feedback they need. Those 'half-wits' you refer to might go on to make something great one day, not everyone is a natural, but the only way you can do that is by putting stuff out there and asking people to help you get better.

https://thecomedycrowd.com/what-the-feedback-panelists-have-said/

Quote: The Comedy Crowd @ 24th September 2016, 5:51 PM

Do you think YouTube is such a good platform for people to get noticed?

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Yes. A friend of mine tried her hand at comedy for a few years, never had success until she created a YouTube channel. She now has over 260,000 subscribers and gets views of up to 600,000 for individual videos, so makes a simple living from it -- and has gone on to be invited to perform on TV, movies and write a book.

Another success is the YouTuber named GradeAUnderA. He mostly just states the blindingly obvious and sometimes gets mired in silly squabbles, but his comedy gold is his angry voice and his wonderfully crappy Paint illustrations, put together on Windows Movie Maker. He has over 3 million subscribers.

Plenty of people have posted stuff on YouTube and then come here and elsewhere for feedback. Some improve, some don't. Some are wonderful but just too far off the mainstream (too vulgar or too weird) to become popular.

Experience (practice, honing your craft) is the best teacher. Mentors are great, but you have to be hungry to learn and often you have to be your own harshest critic and editor.

Anyway, as I said in my previous post, hope you do germinate some greatness.

Unfortunately I am not able to tell you what I think about your opportunity. Please pay me and I'll let you know.

Quote: Kenneth @ 25th September 2016, 7:55 AM

Experience (practice, honing your craft) is the best teacher. Mentors are great, but you have to be hungry to learn and often you have to be your own harshest critic and editor.

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Couldn't agree more, like all other skills you learn through repeated practice. But practice is next to useless without quality feedback (i.e. structured, relevant and honest). You don't get that from YouTube comments, you don't (usually) get it from forums, and it's difficult to get it from friends and family, so we are offering a different option for those who are serious about finding out what they do well and what they can improve.

Quote: The Comedy Crowd @ 27th September 2016, 10:34 AM

...quality feedback (i.e. structured, relevant and honest). You don't get that from YouTube comments.

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Not true. I remember back in the early 1990s, when Mike Myers was struggling to get a break. He posted some of his stand-up on YouTube but it wasn't popular. So I commented: "Mike, you need to play a sardonic, long-haired metalhead with a public access cable show in Aurora, Illinois. And get Dana Carvey as your sidekick."
And he said, "Thanks, Kenneth, I'll do that." And that's how he became one of the biggest comedy stars of the 90s.

I also recall in the early 1950s, I was sitting in an internet cafe in Preston, enjoying some Jane's Addiction video clips, when the suggestion bar showed a Spike Milligan video. He was doing a serious Bing Crosby impression. So I commented: "You need to form a partnership with Peter Sellers and Harry Secombe, and make a surreal radio comedy show with farcical plots."
And he said, "Thanks Kenneth, I'll give it a try." And that's what he did, and that's how he became the godfather of alternative comedy.

Quote: The Comedy Crowd @ 27th September 2016, 10:34 AM

... you don't (usually) get it from forums

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https://www.comedy.co.uk/forums/thread/13629/ Check and mate.