Short, funny webseries taking off among students
Humor -- like everything else is seems -- has evolved with the advent of the Internet and the mobile phone.
The days of the two-hour comedy flick holding a monopoly on humor are gone, and the new, quick and snappy webseries format is quickly becoming part of the funny conversation.
For a culture with a long to-do list and a shrinking attention span, the new format has found a home on various websites, from the free-for-all sandbox of YouTube to more curated websites like Funny or Die, Cracked and CollegeHumor.
CollegeHumor -- which first started making original videos in 2006 -- reports nearly 100 million video views per month and their popular online sketches and webseries have generated more than 2.5 billion views to date.
That’s more than the combined total of views clocked for Gangnam Style and Justin Bieber’s Baby music video, the two most viewed videos of all time on YouTube.
So what's behind the rise of these comedic webseries?
Comedian Elaine Carroll, best known for her webseries Very Mary-Kate, which parodies the life of child-star turned business woman Mary-Kate Olsen, credits brevity.
“The Internet has sort of brought to light this ADD culture where we don’t have the time to sit down and watch a two hour punch line,” said Carroll.
College students agree.
Danielle Remigio is a graduate student at Northeastern University studying college student development and counseling, and she admits to indulging in a couple of funny webseries.
“I think [the appeal of a webseries] comes down to reliability and the fact that it is so quick,” Remigio said, “It isn’t like a television show where you have to tune in at a certain time and sit there and watch it.
“It is convenient, and just having it readily available on your phone or your laptop... and not having to pay for it makes it really easy.”
For Carroll, the convenience to viewers, the quick humor and the subject matter of Kate has certainly played a part.
“We make fun of [Mary-Kate Olsen] in good humor. ... Everybody knows the Olsen twins, or at least about them even if they don’t know them personally,” Carroll said.