Hey there, cubicle commandos, if you’re itching for yet another diversion to break up the doldrums of your summer workday, you’re in luck. The Cheezburger Network (you know, the guys who brought you LOL Cats and FAIL Blog) launched a new video site today, entitled Bag of Misfits.
Although it’s web-only, Bag of Misfits harkens back to the old days of reality sketch comedy, a la Tom Green and Jackass. In fact, Tom Green is even involved in the project. According to Cheezburger Network Founder Ben Huh, Bag of Misfits came about when the company decided to start expanding its video outlet. (At the end of last month, FAIL Blog became the first comedy channel on YouTube to rack up more than one billion video views, and Huh wants to continue growing that momentum.)
At first, he tried creating original content — which basically amounted to filming stuff blowing up in slow motion. Still, it was pretty difficult for the small staff to pull off such a venture. Instead, Huh says, they decided to play to their strengths: finding people who make awesome content and helping them produce and promote it. Luckily, Canadian comedian Paul Telner and his company, Let It Out Entertainment, asked Huh to team up with the Cheezburger Network. Telner and Co. provide the talent for the Network’s 53rd property, and Huh et. al are the starmakers.
“Their core competency in terms of content is reality humor,” says Huh of Telner. “Not a lot of people are doing that on the Internet, and this is a great medium between creating content that people find almost intimidating to create on their own. Anybody can grab a camera and go out and do reality comedy. It’s low-production cost, very approachable, and it really fits our ethos of trying to get the community involved.” Check out a taste of the show below:
As it continues to grow, Huh’s Cheezburger Network is becoming more and more of a legit entertainment hub (even though he once told us that book sales are far more lucrative than online ad sales). “It’s kind of fascinating, we have people coming in from television onto the Internet because it’s a more creative space,” he says. “Ironically, we’re kind of playing the role of the TV network — we’ll create the show around you guys and promote it and produce it, but you guys are the talent.”
“We would love to be the Saturday Night Live of reality humor,” he adds. “Where people who want to be stars will submit their content and hopefully we’ll discover new talent.”
This approach to web entertainment comes at a time when we’re at a kind of crossroads when it comes to the legitimacy of online content. While more and more people are watching videos on YouTube, Hulu, Vevo and the like — and while innovations like Google TV and YouTube Leanback perhaps augur a time when webseries and viral vids could be integrated into our living rooms — the golden ticket for many an online star is, well, traditional media forms.
Sh*t My Dad Says has a TV deal. People of Walmart has a book deal. And even YouTube/webseries sensation “Fred” (oh, he of the most annoying videos ever) will be appearing in a Nickelodeon movie. It’s still all about bringing the web into more traditional forms of media.
Yet there are a lot of people out there soldiering forward in the web-only world. Huh himself greatly respects College Humor’s stable of original content (the site also recently entered into a deal with the beverage brand, SoBe), and The Onion plans to launch premium content offerings this summer.
The web isn’t there yet when it comes to being an all-out destination for lucrative content, but people like Huh are hoping that that’s the direction we’re heading. “This isn’t a TV show, and we wanted to make sure that people understood that we wanted to be different, we wanted to be a bigger creative outlet for people,” he says. “It’s OK if it doesn’t conform to the normal standards of what people like on TV, because we want to find our own audience and our own voice.”
Check out a few more Bag of Misfits vids below and let us know what you think: Should SNL be shaking in its boots?
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