After finding success on YouTube with short-form clips from “Key & Peele” and “Chappelle’s Show,” Comedy Central is doubling down on digital with the launch of five new digital shows and a fresh YouTube page: Comedy Central Originals.
Like the name suggests, the YouTube channel will house a slate of original content made specifically for a digital audience. In the past, the network has produced original content for digital viewers but the content was mixed in the network’s main Comedy Central YouTube page. Going forward, old and new original digital series will live on the new channel.
“Comedy Central Originals is your one-stop destination for comedy made for the internet,” reads a description of the YouTube channel. “From series like ‘Mini-Mocks’ and ‘The Foley Artist’ to curated classics from partners like Above Average to new series like ‘Comedians Solve World Problems,’ this channel has everything you need to put off that work you should be doing. You’re welcome.”
Comedy Central did not respond to request for comment on the new service.
The launch of the new channel comes seven months after Comedy Central launched a YouTube channel for its large catalogue of stand-up performances. Comedy Central also plans to produce original content for the channel, starting with a one-hour special — “Emily Heller: Ice Thickeners” — that will premiere exclusively on the channel on March 8.
The new slate of shows to launch on Comedy Central Originals include: “wellRED Comedy,” a sketch series from the perspective of millennials and progressives who grew up in the South; “Comedians Solve World Problems,” where comedians try to solve issues such as racism, sexism, overpopulation and politics; “Shane Torres Conquers Your Fears,” where comedians try to overcome their fears by participating in a series of immersion-therapy steps led by comedian Shane Torres; “Unsend,” a series hosted by Joel Kim Booster (“Conan,” “The Other Two”) and Patti Harrison (“Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon,” “A Simple Favor”); and “My Least Favorite Thing,” where host Zack Bornstein travels to meet a celebrity as they prepare to do the one thing they that hate doing.