YouTube Comedy Week was an event on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

, and produced by Jash in the US and

ChannelFlip ChannelFlip Media Ltd was a London-based Multi Channel Network which works with both traditional and online celebrities to create brand friendly content. Shows and talent ChannelFlip works with UK-based comedic TV and online talent. * Robert Lle ...

in the UK. Comedy week was an event that ran from May 19–25, 2013, and brought "the best of UK and US talent together on YouTube." This was the first of a planned annual YouTube Comedy Week. ''The Big Live Comedy Show'' began the event, was hosted by

Kyle Mooney Kyle James Kozub Mooney (born September 4, 1984) is an American actor, comedian, and writer, who was a cast member of ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2013 until 2022. Mooney co-wrote and starred in the film '' Brigsby Bear'', in addition to co-crea ...

, and was opened by

Sarah Silverman Sarah Kate Silverman (born December 1, 1970) is an American comedian, actress, and writer. Silverman was a writer and performer on ''Saturday Night Live'', and she starred in and produced ''The Sarah Silverman Program'', which ran from 2007 to ...

and

Seth Rogen Seth Aaron Rogen (; born April 15, 1982) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian and filmmaker. Originally a stand-up comedian in Vancouver, he moved to Los Angeles for a part in Judd Apatow's series ''Freaks and Geeks'', and then got a part on ...

. This was stage show that was broadcast live.

Announcement

Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July 30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, film producer, businessman, retired professional bodybuilder and politician who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011. ''Time'' ...

was featured in a video that promoted Comedy Week, and earned over 3.8 million views in one week. Following YouTube's announcement of the event, several news publications reported about the event. ''

Tubefilter Tubefilter, Inc. is a privately held company based in Los Angeles, California that operates media businesses focusing on the online entertainment industry. Tubefilter is best known for Tubefilter News, a blog targeted at the fans, creators, pro ...

'' reported that YouTube had "hyped" the ''Comedy Week'' event with

television advertisements A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

Reception

Commercial

As of July 10, 2013, ''The Big Live Comedy Show'' has garnered nearly 1 million video views and has approximately 73% likes on its YouTube rating. Other videos uploaded by YouTube during Comedy Week, struggled to get past 250,000 views (as of July 10, 2013). However, the Gregory Brothers' ''The History of YouTube'' earned over 2 million video views (as of July 10, 2013).

Critical reception

Schwarzenegger's promotional video,

Ryan Higa Ryan Higa (born June 6, 1990), also known as nigahiga ( ), is an American Internet personality. Best known for his comedy videos on YouTube, Higa began making YouTube videos in 2006 and was one of the most popular creators on the platform in it ...

's ''Google Glass Human'', and the

Fine Brothers React Media, LLC (also known as React; formerly as Fine Brothers Entertainment) is an American media company, founded by brothers Benny Fine (born March 19, 1981) and Rafi Fine (born June 9, 1983), creators and media entrepreneurs. React Media p ...

' '' YouTubers React to Try to Watch This Without Laughing or Grinning'' were met with positive reception and called the "winners" of Comedy Week. However, due to Higa and the ''YouTubers React'' series having established success on YouTube, and Schwarzenegger's video being uploaded as a promotional video rather than a comedy one during the event, the overall event was met with mixed reviews by

Adweek ''Adweek'' is a weekly American advertising trade publication that was first published in 1979. ''Adweek'' covers creativity, client–agency relationships, global advertising, accounts in review, and new campaigns. During this time, it has cover ...

and other publications alike. The performers and entertainers involved in the event featured a mixture of traditional and new media stars and personalities. The comedy show was met with negative to mixed reception, as the particular mixture of

new New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

and

traditional A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

media was criticized, as most traditional media stars were reported to seemingly not care about YouTube or its Comedy Week event. The performances by

YouTube personalities YouTubers are people mostly known for their work on the video sharing platform YouTube. The following is a list of YouTubers for whom Wikipedia has articles either under their own name or their YouTube channel name. This list excludes people who ...

were met with better reception than those of mainstream media stars.

References

{{YouTube navigation YouTube Comedy events May 2013 events 2013 in Internet culture