Comedy websites have lacked money, says John O'Farrell
Comedy websites have lacked money, says John O'Farrell
Writer John O'Farrell is setting up a topical news comedy website. But why have there been so few successful comedy websites in the UK?
Writer John O'Farrell is launching a topical news comedy website: NewsBiscuit.com. But with a few exceptions, why has the web suffered such a sense of humour bypass when it comes to British comedy?
For me computers and comedy always seemed to go together. I just had to say something like "Is this how you lay out a spreadsheet?" or "They ought to invent a way of sending the same e-mail to lots of different people" and the whole office seemed to erupt into fits of laughter.
For me computers and comedy always seemed to go together. I just had to say something like "Is this how you lay out a spreadsheet?" or "They ought to invent a way of sending the same e-mail to lots of different people" and the whole office seemed to erupt into fits of laughter.
And yet I've never been able to find a British website that consistently made me laugh. Sites like TVGoHome or Portadown News have come and gone and Ann Widdecombe no longer has her own page on the Celebrity Fit Club website.
And yet I've never been able to find a British website that consistently made me laugh. Sites like TVGoHome or Portadown News have come and gone and Ann Widdecombe no longer has her own page on the Celebrity Fit Club website.
There is clearly a demand for comedy on our computer screens; a topical photo with a funny caption will be forwarded to every in-box in the country.
There is clearly a demand for comedy on our computer screens; a topical photo with a funny caption will be forwarded to every in-box in the country.
Every Thursday the wonderful Popbitch newsletter raises a laugh in five continents. So why is there only a sprinkling of obscure and erratically funny UK sites, where is the Private Eye of the net? (Oh, I've just found it - it's at www.private-eye.co.uk).
Every Thursday the wonderful Popbitch newsletter raises a laugh in five continents. So why is there only a sprinkling of obscure and erratically funny UK sites, where is the Private Eye of the net? (Oh, I've just found it - it's at www.private-eye.co.uk).
Perhaps the average British comedy writer has been a little bit cynical about the wonders of the World Wide Web. For me, the glamorous verb of "surfing" never seemed very appropriate unless they were comparing it with the kind of surfing you get in North Cornwall.
Perhaps the average British comedy writer has been a little bit cynical about the wonders of the World Wide Web. For me, the glamorous verb of "surfing" never seemed very appropriate unless they were comparing it with the kind of surfing you get in North Cornwall.
You spent a fortune on equipment, you spent ages just waiting around and occasionally something really disgusting popped up to the surface.
You spent a fortune on equipment, you spent ages just waiting around and occasionally something really disgusting popped up to the surface.
Cookie crumbles
Cookie crumbles
Perhaps more significantly there was no money in it. Many of the comedy writers I know can earn a small fortune writing funny lines for snooker players to ruin when they mumble them on They Think It's All Over. Why would they want to sacrifice their fine jokes to some dotcom entrepreneur for less money and no guarantee of an audience?
Perhaps more significantly there was no money in it. Many of the comedy writers I know can earn a small fortune writing funny lines for snooker players to ruin when they mumble them on They Think It's All Over. Why would they want to sacrifice their fine jokes to some dotcom entrepreneur for less money and no guarantee of an audience?
NewsBiscuit's first lead piece is a spoof on reality TV meeting suicide bombers, plus misunderstood neo-Nazis and love-lorn birdwatchers.
NewsBiscuit's first lead piece is a spoof on reality TV meeting suicide bombers, plus misunderstood neo-Nazis and love-lorn birdwatchers.
Or perhaps the reason is simply that no-one's got round to providing the right outlet until now? That all it needed was a comedy insider to set up a site, put the word out and hope that friends and colleagues would occasionally donate suitable material.
Or perhaps the reason is simply that no-one's got round to providing the right outlet until now? That all it needed was a comedy insider to set up a site, put the word out and hope that friends and colleagues would occasionally donate suitable material.
This was the naive thought that occurred to me when I was staring out of the window, trying to think of ways of avoiding writing stuff that I was actually being paid for. I no longer did a weekly column in The Guardian, so maybe I could spend that time putting the equivalent jokes on a funny website. Or the same old jokes and see if anyone noticed.
This was the naive thought that occurred to me when I was staring out of the window, trying to think of ways of avoiding writing stuff that I was actually being paid for. I no longer did a weekly column in The Guardian, so maybe I could spend that time putting the equivalent jokes on a funny website. Or the same old jokes and see if anyone noticed.
But why should this new site, called NewsBiscuit, be any better than any of the others that have been started? Well, I did at least know lots of great comedy writers from my years spent working on shows such as Spitting Image, Smith and Jones and Have I Got News For You.
But why should this new site, called NewsBiscuit, be any better than any of the others that have been started? Well, I did at least know lots of great comedy writers from my years spent working on shows such as Spitting Image, Smith and Jones and Have I Got News For You.
I explained to them that if they gave me a bit of material then I wouldn't tell the world that they once wrote for Brian Conley. (Ah no, that was me.)
I explained to them that if they gave me a bit of material then I wouldn't tell the world that they once wrote for Brian Conley. (Ah no, that was me.)
My first instinct was that it should only contain stuff that made me laugh. Then I realised that such a website already existed - it's the "pets and animals" section on YouTube.
My first instinct was that it should only contain stuff that made me laugh. Then I realised that such a website already existed - it's the "pets and animals" section on YouTube.
Absurd
Absurd
Gradually as I wrote up a few ideas the flavour of the site organically emerged. "Zeitgeist-y" without being immediately topical, satirical without being overly political, news parody with a bias towards the quirky or absurd. Oh all right, it's just a straight rip-off of The Onion.
Gradually as I wrote up a few ideas the flavour of the site organically emerged. "Zeitgeist-y" without being immediately topical, satirical without being overly political, news parody with a bias towards the quirky or absurd. Oh all right, it's just a straight rip-off of The Onion.
We all remember the dotcom crash when all those over-ambitious ventures collapsed within a year or so. I'm told the internet's much quicker than that these days. John O'Farrell
We all remember the dotcom crash when all those over-ambitious ventures collapsed within a year or so. I'm told the internet's much quicker than that these days. John O'Farrell
But have a look at it yourself and see if any of it makes you smile. There are two dozen items up there at the moment and a new lead story will hit the front page every day.
But have a look at it yourself and see if any of it makes you smile. There are two dozen items up there at the moment and a new lead story will hit the front page every day.
If you don't log on for a few days you can catch up by looking through the archives. There is no subscription charge - this is a completely free service paid for by the bailiffs who will be coming to my house a week on Thursday.
If you don't log on for a few days you can catch up by looking through the archives. There is no subscription charge - this is a completely free service paid for by the bailiffs who will be coming to my house a week on Thursday.
Maybe I'll get back some of the cost of running it from ads or the wildly optimistic link where readers can "donate to keep NewsBiscuit running". (And maybe all the soldiers will stop all their wars and skip around picking wild flowers.)
Maybe I'll get back some of the cost of running it from ads or the wildly optimistic link where readers can "donate to keep NewsBiscuit running". (And maybe all the soldiers will stop all their wars and skip around picking wild flowers.)
But at the moment the team who put this together are doing it for the love of it. We won't be able to keep writing it forever, but the hope is that once it's established, we can have a submissions board where ideas and stories can be sent in from aspiring comedy scriptwriters.
But at the moment the team who put this together are doing it for the love of it. We won't be able to keep writing it forever, but the hope is that once it's established, we can have a submissions board where ideas and stories can be sent in from aspiring comedy scriptwriters.
My plan is to get young talented humourists all over the world to send their stuff to me. Then I can rubbish their material, destroy their self-confidence and hopefully postpone any serious competition in all media for another decade or so.
My plan is to get young talented humourists all over the world to send their stuff to me. Then I can rubbish their material, destroy their self-confidence and hopefully postpone any serious competition in all media for another decade or so.
Whether NewsBiscuit will last and grow I have no idea. We all remember the dotcom crash when all those over-ambitious ventures collapsed within a year or so. I'm told the internet's much quicker than that these days.
Whether NewsBiscuit will last and grow I have no idea. We all remember the dotcom crash when all those over-ambitious ventures collapsed within a year or so. I'm told the internet's much quicker than that these days.
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