Where A-List Comics and R-Rated Comedy Meet on the Internet
The minds behind "Anchorman" are behind what may be the Web's funniest site.
Aug. 31, 2007 — -- Only in the upside-down world of the Internet could a Web site overseen by comic superstar Will Ferrell and backed by big bucks from Silicon Valley be lifted to success on the slender shoulders of a 2-year-old girl.
You remember Pearl, don't you? Her tough-talking appearance as a dipsomaniac demanding the rent made "The Landlord" a viral video classic from the moment it was posted in April on the site funnyordie.com. Funnyordie's Adam McKay has been a writer for "Saturday Night Live" and has directed $100 million movies like "Anchorman," but he was just as excited when "The Landlord" went viral.
"We did no advertising or lead up to our site whatsoever," he said. "The Pearl 'Landlord' clip just got shot around, passed from person to person and then when it started hitting like 2 [million], 3 million. We couldn't even comprehend what was happening."
It's now at 43 million and you can understand his excitement. Not only does Adam McKay help to run funnyordie; he is also Pearl's father.
The genesis for the clip, he said, came from his daughter's ability to enunciate well at an early age. "For months, I was going to dinner parties or people would come over and I'd get her to say absurd stuff like, 'I'm not happy with our nation's fiscal policy,' or 'Have you read the latest Ian McEwen novel?' Or we'd be in traffic and I'd have her yell out the window, like 'Hey, watch it, buddy.' You know, 'Where'd you get your license? KMart?'
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"So when we talked about doing shorts, I thought well, this is perfect. We're not scripting it out and sweating over it. It's just my daughter who knows Will, and we'll go over to his house and we'll goof around. That was basically it. It worked out well."
So, at least for now, here's the funnyordie concept: a Web site dedicated to short comedic clips, some performed by viewers, others, by comedy professionals. The initial concept was the brainchild of Sequoia Capital's Mark Kvamme; actually, he said, of his 18-year-old son.?"He said, 'You know, Dad, there's no good place to find comedy," said Kvamme. "There was this hot site on the Internet a little while ago called Hot or Not. And he says, 'We need Hot or Not meets comedy.'"
