For fans of stand-up comedy, there’s nothing quite like walking into a club for an open mic, or for an evening of unknown comics, and discovering someone who is still under the radar yet totally mind-blowing.
Perhaps understanding that not everyone lives within range of comedy clubs or other venues that would be inclined to showcase comics (and even if you do, who has the time?) Comedy Central has tried to recreate that experience in the digital space, with a new app called Comedy Central: Stand Up. It’s now available in the App Store, for iPhone and iPad, and it’s totally free.
CC: Stand Up can afford to be free because it’s basically just a collection of clips Comedy Central already had in its archives. But boy, are those archives deep. The network’s been airing stand-up since the early ‘90s and has amassed a library of more than 6,000 videos from more than 700 comedians. All the faces familiar to comedy fans are represented, from Louis CK to Aziz Ansari, though what’s really fun about the app is its “intuitive on-demand and recommendation platform,” Erik Flannigan, EVP of multi-platform strategy and development explained in a statement, “which makes the discovery of new comedians something fun to explore.”
Cleverly titled Six Degrees of Stand-up, the app’s discovery tool utilizes a recommendation algorithm that focuses on a key factor to any fan’s personal comedy leanings – sensibility. Someone watching a clip of comedian Pete Holmes, for instance, will receive a string of recommended clips based on the future TBS host’s genre (alternative comedy), but also on his favorite topics to joke about (animals, spirituality, Ryan Gosling). CC: Stand Up even learns from the user’s viewing behavior and can automatically update a tailored playlist based on what’s been watched.
“At its simplest, CC: Stand-Up is a digitally distributed, pure stand-up channel, in which fans can immerse themselves for hours with just one touch,” said Flannigan. “It’s got the whole ‘lean forward, lean back’ thing people always talk about, only for real.”
Tags: