Channel 4 has announced the first four unscripted formats for its new digital channel dedicated to comedy, A Comedy Thing by Channel 4.
The new formats have been developed by Strong Watch Studios, who will manage the channel and have been commissioned to produce the first wave of episodes for the channel and additional social content.
Each of the Strong Watch Studios’ formats will be fronted by an ensemble cast of the brilliantly funny stand-up comics. The commissioned shows will play with four core online comedy pillars: Crowd work, panel shows, podcasting, and quickfire gags.
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4 will launch with the brilliant ensemble cast; Vittorio Angelone, Finlay Christie, Olga Koch, Gbemi Oladipo, Micky Overman, Mike Rice and Dan Tiernan, seven of the freshest and wittiest comedians established in the UK. The first commissions for the channel are:
- The Split – The comedians pair up to use their wit and prejudice to decipher what side of a binary line public participants will fall in.
- The Front Row – Competing for points, each of the comics is tasked with working with a studio audience to find out who they are through a simple Q&A game.
- Joke Swap – The ensemble cast of comics must write jokes for ordinary punters to deliver, testing the age-old debate if comedy is all in the delivery. Will a punchline written by a professional make a crowd howl, even if it is a pensioner with no stand-up experience sharing a gag about modern dating?
- The Lying Game – It gets personal in this game of bluff. The comics must each tell an anecdote about the same randomly selected topic. However, while five of them are telling a true story, two of them are lying through their teeth which their fellow comedians must suss out the liars from the true stories.
Charlie Hyland, Digital Commissioner, Channel 4 said: "Channel 4 has always been at the forefront of fresh new comedy. This new comedy channel is built on a deep understanding of what people love to watch online and where we want to be creatively. We’re working with incredible talent, both on and off screen, to create a bold, diverse, and brilliantly funny channel and our first shows are an eclectic array of comedy formats. From smart, quickfire jokes that grab attention, to longer-form, podcast-style shows where audiences feel part of the conversation and classic panel shows that continue to resonate, we’re genuinely excited about the range and quality of comedy this new channel will offer.”
Thom Gulseven, Co-Founder, Strong Watch Studios: “We couldn’t be happier to be working with Channel 4 and this group of super-talented comedians on this channel, it is a genuinely fresh, exciting approach to how content like this is made. We love where digital comedy is at the moment in the UK, and what we’re doing is trying to reflect that brilliant place through a bunch of games that tap into the things that people love on different platforms. Part of the joy of the new way we make things is the freedom to respond to the audience, and how ideas evolve, change and grow over time; we’re looking forward to seeing where this channel takes us!”
The new channel further bolsters the public service streamer’s digital portfolio, following the debut of its food channel Channel 4 Served earlier this year, and the enormous success of Channel 4.0 which was named Best Entertainment Channel at this month’s Broadcast Digital Awards.
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4 is commissioned by Charlie Hyland, Digital Commissioner, with Sacha Khari, Head of Digital Commissioning. It is executive produced by Thom Gulseven and Ben Powell-Jones from Strong Watch Studios.
The channel will host original British comedy content aimed at young audiences from Monday 21st July. The channel will publish weekly long-form programming (approx. 15-30 minutes) for YouTube, whilst cutdowns engage audiences across TikTok and Instagram.
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4 launches Monday 21st July on YouTube.
