Yahoo! and Bill Maher Reach Groundbreaking Agreement For Exclusive Online Broadcast of Stand-up Performance “CrazyStupidPolitics: Bill Maher Live from Silicon Valley”

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Yahoo! and Bill Maher Reach Groundbreaking Agreement For Exclusive Online Broadcast of Stand-up Performance “CrazyStupidPolitics: Bill Maher Live from Silicon Valley”

 

With Bill Maher, Yahoo! Sets Out To Launch Comedy Channel – Slate of Original Programming

 

 

Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, and Bill Maher have reached a groundbreaking agreement through which Maher will give an uninterrupted stand-up via an online broadcast performance exclusively on Yahoo! Screen.  In an industry first, it will be free to online viewers.  This performance will take place on February 23, 2012 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, and will mark the launch of Yahoo!’s slate of original video comedy content.  Along with the top-rated HBO hit “Real Time” and a new bestselling book of his iconic “New Rules,” Maher has amassed an online following of more than 1.5 million dedicated followers and fans.  Together, Maher and Yahoo! will deliver new, original content to a massive online audience.

 

Coming off the heels of Yahoo!’s women’s slate launch, which had nearly 10 million streams in its first month, and as the top destination online for comedy with 1 billion streams of its original programming to date, Yahoo! is adding to its line-up with the Yahoo! Comedy Channel.  Maher’s live broadcast on Yahoo!, “CrazyStupidPolitics: Bill Maher Live from Silicon Valley,” will be followed by a variety of exclusive short form videos with additional big names including Mike O’Brien (lead writer on Saturday Night Live) and Seth Morris (No Strings Attached, I Love You Man, Step Brothers), licensed video content from current sponsors, and Yahoo! original programming. Like the female slate, the Yahoo! Comedy Channel will provide marketers with a huge opportunity to align their brand with world class content via a “Share of Voice” opportunity to buy ad spots across the entire slate of shows. Progressive Insurance has already signed on as a launch sponsor.

 

“Bill Maher’s special is a groundbreaking event, not only for Yahoo! and Bill but for the internet as the first ever, live, free broadcast online. We are focusing on fresh, original voices like Bill and our other original programs with the Yahoo! Comedy Channel to continue to provide our consumers and advertisers with the best premium content on the Web,” said Erin McPherson, vice president & head of Video at Yahoo!.“The Yahoo! Comedy Channel continues to build our leadership position and show our commitment to premium video content.”

 

“I’m excited to be doing something new in bringing a live stand up show to a web giant like Yahoo!,” said Bill Maher. “It is my goal to make people say “Oh no he di’nt” in every medium on earth.”

 

In addition to Maher, the Yahoo! Comedy Channel is a collaborative effort between Yahoo! and top-tier production partners including Funny or Die, Broadway Video, Electus, David Morgasen and Principato-Young and more. Some of the shows in the comedy slate will include:

 

  • CrazyStupidPolitics: Bill Maher Live from Silicon Valley – On February 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. PT Bill Maher will host a live comedy show exclusively broadcasted online on Yahoo!. This will be Maher’s first live online broadcast ever. For the last nineteen years, Maher has set the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television.  First on “Politically Incorrect” on Comedy Central and ABC, and for the last nine years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him twenty-seven Emmy nominations.

 

  • Funny Or Die Presents “First Dates with Toby Harris” (Funny or Die) – starring Seth Morris, a series that takes us on a journey of ill-fated first dates with the lovable (sometimes deplorable) and always single Toby Harris. Set with Los Angeles as a back drop, each episode centers around a different woman and issue that will leave the audience bickering amongst themselves who was right and who was wrong, and how they would have handled it better! Love him or hate him, a date with Toby is a date you will always remember.

 

  • 7 Minutes in Heaven (Broadway Video) – Host Mike O’Brien (Saturday Night Live) invites celebrities into his closet for an intimate conversation.

 

  • Sketchy (Principato Young/Electus) – Sketchy is a weekly video series featuring stand alone, topical comedy shorts written, directed and starring the biggest names in comedy. Created by Electus and Principato-Young Entertainment, whose roster includes Ed Helms, Justin Long, Anthony Anderson, Rob Corddry, Rob Riggle, Rachel Harris, Rob Huebel, Paul Scheer and many many others.

 

  • HACKERAZZI (David Morgasen) – From David Morgasen, the director known for classic viral videos like the “David Blaine Street Magic” spoofs and “Obama-McCain Dance-off”, as well as his work on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” comes HACKERAZZI.  This series is basically a wikileaks of celebrity video, including hidden-camera footage of 2012 presidential candidates.  It’s the only place to see New Jersey Governor Chris Christie knocking over an 8 year-old boy at an airport Cinnabon and making off with his breakfast — or Justin Bieber bitch-slapping a sound guy while taping an anti-bullying PSA — or GOP hopeful Herman Cain’s never-before-seen audition to be “Harry Potter’s” Dumbledore.  Using a combination of live action and state-of-the-art digital effects, HACKERAZZI attaches celebrity heads to actors, making them look very close to the real thing.

 

Bill Maher’s live stand-up will be exclusively on Yahoo! on February 23, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. PT from San Jose, Calif. The remaining shows will be live in spring of 2012 and be hosted on Yahoo! Screen (http://screen.yahoo.com/), the company’s revamped premium video destination. Additionally, programs will be promoted editorially throughout the Yahoo! Network.

 

The Yahoo! Comedy Channel will also include licensed content from current sponsors and original programming such as Yahoo! Studios’ Odd News (http://news.yahoo.com/odd/), Yahoo! News’ weekly wrap up on the strangest stories from around the globe, hosted by comedian Greg Proops.

 

Additional original programs and live-stands will be added to the Yahoo! Comedy Channel throughout 2012.