Four shows from Strong Watch lined up for Channel 4’s YouTube comedy channel
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4’s comedians (L-R) Gbemi Oladipo, Olga Koch, Vittorio Angelone, Dan Tiernan, Micky Overman, Mike Rice and Finlay Christie
UK public service broadcaster (PSB) Channel 4 has announced the first four unscripted formats for its YouTube channel dedicated to comedy, which launches on Monday.
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4, which was unveiled last week, will launch on July 21.
The new formats have been developed by Strong Watch Studios, which will manage the channel and has been commissioned to produce its first wave of episodes and additional social content.
Each of the Strong Watch Studios’ formats will be fronted by stand-up comics Vittorio Angelone, Finlay Christie, Olga Koch, Gbemi Oladipo, Micky Overman, Mike Rice and Dan Tiernan.
The commissioned shows will play with four online comedy pillars: crowd work, panel shows, podcasting and quick-fire gags. The first shows are The Split, The Front Row, Joke Swap and The Lying Game.
The Split sees the comedians pair up to use their wit and prejudice to decipher what side of a binary line public participants will fall in, while The Front Row sees them tasked with working with a studio audience to find out who they are through a simple Q&A game.
Joke Swap involves the ensemble cast of comics writing jokes for ordinary punters to deliver, while in The Lying Game, the comics must each tell an anecdote about the same randomly selected topic.
However, while five of them are telling a true story, two are lying and their fellow comedians must worth out the lies from the true stories.
The channel will publish weekly longform programming, of 15 to 30 minutes, for YouTube, with shortened content available on TikTok and Instagram.
The channel is the latest addition to the PSB’s digital portfolio as it aims to transform itself into a public service streamer. It follows the debut of food channel Channel 4 Served earlier this year, and the success of youth brand Channel 4.0, which launched in October 2022.
A Comedy Thing by Channel 4 is commissioned by Charlie Hyland, digital commissioner at the PSB, with Sacha Khari, head of digital commissioning. It is executive produced by Thom Gulseven and Ben Powell-Jones from Strong Watch Studios.
Hyland said: “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.”
Gulseven, co-founder of Strong Watch Studios, said: “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.”
