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PEOPLE & ARTS A29
Seeso, a new comedy channel, pledges more and better laughs
FRAZIER MOORE
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Evan
Shapiro thinks you deserve
to laugh more. Wherever
you are. With hot- and
cold-streaming comedy
from any screen in reach.
He thinks Seeso, his new
This image released by Seeso shows Amy Poehler, from left, Matt Walsh, Ian Roberts and Matt
Besser from the comedy series “The UCB Show,” premiering on the new streaming channel Seeso.
The ad-free service, which officially launches on Thursday, will be available by subscription for
$3.99 per month.
streaming comedy chan-
nel, will do the trick.
“We want to give you more
and better laughter,” he
says, adding that when you
log on to Seeso, a dose of
comedy content is served
to you with barely a mo-
ment’s delay, “because
we also want you laughing
FASTER.” Shapiro is a former officially launches Thurs-
president of IFC and Sun-
dance channels and was
an executive producer of
such laugh generators as
“The Onion News Network,”
‘’The Whitest Kids U’Know”
and “Portlandia.”
A year ago he became
executive vice president
of NBCUniversal Digital
Enterprises, and, jumping
onto the OTT (over-the-top)
video bandwagon, “We’re
launching this brand-new
product, direct to the con-
sumer, with 2,500 hours of
content, 20 original series
and a brand-new platform
built from scratch. And we
are doing it organically,
from within, as opposed to
making an acquisition.”
Seeso may be a home-
grown part of the Comcast
empire, but its indie vibe
is reflected in its offices on Jimmy Fallon” and “Late
Manhattan’s lower Broad-
way, many blocks removed
from Rockefeller Center’s
Comcast headquarters, in
an airy loftlike space where
affirmations are scribbled
on the walls alongside a
sprawling humor taxonomy
of planned Seeso content
ranging from the British
chat show “Man to Man
with Dean Learner” to New
York stand-up on “Night
Train with Wyatt Cenac.”
The ad-free Seeso, which
day, will be available by
subscription for $3.99 per
month. But if you’re seek-
ing laughs before then, a
beta version is available for
sampling. “Seeso is not ex-
clusively for a younger au-
dience,” says Shapiro, ex-
plaining that Seeso targets
no particular demograph-
ic, but instead is aimed at a
“psychographic”: comedy
fans of all kinds.
Its span of programming
seems to bear him out.
Old favorites include “30
Rock,” ‘’Fawlty Towers,”
‘’Parks and Recreation,”
‘’Saved by the Bell,” ‘’The
IT Crowd,” both the Brit-
ish and U.S. versions of
“The Office,” and every
Tuesday 5 January 2016
season of “The Kids in the The name for the chan- be ideal: Viewers who
Hall.” Next-day episodes of nel was sparked during a long flocked to broadcast
“The Tonight Show Starring brainstorming session when and pay-TV networks are
Shapiro and his colleagues now embracing big-tent
Night with Seth Meyers” will nailed down the Seeso mis- streaming channels like
be available, as well as all sion: Comedy concierges Netflix, Hulu and Amazon
40-plus years of “Saturday finding the good stuff and Prime. CBS All Access, a
Night Live,” ‘’Monty Py- bringing it to you on what- subscription source for re-
thon’s Flying Circus” and ever device you prefer. cycled CBS network pro-
“Then,” recalls Shapiro, gramming, seized viewers’
“someone said, ‘How will attention with its recent an-
they KNOW this is the good nouncement that in Janu-
stuff?’ I said, ‘Come and ary 2017 it will be the exclu-
SEE SO for yourself.’” sive outlet for a brand-new
The timing for Seeso could “Star Trek” series.q
(Seeso via AP)
Python movies “The Mean-
ing of Life,” ‘’Holy Grail”
and “Life of Brian.”
Initially, original fare will
include “The UCB Show,”
from Upright Citizens Bri-
gade founders like Amy
Poehler; a dating/sketch-
comedy series, “Dave &
Ethan: Lovemakers”; “Sam-
my J & Randy in Ricketts
Lane,” a musical comedy
about mismatched house-
mates (one an attorney,
the other a puppet); and
the animated “Cyanide &
Happiness Show,” based
on the Web comic.
Shapiro promises a brand-
new helping of stand-up
every day and three to five
new pieces of long-form
content every week.
With this constant replen-
ishment, Seeso is designed
for regular check-ins, which
might range from a burst of
stand-up during your morn-
ing commute to an eve-
ning’s film festival at home
on your big screen.
“We’re aiming to be a hab-
it,” he says.