Funny or Die went live on 12 April 2007 with The Landlord, a sketch in which Will Ferrell is confronted by a foul-mouthed two-year-old landlord; it has since passed 84 million views. Visitors voted on clips — "funny" or "die" — and the site mixed work by an in-house team of writers and directors with contributions from well-known names such as Judd Apatow and James Franco.
Web series that became TV
Several recurring formats outgrew the site. Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner's Drunk History, in which inebriated narrators retell history while actors lip-sync their words, started on the site in 2007 and became a Comedy Central series on 9 July 2013. Zach Galifianakis's low-budget interview show Between Two Ferns won an Emmy and, in March 2014, an episode with President Barack Obama drew more than 32 million views. In 2010 Hank Azaria introduced the disgraced baseball commentator Jim Brockmire in Funny or Die's web series Gamechangers; the character returned in IFC's Brockmire from April 2017.
HBO bought a stake of less than 10% in June 2008, with Funny or Die agreeing to develop half-hour episodes for the channel, and from 2011 the company became a television and film producer in its own right, behind shows such as Billy on the Street and @midnight.
Changing hands
In May 2021 Henry R. Muñoz III bought the company from its former stakeholders, including AMC Networks, WarnerMedia and Sequoia Capital. By 2026 its website presented it mainly as an independent comedy studio, with its archive being rebuilt.
British audiences have met the brand mostly through adaptations: a UK version of Drunk History has been broadcast on Comedy Central's UK channel since January 2015.
Key dates
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Funny or Die launches
The site goes live with Will Ferrell's sketch The Landlord.
Source: Wikipedia: Funny or Die
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Drunk History reaches Comedy Central
The Funny or Die web series becomes a US television series.
Source: Wikipedia: Drunk History
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Obama on Between Two Ferns
The President's appearance on the web series draws more than 32 million views.
Source: Wikipedia: Funny or Die
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Brockmire premieres on IFC
Hank Azaria's character from a Funny or Die web series gets his own TV show.
Source: Wikipedia: Brockmire