It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the Chortle Awards to honour the best stand-up comics working in the UK.

After considering his areas of interest, he decided to start a comedy site, since IMDb and Empire already covered the market for film, and there were numerous music websites available.

[1] The site received some early support from investors during the dot com boom which led to Bennett working from offices in Brick Lane, London.

However, the site was not financially viable for several years afterwards, so Bennett worked as a freelance for the Daily Mirror and Mail on Sunday to support himself.

[2] Although initially operated by Bennett alone, the site grew into "a proper online publication" with a team of writers including Jay Richardson, Julia Chamberlain and Paul Fleckney, as well as guest contributions from individual comedians.