Funny or Die, Inc. is a comedy video website and production company owned by Henry R. Muñoz III that was founded by Will Ferrell, Adam McKay, Mark Kvamme, and Chris Henchy in 2007.
[2] The website contained exclusive material from a regular staff of in-house writers, producers and directors, and occasionally from a number of famous contributors including Judd Apatow, James Franco and Norm Macdonald.
The associated production company continues to make TV shows including truTV's Billy on the Street, Comedy Central's @midnight and Zach Galifianakis' web series Between Two Ferns.
Many videos on the site featured well-known actors (examples include Nina Dobrev, Steve Carell, Charlie Sheen, Ryan Gosling, Patrick Stewart, Daniel Radcliffe, Sophia Bush, Mila Kunis, AnnaSophia Robb, Hilary Duff, Adam West, James Van Der Beek, Jim Carrey, Ariel Winter and Selena Gomez).
After the site was funded by his father, Michael Kvamme wrote a screenplay for Will Ferrell[3] and founded Global eSports Resources[4] in partnership with the Saudi Arabian Federation of Electronic and Intellectual Sports.
The Lonely Island's "Spring Break Anthem" music video was embedded into an episode with James Franco and featured actor Edward Norton.
[12] Galifianakis has interviewed the likes of Brad Pitt, Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lawrence, Samuel L. Jackson, Richard Branson, and President Barack Obama.
Many episodes feature a special guest and celebrities Lindsay Lohan, Anne Hathaway, Neil Patrick Harris, and Olivia Wilde have made appearances on the show.
Guests include Jack Black, Michael Cera, Bill Hader, Nick Offerman, Winona Ryder, Chris Parnell, Kristen Wiig, Luke Wilson, and Jason Schwartzman.
The series stars Will Ferrell, Kristen Wiig, Tobey Maguire, Jessica Alba, Haley Joel Osment, Tim Robbins, Michael Sheen, Carey Mulligan and Val Kilmer.
[28] Tween Fest was created by Nick Ciarelli and Brad Evans, was directed by Scott Gairdner, and features Jane Lynch, Tim Meadows, Chris Parnell, David Koechner, Dave (Gruber) Allen, Josh Fadem and more in supporting and guest-starring roles.
"[40] In August 2008, Funny Or Die hired Harper Steele, a thirteen-year veteran of Saturday Night Live, and one of three head writers in recent years, to oversee content production and development for the site and for the HBO partnership.
The tour featured Ferrell, members of the FOD Team and comedians Zach Galifianakis, Demetri Martin, Nick Swardson and Andrea Savage.
The eight-city tour hit college campuses in Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, North Carolina and New York.
The lineup also included Al Madrigal, Kristen Schaal, Brody Stevens, Demetri Martin, John Mulaney, Jim Jefferies, and Hannibal Buress.
The tour featured comedians Louis C.K., Sarah Silverman, Aziz Ansari, Chris Hardwick, Amy Schumer, and Jim Gaffigan.
[44] The 2015 lineup included Amy Schumer, Aziz Ansari, Anthony Jeselnik, Ashley Barnhill, Bridget Everett, Dave Attell, Donnell Rawlings, Jak Knight, Jay Pharoah, Jeff Ross, Jim Norton, John Mulaney, Katherine Ryan, Mark Normand, Michael Che, Nick Kroll, Nick Thune, Nikki Glaser, Rachel Feinstein, Rory Scovel, Sebastian Maniscalco, Steve Rannazzisi, T.J. Miller, Tim Minchin, Todd Barry, and Tony Hinchcliffe.
[47] The site also worked with television star Alyssa Milano to "leak" a purported sex tape of the actress which was in fact an awareness-raising video on the bloody Syrian Civil War.
[47] In July 2013, shortly after the National Security Agency's PRISM surveillance program was first publicized, Sasha Grey starred in a Funny or Die "Sexy NSA Commercial".
[49] On February 16, 2015, the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, teamed up with Billy Eichner and Big Bird to promote her health initiative called 'Eat Brighter!'
[54][55] Funny or Die launched a campaign for the legal defense of Shezanne Cassim, a Minnesota resident who was jailed in Abu Dhabi for allegedly endangering national security by posting a parody video to YouTube.
[47] Comedians Patton Oswalt and Tony Hale were subsequently made part of Funny Or Die's effort to raise funds and awareness to "Free Shez.
[47][56] In March 2013, Funny Or Die created the video, "Cold Dead Hand" starring Jim Carrey as both a country singer and former NRA president, Charlton Heston.
[57] In the video, Carrey is joined by singers portraying Mahatma Gandhi, Abraham Lincoln, and John Lennon, all of whom were assassinated by gunmen, as they perform on Hee Haw, the 1970s CBS variety show.
[59][60][61][62] On March 2, 2014, two promotional videos were released on a YouTube channel supposedly controlled by HUVr Tech, a company claiming to have invented a hoverboard much like those in the Back to the Future film trilogy.
Two days later the project was revealed to be a hoax perpetrated by Funny Or Die, after the video's costume designer posted the experience on her online resume.