I often get home from work late and can't quite bring myself to sit in front of the TV and watch an hour-long drama or even 30 minutes of comedy.
A few months back, I started to search out web comedy series, which typically are short, only 5 to 10 minutes per episode. Here are my five favorites:
Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee
"Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee"is a web series by Jerry Seinfeld that was first broadcast on July 19, 2012. The show appears on www.crackle.com . To me, "Comedians" is the show Louis C.K. wants his "Louie" to be — a documentary on the lives of comedians. On his web show, Seinfeld talks, drives and eats with Tina Fey , Chris Rock , Jon Stewart and others. My favorite is the episode with Sarah Jessica Parker . Cars and the comedy business are discussed over coffee. Ironically, the first episode was with longtime Seinfeld friend Larry David, who refused to drink coffee.
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"Burning Love" is a perfect show for people like me, who can't stand dating reality shows like "The Bachelor." The show was developed by Ben Stiller and appears on Yahoo! Screen . With someone like Stiller at the helm, guest stars have flocked to this spoof show. The show's success got it picked up by the E! Network .
"7 Minutes in Heaven" is a very funny rip-off of "Between Two Ferns" with Zach Galifianakis. Instead of sitting between two plants, creator Mike O'Brien interviews famous people in a closet. And of course every episode ends with a kiss. Much like "Burning Love," famous comedians have flocked to the show, including John Oliver , Seth Meyers , Andy Samberg , and Kristen Wiig . The five-minute episodes can be found on YouTube.
Neil Patrick Harris helped create one of the first really funny web series with "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog." Now he's back with "Neil's Puppet Dreams," a very funny series that's not really for kids. In every episode, Patrick Harris says, "Hi, I'm Neil. I sleep a lot, and when I dream, I dream in puppet," and the comedic adventures begin.
The puppets, created by The Henson Company, often steal the show with Patrick Harris playing the straight man. Nathan Fillion and Patrick Harris' husband David Burtka guest star. The show appears on www.nerdists.com .
Any fan of the massively popular "Game of Thrones" needs to watch the five-minute weekly recaps on www.funnyordie.com . The episodes star hairstylist Jonathan Van Ness (a real-life stylist at Stile Salon in Brentwood, Calif.). The funniest part of the recaps are the nicknames Van Ness gives to each "Game of Thrones" character, including "blond Cher" for Cersei, "little baby Kristen Stewart" for Arya Stark and "Christina Aguilera" for Daenerys Targaryen.
