The web may be great for gaining global attention, but it also works well when trying to get the attention of locals. That's why the recent rise of local "neighborhood" comedy blogs - many of which regularly feature videos from local performers is something worth keeping an eye on. In particular, the Apiary network - which includes New York-based The Apiary, Chicago-based The Bastion, and Los Angeles-based The Coming do a great job of covering their respective local comedy scenes. Those three sites also regularly feature new videos every Wednesday and it's a great way to get some attention for your work. Tell 'em the Daily Reel sent you...

On a side note, the Bastion recently put out a call that they are looking for some new writers for the site in case anyone in the Chicago comedy scene is looking to contribute.

The explosion of online comedy videos is relatively recent, but there's already a long line of success stories - particularly when it comes to comedy groups, who seem to be particularly appealing to the Hollywood crowd. First, the boys at Lonely Island took the Net by storm and parlayed it into Saturday Night Live gigs and upcoming movies. The next wave featured Human Giant and the Whitest Kids U Know taking their sketch acts to MTV and FUSE. So, the question now is, who will be the next comedy group to explode into the mainstream media on the heels of internet stardom?

One likely contender is the boys in Blerds (who just created a Daily Reel profile as well), a collective of Chicago comedians and a filmmaker who have taken the web by storm over the past few months. The crew has been featured on just about every video site around, collecting well over a million views for their work - much of which features a unique presentation of their standup material that acts as kind of a mashup of standup and sketch comedy.

The next step for the group is the development of some episodic online series (we hear that deals are currently in the works) as they set the table for what they hope will eventually be a transition to television and/or film projects. Here's a sample Blerds clip if you want to see what all the fuss is about...

For anybody on the lookout for the next big thing in the comedy world, here's more than a few names to keep an eye on - the roster of comedians who made it into this year's Just For Laughs festival in Montreal. You can find links to their individual websites on the Just For Laughs Myspace page.

Masters:

Ian Edwards
Jim Short
Pete Correale
Robert Rothstein
Megan Mooney
Maria Bamford
Joe Matarese

New Faces:

Matt Braunger
Lucas Molandes
Sheng Wang
Nikki Glaser
Geoff Keith
Hugh Moore
Mike E. Winfield
Tom Segura
Julia Lillis
Pat Candaras
Amy Schumer
Julian McCullough
Kurt Metzger
James Patterson
Matt McCarthy
Tommy Johnagin

Hey Comedy peoples…

Welcome to the brand spankin’ new Daily Reel Comedy crew blog. This crew has been created for all of you who make funny videos – or at least try to. I’ll be your host and you can look forward to hearing from me just about every day on the latest and greatest in the world of online comedy videos as well as tricks of the trade and other assorted nonsense.

To kick things off, I guess I should tell you a little about myself. In addition to my new responsibilities as the Daily Reel’s comedy kingpin, I am the “brains” behind WhipItOutComedy.com – a site that regularly features some of the funniest videos on the web every single day (except for the days where we feel lazy).

I’m also a partner in Take The Stairs Productions, a production/management company that produces movies, TV, online series, live comedy tours, and manages comedians.

Anyway, I hope to make this crew blog a daily must-read for comedy content creators (and buyers) so in order to do that, I’d love to hear from some of you about the kinds of things you’d like to see blogged about. Feel free to leave a comment or shoot me a message to let me know what you’d like to see more or less of as we get going. Thx!