To hype its inaugural Comedy Week, which begins Sunday night at 8 p.m. ET, YouTube turned to an ad agency known for generating its share of laughs: Goodby, Silverstein & Partners. The San Francisco shop—which has done comical spots for Budweiser, "Got milk?", Sonic, Corona Light and many others—whipped up a load of ads (many of them :15s) that have been airing in recent weeks starring the Comedy Week's actors and comedians. Check out a whole bunch of those spots below. (At the bottom is a longer promo with Arnold Schwartzenegger, which YouTube produced in-house, but we have to include because it's awkwardly hilarious.)
Goodby also designed a special YouTube masthead that will run all day Sunday to promote that night's kickoff. It shows a bathroom wall inside a comedy club. You can scroll around, click different doodles and find Easter eggs like Venn diagrams for classic jokes, a mounted moose head that sadly recalls "the bad man in the forest" and a phone number—(888) 303-3771—you can call for a good time (if you're not having one already).
The first two-hour live stream starts Sunday at 8 p.m. ET. New shows will air each night this week at 8 p.m. ET through Saturday. Guests will include Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Seth Rogen, Comedy Central's Tim and Eric, Conan O'Brien, Rainn Wilson, Ricky Gervais and Sarah Silverman, and YouTube stars The Gregory Brothers, Rhett & Link and Ryan Higa.
Schwartzenegger spot produced in-house by YouTube:
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