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Comedyromedy, officially comedyromedy, is a YouTube channel created in 2006. It is notable for being the first comedy channel on the platform, and reached one million subscribers on May 6, 2010. The channel went dormant in November 2012, and for eleven years, the channel would not upload any content. However, comedyromedy returned, uploading "This Land is Your Land - Biden vs. Trump" on April 11, 2024. The channel is owned by Mitch Romedy, and features cast members Casey Slate, Ryan Schuyler, Ben Holbrook, and Meredith Blaker.

Background

Mitchell Romedy, known as Mitch Romedy, is a stand-up comedian in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his quick wit, and created sketches in his free time with his friend, Ryan Schuyler. Ryan would go on to become a comedyromedy cast member.

History

On January 2, 2006, Romedy created the YouTube channel, comedyromedy, a mix of the word "comedy", and his own last name. He uploaded its first video, Your Average Masshole, on January 10, 2006, starring himself, Schuyler, and Meredith Blaker. The channel immediately gained traction, and Romedy began uploading weekly new sketches every Wednesday at 2:00 pm ET. He also uploaded some of his older sketches he made as a stand up comedian in Boston, in the series, "Comedyromedy Vault", with the oldest dating to 1998.

In June 2006, Romedy brought on board Ben Holbrook and Casey Slate, both Providence, Rhode Island, based comedians, to begin starring in the series. In December 2007, Comedyromedy uploaded the channel's most popular video, Obama Clinton Rap Battle, to make fun of the Democratic primaries. It reached a total of 4,000,000 views in the first week, and currently has over 75,000,000 views. It was received with great acclaim.

On June 16, 2008, Comedyromedy passed the 250,000 subscriber mark, and was the 14th largest YouTube channel on the platform at the time. By the end of the year, the channel had reached 544,000 subscribers, and was the fastest growing channel at the time. The latter half of 2008's uploads were political satire videos relating to Barack Obama vs. John McCain in the 2008 United States presidential election. On December 2, 2008, they announced the addition of New Bedford sketch comedian Dorset Dreyfus.

2009 is considered by many to be the peak of Comedyromedy, as their weekly sketches continued. Advertisement revenue was at $16,000 per month, and in 2009, they earned $192,567 according to YouTube records, with each cast member receiving $32,094.50 that year. Their content ranged from absurdity, to political satire, to sketch comedy, and recurring characters. On December 16, 2009, comedyromedy uploaded "2009 - A Year in Review", a humorous take on 2009's events, with a rewritten version of "Oh Susanna!" They made another one for 2010, 2011, and were intending on creating one for 2012, but it was never uploaded. Romedy stated in an interview that the original file that had the 2012 Year in Review had been lost. He said they were planning on uploading it as their last video before the dormancy.

2010 in terms of content was rather similar to 2009. On May 6, 2010, comedyromedy passed the 1 million subscribers milestone, and celebrated with a cake-throwing party, which was recorded and uploaded to comedyromedy. However, it was announced on May 10, 2010, that Dorset Dreyfus would be departing the cast for personal reasons. Dreyfus later stated in an interview in 2017 that he was let go after it was revealed he had a sexual relationship with Blaker, however, was not told why Blaker wasn't also let go.

Mitch Romedy opened up financial donations to comedyromedy in October 2010, via the website www.comedyromedy.com. The donations page closed in May of 2013. In addition, he incorporated the company, Roslerbrooker & Associates, "Roslerbrooker" is the last names of the cast members combined.

On November 24, 2012, comedyromedy uploaded its last video, a political satire discussing the results of the 2012 United States presidential election. Romedy stated in an interview that on December 1, 2012, he and the cast met at a Legal Sea Foods in downtown Boston to discuss the future of comedyromedy after the birth of Romedy's child.

They ultimately decided to disband and remain dormant for at least the next two years. In January 2013, Romedy posted on his Twitter account that comedyromedy would remain dormant for the remainder of 2013 and 2014. In 2015, he posted "comedyromedy will likely be dormant for the remainder of the decade." Few subscribers were lost, but growth stalled as no content was uploaded. However, he remained active on the channel, responding to comments, but was rather vague on when or if comedyromedy would return.

However, on April 11, 2024, comedyromedy uploaded its first video since November 2012, entitled "This Land is Your Land - Biden vs. Trump", a rewritten version of "This Land", by Woody Guthrie, where Joe Biden and Donald Trump take jabs at each other. The return was covered by many news outlets, and featured on The Early Zoomer, a Generation Z talk show. The video topped the YouTube trending list for seven hours, and reached 14,000,000 views by the end of the night. In addition, comedyromedy began an advertising campaign to "spread the word" with "All Around the World", by Oasis, as the theme for the ad, and bringing back the original comedyromedy theme, "Baby I'm a Star", by Prince. They have promised to upload every Wednesday at 2:00 pm ET for the remainder of 2024. In addition, Romedy re-activated the donations system, with over $200,000 pouring in by the end of the first week.

Cast

Legacy

Many YouTube comedy creators cite Comedyromedy as their inspiration. After the group disbanded, the cast members rarely spoke to each other, pursuing their own projects. A rumor circulated in 2018 that there would be a "Comedyromedy Reunion", however, this was shown to be false, after Romedy issued a statement stating there were no plans for a reunion. Holbrook released two comedy specials on Netflix, known as "The Hol Brooks, Volume I" and "The Hol Brooks, Volume II", which were met with critical praise. Romedy, widely known as the leader of the group, appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2016, doing a stand-up comedy performance.

Blaker and Slate did not continue comedy until the revival in April 2024. Blaker married Jesse Begeske in 2014, but kept her surname, and had two children: Blaker Begeske, in 2016, and Marie Begeske, in 2019. Slate was reported to have married Damien Marraco, again, keeping her surname, and had one child: Mark Marraco, in 2020.

After the interview in which Dreyfus stated he was let go from the cast due to a sexual relationship, there was widespread speculation on if he was still on good terms with the rest of the group. Dreyfus stated he was on good terms with Romedy, Schuyler, Blaker, Holbrook, and Slate, but that he had not spoken to them in several years. He was reportedly invited to return after the revival in 2024, but declined. However, he did make a cameo in the April 24, 2024 video, titled "Society for the Humane Treatment of Docks".