private industry film tv internet genre comedy founded april 12 2007 ; 9 years ago 2007 04 12 1 california u.s. founders adam mckay will ferrell chris henchy headquarters los angeles california u.s. key people mike farah ceo website www.funnyordie.com funny or die is an comedy video website and film tv production company founded by will ferrell adam mckay and chris henchy . the website funny or die contains exclusive material from a number of famous contributors e.g. judd apatow james franco . many clips on the site feature well known actors examples include steve carell charlie sheen ryan gosling patrick stewart daniel radcliffe sophia bush mila kunis hilary duff adam west james van der beek jim carrey and selena gomez . michael kvamme an aspiring young comedian came up with a concept for a new kind of comedy site ; and the site was developed by randy adams . videos are voted on by users of the site ; those that are deemed funny stay but those that are not die and are relegated to the site s crypt . funny or die launched on april 12 2007 with the site s first video the landlord . the landlord has received over 84 million views and features ferrell confronted by a swearing beer drinking two year old landlord . 2 in june 2007 they received venture capital funding from sequoia capital 3 and in june 2008 they announced a partnership with hbo . 4 on august 3 2016 funny or die shut down one of its california offices reducing its headcount by 30 % to 95 employees with the announcement coming just two month after the new ceo mike farah took office 5 contents 1 online presence 2 television and movie productions 2.1 shows 2.1.1 between two ferns 2.1.2 billy on the street 2.1.3 drunk history 2.1.4 midnight 2.1.5 the spoils of babylon 2.1.6 throwing shade 2.1.7 tween fest 2.1.8 other shows 2.2 pilots 2.3 specials 2.3.1 sarah silverman we are miracles 2.3.2 jerrod carmichael love at the store 2.3.3 tig notaro boyish girl interrupted 2.4 movies 3 funny or die presents 4 live events 4.1 funny or die comedy tour 4.2 funny or die oddball comedy festival 4.2.1 2013 4.2.2 2014 4.2.3 2015 4.3 treasure island music festival blah blah blah comedy tent 5 political activism 5.1 obama interview 5.2 michelle obama s eat brighter campaign 5.3 kristen bell & christina hendricks for women s wage equality 5.4 prop 8 the musical 5.5 jim carrey nra song for brady campaign cold hand dead 6 hoaxes and controversies 7 contributors 8 awards 8.1 webby awards 8.2 primetime emmy awards 9 footnotes 10 external links online presence edit unlike other viral video sites members of funny or die are encouraged to vote on videos which they view with the options of funny or die . the video then gets a score of the total percent of people who voted the video funny . if the video receives an 80 % or greater funny rating after 100 000 views it gets an immortal ranking . if the video receives a 20 % or less funny rating after 1 000 views it is relegated to the crypt section of the site . the funny or die staff can also select a rating of chosen one which disables voting for a video merely saying chosen one instead . 6 television and movie productions edit funny or die expanded to include a television and film production company in 2011 . shows edit between two ferns edit between two ferns with zach galifianakis is an emmy award winning comedy series featured on funny or die . galifianakis interviews various celebrities on a low budget set decorated by a pair of potted ferns . the series often involves interruptions for product promotions and musical guests . the lonely island s spring break anthem music video was embedded into an episode with james franco and featured actor edward norton . 7 galifianakis has interviewed the likes of brad pitt justin bieber jennifer lawrence samuel l. jackson richard branson and president barack obama . galifianakis interviewed president barack obama during the launch of the united states health insurance exchange website www.healthcare.gov . the video was released on march 11 2014 and garnered over 32 million views . 8 billy on the street edit funny or die s billy on the street is a half hour comedy game show hosted by billy eichner . the show s producers include anna wenger mike farah and billy eichner . billy on the street premiered on fuse tv on december 18 2011 . on october 8 2015 the show began airing on tru tv . eichner quizzes people on the streets of new york on pop culture in exchange for cash and prizes . many episodes feature a special guest and celebrities lindsay lohan anne hathaway neil patrick harris and olivia wilde have made appearances on the show . 9 in 2013 eichner received a daytime emmy award nomination for outstanding game show host . 10 the series wrapped its third season on may 14 2014 . drunk history edit drunk history is a comedy series on comedy central that was released on funny or die in december 2007 . the show originated as a web series created by derek waters and jeremy konner . the show features a drunken narrator who attempts to recount an event from american history . the actors are played by celebrity guest stars who lip sync the narrator s dialogue . 11 due to their general drunkenness the narrators are unable to accurately discuss the historical events and oftentimes make up and embellish aspects of the story . guests include jack black michael cera bill hader nick offerman winona ryder chris parnell kristen wiig luke wilson and jason schwartzman . midnight edit midnight is a late night comedy panel show hosted by chris hardwick and produced by funny or die . the show debuted on comedy central on october 21 2013 . the show features three guest comedians that respond to different social media postings and pop culture references of the day including responses to actual tweets on twitter craigslist ad postings and comments on reddit . 12 midnight used social media as a platform to engage with their fans . the show created hashtags including hashtagwars and spookycelebs that were used by fans to submit their own responses to the game on twitter . 13 the spoils of babylon edit the spoils of babylon is a comedy miniseries that aired on january 9 2014 on ifc . the show was created and written by former saturday night live writers matt piedmont and andrew steele . piedmont also directed the series . the series stars will ferrell kristen wiig tobey maguire jessica alba haley joel osment tim robbins michael sheen carey mulligan and val kilmer . 14 ferrell plays eric jonrosh a fictional author whose novel is being adapted for tv . the spoils of babylon novel follows a wealthy oil tycoon s family the morehouses . robbins plays jonas morehouse the patriarch of the family . wiig and maguire play cynthia and her adopted brother devon . 15 ifc and funny or die adapted jonrosh s first novel the spoils before dying into another miniseries which aired on july 8 2015 . 16 throwing shade edit throwing shade is a podcast hosted by erin gibson and bryan safi that addresses topics such as mainstream pop culture women s rights and gay rights . in 2011 gibson and safi created the throwing shade podcast after infomania was cancelled and in 2013 funny or die began filming the podcast on a set and airing the recordings of the podcast on its website . 17 the podcast occasionally has famous guests including cheyenne jackson and dustin lance black.throwing shade won a podcast award for best glbt podcast in both 2012 and 2013 . 18 the duo have recorded 80 videos since signing on with funny or die . 19 tween fest edit tween fest is an eight episode funny or die series starring john michael higgins joey king drew tarver arden cho and lou wilson that follows a two weekend outdoor festival in the middle of the desert where all the acts are internet stars . 20 the show launched on august 3 2016 on the streaming service go90 . 21 tween fest was created by nick ciarelli & 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 . other shows edit funny or die presents 2010 2011 hbo jon benjamin has a van 2011 comedy central brody stevens enjoy it 2013 comedy central american muscle 2014 present discovery america s next weatherman 2015 tbs the chris gethard show 2015 present fusion pilots edit what s going on with mike mitchell 2011 fx the gorburger show 2015 hbo specials edit sarah silverman we are miracles edit on november 23 2013 hbo presented a special in association with funny or die titled sarah silverman we are miracles featuring stand up by comedian sarah silverman . 22 during her hour long set silverman made jokes about rape religion and her personal insecurities . 23 the special received a 2014 emmy award nomination for outstanding variety special and silverman s writing earned her an emmy win for outstanding writing for a variety special . 24 record label sub pop went on to release the special on vinyl cd and through digital download . jerrod carmichael love at the store edit funny or die produced a special featuring comedian jerrod carmichael for hbo which aired on october 4 2014 . 25 during the 70 minute special carmichael covers topics including poverty and wealth controversial artists female empowerment and crime and race . jerrod carmichael love at the store was directed by spike lee and was filmed at the comedy store in los angeles . carmichael chose the location because it was the first venue he performed in back in 2008 . 26 tig notaro boyish girl interrupted edit funny or die produced a comedy special for hbo featuring comedian tig notaro . tig notaro boyish girl interrupted premiered on hbo on august 22 2015 . notaro promoted the special by walking the streets of los angeles to bring awareness to a giant billboard of her face . 27 during the hbo special notaro talks about her breast cancer diagnosis her break up with her girlfriend and the death of her mother . notaro performs the final third of her set topless to expose the scars of her mastectomy to the audience . 28 between two ferns a fairytale of new york 2012 comedy central ferrell takes the field 2015 hbo movies edit tim and eric s billion dollar movie 2012 co production with abso lutely productions isteve 2013 released online via funny or die donald trump s the art of the deal the movie 2016 released online via funny or die funny or die presents edit main article funny or die presents in june 2008 hbo and funny or die announced that hbo had purchased a stake of less than 10 % in funny or die . with this funny or die will be responsible for developing at least 10 half hour episodes for hbo and the companies may organize future comedy tours together . regarding the agreement will ferrell said i don t want to overstate the importance of this deal but this is the missing link moment where tv and internet finally merge . it will change the way we as human beings perceive and interact with reality . okay i overstated it . but it is an exciting deal . 29 in august 2008 funny or die hired andrew steele a twelve year veteran of saturday night live and one of three head writers in recent years to