February 19, 2010 (2010-02-19) – March 18, 2011 (2011-03-18)
Funny or Die Presents is a half-hour sketch comedy show that spawned from the comedy website Funny or Die, created by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. It premiered on HBO on February 19, 2010.
Creation
Funny or Die Presents was created in June 2008 when HBO bought a stake in Funnyordie.com and commissioned that at least 10 episodes be broadcast on HBO as part of the deal.[2]
Description
Every show consists of several comedy sketches that vary in length and can contain several sketches or even one full length sketch.
Format
The program is viewed as if you are watching a television network called "The Funny or Die Network" (sometimes referred to as FOD) which is a hybrid network that fuses the internet with television. Each sketch is viewed as a show on this network, some shows are mini-series, some are shown in parts and some are one offs, only appearing once.
In the first episode the network is described as:
What you are about to see is nothing short of a miracle. Television so revolutionary that at this point in time, there is nothing like it anywhere.
Now you may ask yourself: "How is this possible?"
Computers, that's how! Funny or die is at the forefront of computer technology, leading the way in computer comedy programming. Tonight marks a departure from our usual business model as we join the ever declining world of broadcast television. Think of what you're about to see as kind of a network unto itself, a half-hour network complete with its own lineup of wonderful shows. Basically, the same kinda horseshit we throw up on our website.
-Ed Haligan, Head of West Coast sales & marketing
Each episode of Season 1 starts in a white room with Ed Haligan (played by Steve Tom) who introduces the show and leads into a starting theme and a "network schedule" which describes the sketches being featured in that particular episode.