• by Mark Walsh  @markfwal, March 5, 2012

Yahoo this week debuts the slate of original shows it announced last year as part of its new comedy channel featuring comedians such as Mike O’Brien, a Saturday Night Live writer, and Seth Morris (Step Brothers, No Strings Attached) in lead roles. Yahoo introduced its comedy channel in December with the live broadcast of a Bill Maher stand-up performance.

Like the lineup of women’s shows it launched last October, the typically 3-5 minute weekly episodes of the five new comedies will offer advertisers “share of voice” sponsorship opportunities against the entire slate of shows. Yahoo says it already has “top-tier brands” signed as launch advertisers but declined to name them.

Yahoo’s production partners in the comedy channel include Funny or Die, Broadway Video, Electus, David Morgasen and Principato-Young, among others. The comedy programming, which will appear on Yahoo Screen, includes:

-“First Dates with Toby Harris” stars Seth Morris and set in Los Angeles, the series follows Toby on a series of ill-fated first dates.

-“Burning Love” spoofs popular reality dating shows.

-“Sketchy” is a video series featuring topical comedy shorts.

-“7 Minutes in Heaven” Hosted by Mike O’Brien, the show invites celebrities into his close for an intimate conversation.

-“Hackerazzi” From David Morgasen, the director known for classic viral videos like the "David Blaine Street Magic" spoofs and "Obama-McCain Dance-off", as well as his work on "Jimmy Kimmel Live." The series highlights embarrassing celebrity videos.

Yahoo says it’s producing up to 30 original videos a month, with its original video programming overall drawing 35 million unique visitors in December.

Separately on Monday, Yahoo launched Yahoo Small Business Advisor, a new area within Yahoo Small Business offering news, advice and online tools for entrepreneurs.