• by Shankar Gupta , November 10, 2006

NBC Universal Thursday launched a new comedy broadband channel, Dotcomedy, that will host original Web shows as well as video from TV programs including "Late Show with David Letterman," "Saturday Night Live," and "Late Night with Conan O'Brien."

Other made-for-TV comedy shows that will air on Dotcomedy include "Leave It To Beaver," "The Munsters," "Coach," and "Significant Others," and the HBO series "Dream On." Among the slate of original programming are "Playback," a musical comedy show mocking pop culture; "Kona & Hilo," a show about what cats do when their owners aren't home; and "Kyle's in a Coma," which features a group of friends passing the time in their comatose friend's hospital room.

In addition to professionally produced original content, Dotcomedy will also solicit user-generated content with a "virtual stage," as well as "Untitled Comedy News Show," which will pay the audience for writing jokes about current events.

NBC is not the only company launching a broadband comedy channel. In October, TBS announced it will debut a comedy property, "Super Deluxe," in January. Social networking site MySpace this summer also launched a comedy channel.