• by April 4, 2007

Aspiring comedians can go to school--online--with ComedyCentral.com's new "Crash Course in Comedy," a series of 10 broadband video classes for wannabe comics. A new three-minute class will appear each week on the site.

The video episodes, taught by professional comedian Ted Alexandro of "Comedy Central Presents" and "The Late Show with David Letterman," feature Oddcast's animated avatar technology to enable students to create, build, voice and post their acts on comedycentral.com. Students can tap the site's library of video standup acts to research their acts.

Comedy Central was early to the broadband video game, making an online video debut in November 2005. It now has 25 original broadband shows like "Baxter and McGuire" and "I Love the 30s." The online comedy school is a first for the network.

Taking a page from Second Life, aspiring comics can create their own avatar who tells jokes; the jokes can then be sent to friends.

The Oddcast application, dubbed "Comedian Constructor," enables students to build their own virtual comedian and customize their acts by choosing a voice, clothes and accessories.

Students can also type, call in or record their original jokes, and their online comedian avatar will read them aloud. They can also view and rate the avatars via a gallery.

The avatar aspect is a way "to distinguish this particular project a little bit from others that are out there," said Lou Wallach, senior vice president, original programming and development, Comedy Central. "To me, I think the success of this will really lie in people coming week after week to find the actual classes and see what Ted Alexandro's talking about and look at some of the clips we're using from our library. If that hits home with people, we've done something."

Hyundai is the sponsor of "Crash Course In Comedy." To check out the site, go to http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/crash_course