CollegeHumor Helped Shape Online Comedy. What Went Wrong?
Source: Wired | Kate Knibbs
On a cloudy morning the week after New Year’s Day, at CollegeHumor’s headquarters in West Hollywood, everyone braced for bad news. “We all knew what was about to happen,” writer and actor Katie Marovitch said. “My face was covered in hives, which happens to me when I'm very anxious, which is a lot.” Sam Reich, the company’s creative captain, cried as he delivered the tough update: IAC/InterActiveCorp, CollegeHumor’s parent company, wanted out. “If I can reengage you down the line, I obviously will,” Reich assured the room, shortly before HR representatives in Manhattan and Los Angeles handed exit paperwork to the newly unemployed staffers. People cracked jokes—people always joke in an office full of comics—but the punch lines couldn’t erase the gut punch. More than 100 people had lost their jobs.