If there's anything that Arrested Development, Family Guy, Futurama and Freaks and Geeks have taught us, it's that if you make funny and/or original comedy, you better have an up-to-date résumé at the ready. It seems The Corporate Overlords often don't look to kindly on creativity and innovation...especially when it doesn't yield monetary results. This unfortunate comedy axiom has sadly proven to be true once again for one of the true gems of the Internet: SuperDeluxe.com.
Yes, the Turner Broadcasting-owned comedy site will be enveloped by AdultSwim.com in the near future, and sadly, layoffs are in the works. According to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Post, Turner viewed Super Deluxe and Adult Swim as competing entities, writing, "In Super Deluxe.com and Adult Swim.com, we have businesses whose potential for individual growth is limited by their increasingly complementary content. Rather than position them as competitors for the same audience, the smarter move is to consolidate the two brands to create a richer, stronger platform that builds on Adult Swim's number-one position with young adults." Just so you know, that's corporate speak for "Super Deluxe wasn't doing so hot."
Focused on providing edgy humor in the form of endearingly bad animation and low-brow sketch comedy, Super Deluxe launched in 2007 and specialized in uncensored, original content. The website featured videos from the best of the best in left-field comedy, including works by Dave Foley, Tim and Eric, Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman, David Cross, Bob Odenkirk and Brad Neely, who you may know as the guy who created that amazing George Washington YouTube video.
We feel your pain, Super Deluxe peeps. Layoffs are an unfortunate reality for the creative underclass. Keep chasing the dream. Oh, and if anyone touches FunnyOrDie.com, we'll go upside their head.
Related links:
SuperDeluxeBlog.com
SuperDeluxe.com
Videogum: 10 Best SuperDeluxe Videos Of All Time
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Don't get me wrong -- I'm a huge Futurama fan. But if Futurama had still been funny, I think it'd still be on the air. The recent straight-to-dvd movie "Bender's Big Score" was painful.