Funnier than YouTube: Rooftop Comedy

Want a quick laugh? You have to search around too much to find something worth watching on user-generated content sites. Head over to Rooftop Comedy instead, the online home of hundreds of hopeful stand-up comics.

The site was designed to help comics get their work out to people who might be able to help them in their careers. Rooftop exec Will Rodgers (not a comic) told me that talent scouts for venues and TV shows use it to find acts they want to book. The secondary market, of course, is you and me. Rooftop Comedy is a slick site where it's easy to find some yucks. You can also use it to keep tabs on comics you like or on all the acts that go through particular clubs (only a very few clubs partner with Rooftop so far).

Users can rate acts and comics. There are contests, with winners taking home cash prizes. Users can also subscribe to a few regular compilation podcasts. There is no way to subscribe to a podcast that gets you everything for particular comic, though, at least not yet.

Like comedy night at your local club, not every act on Rooftop is actually funny. But there's a better chance that you'll find something entertaining on this site than on an unfocused free-for-all like YouTube.