Funny or Die: How the Web Is Changing Comedy

How many comedy writers does it take to make a Hollywood star laugh? A half-dozen staffers for the comedy website Funny or Die are sitting around a conference table on a recent Tuesday afternoon taking a stab at it. Their target: 23-year-old actress Camilla Belle (When a Stranger Calls), the latest Hollywood celeb to make the unlikely pilgrimage to a modest suite of offices on Hollywood Boulevard to discuss starring in a Funny or Die video.

The writers come armed with ideas pegged to Belle's résumé along with a few pet projects in need of a star. Belle appeared in the prehistoric adventure film 10,000 B.C. and had a role in The Lost World: Jurassic Park. How about a sketch in which she insists she won't do another film unless it has prehistoric animals in it? She's into dance, and her mother is Brazilian — maybe a parody of Dirty Dancing using Brazilian fight dancing? The pitches come as fast as Belle can utter her polite, encouraging responses ("That's funny" ... "uh-huh" ... "yeah, yeah, yeah"). A celebrity photo shoot in which the pretentious photographer wields a cheesy cell-phone camera? A commercial for a line of anatomically revealing women's jeans? A fake TV promo for a girls' classic like Little Women or Anne of Green Gables done up in the style of The Hills?

A dozen or so ideas later, Belle is out the door, and Mike Farah, 31, Funny or Die's president of production, has retreated to his office, a couple of writers tagging along, to check on some other projects in the works. He jabs at the speakerphone and puts in a quick call to Charlize Theron's manager to see if they can get her for a cameo in a World Cup bit they're shooting in South Africa. "She loves you guys," says the voice on the phone. "Can you just send me an e-mail?" A writer tells Farah there's a chance they can hook up with NBA star Dwyane Wade in Chicago for a piece they want to shoot at a sporting-goods store. Then an update on the search for a female star to make a cameo in their upcoming Glee takeoff: Meryl Streep said no.