Yahoo to debut original comedies

Yahoo has announced the debut of original comedy projects including "First Dates With Toby Harris," featuring Seth Morris (Funny or Die); "Sketchy" (Electus/Principato-Young Entertainment); and "7 Minutes in Heaven," with "Saturday Night Live" writer Mike O'Brien (Broadway Video). The comedy slate is analogous to the female-targeted lineup of programming Yahoo debuted in fall 2011. Yahoo Studios also produces "Odd News," a weekly wrap of the strangest stories from around the globe, hosted by comedian Greg Proops. All the new comedy shows will air live on the comedy channel at the company's new online video destination, Yahoo Screen. Additional comedy shows set to launch over the next few weeks including "Hackerazzi" (David Morgasen) and "Burning Love" (Paramount Pictures/Red Hour). The comedy channel on Yahoo Screen was officially launched with the live broadcast of "CrazyStupidPolitics: Bill Maher Live From Silicon Valley," a free online standup comedy broadcast. The comedy slate comes as thousands of layoffs could be imminent at the company, according to a report Monday in the AllThingsD blog. The massive cuts come months after new leadership was installed at Yahoo with the intent of engineering a turnaround at the company, including new CEO Scott Thompson and multiple new appointments among the board of directors. Contact the Variety newsroom at news@variety.com