Wireless comedy delivers punch lines

The Internet is going wireless. All sorts of web services such as stock prices, weather and news are now available on cell phones. A Montreal company looks at the funny side of all this by offering wireless comedy.Canada’s Airborne Entertainment Inc. has just signed a deal with the Sprint PCS, the U.S. based wireless company. Airborne provides customers with entertainment based on humour. The service is aptly named “The Funniest”. Wireless entertainment is no joke, according to the company’s president.

“Our content has proven to be the number one wireless entertainment program with every one of our Canadian carrier partners to date,” says Andy Nulman, President of Airborne Entertainment. “We look forward to building the same success with Sprint PCS,”

The company says it has a team of nearly 200 humour writers, editors, comedians and artists. They dispense daily doses of humour on the rapidly growing wireless web that is already well established in Japan. You can judge for yourself, but to my mind, the real joke is on anyone who would pay to have the following entertainment bombarding his or her cell phone. Humour is a personal taste, of course.

trong>Some examples
Here are some comedy summaries from Airborne:

• Fupp’s Four – You’ve heard of the Top Ten? Well this is the same
  idea, only in super-concentrate format, hosted by Fupp Duck. He’s the Funniest’s antisocial waterfowl mascot.
• 50 Word Fiction – Ultra-short, ultra-funny stories told in 50 words or thereabouts. No kidding!
• Joke Cell – Farmers’ daughters, talking horses and, hey, ever heard the one about the…? They’re jokes! What more is there to say?
• Brainpoop – 100 per cent of your daily intake of insightful stuff and thought-provoking nonsense.
• Watercooler Wit – Upsizing and downsizing, mystery IPO’s and managers from hell. Nothing is funnier than the workplace!

Additional costs
The company doesn’t expect to make much money initially, as it promotes and disseminates the content. But in Japan, where wireless is very big, cellphone subscribers pay about US$16 on top of their normal monthly fees, for a package that includes cartoons, karaoke and jokes.

The content developers see the comedy service as something you can use during downtime. And if you’re stuck eating alone in a restaurant, why you can always dial up some amusing dinner conversation. Or not.

You can try out the Wireless Web at the company’s website, and see just how funny a cell phone can be.