One has to wonder if Ferrell isn't trying to undermine the competition, however, considering how not-funny the clip is. Neither Ferrell nor Reilly can seem to decide who's the straight man and who's the goofball. IBeatYou should probably stick to promoting itself with Jessica Alba — 758 users participated in her staring contest, compared to twelve so far for Ferrell and Reilly.

It's an interesting deal for Hollywood, where traditionally people don't get out of bed unless there's cash money on the table. With more stars, producers and writers moving into venture-backed deals like FunnyorDie's, you might see more hot names demanding that studios and networks invest in their startups as part of other deals. It may be the only way Ashton Kutcher can keep Ooma alive.

Primarily through new ventures that not only go around the studios, but around traditional distribution entirely. While the networks and studios all have subsidiaries producing content strictly for online distribution, the talent contracts are still typical pay-as-you-go deals (and meager at that). Agencies have been most enthusiastic about new busines models — probably because they're already realizing efficiencies in terms of talent discovery using the Internet, which allows them to get around scouts and managers and reach new faces easily and cheaply.

A number of agencies have begun embracing new models. 60frames, an online video startup, took $3.5 million in venture funding and was incubated by the United Talent Agency. Creative Artists Agency is assembling a $200 million venture fund with partner Draper Fisher Jurvetson. International Creative Management is reportedly talking to Qualcomm about raising their own cash. And William Morris has helped back a $500 million SPAC to fund M&A deals, with Ashton Kutcher serving on the board. The draw for the agencies is the ability to own a piece of the company that distributes work from their own talent stables.

The only problem is, that gives them a conflict of interest when negotiating with the studios. Why pitch deals to the studio for the standard 10 percent cut when in-house deals would result in agency fees and back-end profits? And no one knows how this will shake out for talent. As LivePlanet producer Sean Bailey pointed out to reporter Laura M. Holson, "People in Silicon Valley too want their pound of flesh."

(Photo by Getty/Sharon Dominick)

Super Deluxe
My personal favorite. Turner started this site in January, seeded with sketches by comedians like cartoonist Brad Neely (creator of the "Washington" music video), standup artist Eugene Mirman, Law and Order actor Richard Belzer, News Radio actor Dave Foley (running a talk show from bed), and NYC comedian Chelsea Peretti (her schtick is asking strangers to be her friend). I also recommend sketch group Honor Student (which ran a "Pay it Forward" style clip about a kid with a weiner joke) and actor Bobby Tisdale (who plays an awkward B&B owner who raises a fighting cock).

So far, Super Deluxe has the most (and most consistently) funny videos of the whole crowd. A surprising number come from user submissions. The whole thing is beautifully put together in a well-designed site with tastefully integrated ads. The only problem? There's not enough new stuff each day.

Rating: HILARIOUS

Acceptable.tv
Acceptable.tv has its own set of producers who make shows like Homeless James Bond (oh. my. god. watch now) and Lord of the Phils. Acceptable.tv features pretty high-budget shows (more expensive-looking than an SNL sketch) but keeps an indie feel to the comedy.

Apparently Jack Black helped shepherd this project based on Channel 101, a monthly video showdown where aspiring filmmakers made episodic films for theater and internet audiences. Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, and a pre-SNL Andy Samberg all participated in that.

At Acceptable.tv, the user submissions kick ass too. For instance, L33t Haxxors (again. oh. my. god. watch) actually makes new hacker jokes: the heroes meet a bouncer who asks for a password, so they shout "Your phone number! ABCD! Your mom's phone number! Password!" Contextual ads flick across the screen. Someone wears a Digg t-shirt. That's why this sketch won a spot on VH1 along with the top-user-rated producer-made shows.

Rating: HILARIOUS

Rooftop Comedy
This site has a more baroque feel. Most of the clips are from standup routines, and the comedic styles feel more old-school.

Rooftop is the most orderly of the comedy video sites, putting clips into channels like "songs," "politics," and "bathroom humor." No one clip blows me away (except for the clever This American Life send-up by Kasper Hauser), but the collective effect of watching ten thirty-second clips is fun. Also dig the "daily 8" sidebar, which satisfies the craving for a new clip much better than sites like Super Deluxe, where clips can reappear on the front page months after they first show up.

The downside: Standup doesn't play as well on the internet. Also, the banner ads constantly reload, which doesn't do much when there are only about three ads to cycle through.

Rating: FUNNY

Funny or Die
If other video sites were a football team, Will Ferrell's new site "Funny or Die" would be the aspirational water boy. The videos are crap, the design's crap, and the random-stream-of-videos-regardless-of-quality interface means skipping a lot of low-rated clips that should already be out of rotation. It's like this site is designed to hurt you. But replacing the usual five-star system with a no-nonsense vote — after every clip, you get to rate it "funny" or "die" — is a smart trick that could turn this into the best user-voted collection of comedy.

Just not yet.

Rating: MEH

Nick Douglas writes for Valleywag and Look Shiny. You can't rate Look Shiny, which is probably good news for Nick.

Ferrell and McKay employed their alter ego, Gary Sanchez, to talk about their first foray into original Web content.

Sanchez, an enigmatic character described as a Paraguayan ex-NFL player who sounded on the phone awfully like McKay with a Spanish accent, said that video starring Hollywood heavyweights will appear regularly in the "featured" section of FunnyOrDie, but "the meat and cabbage of the site will be the real peoples."

He added that the site's principals will regularly scour the site to look for new talent who will then be whisked away and "put on a private jet to Paraguay."

Meanwhile, the LAT managed to get an out-of-character McKay on the record about the video, the streamlined online development process which allowed the project to go from "Hey, Will, wouldn't it be funny if my baby got drunk and threatened you?" pitch to completed production in under an hour, and address concerns about how the short's breakout child star handled the demands of the role.

Reached by phone, writer-director Adam McKay, Ferrell's longtime friend and collaborator (most recently they did "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" and "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby"), confessed to being behind the video and insisted there was no corporate entity involved. "It's just us," McKay said. "That's the fun — this isn't brought to you by GE or Viacom or whoever."

The video took about 45 minutes to make, McKay said. "Will and I were just screwing around and it was like, hey, that's a good idea, let's film that."

McKay plays Ferrell's friend in the short and is also the father of Pearl (it's her real name). [...]

As for his daughter playing the dissolute landlord, McKay said it was no big deal. "She's in that phase right now where you can repeat anything to her and she won't remember it."

With young Pearl at this sweet spot in her mental development, McKay and Ferrell should fast-track the inevitable sequel (in this brave new world, it could premiere later this afternoon) before The Landlord II's more demanding, Fanning-level material, in which the now crack-addicted baby-slumlord returns to collect the rent with a loaded firearm, can emotionally damage their in-house talent.

• Sanchez's Web dare: FunnyOrDie [THR]
• Will Ferrell cracks up the Net [LAT]