Video iPod users grow up

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on February 2nd, 2006

Andrew Wallenstein writing in the Hollywood Reporter (“Laugh tracks standing up on iTunes”) says that– whaddya know?– standup comics are wildly popular downloads for folks using video iPods.

That’s actually not a joke: MTV Networks has been surprised to discover that low-profile stand-up specials from its Comedy Central channel are outperforming such better-known franchises as MTV’s Laguna Beach and Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants since striking a deal last week to bring 14 different MTVN series to iTunes’ growing roster of TV downloads for video iPods.

Not sure what Laguna Beach is, but it is huge news when something– anything– outperforms SpongeBob. It’s a sign that the technology has been pried from the tiny fingers of the tots and is maturing ever so slowly.

As of Wednesday, three of Comedy Central’s stand-up specials have broken into the top 20 TV attractions ranked by Apple. Only the most recent episode of ABC’s Lost is ahead of up-and-coming comic Dane Cook; cult favorite Mitch Hedberg is at No. 5, while The Daily Show grouch Lewis Black is at No. 15. Two more comics are ranked 36th and 76th.

We tried– honest we did– to find out who the “two more comics” were, but Apple’s website is so achingly dull and muddled that we eventually gave up finding their video download rankings. If we had to guess, we’d say, it was Ron White and Dan Whitney.

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