How Will Ferrell rescued Lindsay Lohan’s career

With her career in jeopardy following a series of car crashes, stints in rehab and a messy break-up with her girlfriend Samantha Ronson, actress Lindsay Lohan could have been forgiven for hiring a small army of expensive PRs to polish her tarnished image. But these days there is a cheaper, easier and perhaps - most important - quicker way to buy back your place in the public's affection: a short viral made and distributed by the Will Ferrell-owned comedy website Funny or Die.
 
Last week a video appeared on Funny or Die seemingly produced to announce that a newly single Lohan was looking for a new partner. Made in the style of a video personal ad, Lohan flashes coy smiles at the camera while she explains how she's looking for love. "I'm looking for someone I can spend the rest of my life with," says the actress, "or at least the rest of my probation."
 
"I'm a workaholic, a shopaholic, and, according to the state of California, an alcoholic," Lohan continues. "The perfect mate loves long walks on the beach, car chases on the PCH [Pacific Coast Highway]… and passing out in Cadillac Escalades." The video became an overnight phenomenon and a hit with celebrity pundits, almost instantaneously setting the actress well on the way to recovering her career.

‘Seeing a celebrity doing a web skit is like catching them at McDonalds... it’s cute’Lohan is the latest celebrity to turn to Funny or Die after falling on bad times. Paris Hilton, Eva Longoria, Zac Efron, Jack Black, Ron Howard and Natalie Portman have all produced similar skits on the site to improve their public image. According to LA media consultant Jacquie Jordan, a short video on Funny or Die is the new equivalent of doing the rounds on late-night chat shows to rebuild your image, as Hugh Grant did after he was caught with a prostitute.  

"Now, they can also do a skit for Funny or Die. In PR terms, it has clear advantages," Jordan told the Independent. "First of all, it's instantaneous. It also feels a little understated. From the public's point of view, seeing a famous person doing an internet skit is like catching a famous person eating at McDonalds rather than Mr Chow's. It’s cute."
 
But Funny or Die is not only there to serve celebrities in need of an image makeover. The site also offers aspiring comedy producers a semi-respectable platform from which they might launch a career (in the US, some amateur writers have already been tapped up by major studios) as well as an arena for professional comedians and comedy production companies to trial new material. Visitors to the site rate each video they watch by clicking on either a 'funny' or a 'die' button. The most highly regarded videos are rewarded with greater prominence on the site.

Funny or Die’s rating system could be the future of  TV, say media punditsFunny or Die was launched by comedy superstars Will Ferrell and Andy McKay in 2007 with a short video sketch called The Landlord. That sketch - starring Ferrell alongside a foulmouthed, beer-drinking two-year-old - has since achieved more than 62 million views making it one of the most popular videos in internet history. Since 2007, spin-off Funny or Die sites have been launched in several other countries around the world including Britain where the franchise is run by the Little Britain creators Matt Lucas and David Walliams.
 
Back in America, such is the success of Funny or Die that the site recently signed a deal with HBO to produce a series of television programmes titled 'Funny or Die Presents'. It is a deal that has led some media analysts to suspect that Funny or Die has produced a blueprint for the future of television. The theory is that potentially high-profile television shows can first be trialled cheaply online, without the need for lengthy contracts or extensive post-production work. That could prevent expensive TV flops and generally improve the popularity of television, which has suffered declining viewer numbers since the advent of internet video.
 
There is no news yet on whether the hugely popular celebrity skits will feature in the 10 half-hour shows HBO has commissioned, but Ferrell thinks the two companies may be onto something. "I don't want to overstate the importance of this deal," he said when his site signed with HBO, "but this is the missing link moment where TV and internet finally merge. It will change the way we as human beings perceive and interact with reality. Okay, I overstated it. But it is an exciting deal." ·