Jeff and Kelly Fitzsimmons launched ComicWonder.com Saturday, "flipping the switch" on their user-driven joke Web site that's like the popular YouTube -- but with a twist.
The Milwaukee couple created the site to address what they saw as a dying art -- and the reality that jokes sent via e-mail just aren't that funny.
"People are forgetting how to tell jokes in the world of e-mail," says Kelly Fitzsimmons. "It's harder to stand in front of your friends and tell a joke."
The application works a lot like YouTube, in which user-generated submissions make up most of the content. Unlike YouTube, however, a user must phone in his or her joke, instead of uploading it online.
That, Fitzsimmons says, makes the site more accessible to the technologically challenged.
"The goal is to cast the net as wide as possible," she says. "It could be your grandma in Poughkeepsie. We need to make sure the technology we're using is not a barrier, and this allows everyone to participate.
"The vast majority don't know how to upload a .wav file," she says.
The Fitzsimmons plan to support Comicwonder.com through advertising revenue, and it's completely free to create an account.
They are planning on unveiling a public relations campaign this winter, and will use a series of "Comic Wonder of the Week" contests to drive user participation.
For both Jeff and Kelly -- he worked in advertising, she worked in Internet security -- this new venture is a logical next step, she says. And launching this new company will be a full-time job for both.
Says Kelly, "I've always been in the realm of trying to protect data, and I was in a very hard-core techy world of the Internet with no access to Web 2.0. It's new to Jeff and me. The last six months have been a really steep leaning curve. It's a whole new vocabulary and a whole new world."
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
