Incubated By Funny or Die, Pitch is a New App That Helps Comedy Writers Get Noticed
Selling jokes has never been so easy, or at least that’s the goal with the new comedy writing app launching at Montreal’s ‘Just for Laughs’ as part of the festival’s ‘Just For Laughs ComedyPro” programming.

The App, which has been named Pitch, was designed to help both up-and-coming and established writers develop their craft and get paid while doing it. Incubated by Funny Or Die, Pitch was created by comedy writer Matt Klinman (‘Funny Or Die,” “The Onion,” and “Problematic with Moshe Kasher”), designer Brad Mahler, and software engineer Yin Zhu.
“We wanted to make something that would allow writers from all over the world to work together to make great comedy and to get better at writing in the process,” said Matt Klinman. “My hope is that, as the community grows, Pitch becomes the place where many writers sell their first joke and, eventually and ominously, their last,” he added.
With Pitch, writers pick an open topic to pitch on, then anonymously write jokes and vote for the ones they like. When a topic closes (within a specified time period), the jokes are ranked by votes, earning writers credit for their best work. Pitch writers are paid per pitch from publishers like Funny Or Die who set up their own topics looking for content.
Klinman and Mike Farah, CEO of Funny Or Die, comedian Guy Branum and Funny Or Die head writer Zack Poitrus, will be participating in a panel at the ‘Just for Laughs’ festival on Saturday, July 30 at 4:00 PM. There they will showcase Pitch and its potential to serve the comedy community
“The word ‘disruptive’ seems to be tossed around as much as ‘amazing’ these days, but what Matt, Brad and Yin have created in Pitch has the potential to truly disrupt how comedy writers connect with comedy buyers, which is pretty amazing,” said Farah. “Funny Or Die is honored to have helped incubate the platform and we’re so excited to get quality writers from all over the world using the app and getting paid for their work.”
Over the past year beta testing the app, Pitch has accumulated over 350 active users that interact with the app an average of 11 times per day. The content has proved successful for publishers like Funny Or Die who have amassed over 10 million views from Pitch driven content, and brands like ‘Avocados From Mexico’ who used PITCH for their #avosecrets campaign which was the most mentioned brand on Twitter during the Super Bowl.
