Each month, many funny videos are posted to every corner of the internet — from X and Instagram to Vimeo and sometimes other weird places we’ll have trouble embedding. Because you’re busy living your life, you might miss some of these funny videos and feel left out when others bring them up in conversation. Well, worry not! We’re here to make sure you’re not listening in on conversations but leading them … as long as those conversations are about funny internet videos. Here, our favorite comedy shorts of the month.
“The Acting Class,†by Connor Ratliff
Connor Ratliff is following up his thorough examination of the entertainment industry’s capacity to bruise the ego with The Acting Class, a series of ongoing, fully improvised one-man shows at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in which he plays the titular vainglorious acting teacher. In this clip from a recent show, Ratliff freaks out about the applause he’s getting that he insists he (really) doesn’t want. There’s no one more committed than Ratliff when it comes to selling the reality of a character like this. Hey, that’s why he’s running the class.
“The Bear: The Game,†by Hotel Art Thief
The folks at Hotel Art Thief outdid themselves this time with the stunningly high-effort The Bear video game that can be played on a “No Rush†difficulty setting that lets every challenge from the FX show play out in total serenity. The animation is unnervingly spot-on for the type of game this video is aping, and the assembled voice cast brings their A game as well.
“Carmen Christopher Tour Promo,†by Carmen Christopher
We love us some Carmen Christopher here at Vulture, and it’s because of contributions like this: a roundabout and totally absurd riff on the Hawk Tuah girl that turns to earnest existential reflection and then … a promo for his stand-up tour and upcoming comedy special. And, yes, before you even ask, most of this is set to Trent Reznor’s The Social Network soundtrack.
“Debunking the J.D. Vance Couch Story,†by Nick Hornedo
We live in a timeline where a story can be made up about a vice-presidential candidate writing something in his memoir about using couch cushions for sexual gratification. And we buy it hook, line, and sinker, because that would be the least weird thing about our political reality. In this video, Nick Hornedo does some research of his own and discovers that maybe, just maybe, there’s still reason to believe … in J.D. Vance fucking couches, that is.
“Float3rs,†by Karl Poyzer & Joseph Roberts
In other dystopian news, Karl Poyzer and Joseph Roberts have created this delightfully sharp animated short that contemplates: What would happen if ballistic missiles were controlled by artificial intelligence? We know, we know — that’s just nuts. Would totally never happen. Right …?
“Me Forcing Myself to Use My Apartment’s Amenities That I Pay For,†by Troy L. Boone Jr.
There is a simple power in well-executed physical comedy. Troy L. Boone Jr. reminds us of that as he does his damnedest to make the most of an apartment-complex pool, gym, and stainless-steel grill cookout area that he pays for but seldom uses, all without saying a word.
“Picking an Audience Participant in the Dark,†by Natalie Palamides
Natalie Palamides (of Nate: A One-Man Show) is hard at work on her new show, Weer, when she runs into someone unexpected after throwing herself into the crowd to recruit an audience member into the drama of two lovers (both played by Palamides) fighting on New Year’s Eve 1999. Stuff like this only reinforces the exhilarating feeling you get watching Palimides’s comedy that anything could happen at any moment.
“Racist Skull Science,†by Benny Feldman
Just hear us out, and don’t come at us with any counterexamples, because we’ve really thought this one through: This is the best stand-up set about phrenology we’ve ever seen. Leave it to Benny Feldman to find a conversational cadence for jokes about the “racist skull science†as if everyone’s an expert in it and still have the audience in the palm of his hand.
“A Real, Sexual Relationship,†by Alex Bliss, Edy Modica, and Eric Rahill
Edy Modica and Eric Rahill are both regular fixtures in this column for good reason. They’re two of the comedy scene’s most compulsively watchable performers, as evidenced in the funny, thoughtful, and provocative short they’ve co-written with director Alex Bliss. Here, they play a couple struggling to get back on the same page after a home sex tape crosses a boundary.
“That One Person Who Goes to Sleep When the Vacation Starts,†by Jalen Hinton
Jalen Hinton has a knack for bringing the simplest human observations to life with searingly accurate character work, and lately, he’s been stepping out of the house. Here, on vacation, he does a pitch-perfect rendition of a road-weary traveler who just arrived at the hotel and now wants some sleep, celebratory “first day here†cocktails be damned.
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Luke Kelly-Clyne is a co-head of HartBeat Independent and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours at @LKellyClyne.
Graham Techler has contributed writing to The New Yorker and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Send him your videos at @gr8h8m_t3chl3r.