David ­Walliams and Matt Lucas as Peter Doherty and Amy Winehouse Richard Chambury

‘THIS clip is hilarious” is the sort of email subject line that makes the heart sink: another cat on a skateboard? Hilarious. But then you flick on the TV and the cutting edge of comedy appears to reside somewhere between The Chuckle Brothers and My Family. Where did all the funny go?

The answer, if the steady migration of comedic talent is a pointer, is www.funnyordie.com. It’s a mixture of user-submitted clips and writers from the site, but unlike YouTube, it has quality control. You watch a clip and if it tickles you, you click funny. If it’s a dog, you click die.

The site launched here in September, with Little Britain’s Matt Lucas and David ­Walliams as its patrons. Last month they began posting new weekly episodes of Rock Profiles, the show that launched them, exclusively to the site. Peter Serafinowicz, Dom Joly and Sarah Alexander have all followed suit by providing exclusive content.

In the US, where the site was founded in 2007 by actor Will Ferrell and his production partners, celebrities have flocked to get some sense-of-humour kudos. Lindsay ­Lohan uploaded a spoof dating video, Denise Richards discussed the ­merits of her funbags and Jack Black starred as Jesus in a musical. Judd Apatow, from Knocked Up, is a partner in the company and the “Landlord” clip, in which Will Ferrell ­argues with a two-year-old, has had 63 million views. Those kinds of numbers represent a lot of laughs, but also a ­serious business proposition, at a time when the ailing entertainment industry needs something to smile about.

Dan Cryan, head of broadband at Screen Digest, the ­industry analysts, said the website had brought in advertisers because it offered a level of editorial control. “It’s very hard to sell an ad against ­‘Dramatic Chipmunk’ or that kind of user-generated content that’s all over YouTube,” said Cryan. “It’s easier to say we’ve got a load of comedy, it’s good, and won’t potentially be copyright infringing.”

James Serafinowicz, brother of Peter, is a ­comedy writer and producer, and head of the UK site. He said: “The beauty of the ­internet is that you can kind of do whatever you want. You can be completely topical and of the moment. It has given the power back to artists rather than commissioners.”

It means that with TV struggling to find and ­finance new comedies, ­increasingly it is looking to funnyordie.com for ideas. Last June, the US cable channel HBO commissioned ten half-hour programmes from the ­website’s creative team. ­Serafinowicz says the BBC is interested in developing a show based on content from funnyordie.com.

Ferrell just about summed it up when he said of the HBO tie-up: “I don’t want to overstate the importance of this deal, but this is the moment where TV and ­internet finally merge. It will change the way we as human beings interact with reality. OK, I overstated it… but it is exciting.”