Five Web Apps That Could Help Your Comedy

The term "WEB 2.0" has become so ubiquitous at this point that it doesn't mean much, but the fact remains that there are many free web applications out there that could help you with your comedy. Below are five that we found helpful in developing and organizing comedy material.

Please note that we aren't mentioning the extremely useful Facebook and Myspace since we figure everyone under 70 knows about these (Hey, be our friend! [Facebook] and [Myspace]).

1. Twitter
Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that could be used to test out jokes, let people know when you're performing, or just as a writing exercise. It's all based off simple text posts with a limit of 140 characters. The limitation forces you to summerize and get to the point of what you are trying to say. Zach Galifianakis may have had one, but it's gone now. And yes, we Twitter ourselves.

2. Evernote
This very powerful web app can easily be used as a joke database to help you put together a set when you need to. It's easy to create and maintain text notes that are entirely searchable and taggable. So let's say that you have to do a clean five-minute set. You could click on your "clean" tag and all of your jokes that are clean would pop-up. Plus, you can scan handwritten notes into Evernote that would also searchable. Why bother flipping through an old notebook when it can all be at your fingertips?

3. Jott
Ever been walking around town when inspiration strikes? You come up with a joke or an idea, but you don't have a pen or time to write it down. Next time, call Jott and leave a message. The service will send you a file of what you recorded by e-mail and it will even transcribe what you said, so you don't even have to write down later!

4. TubeMogul
So you've worked hard to get a quality video that the rest of the world has to see. You'll upload it to Youtube of course, but there are many other video distributors out there. To maximize your hits, Tube Mogul can publish your video to multiple desinations with only one upload. Plus, there are analytical tools to help you track what people are watching and what they aren't.

5. Zhura
Want to write comedy sketches, but can't afford a costly program like Final Draft to get the formatting right? Zhura is a free online screenwriting app that lets you work on your scripts with all of the correct formatting, just like Hollywood! Plus, it's easy to collaborate with other members and even get feedback if you need a fresh set of eyes.

This list certainly isn't extensive and as time goes on, we're sure more use web apps may pop-up. What do you use to help your comedy? Feel free to tell us in the comments.