Jollyboat launch YouTube channel

Musical comedy brothers Jollyboat (above, in Cheerios bath) are celebrating the launch of their new YouTube channel with a promise to upload a new song every week. Tommy and Ed Croft, best known for their pirate-themed pop parodies, set up the JollyboatBros channel at the weekend, and have kicked things off in style with an epic X Factor spoof. Well, it looks rather epic, but was actually filmed in the Lantern Theatre; Liverpool-based filmmakers Opiate TV did the rest. It's a new approach for the boys, who are firm favourites on the live circuit but want to start using YouTube to reach more people, citing the viral success of acts such as The Lonely Island, Bo Burnham and The Midnight Beast as inspiration. "Nothing beats the buzz of live comedy, it's both terrifying and very rewarding, but ultimately you can only play to one or two rooms of people each night. YouTube lets us get our songs out to a much wider audience," says Tommy. They got off to a good start with video earlier in the year, when Peep Show's David Mitchell chose Jollyboat as one of his top five entrants in a the Comedy Spots video competition, which received more than 350 entries. So from now on, expect a new video from the duo every week as they bid to further flex their comedy chops. "So many of the top comedians write new material every day - we want to push ourselves to be like them," says Ed. If you'd rather catch them on stage, this month you can see them on the bill at Hot Water Comedy at the Crown Hotel, Lime St on December 1; and again at Bottle Top Comedy, Envi, Fleet St on December 21 and 22. Meanwhile, take a look at their first video here:  Picture credit: Mike Brits