Zug (or ZUG) is a comedy website that was founded in 1995 by Sir John Hargrave and Genevieve Martineau.

History

Beginning as a webzine, the site featured weekly comedy articles from Sir John Hargrave and a host of collaborators. As ZUG’s readership expanded, the site launched a threaded message board in 1998 called “GAB on ZUG” to allow readers to contribute additional humor content. This message board eventually became the backbone of the site, with “the world’s funniest comedy community” providing everything from comedy articles to caption contests.

From 1999 to 2001, ZUG took a backseat to Computer Stew, a daily comedy Web show produced, written, and directed by Hargrave and cohorts Jay Stevens, Al Natanagara, and Moses Blumenstiel for the technology Web site ZDNet. After the cancellation of Computer Stew in 2001, ZUG returned full force, with a redesigned site, a daily blog from Hargrave, and aggressive viral marketing tactics (such as an online ballot-stuffing campaign at HBO’s Aspen Comedy Festival, which resulted in ZUG paralyzing the HBO servers and being disqualified from the contest).

The success of the site caught the attention of Citadel Press, which published 'Prank the Monkey', the first ZUG book, in 2007, which went on to become an Amazon.com humor bestseller. Hargrave is now working on "Mischief Maker's Manual," a book of pranks for kids aged 9-12, to be released in Spring 2009 by Penguin Children's Group .

Articles

Aside from pranks, ZUG also features comedy articles written by staff members of ZUG, as well as readers who submit articles to the site. Articles from the staff include Monster Love, where Zolton posted profiles of famous serial killers to online dating sites to see who would respond, Worst Bar Drink Ever, where Chi-Chi Felipe travelled to various bars to find the worst-tasting bar drink on the planet, and Manscaping, where BobJohnson used a hair removal product to carve superhero logos in his chest hair.

Meanwhile, a number of readers have published articles on Zug. The staff chooses the funniest article submissions, which readers can then rate for the coveted “Funniest of the Month” title.. Those who have made it to the list of the top article authors include The Human Guinea Pig's article She's Gonna Blow: The Colon Cleansing Experiment, Student Stoner Intern's Wake and Bake:The Volcano Vaporizer Experiment, and Scott Kirk and Scott Taylor's Free Frosty, Please.

GAB on ZUG

GAB on ZUG, which is billed as “The World’s Funniest Comedy Community,” is a thriving online forum where users discuss every topic imaginable, with each poster able to give and receive “funny points,” which are formally known as “Orbs of Hilarity,” or simply “orbs.” Frequent posters compete to be ranked on the monthly list of The World's Funniest People.

The GAB software, which has been built entirely in-house, features humorous touches like the “Swearbot,” which automatically turns swear words into the names of famous poets. Still, many threads have coarse language or adult discussions, so GAB requires its users to be over 18 years of age before they are given posting privileges.

Name

While ZUG is the name of a town in Switzerland, as well as the German word for train, Hargrave insists that the name has nothing to do with either, and is actually a backronym for the phrase “ZUG is Utterly Great.”

References