Comedian Greg Stone, a 28-year-old Queens, NY resident, has been doing stand-up comedy professionally for five years and has used both the Internet and in-person shows as mediums for his comedy. He regularly performs in the New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut Tri-State area.

“It’s a tricky little demon,” he said of posting videos. “If you put your material up on YouTube, it has to be some of your best stuff.”

Five or 10 years ago, if you wanted to check out a comedy show and see new talent, you would purchase a ticket weeks, even months, ahead of time. Now, you can watch your favorite comedians or find new talent by using Internet sites like YouTube, and you never have to leave your house.

“The first sketches I put up were crazy and borderline offensive,” said Stone. Certain things he found funny became less humorous when he evolved as a comic. Citing Rodney Dangerfield and even Ben Bailey (”Cash Cab”) as his influences, Stone prefers to use Twitter to post small updates with little doses of humor throughout the day, finding that he gets a better response. “I will post material I’m trying out and people will comment on it.”

Stone believes that some individuals and groups have achieved fame by posting videos online. A sketch group called Derrick Comedy, based out of NY, and even Andy Samberg (”Saturday Night Live”) got their start through posting videos on YouTube.

With the steady increase in popularity of all-access media sites that allow you to post content for the entire web, some really funny - and some not so funny - people have become overnight online phenomenons.

Online videos have certainly changed the way we look at comedy. Just about everyone has seen the Numa Numa guy or the Chocolate Rain videos, and they remain funny favorites that people return to again and again. While the stars of these short clips might not have intentionally set out to make comedy, the way they portrayed themselves lead to overnight popularity, attracting fans in a way different than they might have wanted.

“Many of them are part of not only Internet culture, but mainstream culture too,” wrote Ben Parr, in a post for Mashable.com. “Even before the rise of YouTube as a central hub for video, we’ve been obsessed as a culture with sharing funny and amazing videos with our friends.”

Other comedians post their videos on YouTube and gauge the response they get from the public. Many new comedians cropping up in the 18-30 age range have posted 10 or more videos to YouTube, hoping to make it big. The names Ryan Higa, Shane Dawson, Edbassmaster, and Brandon Hardesty will bring up multiple search results online, and many websites discussing Internet comedians will list these people.

In some cases, these young men have propelled themselves to superstardom. For example, 22-year-old Brandon Hardesty is now listed on IMDb with credits for movies like American Pie: Book of Love. He first received attention for his accurate and humorous reenactments of movies such as The Breakfast Club and gained steady popularity from there.

Higa soared in fame when he first started posting his videos, beginning with 123,690 video views in April, 2009 and recently clocking in at 5,176,316 views (for comparison, the famed Star Wars Kid video has received about 13,979,893 views - not a bad difference for a 19-year old from Hawai’i).

While the actual “comedy” or “talent” in these videos is subjective, the fact remains that people (mostly in the 17-35 age range, according to YouTube statistics) are responding to these videos, and they are steadily gaining popularity.

Websites like Take180.com use contests and challenges to encourage viewers to submit web shows no longer than 180 minutes. Many of them gain popularity and are eventually posted to the YouTube site. Prizes are also granted to those who produce the best videos.

According to Take180’s mission statement, their goal is to gain revenue through advertising and sponsorships as well as create an online community where people can come together to make shows.

Stone initially put up sketches lasting 10 minutes and then, finding that he couldn’t constantly deliver new material of that length, began to put up two-minute clips to show some jokes but leave people wanting more.

“You can pretty much get seen without trying,” said Stone. “It’s awesome and dangerous.”

Dangerous though it may be, these sites are continually used by comedians the world over to make fans react. Some videos result in positive feedback while others are victims of the negative. While stand-up is nowhere near a dying art form, it has certainly evolved and changed shape throughout the years. But, in the end, it all comes down to what makes you laugh.