National Banana: The Online Video No One Else Will Play

In the sea of online video services, it gets to the point where you start thinking that one might be much the same as the other. The basic content is the same, just the way it's served and who's providing the content might alter from one service to another.

When it comes to National Banana, however, you know right away that you aren't visiting just another video service. As entertaining as many of the videos on Funny or Die or YouTube might be, most of them are safe enough to play quietly in your cube farm or at home around the kids. Not so with National Banana, who have videos produced by Jerry Zucker and funding from U.S. Venture Partners, and are making some of the funniest videos not starring a two-year-old named Pearl.

The site itself is still very bare-bones, with little information other than the videos themselves and a short blurb about their funding. Like Funny or Die, National Banana videos include some big-name stars, and the "more realistic" Cialis ad features Cuba Gooding Jr. and isn't safe for work environments or children. It's already gone viral; in fact, the first I heard about National Banana was when I received the Cialis "ad" in my inbox. Again, like Funny or Die, it's success may lie in that same viral marketing that brought Funny or Die to attention. The real question is whether a large enough market exists for off-color videos.