Ever wonder who is behind those hilarious cat memes? On the new TV series “LOLwork”, Bravo goes inside the Seattle office for ICanHasCheezburger.com, one of the largest humor publishers on the Internet. The 30-minute doc-com goes inside the world of Ben Huh and his eccentric staff as they attempt to make the world laugh five minutes a day by putting nimble yet grammatically incorrect captions on cute photos of domesticated pets and animals. The series begin as the staff at Cheezburger competes to create a new comedic web series for the site. It is winner-take-all as good judgment and occasional good taste go out the window on the quest to be the best in kitty humor.
Ben Huh runs ICanHasCheezburger.com, a weblog featuring lolcats (pictures of mostly cats and other animals with humorous captions, videos and user-generated memes). Ben was born in Seoul, South Korea, and raised in Hong Kong, China and Sacramento, CA. He graduated from Northwestern University and founded a web analytics company before putting together an investor group to buy Cheezburger in 2007. He currently serves as CEO and runs day-to-day operations of Cheezburger, one of the largest humor publishers on the Internet, which encompasses more than 50 sites, including FAIL Blog, Memebase, and The Daily What. Combined, the sites receive over 375 million page views a month. In 2011, Ben received the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He resides in Seattle with his wife Emily, and dog Nemo. If he could have any super power, it would be the ability to turn water into espresso. Ironically, he’s allergic to cats.
Emily Huh is much more than Ben Huh’s wife. She’s Editor in Chief of ICanHasCheezburger.com — the boss of the creative team, and the closest thing the staff has to a company mom. Emily grew up in Colorado Springs, CO, and Los Gatos, CA. She graduated from UCLA and was Assistant Director of an educational center prior to working at Cheezburger. In 2011, Emily and Ben were recognized as Newsmakers of the Year by GeekWire. The candy-loving editorial chief’s dream come true would be to sit with Audrey Hepburn at a cafe in Belgium, discussing life, fashion, and world events over a bowl of fries and macarons.
LOLwork with Ben and Emily Huh