Meet YouTube’s first class of YouTube Next Comics

YouTube has announced its first class of “YouTube Next Comics” for 2012.

These 16 comedians/groups have won $5,000 in video equipment, $10,000 in promotion costs for their YouTube channels, and will undergo three months of workshop training from mentors such as Glozell and CollegeHumor.

And here they are.

Take a good look at the names on this list, then look at how many tens of thousands of subscribers they already have, as well as the millions of YouTube views they’ve attracted before even attracting the attention of YouTube’s “Next Comic” mentoring program. Then take a look at “mainstream” comedy, the comedians who work the comedy clubs on the road and the independent bars and back-rooms in a city near you.

We’re living in a new world, wherein the kids these days already have a different view of what and who a comedian is. Will you see any of these 16 emerge and land on TV? Will they even need to, to achieve long-term success?

Which world are you living in?

YouTube’s Next Comics, class of 2012

• ZekeMahogany. Current subscribers: 9,069. Views so far: 7.34 million.
• iSekC: Subscribers: 184.725. Views: 67.9 million.
• SteveGreeneComedy: Subscribers: 146,180. Views: 6.13 million.
• dicasp: Subscribers: 73,799. Views: 2.94 million.
• IFockingHateThat: Subscribers: 53,451. Views: 13.9 million.
• thekloons: Subscribers: 22,439. Views: 3.49 million.
• Drcoolsex: Subscribers: 66,947. Views: 41.5 million.
• SeanKlitzner: Subscribers: 45,666. Views: 6.94 million.
• Sawyerhartman: Subscribers: 97,028. Views: 9.39 million.
• DashieXP: Subscribers: 162,937. Views: 22.4 million.
• petergilroy: Subscribers: 37,960. Views: 6.09 million.
• TheWingGirls: Subscribers: 73,657. Views: 72.8 million.
• MalumTV: Subscribers: 54,853. Views: 14.3 million.
• Clisare: Subscribers: 3,900. Views: 1.48 million.
• jasonhorton: Subscribers: 52,069. Views: 3.38 million.
• jayfluent: Subscribers: 138,559. Views: 19.9 million.