Gawker: josh abramson

Did College Humor Just Shake Off Adult Supervision?

Nick Denton — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 13:34:08 EDT

Say farewell to Mo Koyfman, the IAC executive dropped in to monitor the crazy kids when Barry Diller's internet conglomerate acquired College Humor. He's resigned from his position as chief operating officer of the dorky web site. There's nothing particularly amusing about the news, except for the assumption that Koyfman represented adult supervision. Founders Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen were always substantially more straight-laced than their reputation for rampant loft parties would indicate; while 30-year-old wannabe modelizer Koyfman, however engaging, is as much a grown-up as Barry Diller is an internet guru.

Where'd you go over the holidays?

Nicholas Carlson — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 11:00:28 EST

Cabo, it's supposed to be the West Coast's Mexico. But here's photographic evidence that Silicon Alley entrepreneurs (and B.J. Novak from "The Office," back left) like to play in the Pacific, too.

We know you people prefer schadenfreude to jealousy. So while gazing at this photo of three out of four Connected Ventures founders (Ricky Van Veen, Josh Abramson and Jakob Lodwick plus entourage are present; Zach Klein spent the month in India), recall that despite his success Van Veen ~~rents~~ owns a tiny Manhattan apartment and that this trip cost the recently fired Lodwick his relationship with Julia Allison. He went with another woman. Follow the thumbnail to see the full image on Flickr. (Photo by mareen)

The Band Splits

Nick Denton — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:56:54 EST

This would be the perfect tale of the gentrifying effect of Manhattan. Four kids with a shockingly puerile web site come to the big city, rent a kick-ass loft together in Tribeca and throw wild parties. After four years in New York, founder Josh Abramson (pictured center, in white), goes bourgeois. He's hired Park Avenue decorator David Howell to create a minimalist look — "but not stark," as he told the New York Observer — for his new $1.975m apartment at the Greenwich. But there's a problem with the narrative.

The College Humor boys, most of them from the Baltimore suburbs far from the edgy inner city of The Wire, were ever bourgeois. Their famous parties have always had more in common with a prom night than a bacchanal. And it's not as if Josh was ever a design rebel: the centerpiece of the last apartment was a cabinet full of crystal wineglasses, donated by the College Humor founder's mother.

CollegeHumor Boy's Flashy New Pimp Pad

abalk — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 09:40:54 EDT

Take a gander at CollegeHumor co-founder Josh "The Boring One" Abramson's new digs over at 13th Street and 6th Avenue! 15-foot ceilings! A marble-topped kitchen island! A closet as big as the craphole you live in now! But don't be jealous; use it as inspiration! Somewhere out there is an idea that could be your "posting pictures of drunk co-eds whipping their boobs out on the Internet": you just have to go find it and then watch the cash roll in!

New Apartment from Josh Abramson on Vimeo.

Know Your College Humor Founders

Emily Gould — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:40:56 EDT

Jakob Lodwick likes to be photographed topless. Photo by Mareen Fischinger.

News of College Humor fella Zach Klein's departure from the lucrative website he co-founded got us to thinking: Who are these twenty-five-year-old millionaires, anyway? I mean, sure, we all read the New Yorker article two years ago, but the boys must be slightly different after a couple years of living in New York. Like: they probably watch Sex and the City way less! And maybe they've slept with some famous ("famous") people.

Ricky Van Veen: The Funny One

Those who know him say: "Ricky's the one proudly wearing H&M. Just awesome and normal and funny, hangs with comedy elite, like people from 'The Office' and '30 Rock.'
Do it have a blog? Get Excited, which is more funny links than Dear Diary.
Has Hampton Style editor Deb Schoeneman hooked up with it? Definitely.
Notable quotable: "It's hard being taken seriously when you are our age. But, here, people can walk in and say, Obviously, these guys are doing something right."

Josh Abramson: The Boring One
Those who know him say: "Josh is the one who hangs with Noah Tepperberg types (though maybe not him exactly)."
Do it have a blog? No!
Has Deb Schoeneman hooked up with it? Probably not, but who knows. Still waters!
Notable quotable: "People love to send in photographs of their refrigerators filled with beer."
Zach Klein: The Boyfriend Type
Those who know him say: "Earnest Brooklyn."
Do it have a blog? Two! ZachKlein.com is Dear Diary. Copy and Taste is about learning to cook with his girlfriend! All together now: awww!
Has Deb Schoeneman hooked up with it? Heavens no!
Notable quotable:"We experimented with 'Rice Cream' for the first time and loved it!"
Jakob Lodwick: The Hot Jerk
Those who know him say: "Contrarian playa."
Do it have a blog? Oh so very. Obeastiality is his Dear Diary blog where he posts endless pictures of himself, but he also has a PAPER diary IRL, and he blogs about being mad at current inamorata Julia Allison for reading it! Kids today. Living such public bloglives!
Has Deb Schoeneman hooked up with it? Yup!
Notable quotable:"These Europe flights keep getting easier."