Comic Wonder adds two board members with angel investment ties

Milwaukee, Wis. - Comic Wonder, a Website dedicated to telling and listening to jokes, has added two prominent executives with angel investment ties to its board of directors.

The company has announced the additions of Lauren Flanagan, general partner of the Phenomenelle Angels Fund, and Pehr Anderson, former director of Silicon Pastures.

Comic Wonder has received $750,000 in an initial round of angel funding led by the Phenomenelle Angels, Wisconsin Investment Partners, and Women Angels. The round also included individual investors like Roger Orlady of the Appleton-based RNO Ventures.

Comic Wonder is managed by CEO Kelly Fitzsimmons and husband Jeff Fitzsimmons. They will use the funding to further develop their website and to establish partnerships with area and national radio stations.

In what Kelly Fitzsimmons called a sort of American Idol for joke telling, the partnerships will allow participating radio stations to use Comic Wonder's technology for joke-telling contests on their respective websites. Fitzsimmons said it's a way for Comic Wonder to promote its site, and a way for radio stations to provide interactive content, and therefore “stickiness,” for their own websites.

“Radio stations are trying to better monetize their sites with interactive content,” Fitzsimmons said.

She indicated that the first partnership with a radio station could be announced in the forthcoming weeks.