I think that's a really neat idea. I'd definitely visit.
However, the design needs improvement. Please stop using that font. Add some color to it. Segment the site a bit more, it seems a little jumbled to me. Perhaps encapsulate each section of the site into it's own box, like the comedy pieces and 'the cast,' etc. I had some difficulty reading the links under your header image. Give your headings/subheadings/piece headings some more differentiation - everything is black and I feel like on the home page, the heading for the first piece is a subheading for 'Fresh Kill.'
Other than that, congrats on launching. Seems like the type of field that could generate a very lively and tight knit community.
Thanks for the feedback -- it's funny, I showed my design mockup to a bunch of designer friends, and they all said take the borders/boxes off of things, and leave as much white space as possible :).
As for colour on the site, I deliberately left it monochrome with the intent of focusing your attention not on the surrounding bits, but on the text in the content area. I'm guessing this might not be working in that case!
As for the font -- are you using Safari? When I was cross-browser testing I found that Safari seems to render black courier font almost grey-ishly. The reason I'm using it is because it seems to be the least represented standard font-family on the internet. It feels like it comes from another era.
Overall, the design was going for a 'film noir' aesthetic. Weird font, labeled headings, and contemporary content with a classic broadsheet-looking feel. I could be way off though, let's just say I didn't spend too much time iterating it...
Oh, I definitely understood what vibe you were going for. Perhaps it just doesn't translate well to the web, or the design feels odd because it doesn't fit inline with your typical web 2.0 design (which isn't bad).
As for your designer friends, their opinion should definitely be weightier than mine. Maybe the monochromatic theme you've given it is blurring the entire page for me.
Have any of your designer friends ever seen an issue of Army Man (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Army_Man)? That was the first thing I thought of when I saw the page.
Anyhow, It looks like a really cool idea. Count on me to toss in some chum soon.
Man, I wish I could say the design was intended to be like something that cool! Alas, it's just a case of 'don't bite off more than you can chew' of working within my abilities. But that army man looks really cool. The best comedy is spartan in its presentation anyways ;)...
I look forward to your contributions. The Chum will basically turn into a chaotic comedy twitter I hope...
However, the design needs improvement. Please stop using that font. Add some color to it. Segment the site a bit more, it seems a little jumbled to me. Perhaps encapsulate each section of the site into it's own box, like the comedy pieces and 'the cast,' etc. I had some difficulty reading the links under your header image. Give your headings/subheadings/piece headings some more differentiation - everything is black and I feel like on the home page, the heading for the first piece is a subheading for 'Fresh Kill.'
Other than that, congrats on launching. Seems like the type of field that could generate a very lively and tight knit community.