British Comedy Guide has been around for quite a long time now; it almost feels like we've been going since the dawn of the internet. Whilst that's not quite true (and it skips over the fact this website was originally actually titled British Sitcom Guide and consisted of a few disorganised pages), we've certainly been online since before internet videos were really a thing, so we feel very old in that respect.

YouTube launched in 2005, but - even then - most people didn't have the internet connections to view the handful of videos on there (if you're of a certain age you'll remember connecting to the internet meant unplugging your landline and enduring a screeching modem sound), so it was quite a while before online videos became integral to this website and comedy generally.

To put that YouTube launch date in context, the first series of Peep Show launched on Channel 4 in 2003. We mention Peep Show, as we actually remember that was the first comedy programme we were given preview clips for. It was probably for Series 4 or Series 5, and it felt very exciting. In hindsight it was a bit rubbish though, as to view the clips you had to (slowly) download the file to your computer and then boot up the software Real Player, and you were presented with a tiny square of video which it was hard to make our Robert Webb in... not exactly one click full-screen laughs!

It's all very different nowadays of course... with clips pretty ubiquitous and almost everyone having the ability to stream full HD, even on the go via a mobile phone.

Notably, clips are no longer just created by broadcasters. If you've visited our Online area (a section of the site back in the early 2000s we never even considered could exist), you'll see high quality sketches, short films and even full series from independent creators.

Some of these productions are highly impressive, looking like they were made by a whole team of people, when in fact its just one comedian behind the project, doing it for less than £20.

The reduction in the price of camera equipment and editing software is certainly one factor in how the quality has jumped forward, plus improved dissemination of tips and tutorials on how to make videos too. A lesser-sung component of some clips though is the availability of existing 'plug in' resources for comedy creators to use; sound libraries, stock footage, and such like.

For example, you can get easily access stock video when you sign up for a trial of the website service Motion Array.

Stock footage - also known as b-roll - is generic footage offered up to creators to help them film gaps in their videos and make them look professional. Stock video allows editors to tell a better story and save production time. Creators can reap the rewards of studio quality videos without the associated costs.

Say you need some gold particle sparkles to be your background? A metropolis cityscape to set the tone for the sketch you're filming? Or a time lapse video montage of someone working hard, to act as a cut scenes? All now possible with just a few clicks... there's no need to buy some gold, travel to a city, or spend all day out in the cold taking time lapse footage yourself.

Check out the latest sketch from Alasdair Beckett-King for an example of what we mean:

Beckett-King works really hard on his videos, but he probably didn't go as far as actually lighting a fire in his front room, or travelling to some far-flung destination to get an establishing shot of a castle on a mountain. It'll be stock effects he's edited in.

Interested in learning how to add stock footage to a comedy sketch yourself, or maybe just making it look like on Facebook your last birthday party actually took place on a yacht? There's lots of tutorials on how to do that on... you guessed it, YouTube.

That said, professional editors know that there is no tutorial you can watch, or book you can read, that fully replaces the practice of "just doing it", so why not grab some stock footage from an online library, open a video editor on your computer, and just see what you can do?!?