Twitter is spreading its wings into the world of comedy and launching its own comedy festival played out in just 140 characters and six-second videos. Twitter is teaming up with Comedy Central for the 'ComedyFest' event, set to debut on April 29, 2013. Comedians will tweet jokes and post videos with the recently launched video app Vine over five days.

The launch of the festival is expected to be officially announced later on Monday (April 22, 2013), with big names such as Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Amy Schumer and director Paul Feig all thought to be taking part. Twitter introduced Vine in January - a video sharing service that lets users post six-second clips that matches the brevity of the social network's word limit.

On the Tuesday of the festival, comedian Steve Agee will host a 'Vine Dining' party, telling stories in six-second videos, while the cast of satirical political comedy 'Veep' will share 'Vines' from the set, as will the cast of ABC's hit show 'Scandal'. 

"It's not just hashtags appearing on your TV screen, but TV content appearing in your Twitter feed," said Debra Aho Williamson, a social media analyst at eMarketer. Comedians have been particularly ahead of the curve in terms of embracing the internet and social media. Last year, Louis CK sold a 'Live at the Beacon Theatre' special directly through his web site and made $1 million in under two weeks.

Paul FeigDirector Paul Feig, Here At CinemaCon, Is Getting Involved In The Twitter Festival