With the fate of political comedy site 23/6 up in the air the past several weeks, we can now all breathe a sigh of relief that the Barry Diller/Arianna Huffington venture won't disappear completely because of Diller's axing of departments. Instead, 23/6 is being acquired as a "vertical" site by Huff Po, much like the site's recently launched Green section.

How much of a presence 23/6 will maintain on Arianna's super-blog remains to be seen, but we always thought that site could use some funny-ing up.

Full memo, after the jump.

New HuffPost Comedy Section As Part Of Expanding Verticals Strategy

New York, NY January 13, 2009 – The Huffington Post announced today that comedy news site 236.com has been acquired by The Huffington Post and will be integrated as a new comedy section for the site. The comedy vertical will feature "The Room," 23/6's popular group blog; signature 23/6 features such as "Dickipedia"; user-generated content; aggregated news about the world of comedy; and selections of the funniest material available on the Web.
Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post said: "After a successful first year as a stand-alone comedy site we are excited to bring 23/6 into The Huffington Post as we launch our comedy vertical. We look forward to creating a section that serves not only as a one-stop-shop for humor with a satirical take on the news but a spirited community for all comedy lovers."
Huffington Post chairman Kenneth Lerer, said, "One of the goals of The Huffington Post this coming year is to continue to expand and strengthen our brand. Our verticals strategy has proven to be very successful, and we look forward to continuing to roll out additional content, build our community, and grow our traffic and advertising. 23/6 is a perfect step in that direction."