iO's Baz has put the Chicago comedy world on alert, the "McNuggets rap" from iO kids made the jump from "online clip" to "actual McDonald's commercial" and right back to your computer, where it's becoming an "internet sensation."
Hundreds of people are shooting and submitting their own versions of the happy fast food rapping clip. Are we watching a cultural phenomenon explode? And to think, you've had drunk post-game or post-show Quarter Pounders at the very restaurant they're standing in front of.
Happy Monday! Here's some stuff for you to read/do/see:
Tonight is the Apollo Theater's first comedy showcase, Summer Extravalanche Spectacular. Featured will be acts from the theater's current run shows, including Jared Logan and Kumail of The Chicago Comedy Series, Rachel Lewis, Headcheese Fatboss, Flambango, Team Submarine, and headliners Baby Wants Candy, hosted by the Blu Mic's Nick Lullo. 7:30 p.m., only $10! Visit the theater's Web site to buy tix right this minute!
After you get your tix for tonight's show, surf over to Comedy Central's Open Mic Fight and vote for the Central region Wild Card, Hannibal Buress, once a day all this week!
We also received this message from film starlet/comedian Lauren Bishop: "I was in this short film, it’s part of Samsung’s Fresh Films project, which is this great opportunity for teens around the country to be a part of making a movie. It’s called The End of the World and is up at www.fresh-films.com under the comedy section, and we need as many votes as possible to win. If it wins the Chicago teens get to go to the LA premiere of the film, which is dope for them." Go vote for the kids, now!
Oh, and MySpacers: there's a new show at Gorilla Tango debuting September 5, and the producer, Jeff Hansen, has been begging for friendships. Please go befriend Everyone Kills so he'll cease in flooding the bulletin board (just kidding, it's really only about one a day. But that's bulletin space that could be better served by survey memes or spambots).
And finally, watch some vids! Week Two's Impress These Apes clips are online.
It seems that the The New York Timesagrees with us that the old paths to comedy opportunities are being increasingly abandoned in favor of that zippy and irresistible internet thing: "For comedians who aspire to break into television, it’s no longer necessary to spend years cracking one-liners at stand-up clubs in hopes of landing an HBO special or a sidekick role on a network sitcom. With clever material, an act that mixes live skits and multimedia, and, especially, some savvy use of the Internet, members of a young comedy troupe can suddenly find themselves starring in their own cable series."
The Bastion's recent conversation with Maria Bamford about her phat and creatively flexible deal with Super Deluxe, as well as Chicago examples of online self-promotion (i.e. Blerds) turning into more and more IRL opportunities has us thinking about this even more.
We've been talking with Jon DeWalt of Chicago's ThoseGuysFilms.com, who are also taking maximum advantage of the viral video phenomenon and are putting out original content as frequently as possible. According to Jon, "We have a ton of online outlets. It isn't like in ye olde times in the days of The Lonely Island (three years ago) anymore where your website was it, and everyone flocked to see if you have a new video out. Now there are so many video websites that the playing field and viewing population is really divided. So we try to get to as many as we can - we are on Super Deluxe and Funny or Die - these are the two video-sites I most enjoy being a part of and we have gotten the most views from. We are also on MySpace which is good for fan feedback, and average for views, and we are also on iFilm and YouTube which have not gotten us a lot of views at all. AOL featured one of our shorts, 'L'attraction,' off of iFilm and it got a lot of hits from that, but otherwise iFilm hasn't brought us anything. YouTube is tough because if you get one popular video you will be set on fire, but that is not likely because every douchebag in the world is uploading his drinking videos and every confused twenty year old girl is uploading her bikini dancing videos and it's like okay, where is the real comedy? That's why we like Super Deluxe and Funny or Die - it focuses the audience."
Jon went on to explain: "We get some pretty good traffic, we have been in some magazines and featured on Super Deluxe and AOL and some other things. Like I said it is weird because one video will get thousands of views in a day; like today we just uploaded 'Musical Makeover Montage' and it has over 2,700 hits in less than a day on Funny or Die - that same video and same amount of time on YouTube? Nine hits. But what I do like is that the overall sum of views and feedback and people who are enjoying our work gets a little bigger with each video, it has been snowballing for over two years now, and it keeps adding on slowly but surely. That is uplifting."
The Bastion has also been chatting with the charming and funny masterminds behind "Ask Anything With Beth and Val," aptly named Beth and Val, two more comedians taking advantage of those series of tubes to get their material in front of a wider audience. Valerie Hurt and Beth Dover are two self-described "theater dorks turned laugh whores" based in LA who do improv and sketch. Beth trained at Second City in LA and is writing for the National Lampoon Lemmings tour, while Val studied with the Groundlings and does a fake home shopping show on VH1 called the Home Purchasing Club.
Some of Beth's MySpace videos caught the eye of CJ Arabia, who works for dotcomedy.com, and the pair were invited to contribute to dotcomedy.com, which was looking for funny fresh female talent. Beth and Val learned iMovie and started using a Mac laptop, shooting and putting up their stuff, which is in question and answer format with an eye toward pop culture and current events.
They don't get a ton of money for their efforts but they have a lot of fun entertaining questions from viewers, ranging from "If a guy shaves his balls, does that make him gay?" to "Have you ever touched anything and then regretted it?" all the way over to "If Anne Heche was crazy at some point, doesn't that mean she still could be?"
Beth and Val's self-loading video about the viewer comments that came their way after being featured on "What Would Tyler Durden Do" can be seen here.
Blerds Continue To Invade Internet, Coasts, Universe
Those bloggy Blerds have been at it again. These days they are doing shows in LA at the UCB theater, taking trips to NYC to hit comedy stages there, and packing bags to join other Chicago comedians at the upcoming DC Comedy Fest (from where The Bastion will be reporting). They're also continuing to overrun the internet with their succinct and sharp videos, which are directed by this Friday's Bastion interview subject, Jordan Vogt-Roberts.
Breakout Blerd TJ Miller, who popped into the Bad Dog open mic last Sunday in professionally done werewolf makeup and prosthetics (not for that occasion, but boy did it come in handy for those throat-ripping jokes) is featured in Gothamist, where he talks about his ABC sitcom pilot, studying drama in an Oxford summer program, and shares this bit of motivation for aspiring comedians: "That's how you get bitches, that's how you smoke weed. Believe that." As you may remember from history class, that's also what prompted Lincoln to pursue the presidency.
Is it possible for someone to get tired of seeing their own face? MikeBridenstine might be pushing it. Mike and other Blerds have seen an amazing viral spinout of their videos in just the past few days. Blerds videos have been featured recently on the front pages of MySpace, MySpace UK, SuperDeluxe, Best Week Ever TV, iFilm, Yahoo's "The 9," webjunk.tv, and many other places.
Bridenstine had these comments on the recent viral explosion, and the Blerd gameplan:
"Well, we've gotten a lot of help. We have a manager and we have producers who push our stuff or build relationships with certain websites. We wouldn't have had that recent traffic without that help. Pat Brice's 'Rent or Own' video and the '8 Mile' video that Mike Holmes and I wrote have been online for almost a year. But they were only on Blerds.com. We just recently starting putting stuff on MySpace and YouTube and SuperDeluxe. And iFilm shortly after that. Some sites have contacted us. Some sites have just reposed from other sites. It's been pretty interesting.
"Viral videos interest me because I have no real concrete idea why one thing would spread and why another wouldn't. Like, 'Dick in a Box' was funny, but I don't necessarily understand the appeal of the guys from Smosh. The Blerds' Eminem video topped out at about 4,000 views on every site we put it on. Then it gets 115,000 views in one day when eBaum's world reposted it. I really have no clue how these things work, but I'd like to know.
"We're not getting paid by any of those sites for things we've already made. And that wasn't the goal, anyway. I don't really think there was a goal. But the exposure from those videos have put us into a position where people are offering to pay us for things. We have a great combination of comics and Jordan, who is super talented. Plus our manager and producers are pushing hard for us. So that's a pretty good combination, I guess.
"The exposure has opened a few more doors for us as comics. We've booked certain shows as a collective, where we might not have easily gotten that done as individuals. Again, the manager and producers have certainly helped with that. We've been filming stuff for an ad campaign that will launch next month. We also have a few online episodics to flesh out. Plus we have some pretty great videos we shot for Vivid Entertainment. But every Monday you should see some new material released from us. But other than that, everyone is pretty much going about their days like normal. No major life-altering things have happened because of this yet."
Who are those nerdy but wise girls who have been prodding Chicago comedians to shoot and upload their hilarity onto that newfangled internet thing, because it might even lead to amazing things like being cast on MadTV? Oh, that's right, it's us, The Bastion! With each new bit of news like this, we're happier and happier to say "I told you so."
Blerds on Front Page of MySpace, Forever 21, Chicks Are or Are Not Funny
Pat Brice and Mike Bridenstine's mugs are plastered on the front of MySpace's main page today, as the Blerds video "Rent Or Own" was chosen as a featured video on the megapopular site. MySpace: not just for pre-adolescent hookups anymore, now it's a powerful marketing tool for musicians and comedians alike.
This little accomplishment is another addition to what seems to be an ever-growing list for the group. The Blerds site will be celebrating its one-year anniversary at the end of April, with what we're sure will be the party to end all parties, so stay tuned for details real soon!
Hey! Wanna feel old? The three youngest team members at i.O. - born in 19-fricking-85 - are joining forces to create Forever 21, consisting of Bastion contributor Mackenzie Condon, Jon DeWalt of Callous and thoseguyfilms.com, and Lauren Lapkus, recently of The Darned, MISSfits, Big Yellow Bus, and Impress These Apes. Fork out a mere $5 to see them in the Del Close Theater at i.O. tomorrow at 8 p.m. before Mackenzie wusses out and heads to New York for law school. (Really, it's sad to see people dropping out of comedy for something as chancy as law. What will she have to fall back on?)
Also, there's a bit of fuss across the internet today in the wake of a Washington Post story called "Beaten to the Punchline," in which the trials and tribulations of the modern itinerant female stand-up are dissected and analyzed. Maria Bamford points out the common hiring practice of no more than one female comic per lineup, except for special cases of quasi-token "theme nights," like the ones specially crafted to highlight black or Latino comic talent. Lisa Lampanelli logs in with thoughts about the challenges of life on the road as well as her style's appeal to men, provocatively suggesting that "Men respond to my kind of (crude) comedy. If a guy wants to hear a yapping bitch, he'll just stay home with his wife."
New York comic and blogger Carolyn Castiglia vents about the article a bit herself. She's actually a bit tired of receiving links to every article about "women in comedy," thinks the media may be rubbing female comics' noses in something already as plain as day, and wonders if there are any topics that are strictly the domain of the woman comedian. "Is marriage a female topic? No. Jim Gaffigan is married. Louis CK is married. Chris Rock is married. Brian Posehn is married. Is dating a female topic? No. Zach Galifianakis talks about having a broken heart on stage. Are children (gulp!) a female topic? Ah, let's hope not, considering that most of the married male comics I mentioned not only have kids but talk about them in their acts. So what the expletive is it then, huh? Is it that our pathetically sad little American culture still just wants our 'yapping bitches' to shut the expletive up?"
Holsen Hones Pitching, Taking a Shot, Dennis Rodman?, More
Hans Holsen, who's getting to be a pro at this "pitching to the networks" thing, asks on his i.O. blog that you remember and revere the Seven Stock Sitcom Characters, including "The Ornery Dad, The Long-Suffering Wife, The Delinquent Son, The Comatose Daughter, The Hobgoblin, and The Talking Clothes Hanger that Sprinkles Sugar on Floor Mats." Everything really does boil down to a simple formula involving talking clothes hangers, doesn't it?
James Fritz is tired of the old Chicago pub crawl, especially the St. Paddy's Day variety. It's fun and all, but it so often ends with him being punched. "And because I'm a drunk retard and forgot my Harold training from six years ago and how comedy, apparently, like shots of Jameson, still comes in threes, I get sucker ball punched." Might as well do stand-up, if you're going to put yourself through that.
Second City's Seth Weitburg shares some thoughts on the dangers of overwriting the funny right out of a good sketch, the importance of editing, editing, editing, and why aspiring comedy writers should always keep a little notebook in their back pocket: "...If you have any interest in writing comedy, keep a notepad with you at all times. I like the little pocket ones from CVS or Walgreens. Any time you have a thought or an idea, or something strikes you as funny, compelling or interesting, write it down. When you go back to this pad days, weeks or months later, most of it will be nonsensical horse dung, but there will be nuggets of resounding clarity in there that you will thank the dead spirit of Robert Frost that you hung on to, because otherwise they would have been gone – mental driftwood in an ephemeral sea of passing thoughts."
Has Dennis Rodman been shopping at the Brown Elephant in Lakeview? Wearing a Michael Jordan jacket? Stranger things have happened.
Mike Palascak is still musing over his crush on Clarissa herself. Some things are forever.
The Scene's Jon and Molly explain explaining improv to the uninitiated. According to Jon, one condenses one's summary as the years go by: "If you’ve actually made all of these points in a single conversation, you’re probably a young improviser who’s really, really into improv. When you’ve been doing long-form improv for a few years, you don’t really want to talk about improv all the time. I myself just use a one sentence answer: it’s improvised comedic theater. If they want to know more, they’ll ask; and then I’ll give another vague answer, because I’ve already decided I don’t like this person and want them to go away so I can get back to doing this crossword puzzle."
i.O.'s Bill Arnett addresses the very popular topic of gender disparity in comedy while tipping his hat to Madeline Kahn. Did he love her as Lili Von Shtupp as much as we did?
Well not exactly, but they ARE making some films today with the girls in the Vivid Comedy Party, to be shown at tonight's Vivid showcase at Riddles. Two members of Blerds are opening the show for the next three nights, in addition to the film screening. Blerds member Mike Bridenstine said, "We're shooting some comedic videos with Brea Lynn and Monique Alexander from Vivid later this week, specifically for the live shows. They should be fun to make. Actually, I'm mostly looking forward to overhearing the awkward conversations the guys from Blerds will be having with the ladies. I'm picturing each guy in Blerds right now and cracking up at each of them, individually, for what I imagine they'd come up with to talk about.
"We've actually shot Blerds videos with adult entertainers before. A lot of people don't know this but all of the females who are currently in our videos are, or were at one time, heavily into the pornography business. Okay, not really. But this'll be a fun and interesting experience. I'm looking forward to these shows."
In other Blerds-related news, they've finally made the jump to YouTube and were recently featured on SuperDeluxe and DotComedy. You can 'digg' Kumail Nanjiani's "He-Man" video, too. And watch the most recently released Blerds video, "Upscale Plastic Surgery":
Our friends at Blerds have been making quite the strides lately. We'd like to let our brethrenon the coasts know that they should be on the look out for our boys, as dates have been finalized and are as such:
This weekend: Blerds representatives will be at NACA in Nashville.
March 1-3. Opening for Vivid Comedy Party @ Riddles. Orland Park. Five shows in three days.
March 7. Empty Bottle. Chicago.
March 29. Underground Lounge. Chicago.
April 5. UCB. Los Angeles.
April 8. Beauty Bar. New York City.
April 10. Check Your Cool @ Parkside Lounge. New York City.
April 11. UCB. New York City.
April 12-14. DC Comedy Festival.
April 19. UCB. Los Angeles.
And, as a special bonus for us in Chicago, the first "Beers with Brido" will be held THIS Sunday at 9:30 p.m. Details from Mike Bridenstine himself are as follows:
"'Beers with Brido' is my new video podcast. Or vodcast, if you're a nerd. I thought it would be funny to do a talk show where everyone gets progressively and purposefully drunker. It was going to be called "12 Beers with Brido", but I don't want my guests to feel pressure to drink 12 entire beers (or only 12 beers, depending on who it is). I'm going to have comics and other friends of mine who are fun to drink with as guests. It'll be shot on camera and then edited down to five minute or so clips to watch online. The first episode will be taped live at the Spot on Sunday at 9:30pm. It'll feature my guests T.J. Miller, Sean Flannery, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, John Leadley and some other special guests. The Spot was very nice to give us open bar for much of the show taping."
Remember a few months back when your dear friends at The Bastion implored our local comedians to get their original content online to show their skills and creativity to the world?
Well, our little brothers at The Coming in L.A. are reporting that Lisa Nova, a girl with comedy inclinations, a camera, a YouTube account, and some good friends, has spun her little comedy videos into a spot on MADtv - after only seven months of posting her content.
What were you doing seven months ago? Reading our article and deciding it was too much hassle to film your stuff? That's what we thought.
Here's Lisa thanking her viewers and friends and supporters for helping her get this totally unexpected opportunity:
(Why is today turning into beverage-plugging day? Somebody better get us some Yoo-Hoo!)
Second City alum and i.O. master improvisor TJ Jagodowski wants you to mix him a drink...which might prompt him to laugh, spout random weirdness, or make unexpected confessions.
Eminem Defended From Chicago Comics By Fans Who Spell Poorly and Cuss a Lot
Which popular Chicago stand-up comedian, Blerds staff writer, and one half of the Greatest Rap Duo Ever to Exist Ever, a.k.a. the Sugar Powdered Donuts, is getting death threats over at MySpace video? We don't really understand it, either. I mean, the man has a Kegerator, for gosh sake. Apparently, however, parody really is dead. Like yo ass gonna be!
(Bonus points for pop culture mavens who recognize that these particular fans are holding a shaky "Eminem can parody and mock Moby, Elvis, Dick Cheney, Saddam Hussein, various boy bands, and pretty much whoever else he wants, but no one else has that same right" stance.)
EDIT: The Bastion was just informed that Mike Holmes, a.k.a. the other half of the Greatest Rap Duo Ever to Exist Ever, a.k.a. the Sugar Powdered Donuts, has also been receiving threats. And these boys from Iowa thought filming on Chicago's Southside was tough! They haven't dealt with the tween contingency of MySpace yet.
The Bastion has heard rumors that a local sketch troupe might be doing a staged reading of The Big Lebowski sometime in the near future. Sound like your kind of thing?
In the meantime, a collection of delightful Lebowski mashups on YouTube (NFSW, of course), including Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rocko's Modern Life, Monsters, Inc., My Little Pony, and, our personal favorite, a zippy version with nothing but all the F-words that flew during the course of the movie that some consider John Goodman's most brilliant work.
What the heck is "Yacht Rock?" To quote the Empty Bottle site, it's a serial that "examines the ‘soft rock’ era of the seventies, recreating it in all its dramatic, excessive glory, offering up a gripping, hilarious ‘behind the scenes’ narrative that exposes the intersections and motivations of the Doobie Brothers, Loggins & Messina, Steely Dan and others." Sounds like ironic nostalgia at its finest.
Lots of "Chicago boys gone L.A." have been in town this week, wearing The Bastion out - and many of them will be at the Empty Bottle tonight to cheer on their "Yacht Rock" pals - but it's been nothing short of magical having them all back in sweet home Chicago.
Second City alum and i.O. master improvisor 
