Creators of Blame Society Productions, Matt Sloan and Aaron Yonda, are primarily known for their Chad Vader series about a day manager in a supermarket, which was originally created for Channel 101 in 2006. Soon after it became a viral phenomenon, receiving over 13 million downloads, several million on You Tube alone, and write ups in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times Magazine. The series was also featured on Good Morning America and BBC News Online. Sloan has a background in sketch comedy and acting, while Yonda has won various awards and nominations from film festivals around the world. In 2002 they helped to found Wis-Kino, a Madison-based chapter of Kino, an international movement born in Montreal in 1999 that organizes both professional and amateur filmmakers to make and show short films. Blame Society Productions is also run by Courtney Collins (production assistance, music composition, acting), Tona Williams of Bigbite Productions (cinematography, art direction, production assistance, website design), and Andrew Yonda of the band The Buffali (soundtracks, acting), and who made a number of festival and special appearances.
In additon to the Chad Vader series, Blame Society produces a number of serials, including the hilarious McCourt’s in Session, a spoof on courtroom shows like Judge Judy in which Judge McCourt (Sloan) serves idiotic justice to idiotic people. Other serials include: What is Rolphing?, an improv exercise with words; Fun Rangers, two guys that are so normal they’re weird; My Old House and it’s sequel, Down Home Cookin’, a stupidly funny spoof on the show This Old House; Super Shooter, a play on action dramas that is really only funny when Matt Sloan is involved; Uncle Jimmy’s Fuck Farm, a poorly thought out skit about a different kind of farm with incredible clip art; and Caught Red Handed, sketches that all involve dumb male characters doing really dumb things and getting caught. The shows are between 4 and 8 minutes long, are incredibly funny, and are clearly low budget, but are nevertheless well produced and the sharp editing usually makes up for any improvised dialogue that doesn’t exactly work. Blame Society also produces some entertaining short films such as Darth Vader Taking a Bath, Teletubbies Redubbed (scary), and various parodies on commercials like, Salsa Chassis, Dynatrim, and Questions. Listen to the site’s audio clips and vlog to stay abreast of its happenings, interviews, and production adventures which appears to be updated about once a month, or visit the forum for some instant interaction.
Remember that SNL parody skit where Chris Farley goes on a binge of violence when he finds out his regular coffee has been replaced with decaf? Blame Society’s short film version, Absurd Coffee Commercial, takes it one step further into insane paranoia.
