When we last checked in on Man Teen, the Apatowian buddy comedy was toiling in relative obscurity on KoldCast, receiving a warm response but limited exposure. Creator Andy Lazarus, however, did not give up on his dream. He felt his product had plenty of appeal and just needed to find the right audience. He also had the goal of continuing to create more Man Teen content, but needed to be able to justify the additional investment.
Luckily for Andy and fans of the show, it’s found a new home on the Machinima-partnered Reckless Tortuga channel. Though Reckless Tortuga mainly focuses on a different sort of scripted comedy, the ‘Man Team’ and video marketing company New Antics correctly ascertained that their show’s low-brow and goofy comedic sensibilities would be a hit with the younger male demographic that Machinima’s various channels tend to draw in. Reckless Tortuga has a base of 850k subscribers and the first few episodes of Man Teen have attracted a much larger audience than before, receiving 300k views so far.
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New episodes are being released every Thursday, with Lazarus playing the title role of ‘Laz’, clearly some degree of author avatar. Laz is immature, foul, and a loose cannon; it’s not often the main gag of an episode revolves around the main character peeing freely all over an unwanted list of tasks, but that happens in Man Teen‘s second episode and gives the viewer a good idea of what to expect from the series. This is a show that definitely needed to find its audience, and the Machinima crowd is perfect. It’s a show about a Man Teen, but creator Lazarus clearly has plenty of teen left in him as well. This helps his writing connect with the subject and the audience (many of whom are, you know, teens).
Lazarus and his Man Team are happy to have the views and exposure, but they have bigger goals in mind. They’ve released a bevy of bonus content on their own YouTube channel that they hope will drum up even more interest in the show alongside the Reckless Tortuga run. The apex of Lazarus’ efforts is a Kickstarter page to help fund a second season of the show. If you’re a fan of Man Teen‘s bold, unabashed humor, then I encourage you to help make Lazarus’ teenage dream a reality.
