“I see things that other people don’t see sometimes,” says the large, idiot-savant man-child named Baby Cakes, created by Austin, Texas-based cartoonist Brad Neely.  But it might as well be Brad who says the line. 

Drawing single-panel, Creased Comics with implied, universal themes (life, death, the Bible, nature), Neely’s been producing little bits of internet gold for over a decade, telling stories through unlikely characters and revealing sinuous streams of aberrant wisdom that flow into solid sense.  He got some press for his alt narration to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but went internet famo with his presidential myth on psychedelic steroids, Washington. 

After the viewcounts hit six digits, TBS’ Super Deluxe came knocking, and the web series Baby Cakes and Professor Brothers were born.  Josh recently caught up with with the man behind the crude, un-moving animation at ROFLCon to ask him about process, strip malls, and muses. 

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Neely describes his cartoons as “stories with visual aides…comic books with sound.” The storyboard aesthetic makes for some great visual jokes and doesn’t get in the way of the tale. 

In the case of Baby Cakes, it’s the world through the eyes of a slightly retarded, yet endearing, RPG-playing rapper who lives with his Dad and opines in off-beat philosophic soliloquies.  In the case of the Professor Brothers, it’s the lives of Frank and Steve – sharp-witted, uncouth, spaced-out, community school profs, with signature tag-team humor riddled by random, loose associations. 

In the case of China, Il., it’s a tale of both Baby Cakes and the Professor Brothers. 



###Neely’s 11-minute, 4-part magnum opus (a new episode released every Monday on Super Deluxe and then the whole thing airs on Adult Swim on Sunday, May 25) puts the stars of both series on the same screen:

Like Brad said, Baby Cake’s warm-fuzzy world populated by Wizards and Face Fucklers, accented with epic musical interludes and diary entries, and navigated with the help of a ‘walking potion’ (10% sugar 90% whiskey), is actually the very same world inhabited by Frank’s squeaky, strung-out Steve Zahn of a voice, and Steve’s detached, Kenny Winker cool.  He apparently just wasn’t making the part about them living in the same space very clear. 

But now, for 11 beautiful minutes, fans will look at the world of China, Il. with newfound clarity.  We’ll watch with joy, wonderment, and wide-eyed innocence as these everyman heroes of insight drop poetic knowledge and make astute observations, connecting the dots on pieces of paper we didn’t even know existed, and seeing things that other’s don’t, in a way that only Brad Neely can.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Nathan Bock
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If Amanda Condgon’s departure as host of Rocketboom taught us anything, it’s that the show’s creator, Andrew Baron doesn’t get enough credit.

After the pair’s public spat and irreconcilable differences sent 2006’s shining star of web video on her merry way, Baron quickly found in Joanne Colan a likable, English-accented, ex-MTV replacement. The transition didn’t occur with Wallstrip-like efficiency, but Colan took upon hosting duties with only minor hiccups, and Baron nurtured the show along a quick and speedy recovery…to the point where he’s now busy expanding the brand and developing more series.

Congdon hasn’t fared as well. Following Amanda Across America – a three-month, environmentally oriented, cross-country trip, where she proved to be a great interviewer and competent host – her work has been mediocre.

Her alleged deal with HBO still hasn’t amounted to anything more than a headline. Her yearlong stint on ABC News was a poor, ill-conceived Rocketboom recreation that never really took off. Her personal videoblog, Starring Amanda, was mired in irrelevance and made-up characters that could only be entertaining to her closest friends.

Sometimesdaily, “an off-beat, interactive variety show exploring life’s theme’s through the inquisitive eyes of Amanda Congdon” looks like it will follow suit:

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###Judging by the preview, Sometimesdaily seems too attached to its host’s sense of humor to be palatable to anyone who’s not already a Congdon fan. It’s cool if she wants to create videos to be enjoyed by her clique – lots of other people just won’t watch ’em.  

But it’s kinda too bad. As evidenced by her time on Rocketboom, she’s got a helluva lot of accessible entertainment value when working with the right producer. Hopefully the crew at Sometimesdaily will find their flow, or Congdon will eventually get paired up again with someone who can find it for her.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Not to sound like Jerry Seinfeld, but what is the deal with The Hills?  As someone who follows pop culture (semi-professionally, may I add), I’ve never fully understood the mass appeal of the MTV “reality” show.  Its producers have readily admitted to manipulating the narrative, which boggles my mind because…ummm…nothing of consequence seems to happen on the show.

If the The Hills isn’t a vapid spin on Seinfeld’s “show about nothing,” it’s about the inconsequential problems faced exclusively by the rich, white, and undeservedly famous.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Eliot Glazer
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If you watched the Flagpole Sitta lipdub and still harbored thoughts that Connected Ventures didn’t maintain the coolest, most envy inducing of work environments, then check out the videos from CollegeHumor’s All Nighter.

From 9PM Thursday, May 1 to 9AM Friday, May 2, the kids at CH relived collegiate life, got hopped up on Brawndo, and completed their assignment of 10 comedy shorts in 12 sleepless hours.  The cram session started off with a strong musical number, hit its peak of REM-deprived curiosity at around 3AM or whenever it was that they deemed decoupage ripe for comedy, and ended with a strong, 80’s, where-are-they-now, outro.

Aside from Ben Schwartz’s cameo, my favorite is the hand-in-warm-water chain. It’s emblematic of what CollegeHumor does best. A clever, new twist on an old legend/prank/other vehicle for nostalgia, where creativity and excellent camera work drives the comedy.

But take a 30-minute break from your regularly scheduled programming and watch all 10. They’re great examples of how you can make quality web programming on the cheap, without big budgets, fancy sets, and special effects (though having access to a ridiculously cool workplace probably helps).  

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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Office culture has proven to be a limitless supply of satiric material, with the most prevailing theme being that we all kinda suck at our jobs, or our jobs kinda suck.  From Jack Donaghy, the easily distracted president of NBC in 30 Rock, to the apathetic software programmer, Peter Gibbons, in Office Space, the dominant portrayal of the modern-day worker resides somewhere between incompetent and unforgivable.

Yet, there are certain jobs that you would hope were off-limits to such ineptitude, and I would think that “suicide hotline counselor” would be at the top of that list. 

But what if your local suicide hotline was as poorly manned as the neighborhood Foot Locker? Or filled with employees as ineffectual as Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch? 

A light-hearted satire in a grim setting, Head in the Oven is a three-part web series directed and written by Maggie Carey (The Jeannie Tate Show) in which three women run a suicide call-in center for 8 hours a day.  

“I saw this headline for a suicide hotline that’s hours were changing to nine to five,” Carey said about the origin of Head in the Oven. “It was basically saying ‘If you have a problem – if you’re thinking about doing something like this – you better have those thoughts during working hours.’”

Still, it’s hard to imagine that the real-life inspiration for the fabricated office could be run by people as lazy, insensitive, self-centered and uninterested as the three broads who work at Head in the Oven.  If Sylvia Plath had their number, she still would’ve been a goner.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Sarah Ricard
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Like Your Social Networking in Show Form?

If so, you’d best make friends with Revision3’s Social Brew, a 30-minute show each Monday exploring the ever-widening world of social networking services, from LinkedIn and Facebook to Twitter and Pownce. Here’s the debut episode, let loose last week:

Those high Rev3 production values are immediately on display (whatever you might think of that jaunty modern theme song), as is the show’s trust in host Irene McGee and a supporting “Brew Crew” cast to drive its standard news/talk format. Time will tell whether the crew gels enough to validate this decision, but after a few minutes you’ll likely agree that there are some dialogue/rapport issues to be smoothed out.

We’ll give them the benefit of the doubt though (and not just because Josh, the Floor Director suggests at the 29:20 mark that there was little rehearsal), as shows like this sometimes need a few episodes to find their flow.

###It should help that McGee is an on-air veteran with a varied background – a dramatic, media maniuplated stint on The Real Word: Seattle in 1998, a  and subsequent success on the San Francisco radio show/podcast No One’s Listening.

There’s potential with the rest of the Brew Crew as well – Neha Tiwari’s focus on IRL meetups should provide some interesting stories; Moujan Z’s “SBNN” reports and sketches between segments are episode highlights; and we’re sure there will be something to “Music Guy” Johnny Hwin’s role as long as his vibe reaches beyond laid-back California dude.

All of this brings us to my main concern about Social Brew, and that’s the trouble with covering something like social networking through episodic web video. Like Jamison, I prefer “ text to talking heads” for most of my web coverage, and the social networking news cycle is one of the most competitive for eyeballs.  Social Brew will never keep up with the Techcrunch and Mashable firehoses when it comes to straight news (the pieces on services like Politweets and ping.fm felt dated to me, and for good reason ).

Of course, Social Brew may be aimed at a more casual audience, but there are ways to keep web junkies watching by focusing less on commoditized news stories and more on social networking perspective and individual sagas.  You can add more humor (we know that stuff works), more interviews with influentials (like this episode’s one with imeem’s Dalton Caldwell), or more guinea pig and investigative/storytelling stuff (McGee suggests that she’ll join online dating sites during the show, which could be entertaining).

Between its engaging cast, slick production, and opportunity for a more personal approach, Social Brew could provide a collective release for the faux social and over-networked digital masses.

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Colin McDonald
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Ambling in the midst of a drunken haze and rainy night in 2003 Brooklyn, four friends – Lauren Antler, Alan Harris, Matt Jablin and Seyi Peter-Thomas – formed the short-form comedy collective Collars Up.  The details are sketchy, but popping one’s collar like a fratacular college kid or an 80s tennis pro was a significant part of the outing’s shenanigans, and the name just stuck.   

The personnel of the group has changed over time, and so has its approach to creating content.  There are scripted shorts on CollarsUp.com, but the best videos, and their recent passions, are the improvised films posted about once a month. 

The group plots out a storyline, scouts a location, obtains necessary props, makes sense of the narrative, and then the actors have at it, making up dialogue on the fly.  The results are surprisingly good – on par or better than much of New York’s live improv theater.

Some of the standout include Powerhouse, a twisted comedy about a couple having problems trying to conceive, and another couple who’s overeager to help. At first, it could be like any number of SNL skits (an overly-uptight character interacts with an obnoxiously laidback character), but the sketch takes an unexpected silly, absurd, kinda sick turn. 

###In V-Day, Collars Up tackles the calamities of celebrating Valentine’s Day in an office, particularly in a situation where everyone but you is partnered up and receiving special deliveries. Less succinct than Powerhouse, the story meanders, but the comedic timing and characterizations are on point. The underlying thesis is that Valentine’s Day is the crappiest of all holidays, and showing how women love to make each other feel bad is always good comedic fodder. 

Lil Buh is another one to watch. It’s a very-not-scary horror film in which unsuspecting yuppies displaced to the ‘burbs get a visit from a shady character who they believe is an escaped murderer from a nearby women’s prison. Throughout the two-minute short, you’re never quite sure where it’s going, but when it wraps, you’re glad there wasn’t ample foreshadowing to predict the ending.

Alan Harris is the only remaining member of the original four who forged Collars Up. He’s joined by a talented cast of NYC comedians and actors: Becca Greene, Marci Clark, Will Nunziata, Mackenzie Condon and Eric Hollerbach. If you dig the improvised shorts, find more info on the crew on their website, which showcases their individual work, performance reels and commercial spots.

Give it all a gander.  The crew certainly knows how to make good stuff.  

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Sarah Ricard
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Short answer: Yes. Longerish answer: This post.

Special Delivery is what happens when you take the tired concept of Candid Camera comedy to the web, where the reins of production are handed to savvy young creatives with room to wax risqué, unhindered by stodgy networks and unbridled by 30-minute timeslots.

Launched in early march, the Frito-Lay/Cheetos-sponsored 18-episode MySpace series gets straight to the gotcha! punchline in 4 minutes or less. Handymen and delivery guys walk into squirmingly uncomfortable situations (an out-of-closet proposal gone wrong, pizza oriented obstacle courses, alien probes) to the delight of hundreds of thousands of viewers:

Errr…hundreds of thousands of viewers on MySpace. The same videos are up on YouTube, but nobody’s watching. As Silicon Alley Insider points out, “of the 12 episodes of Special Delivery added within the last month on YouTube, only one has more than 1,000 views. Meanwhile, episodes of Special Delivery found 254,778 viewers on last week and 155,011 the week before.”

Tubemogul says the discrepancy is due to differing demos. I disagree. This one’s all about being featured.

Read On…

Filed under: Tilzy.TV by Joshua Cohen
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