Nick Douglas' 'Blank White Cards'

There’s a whole lot more to Blank White Cards than the name might suggest. The brainchild of Gawker blogger Nick Douglas, the show is a daily nibble of sketch comedy in sixty seconds or less, set in a harshly lit white void that features a cast of two: Nick alongside buddy, Jared Horney.

The two, with the aid of director Justin Morrison (aka Break a Leg‘s resident porn star, Chase Cougar), are trying their hands at the infinitely amusing straight man/comic foil routine made popular by the likes of Abbot and Costello, Lucy and Ethel, and Kenan and Kel. The show feels like a comic strip has come to life, as each episode is self-contained with an out of context beginning and an ending that’s satisfyingly abrupt.

And that’s exactly what they’re going for.
In addition to drawing from other online shows like Jake and Amir, Nick wanted to emulate the essence of webcomics. “I especially wanted the tone of Dinosaur Comics and Scary Go Round,” he told me via instant messenger, “Wherein arguments pepper adventures.” I said the show’s vibe reminded me of many secenes in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

. “God, that feels good to hear.”
Blank White Cards is well on its way to being Douglas’ longest-running web series. Granted that’s not such a difficult task considering his previous projects, Look Shiny and Goggleburn, both fizzled out before their tenth installments. But since it’s July 1 debut, five episodes of BWC have aired, ten more are in the can, and another twenty have been written.

To keep themselves inspired, the show fresh, and the audience involved, the duo will be asking viewers to send in props in the coming week around which they can write sketches.

So far, so good is what I say. It hasn’t made me fall out of my chair LOLing, but neither do the Sunday funnies and that’s okay. The guys don’t have grand expectations for massive profits. They’re here to have fun. That, coupled with contributions from the creative crowd that Nick tends to attract, should make this a fun little treat to look forward to everyday.