‘The Record Collection’ Shatters Records You Didn’t Know Existed

I love watching people break records. The suspense, the drama as a lone person takes on a seemingly insurmountable challenge, risking life for my entertainment. Guts for glory, all found within that little book called the Guinness Book of World Records.

The Record Collection, a comedy web series where a small group of guys gather around a single person or two to watch unusual, not-so life-endangering world records be set or broken. These feats are usually based on data held and judged by the Universal Record Database

(URDB), a community-driven web site that spawned from Burning Man’s Playa Book of Records.

Okay, so it’s not the Guinness Book, but what kind of records are we talking about here? In the first episode, one of our stars, Sam Stilson, dressed in nothing but a brown, leather vest, blue jeans, and a run-of-the-mill biker scarf tries to beat the record for Most Eggs Broken in 30 Seconds Using the Head. This record was formerly held by Guinness-champion Ashrita Furman, who, according to the site, managed to break 53 eggs (we presume from a chicken, since that’s what the series uses) within the allotted time. Stilson, who also co-created, wrote and produced the series, beats that record by smashing his head on 58 eggs.

And that’s about it. The one and only official episode runs about 10 minutes long, but should probably be more like five. So far, Stilson and Craig Morrison, the other co-creator, writer and producer, have turned out a series of “extras” which are more or less records created by the team for submission into the URDB. Oddly enough, many of those records seem to be based one kind of egg-based challenge or another. Given that there are more extras on the site than actual episodes, it’s hard to call this a full-grown web series. Still, watching people smash eggs with their heads or eat pints of ice-cream in record time never gets old.