‘The Bear, The Cloud and God’, You Know, That Other Kind of Creator

In the wide world of web series, God once played a familiar character. The likeness, embodiment, or idea of Him starred in or provided the format for at least a few of online video’s earliest successes. Mr. Deity depicted Him as a self-conscious Creator riddled with neuroses. God, Inc. showed us He’s the head honcho at a white collar, corporate HQ, and that heaven is more like a micro-cap regional papter and office supply distributor than a pearly-gated paradise, place on Earth, or half-pipe.

Despite online video auteurs’ early devotion to God, He’s recently lost some screen time in favor of His Son

and fallen Angels. In Dan McNamara‘s The Bear, the Cloud, and God, however, the Holy Father is born again and back with a fire and brimstone, supremely awesome vengeance.

In each installment of the uber-short-form web series, the cuddly, crudely animated Bear makes his way up to to the top of a rolling green hill to hang out with his bright-eyed and fluffy friend, Cloud. A few seconds of pleasantries ensue, and just when you think you may be watching a show designed for the Blues Clues crowd, God enters the scene straight from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. He exacts his wrath on innocuous Bear, the rolling green hillside is splattered with a bit of Bear’s blood, and then the credits roll.

McNamara – a familiar face on New York’s improv scene and a very active member of the Channel 101 community – tells me the The Bear, the Cloud, and God was originally a pitch for a Nick Jr. series with Cloud and Bear solving math problems, but he’s too much like the dude who created Wonder Showzen and “can’t make straight shows.” Nick Jr.’s loss is the internet-at-large’s gain. Watch an episode or two. The combination of divine indignation with elementary chitchat will have you praying for more.