Vine is a toy from Twitter that challenges users to make the most profound work ever committed to video in exactly six seconds. Or at the very least, challenges comedians to bring a little more laughter into this world. Every Tuesday we showcase five of the funniest short shorts of the past week.
Your RSS feed might be difficult and not show the videos, but trust us – they are there.
After becoming one of the first people to rise to fame via YouTube as a teen writing funny songs from his bedroom in 2006, comedian/musician Bo Burnham is making the big jump to TV this week. He's starring in Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous, a new comedy he co-created that premieres this Thursday at 10:30pm on MTV. A mockumentary about a fame-obsessed high school grad who foregoes college so that he can stay in his hometown and hire a camera crew to follow him around, Zach Stone is Burnham's first-ever starring role. I had the chance to talk with Burnham this week in advance of the premiere of his [...]
MTV has picked up the Bo Burnham pilot they ordered, along with Underemployed, a comedy that head of programming David Janollari describes as "the personification of our ‘life amplified’ mantra for the 18-24s who are coming out of high school and college and have to figure out how to make their dreams come true and their career aspiration fit into today’s tough economic times." Sounds pretty heavy, MTV. (How many episodes before one of them starts a blog?) (Also their names are Sofia, Daphne, Lou, Miles, and Raviva. Rrrraviva.)
Bo Burnham gets introspective in this song from his new album Words, Words, Words, Art Is Dead. He's on tour now, if you like what you see.
It's been a busy year for Armen Weitzman. The comedy actor/writer joined the cast of the Yahoo! web series Burning Love for its third season, has been working on a movie script with writing partner Harris Wittels, and he's playing his first regular TV role as comedian Bo Burnham's sidekick on the MTV show Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous. I recently had the chance to talk to Weitzman about Zach Stone, his beginnings in comedy, and relating to the characters he plays.
MTV is set to debut Zach Stone Is Gonne Be Famous, a new sitcom co-created by and starring comedian Bo Burnham, on May 2nd, and here's a trailer for the show the network just put out. The show also stars Tom F. Wilson, Armen Weitzman, Kari Coleman, Cameron Palatas, and Caitlin Gerard. Zach Stone follows Burnham as a recent high school grad who, instead of going to college, hires a camera crew to film a reality show about his life, which I'm told is just as common a choice as attending college with today's teens.
Oh fame, you are fickle temptress! While the Bill Hickses of the world receive your clammy embrace only after death, you mount yourself on a Dane Cook like a teenager after her first taste of Peach Schnapps! But there are no guarantees in this life. And there are no sure paths to becoming famous. Hundreds of top-notch stand-ups and sketch/improv performers are toiling away in obscurity at this very second (okay, maybe not this very second, but you get the gist).
So, how the hell do you become the next comedy sensation?
While most of our most renowned comedy performers have come up either through stand-up or sketch/improv (the two [...]
Internet music comedian Bo Burnham has been doing pretty well for himself lately, just coming off a string of sold-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Fest. And now MTV has ordered a pilot from him that'll "be about a kid fresh out of high school who's pursing the new American dream of being a celebrity without having any talent." Kind of a ballsy angle, no? If it's not great, it makes life easy for critics, at least. It'll also feature music prominently, probably. [via]
Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous walks a fine line. Co-created by and starring YouTube sensation turned comedy wunderkind Bo Burnham, the mockumentary-style show follows a new high school graduate who hires a film crew to make a reality show about his life. “You’re watching exclusive, behind-the-scenes footage of a pre-celebrity,” Zach Stone says in the first minute of the pilot. He’s spending his life savings, and foregoing college, to follow his dream of fame at all costs.
Mocking reality shows has existed almost as long as reality shows themselves and become almost a genre unto itself, with recent examples like spoof web series Burning Love and Bobcat Goldthwait’s [...]
MTV has set a premiere date for Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous, a new sitcom co-created by and starring comedian Bo Burnham. The show will kick off its first season on Thursday, May 2nd, at 10:30pm after a Jersey Shore spin-off called The Show with Vinny. Zach Stone stars Burnham as the title character, a guy who just got out of high school who foregoes college to try to become famous – despite not having any talent. Burnham rose up via a series of viral YouTube videos of himself performing comedic songs before releasing successful albums and Comedy Central specials and impressing Judd Apatow enough to hire him to develop [...]
MTV just greenlit a pilot by Bo Burnham entitled Zach Stone Is Gonna Be Famous. It'll be "a mocumentary, which centers on Zach (Burnham), a kid fresh out of high school who hires a camera crew to film him because he wants to be famous."
