A Kickstarter campaign and a twisted mind. That’s all it took to take this week’s selection from idea germ to offbeat comedy reality. That, and a ton of free labor from people who believe in a web series that’s dark and sick and gets out quick.
Tragic Relief isn’t the kind of show you’re going to watch with a bunch of friends as you pregame on a Friday night (people still do that, right?). It’s the thing you’ll watch at 4am, as you lie in bed alone, digesting the chicken parm grinder you ordered off Seamless. And you’ll laugh nervously to yourself because creator Ryan Mazer knows [...]
“Mom, dad. I want to be a comedian.”
Chilling words. Words that may be every parent’s worst nightmare, not necessarily because moms and pops hate laughter, but because a comic’s life is a hard one — often replete with substance abuse, loneliness, and the kind of poverty that stops being cool around your 476th cup of Ramen noodles.
I’d guess that very few parents want their kids to go into comedy, unless they’re in it themselves. That’s precisely the case for Tyler Alexander, head honcho at SecondCityNetwork.com and the heir to a Chicago comedy empire started by his dad, Second City co-owner and CEO Andrew Alexander.
Whether or [...]
Every group of four male friends thinks they’re hilarious. It’s scientific fact — as sure as the drunken conversation where that same group assigns each other character roles from Entourage. (“Ok, if I’m Turtle, you’re definitely Drama.”) Nine times out of ten, the Johnny Drama identification is a whole lot more accurate than the group’s proclamation of comic genius. But one time out of ten, the friends are actually funny and The Boo Ya Pictures Show is that time.
Created by real-life buds Ryan Coopersmith, Adam Sand, Ryan Prizant, Dan Handelman, Charles Muzard, Andrew Cohen and Harris Ellison, the Boo Ya sketch formula is one part Lonely Island [...]
He’s baaaack. Alex Anfanger, the wide-eyed good guy who first found a special place in our Internet hearts with last year’s smash hit series, Next Time on Lonny, is at it again. This time, Anfanger’s taking on the role of a perpetually hopeful romantic in Compulsive Love, award-winning indie director Kevan Tucker’s bold ode to the Rom-Com genre — it’s the clearest indication yet of what everyone’s waiting for web entertainment to become.
An eight-installment arc that follows the romantic travails of indiscriminately smitten protagonist Aaron, Compulsive Love is 50 minutes of content away from a successful nationwide theatrical release. Expertly written (thanks to playwright Adam Szymkowicz), edited [...]
From the time we’re itty bitty small, we’re told to reach for the stars. “Impossible is nothing,” various faceless teachers assure. “Where there’s a will there’s a way.” These sentiments may hold true in some facets of life, but they’re certainly not applicable in the merciless world of web video, no, no. In this space, the heroes are those content producers who are acutely aware of their concept and cost limitations, the ones who focus on all the stuff they definitely can’t do before focusing on what they can. The quicker you establish a realistic project scale housed in a comedic wheelhouse with which you’re intimately familiar, the more [...]
