“Hardly Working: Secret Society” - Check it out, here’s the sketch @elephantlarry did as part of @collegehumor’s All-Nighter! We got to wear robes, and punch people, so all in all, a good time was had.
“Elephant Larry’s Treehouse: What Your Mom Said” - Another @elephantlarry Treehouse episode! OMG! I directed and edited this one, and that’s all I’ve got to say about it!
“Elephant Larry’s Treehouse: Deep Impact” - New @elephantlarry Treehouse episode! I directed and edited, and appear briefly. But Geoff and Stefan carry it. The fighting in this sketch may be one of my favorite things ever.
Oh, and for those who have been asking, there are two more Treehouse episodes coming out soon, which will complete the first “season” of the show.
“Bear Goggles” - A special Valentine’s Day treat from @elephantlarry.
I directed, edited, and shot this one. Fun facts: Jeff is an ugly girl, and Stefan is a cute but terrifying bear. Geoff and Chris are some guys or something.
Also, this was shot in my cousin’s bar! He came in halfway through the shoot, which he only knew was a sketch, with no details, and saw a guy in drag, a bear hanging out, and a dude with a tranq gun. He left quickly.
“Got Milk?” - New @elephantlarry sketch, directed by me and Geoff, Edited by me. Also I’m in it or something.
“Con Air Rap” - Brand new @elephantlarry sketch! I edited and directed, @solomaniac laid down the phat beats, and Con Air continued to be awesome, as always.
Salty language in this one, so if you want a SFW version, you can watch that here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcfbcHS8ePI
“Catch Arnold!” - An interactive game made by @elephantlarry, with the other #comedythunder channels.
Easily one of the weirdest things we’ve been involved with, but i think it turned out kind of fun? I hope? Oh god.
“Tv-friendly… Markedly fresh and spontaneous!”
They’ve got a nice round-up of a bunch of other great shows, so go check it out.
“Gargamel Finally Eats a Smurf” - New @elephantlarry sketch, with awesome make-up by Hana El-Assad. I directed this one, and narrowly avoided blue-ing myself.
“Dumb Santa” - A new @elephantlarry sketch, just in time for Christmas!
I directed this one, shot 50% of it, and did some very minimal edits. And despite all that, it turned out okay! #selfzing
Sketch Time Machine: The Story of the Weeping Camel
Because hey, why not, I thought I’d start posting some of my old/never performed/never to be performed again sketches online, with commentary about them. And I will call it, “Sketch Time Machine!” And it will be good. Hopefully.
Year Written: May, 2004
In general, I don’t think the tone of this is terrible - it’s just not a very funny sketch. Part of the problem - or a large part of the problem, actually - is the storytelling format. Because stories are designed to be a little sing-songy, and pleasant to hear, they don’t lend themselves very well to comedy. The main thing most people do is, they take the story format, and do something dirty with it: make it violent, or sexual, or inject cursing into the sketch.
That’s one way to go, I guess, and I certainly fell into that trap at the end of this sketch, but I do think there’s a better way to do this, and that’s just make a story that’s funny on it’s own, and then sketchify it. You’ll still have those elements of story theater, but without relying on the crutch of dirtying it up. I’d also suggest, in general, you probably want to throw something like this in the middle of the show, to vary things up. People are more likely to remember a sweet story when it’s buffeted by lots of things contrasting in tone, rather than kicking off the show on a low energy point, or worse, ending on one.
NOTES:
- Man, the ending of this is bad. If I ever approached this sketch again, I would cut it off after the VO finds out what’s wrong. I think now, I’d be less afraid of having an actual, sweet ending, and have the VO and Camel be friends. I think.
- My favorite comment I wrote down from the group on this one is: “Don’t make it a camel?”
Here’s the sketch:
“Black Swan Trailer - Remix” - This movie gets no bones up.
Written by me and Jeff Solomon, Audio by Jeff, Edits by Me.
Sketch Time Machine: Zombie Bear Pirate
Because hey, why not, I thought I’d start posting some of my old/never performed/never to be performed again sketches online, with commentary about them. And I will call it, “Sketch Time Machine!” And it will be good. Hopefully.
Year Written: May, 2004
Oh man, I don’t remember writing this one at all - and it is craaaazy. For the record, it’s not like I had a Stephen-King-on-coke period, and can’t remember writing my sketches. It’s just, at times, you’re writing so many sketches for a show, that you’re just banging them out. And if you only write a sketch and read it once, without revising it - as I’m guessing I did for this one - there’s no reason to remember it at all.
That said, I really like the general structure and tone of this a lot… Though it was, in fact, so confusing that I even had trouble following it at first when reading it right now. I may take another crack at this one at some point.
NOTES:
In case you’re curious, here are the notes given to me by the other guys on the sketch, see if you agree: “Like the curse thing.” “Maybe bear shouldn’t talk at beginning.” “Two games (costumes, time switching)… Too random…”
I love that in sketch comedy, it’s totally normal to get the note “Maybe the bear shouldn’t talk at the beginning.”
Here’s the sketch:
“God Invents Sex” - I Directed and Edited this one, and everybody did an awesome job, so that’s cool. John Phillips from Trophy Dad and Chris O’Connor from Fearsome subbed in for Stefan and Me, respectively, as I was behind the camera, and Stefan was off at “Acting Like a Giraffe Camp,” I think.
In particular, I love the stuff Jeff did for… The character… Who shows up at the end.
