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Forum Member
 
Group: Comedybox
Last Login: 19 May 2008 17:55:42
Posts: 27, Visits: 222 |
| | Every Thursday we write an article on one of you guys and what you've been up to in the world of comedy. This week it's the turn of... |
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Forum Member
Group: Comedybox
Last Login: 19 May 2008 17:55:42
Posts: 27, Visits: 222 |
| ... THE JUNK MALES ?Ten years ago, the Junkmales were sent to prison by a millitary court for a crime they didn't commit. These men promptly escaped from maximum security stockade to the Los Angeles underground.. no hang on that's.. the a-team...? Welcome to the world of the Junkmales, a world of surrealism and slapstick, where scientists cower like mice behind the sofa, where there?s an Elizabethan in every shed, where Toasters speak, Dads dress up as Death, and businessmen run feral in the wood. A world that is, to put it bluntly, very, very, very, very, very, very, very silly. Very silly indeed. The four (occasionally five) piece video-sketch troupe found comedy-love on Channel 4?s ?4-Laugh?s? Website, brought together ?by a desire to produce and write their own comedy?, which promptly they did?at length. Junkmales are one of the most prolific acts contributing to Comedybox, and easily the most succinctly silly. In fact so silly are they that it?s difficult to fathom any sense from them. From what we can gather amongst the babble, Junkmales are led by ?Chairman? Martin, aided and abetted by ?Pimp? and last to join, Daniel, who handles their promotion and commendable online presence, Frank ?Lord Rage? Egarr who produces their original music, and Dave Short, a ?proper actor? who lists ?The Bill, Casualty, Holby and Heartbeat are just some of the programmes that he has not appeared in?. Occasional assistants is provided by ?casual Junkmale? Jack Spencer, ?a transient spirit who travels between dimensions and sometimes settles in ours and when he does he can be found re-telling various adventures sometimes about Ninja's?. Which is all very well, but what do we really know about this mysterious quadrilogy/quintet (depending on the day)? Away from the internet they have met in real life ?at College, A Pub, A Pub, A Field. In that order?, and now meet occasionally ?on motorway laybys and carparks at Services?, and list their comedy influences as ?Tim Vine, Marx Brothers, Mighty Boosh, Harry Hill, Eric and Ernie, Vic n Bob, Pythons, Tommy Cooper, Goodies.The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Laurel & Hardy? ?which is plain to see in their sketches. The work they?re most proud of is their debut sketch ?Danger Signs? (?the first one we produced as a group and the sheer joy it brought to see clips of it on a big scree as it reached the final of the Smalls 2007 (http://www.thesmalls.com/members/junkmales.go).?) and more recent outing ?Feral Businessmen? (?to see all these people we have only known online coming together to produce this work makes me very proud to be a part of it? how often do you get a chance to make someone you've only just met -and has flown all the way from Ireland- lick hot coffee up from the floor of a forest??) Coming up they have ?2 sketches (A vampire based one and another featuring a Man\Tiger hybrid) in the pipeline for filming, work has begun on another collabritive JunkMales 'and Friends' scripts after the success of Feral Businessmen (http://www.comedybox.tv/?c=10977) with everyone involved keen to repeat the exercise.? Tantalisingly they?re ?ruminating on some audio work for a BBC sketch show and possibly a radio "mockumentary" series about the flora, forna,folk and funghi of our septic isles? and ?collaborating with some other online chums on a sketch show? And if that wasn?t enough to fulfil all your Junkmale needs they?re ?also on the verge of embarking on a the slightly scary JunkMales LIVE experience.? And that?s pretty much all the sense we could get out of them. Ignore what you the press tell you?Junkmale isn?t a nuisance, Junkmale isn?t worthless trash?Junkmale is cherishable, silly and brilliant. So remove your appropriately Pythonesque Spam Filter and have a gander. |
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Forum Member
Group: Comedybox
Last Login: 19 May 2008 17:55:42
Posts: 27, Visits: 222 |
| ... BEN ? GREENSVILLE? GREEN
Ben ?Greensville? Green is a master of the ?one idea - one sketch? principle. His pieces are brilliantly constructed and brilliantly observed, turning on one strong, central idea and building the gags around it: A man goes to job interview after being shot, a sniper will take you out if you don?t donate to charity, or, best of all, a lifelike child doll you can use to beat up muggers.
His ideas also pivot on ordinary awkwardness, twisting the everyday and applying the very very silly. It?s a tactic that brings to mind the best Python sketches, and latterly the sublime silliness of Big Train, though Ben himself lists his influences as ?Seinfeld and Columbo?. He has a point with Seinfeld - the uptight and awkward plays a big part in Greensville, but Columbo is way wide of the mark - the deceptive simplicity of his ideas mean there?s never a need for ?just one more thing? to turn matters on their head, although there?s inevitably violence in almost every Ben Green sketch which maybe is where the influence of the great Macintoshed one comes in.
Much like the characters he writes (though not always the ones he plays) Ben is self-effacing ?It takes a while for me to enjoy my own clips as I see so much wrong with them (mainly my performance).? He says, which doesn?t stop him exploring his darker, more childish side in his latest clip ?Cutter?, a quick and nasty glimpse at the worlds least tactful detective: ?I like the whole idea of Cutter. He thinks like a selfish child with attention deficite (or however you spell the word). I'm going to do more sketches with the character?.
A return for the misguided copper aside, the future holds some tantalising stuff from Greensville: ?I?m trying out some stuff set in space? says Ben ?I Have a massive backlog of sketches set on Earth too? and I've got loads of fake blood left [from ?A Shot at the job?] so I?m going to come up with some more gory sketches!?. Horror? Sci-fi? Social Awkwardness? We at Comedybox cannot wait.
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Forum Member
Group: Comedybox
Last Login: 19 May 2008 17:55:42
Posts: 27, Visits: 222 |
| ? SHOEPIE!
Anyone working in comedy will tell you that a good animator with a distinctive style, whose stuff doesn?t blend in to everything else, is really hard to find. Step forward Kerry ?Shoe Pie? Torchia, a man who has a distinctive style, whose stuff doesn?t look like everyone else, and an animator for whom collaboration is very much on the menu.
Kerry tries to play it cool: ?Like James Belushi?s character in Red Heat, I work alone!? but is quick to admit the truth: ?that?s actually a complete lie as I?ve teamed up on several sketches with other comedy writers who I?ve met on the net. A fantastic actor and impressionist called Chris Lumb recorded the audio for three of my most popular animations (The Lumb Trilogy). I contacted him by email after watching his 140 Impressions video online. He can do an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression too so my Red Heat analogy from earlier is still kind of valid.?
Collaboration or not, the world of Shoepie has more to do with a strong visual identity than it does with any collaboration. Kerry?s great strength is in his characterisations. His pastel-coloured, child-like cartoon world looks innocent enough for the stealthy jokes littered underfoot to take you by surprise. A bit like, well?
?The Simpsons are a major influence. Visually my characters look very similar to the Simpsons but that?s mainly because I?m not very good at drawing. Writing wise I have the same silly sense of humour. I also have other influences too, and my own style which hopefully stops me being just a Simpsons clone.?
Which isn?t quite fair of the Modest Mr Torchia, for a start his work has more of a hint of King Of The Hill rather than Springfield?s First Family, and more than enough personality of it?s own to avoid being a clone of anything.
Other influences are worn proudly on the sleeve (?Monty Python, Two Ronnies, Marx Brothers, Scrubs, Naked Gun, Peep Show.?).
All of this comes together perfectly in ?The Muscle Whisperer?, starring the stacked-the-the-max Bob Johnson, an early Shoepie creation of whom Kerry s quite fond, and his hapless assistant Hercules (not his real name of course?that?s Seymour).
That said, the work Kerry is most proud of involves less cartoons and more cameras:
?The ?Evil Muffin? sketch. It?s my first live action sketch so there were lots of new challenges like directing first-time actors and arranging the shots. I also like the fact that there?s a bit of a story in this one as opposed to just a sketch.
The Idea for the video came from a Muffin I saw at Didcot Parkway train station that was modestly labelled ?The Ultimate Muffin?. I brought one. It was OK. But that inspired lots of brain-storming about Muffins until I came up with the Evil Muffin idea....which is now nothing like the original line that inspired it!?
In ?Evil Muffin? the pitch of live-action silliness meet animation cutaway is practically Booshian in it?s absurdity. Which of course works brilliantly.
So to the future. With more muscle-bound antics for Bob and Hercules on the cards and an ethos focussed on constantly moving forward (?I try to learn at least one new technique in every sketch I make. If it works out I can carry it on to my next project and then one day maybe I?ll stumble onto something that hits the comedy nail squarely on the head.?) and a fall back plan for when it goes less well (?I?ll just make another Star Wars parody!?) there?s clearly plenty more to come. ShoePie? This pie has legs.
www.shoepie.co.uk
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