Jon and Jason from Rue Brutalia are pretty damned funny. Even when they're horribly maiming people.

 

There's not much better than Rocky and Bullwinkle. I love quick, snappy dialogue like this-- evolutionarily, Bullwinkle is the missing link between the Marx Brothers and the Muppet Show.

It's pretty fair to call Bullwinkle another big influence on Ao2. I even wrote an episode of our radio show back in college that was more or less an excuse to use two characters who were remarkably similiar to Boris and Natasha.

It's also damned near impossible to find a full segment of the show on youtube. Even the most complete ones are missing little chunks.

Anyway, here's a pretty good one. If you're confused, the Kerward Derby is a magical hat that makes who ever wears it incredibly intelligent, witty and interesting. And it comes from the moon. And Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader are after it. Hope you're all caught up.

I'm going out of town this weekend, so you guys get your matinee a few hours early. Here's a couple gems from NYC sketch greats Elephant Larry. These guys have a sense of fun that's damned near impossible to duplicate.

Dammit, Elephant Larry! Stop hogging all the awesome!

9:00 PM

Sam, Ben and Gerrit meet at Ao2 International Headquarters (aka S+G's apartment) to go over material for an upcoming live show.

9:10-9:35 PM

Read through sketches. Begin writing bridging material, an intro and an outro.

9:36 PM

Gerrit decides he wants ice cream, begins searching Internet for nearest Håagen Dazs. Ben and Sam helpfully point out that there's one halfway between Ben's house and Ao2 HQ. Gerrit ignores them, googles nearest Tasty D-Lite. Outro finished.

9:38 PM

Ben is hungry but doesn't want ice cream. Gerrit introduces possibility of field trip to purchase food/ice cream/beer.  Hearty agreement from Ben and Sam. All decide to do individual editing passes on script over weekend, reconvene on Sunday.

9:41 PM

Heated debate over whether or not Tasty D-Lite is frozen Styrofoam. Ben (correctly) maintains that it is, but doesn't want to go to Håagen Dazs instead because he's already been there today; argues in favor of food, beer.

9:46 PM

Field trip. Heated debate over whether to buy ice cream and beer at either Duane Reade or the organic grocery, or walk to fucking Håagen Dazs where Ben has already had a shake today as if that wasn't clear enough. Sam sheepishly points out that he has had beer every night for a week and feels a little gross about it. Gerrit suggests Sam celebrate the anniversary with a beer.

9:50 PM

Beer, ice cream at Duane Reade discovered to suck. Heated debate over whether Sam is a whiner for wanting low-fat ice cream. Off to organic grocery.

9:56 PM

At organic grocery, Ben purchases frozen enchiladas. Heated debate ensues once more over the merits of beer versus ice cream. Sam proposes purchase of Bartles and Jaymes as missing beer-ice cream evolutionary link.  Ben and Gerrit vote him down.

10:03 PM

Outside grocery, Gerrit announces he has to go back to Ao2 HQ and take a dump. Heated debate over whether he can hold it until Håagen Dazs. Heated Debate over whether there is a bathroom at Håagen Dazs. Ben insists there is not, because he ALREADY WENT THERE, DAMMIT.

10:07 PM

Decision reached to return to Ao2 HQ, let Gerrit take care of business, immediately depart again for Håagen Dazs. On way back to HQ, Gerrit is walking funny.

10: 14 PM

Ben deposits enchiladas in freezer. Gerrit deposits other things elsewhere. All depart for Håagen Dazs.

10:21 PM

Ben has horrible thought-- Håagen Dazs possibly closes at 10:30. Sam insists the doors shut at midnight. Ben bets Sam a quarter that Sam is wrong. Bet accepted.

10:23 PM

En route to Håagen Dazs, the three pass an empty baby bassinet on a building stoop. Brief discussion on morality of baby theft. Gerrit bets Ben a quarter that Ben cannot raise a child to adulthood. Bet accepted.

10:31 PM

Goddamn Håagen Dazs fucking open. Ben insists he will not purchase anything, but succumbs to peer pressure and buys horrible sorbet concoction, later gives it to Gerrit to finish. Sam does not buy anything remotely low-fat.

10:45 PM

Return to Ao2 HQ. Discuss sketches over ice cream, enchiladas, Xbox Baseball.

Good Lord, The Kids in the Hall were good. They're on tour right now, ya know.

I hate the internet. Truly. But every so often it redeems itself.

Witness the power of the Video Game Name Generator.

Like many things on the internet, I'm probably months behind the curve on this, but I'm hooked. Every time I think It's fallen into mediocrity with "Hitler's Railroad of Love" it spits out something amazing like "Dwarven Burger Tycoon" and I snort Raisin Bran up my nose. Using the VGNG during breakfast is not advised.

It's actually very similar to a project that Gerrit put together a while ago, and I like it for the same reasons. Both work best when you can imagine some alternate universe where these combinations actually exist. Picture the bewildered translator at Konami or somewhere who might have these cartridges slide across his desk:

• Team Dragon Phonics
• Chillin' Mummy Beatdown
• Star Trek Batman Training
• The Harlem Globetrotters: Conga Crime Scene Investigation
• Surprise Hockey Police
• Muppet Boxing II
• Prehistoric Ninja Basketball
• Violent Hobo Conquest
• Strategic Werewolf - Collector's Edition
• Super Sexy Bong Fiesta
• Catholic Dinosaur Encounter
• Fisher- Price Dog Smuggler

And, probably my current favorite:

• Monty Python's Math Jamboree

Some mad geniuses with a lot of time on their hands made a bunch of PC only games inspired by the titles. Post your own faves below.

Remember how the first Austin Powers movie was awesome? Remember how it was a couple of solid character bits before the sequels got progressively more watered down and Mike Myers started milking the same couple of jokes to death?

Me too. So I'm kind of excited to see how The Love Guru turns out. The trailer raises some questions (Another midget, Mike? Seriously?) but these promo bits with Myers as Guru Pitka are an awesome piece of character work.  It makes me feel a little better about having missed Myers when he first tested out the character at The Magnet a-waaaaay back in 2006. Improv geeks: watch and learn. Everybody else, just laugh.

More on the movie's Youtube page.

Didja see that we posted the final installment of Robomamet?

You didn't?

Go watch it!

Like a lot of nerds, I spent a truly unhealthy amount of time playing Lucasarts adventure games when I was a kid. Sam and Max was one of my favorites. There's jokes in that game (and in the original comics) that had a huge influence on my writing style.

So when Sam and Max: Freelance Police became a Saturday morning cartoon on Fox Kids for one glorious season in middle school, I had a wee bit of a nerdgasm. The DVD just came out, and I'm gonna snap it up a soon as I get a chance. Here's one of the best episodes, adapted straight from the comics. Enjoy!

if you dig this, go check out Telltale Games-- They brought these characters back after a loooong drought.

 

Grace and Michelle are two of the funniest ladies in New York. I've been meaning to plug their awesome vlog for weeks, but never got around to it until I saw they recently linked us. So go watch them! They're hilarious and adorable! Here's some favorites of mine:

And in the shameless plug department, don't forget you can see Grace, me and a bunch of other nifty folks at Vacation Island's show at the PIT every Wednesday night at 7:00.

 

(As always, thanks to K. Huang for the pics.)