Vidiotic
It's amazing what you can find if you know where to look. How about this - Vidiotic, a pilot aired at 2.45am on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three last Tuesday, but still available to watch on iPlayer until this Wednesday. It's set in a video shop, features Biff from Back to the Future and Andrew Marr and it plays with the medium in just about every way you can think of. After seeing it I was so intrigued, I caught up with producer and video-botherer Jonathan Harvey to find out how it all happened.
How did the pilot come about?
Jonathan: I've been making comedy on YouTube since I left Uni in 2002, and after contributing to and other ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ shows, I was asked to pitch a new show idea, which got commissioned by ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Three.
How did you find all the B-movies you feature?My best mate and I spend our lives trawling the world of movies which are so bad they become great. Every birthday I get a new batch of the worst films ever made that I have to start trawling through... you've got to have a hobby.
What are your favourite all-time mashups?
Some of RX's musical mash-ups are fantastic, and 's a real web comedy guru. Plus you can't beat the recut trailer for The Shining, which is the Mona Lisa of the genre!
Is it different making mash-ups for TV to the web?
Very much so. Making things for the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ means you're restricted on the footage you can use, but while we can't plunder movies like YouTube mashers do, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ has a great archive of its own so it's a case of being creative with the video we do have.
How the hell did you get Biff out of Back to the Future? What's he really doing now?
Tom Wilson's now a top stand-up in the US, as well as acting in cult TV series like Freaks and Geeks, and I'd seen him peform his brilliant Question Song on YouTube. I got in touch to find out if we could play the song in the show and found out that he was coming over to perform in London last year, so we went one better and were able to film with Tom himself. He was fantastic and it was amazing to film a sketch with a cult movie legend!
Catch Vidiotic while you can.
Comment number 1.
At 23rd Mar 2009, Kat Sommers wrote:Another late night pilot is Things Talk by Stefan Golaszewski: /programmes/b00jcdx5
Very very funny with lots of up-and-coming comedy talent (er, and Les Dennis and Leslie Phillips).
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Comment number 2.
At 23rd Mar 2009, markiddon wrote:Great find Comedy Blog! It's gems like these that need highlighting to the masses! Cheers!
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Comment number 3.
At 23rd Mar 2009, evergrowingbrain wrote:Thank you for bringing vidiotic to my life. absolutely brilliant.
And the best bit - (not actually the best bit, i here's a point i want to make) - no canned laughter/laughter track/whatever you want to call it.
Please can you investigate the possibility of a red button option to remove laughter from TV shows - if it is funny - we'll work out when to laugh ourselves.
rant over - love your work.
evergrowingbrain.
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Comment number 4.
At 21st May 2009, proust1922 wrote:You Mr Thair are the only other person I know who saw Vidiotic pilot at 2am that March morning. I watched its gentle genius daily for a sublime week on the iPlayer - then it vanished. Sob.
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