OE has done outdone themselves this time with their new video, Akon Calls T-Pain.
We’re officially premiering it today on the home page, but already, it’s been making the rounds on the Internets to plenty o’ rave reviews. Including T-Pain’s. That’s right. Somehow, we got the Auto-Tuned rapper to sit down and watch Akon Calls T-Pain. And guess what? He loved it.
We love it, too. So much so that we decided to call Olde English and ask them all sorts of unnecessary questions about it. OE’s David Segal happily obliged us.
So, where did the idea come from?
Just listening to these guys’ songs everywhere. There was a point I checked the Billboard charts, and they had, like, 7 out of 10 songs on it that were either theirs or featured them. And they sound pretty similar. And then I found out that T-Pain got signed to Akon’s label because he did an impression of Akon. He did a parody song that Akon heard, who must have been like, “I’ll also have this guy on my label and then I’ll be able to get twice the money from twice the amount of songs.” They’re just funny guys. The [vocal] effect thing is hilarious sounding. And they kind have become charactertures of themselves with all the news stories about Akon throwing people off stages and T-Pain in the videos with his wacky hats. I think people just love them as characters and we thought it would be fun to play with that. Originally, the joke was just going to be that it’s really hard to tell sometimes whether you’re listening to Akon or T-Pain.
You claim the video is based on “actual audio from cellphone conversations between” Akon and T-Pain. If that’s so, how did you obtain it?
We never came up with that part of the story as to how we could have possibly obtained the cell phone audio. I always think there’s something funny about claiming something is real that’s so clearly not. I think people always enjoy at least one moment of “Oh, you had me for a second,” as long as you can follow it up with something worthwhile.
Who in Olde English did the voices for this?
I did T-Pain. One of our good friends who works with us on our musical stuff, Jesse Novak, did Akon. He also did the Auto-Tuning for our voices and made the music for the “butternut reduction” part. He’s the brother of B.J. Novak from The Office. Another friend of ours, Richard Sodik, did the Snoop Dogg voice.
We can’t help but have noticed that T-Pain and Akon agree to meet at 1:15 but then T-Pain shows up at 1:47. Are you implying he’s on R.P.T.?
::pause::
What? No, certainly not. I would never, ever imply that. We just thought that T-Pain is the more fun-loving and relaxed version of Akon. Akon sounds like he’s mad about stuff sometimes. He throws fans off stages. He’s a tough guy. T-Pain is just loving life. And wherever he ends up is fine with him. At least according to the characterture of him in my mind.
How did you hook up with Puny? They did an amazing job with the design and animation.
They were really good to work with. Ben [Popik, Olde English founder] just went through a bunch of different animators and came across their stuff and loved their work. So, we got in touch with them. And they knew of our stuff and liked us. We’re actually working on another thing with them that hopefully will come out soon.
Will it be like this last video?
Don’t want to give anything away but it has to do with Jay-Z recording a new album.
Some are calling this the best Olde English video yet. Do you see a spin-off or a long-term project from this?
We’re open to hearing any offers people come with. I personally love the characters that Puny came up with in terms of the drawings. And I think Akon and T-Pain would be happy to have several more adventures. The problem is, you don’t want to do worse than you did the last time. So, you’d have to have them do some bigger adventures together. Have them solve crimes together…
Auto-tune something together.
Yeah.
Stills courtesy of Puny’s blog.
We have to agree with Olde English’s Raphael Bob-Waksberg (who just happens to be the big baggette-eating star in today’s home page premiere; go figure) when he writes, “I know the combination of the words ‘autobiographical’ and ‘webcomic’ usually spells self-indulgent crappery.” Yup. They sure do. Our very own short-lived autobiographical webcomic, “Melty Me,” proved to be a little much for most people. And their stomachs.
(Excerpt from “Melty Me Vol. 3″)
But Raphael’s also correct when he brags his online strip is “better than whatever you’re imagining.” It is. Maybe that’s because Tip Me Over, Pour Me Out is actually funny like Raphael and Olde English. And really well-drawn. And doesn’t include cringe-inducing photos of guys with 70-pound tumors for faces.
See? Nothing but decapitations and laughs there. Anywho, Raphael is now selling a collection of Tip Me Over strips here. And we just wanted to spread the word.
As you may or may not have noticed, we don’t have any forums or fancy chat places on this site where YOU, the viewer, can directly express how much you love, hate, like, dislike, or don’t give a crap either way about us. Sure, you can comment on specific videos, but what about the whole enchilada? Is Super Deluxe “muy bueno” or is it more Taco Bell dumpster?
Since we’re coming up on our year anniversary this January, we thought we’d check in with “the people” to see how YOU think we’re doing so far. And what better, more informed, more wired, with-it and Web-savy populace to ask than the good folks of Manhattan? Of course, we don’t like to soil our own Jergens-conditioned hands with this kind of messy pulse checking business. But Olde English does!!
As opposed to what they normally do? Don’t they usually speak…with words? Who writes these stupid headlines, anyways?
As we mentioned before, we were in New York recently where we got to spend time annoying the piss out of some of our favorite video makers. Among the irritated was Olde English, the comedy troupe that has brought you such Super Deluxe favorites as this and that and this and that. We were able to coax three-fifths of the group (Ben Popik, David Segal and Raphael Bob-Waksberg) to meet up with us in Madison Square Park on a fine Friday afternoon. The other two guys (Caleb Bark and Adam Conover) politely declined, telling us to “go fuck ourselves.”
But seriously, folks–at the risk of getting all blubbery–the OE guys really are as fun and nice in person as they appear to be in their videos. We even got them to reflect a little bit on the whole Super Deluxe experience and what it’s like making comedy shorts for an audience of very opinionated commenters.
They also broke us off this lil’ gem of a promo that really drives home the point of just how happy Olde English is with us!
Also, check out the write-up Olde English just got on NewTeeVee.com. For the uninitiated, NewTeeVee is a great site that’s tracking this whole online video explosion that we’re presently knee-deep in.
No, we’re not talking about…
Last time we gave that crazy bitch a “Chance,” she “Tango”-ed all over our heart.
Zing!!
We’re talking about what a great time we had in the Big Apple. Which was due in part to the globally-warmed weather. And in part to people like Olde English. Friday afternoon, we met up with three-fifths of the comedy troupe in Madison Square Park for a litte public display of affections and whatnot. That’s founder Ben Popik and David Segal discussing what they hate about Super Deluxe while Raphael Bob-Waksberg relieves some stress in the background.
Footage of that encounter will soon be forthcoming promptly. As well as another exciting video that’s a Super Deluxe first: do you like Dave Hill as much as we do? Did you know he lives in Manhattan? Did you know how much cool stuff he has jammed inside of his apartment? Neither did we until he gave us the official tour! That’s right. We go inside the abode of the hardworking comedian and find out he can play guitar better than most musicians we know.
Of course, our trip wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to ye olde South Street Seaport for some hot balloon animal action. Seriously, people go to this tourist gas chamber of their own volition?? We just wanted to smoke pot by the water, and instead, ran into this guy who told us “not to quit our day jobs.” Meanwhile, he had a permanent piece of calamari stuck to his lip that was scaring off most of his customers.
OK. That’s enough.
P.S. Super Deluxe to New York: “Mwah!!”
E-MAIL JULIANNE CHO AT jcho@film.nyc.gov WITH YOUR COMPLAINTS!! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY NEW YORK CITY IS ACCEPTING COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC!!
Why? Because Mayor Bloomberg’s office has proposed some draconian new laws that would basically make it impossible for the average New Yorker to shoot photos and films in public places. Under the new rules, any group of two or more people using a handheld camera (still or video) for more than 30 minutes at a single location would have to get a permit and—this is one of the most insane aspects—would have to present proof of a whopping $1,000,000 in insurance.
Obviously, these proposals would affect a wide range of amateur filmmakers in New York—including a gaggle of Super Deluxe artists who are very dear to us! Folks like Olde English, the Post Show, Eugene Mirman, Dave Hill, Chelsea Peretti, Kurt & Kristen, Bobby Tisdale, Ben Schwartz and others.
Olde English, being the civic-minded comedy troupe that they are, made a call-to-action protest rap about the proposals that’s been making the media rounds.
E-MAIL JULIANNE CHO AT jcho@film.nyc.gov WITH YOUR COMPLAINTS!! TODAY IS THE LAST DAY THE CITY IS ACCEPTING COMMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC!!
You can also visit the NYCLU Website for more information.
This is how things happen in 2007: you no longer just do a funny impersonation of a celebrity filmmaker. Said filmmaker now shows up at the premiere of your comedic short about him. It’s Meta 2.0.
Case in point: Olde English’s hilarious new video, “Michel Gondry,” debuting on our homepage today. Watch it right now…
It’s dead-on, oui? According to their blog, Olde English recently showed off “Michel Gondry” at a monthly show they do at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in New York.
And who just happened to be there?! This man! On the left! Michel Gondry!! Standing next to O.E.’s Raphael Bob-Waksberg, who played Michel Gondry. In “Michel Gondry!” Jesus, my brain hurts!!
Get the official take (complete with an interview!) here.
Well, spring has officially sprung. Trees are in bloom, pollen is everywhere, and National Public Radio is officially chaffing my ass.
Their spring pledge drive is in full motherfuckin’ effizzle, which means every 15 minutes, NPR treats its listeners to a lengthy guilt trip about donating money to them. Sometimes, it’s brought to you by Terri Gross. Sometimes, it’s Ira Glass. Occasionally, it’s a random celebrity like Robert freakin’ Plant. No joke. Mr. “Squeeze My Lemon” did a little spot yesterday about how much he loves rock ‘n roll, drugs and public radio.
One of my favorite tactics of theirs is the quasi-ransom threat. In effect, they say, “If you would just send us enough money to meet our goals, we could call this pledge drive off right now, and get back to our regular broadcast.” Bullshit!! I call bullshit on that. They enjoy their little “poor-us-we-have-no-money” game too much. We could give them all the gold in the world, and they’d still trot out Angela Lansbury or somebody like that to implore me to slap another donation on my already maxed-out credit card.
Oh wait. Is Angela Lansbury dead?? Because if she is, I would really feel guilty then.
Anywho, I’ll rant some more about NPR later. In the meantime, let’s rejoice in another waning cultural phenomenon: Lost. Does anyone still watch the show? WTF are the writers thinking? If anyone has insight into the latter, it’s the NYC homeboys in Olde English. Check out their version of a Lost writers meeting. I defy anyone to say their plot points are any less insane than the real ones.
Also, this is some fucked up shit having to do with meat and sex. I thought I’d share it with you beautiful people…
SXSW Lost In Austin Brad Neely Super Deluxe Tim and Eric Nite Live Make Funny Not War music Baby Cakes Rants Bob Odenkirk Podcasts Atlanta Jonah Ray Professor Brothers Eugene Mirman Watch and Listen odd Austin Texas interviews Olde English Fark TV Devin Flynn Y'all So Stupid Chelsea Peretti Mess With Texas 2 Super Deluxe Uploaders Site Updates Daily Inspiration Launch blogs Hard N Phirm Xmas MySpace Drugs Are Bad Mmkay Reviews Dave Hill Thank You news Frumondah South By Southwest Super Deluxe employees Super Deluxe blog Tim And Eric NYC The Post Show Ben Schwartz Cartoon Corner All My Exes David Cross
