Bland Hack's latest sketch - "The Internet Goes to Washington"

[diggler]

The N-word exchange followed by her handing over The Help book was a nice payoff, also the failed attempt to snap the record in half. Nicely done!

[Gamblour.]

Just in time for the season premiere -- 1980s Mad Men.



This is my favorite sketch we've ever done. Enjoy!

[pete]

too many silly faces and voices and not enough real jokes to support the premise. I love the premise but the punchlines are all over the place and most do not explore the idea. everyone expects the cocaine reference; your job was to put a twist on it. there were some funny moments, but they were diluted because the tone was all over the place, and also just everyone badly wanted to be wacky, which killed a lot of the punchlines. the overacting after the slap, the silly voice upon the sight of cocaine, were two examples that came to mind. Mad Men is rife with possibilities, but you've chosen to squander a premise on tired old New Coke jokes. But I know how hard comedy can be and I admire your effort.

for reference, this is what I think what a good period reference sketch looks like, and you might completely disagree thus invalidating my opinion. I'm good with that:

[Gamblour.]

I appreciate your criticism, but I don't quite understand it. Did you have a problem with the lack of 80s references? Or just the execution?  Or both? Our thesis was "Mad Men happens in the 80s" not "the 80s happen to Mad Men." We relied on real ad campaigns from the era to form the story -- hence, the Wheaties box, Where's the beef?, and New Coke. The joke isn't that New Coke is lame, which is tired. It's that it happens to Don Draper, and after decades in the industry, how does he respond to such a disaster of a product? How does he reconcile his image of the American-ness of Coke with this backwards idea?

As for the acting, they're impersonations and it's a comedy. They're playing heightened versions of the characters. I see nothing wrong with it and I think we'll have to just disagree.

If it sounds like I'm defensive or just sparring, I'm not. I think it's interesting how people approach comedy and genuinely want to understand your perspective.

[pete]

no it's not a lack of 80's reference; it's the lack of exploration of your own premise that you came up with. I think, regardless of how you reasoned the placement new coke - still it was a long set up to an obvious punchline.

I think I'm being especially specific with my response for this sketch out of all the things I've seen here, along with all the sketches other members post, because I really see the potential with this one. it's a great premise.

[polkablues]

and also just everyone badly wanted to be wacky, which killed a lot of the punchlines.

This was the real problem I had with it.  What's funny about Mad Men is how serious it is.  If you're going to do heightened, exaggerated impersonations of the characters, THAT'S what should be heightened and exaggerated.  What's funny about the concept is the idea of these buttoned-down characters amidst the neon insanity that was the 1980s, but that juxtaposition never really developed for me.

[Pubrick]

I think the real problem with it is that I hate Mad Men.

[polkablues]

I forget sometimes you're out of your goddamn mind.

[matt35mm]

I saw this story and immediately thought of the "Texting While Walking PSA"

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/texting-while-walking-banned-jersey-town-152720795--abc-news-topstories.html

[Gamblour.]

Matt, sorry just now saw your post. Yeah, it's pretty crazy. I've seen texting/walking bans popping up more and more lately.

Also, we've just completed a new video!

HEbrew: the app for gay Jews

[polkablues]

I was laughing already, and then the hand gesture he does when he says "Jizz-rael" killed me.  Dirty puns are the keys to my heart.

[Gamblour.]

Haha, that's awesome. If you listen closely, you can hear both of us start to crack up (I'm behind the camera).

[Gamblour.]

New sketch!

If you read Gawker, Buzzfeed, Reddit, or HuffPo, you should watch this.

The Internet Goes to Washington