'Olde English' Brings New American Comedy

As famed playwright Edmund Gwenn said, "Dying is easy. Comedy is difficult." With that in mind, turn your attention to a group of individuals who has set out to take on the world of comedy on their own terms. Collectively known as Olde English, ten young writers and performers have become an internet sensation with their unique brand of sketch comedy.

Formed by Ben Popik at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. in 2002, Olde English have filmed over 50 shorts as well as performed improv comedy shows throughout the Northeast as well as participated in several sketch comedy festivals. The core group is comprised of Popik, Adam Janos, Caleb Bark, Adam Conover, David Segal, Hana Scott-Suhrstedt, Jesse Novak, Joel Clark, Raizin Bob-Waksberg and Tavit Geudelekian. Former members include Jon Dame, Shira Sandler and Suzanne Richardson. All of them have attended Bard College. Their brand of comedy can be characterized as a mix between slapstick, satire, dry wit and complete zaniness with each member offering a distinct style of their own.

All of their shorts are hosted on their web site, oldeenglish.org, and has become increasingly popular simply by word of mouth from their fans. For newcomers just discovering them, the top of their page features shorts the group recommends for first timers to get a sense of what they're all about. In the popular short "Gym Class," each member starts out trying to survive a boring lecture on the game of badminton until the class turns into a free-for-all of gunplay hand gestures, in which a person's pointed finger turns out to be a loaded weapon and the entire scene mimics that of today's violent video games. In "Rap Video," one of the few music-centered shorts, Novak and Segal sing and act in their own rap video depicting their tireless search for food. What makes this short one of their most popular is Novak's talent for music production, in which the rap song is quite clever and witty.

Their shorts range from being performed within a single room or location or various places around their campus or even in the members' hometowns. In "Bathroom," Novak tries to do his business in the toilet stall but is interrupted and cannot concentrate when progressively more people enter the bathroom which escalates to an all out party with Coolio's "Fantastic Ride" setting the party mood. "Dave's Day" is an epic tale of Segal attempting to print out his paper assignment while encountering numerous friends and characters that end up diverting him from accomplishing his task. These types of shorts feature most, if not all the performers that prove how well this group works together. However, most shorts feature only one to four performers which showcases their individual personalities and senses of humor. In "Mutant Superheroes," Janos, Segal, Novak, and Bob-Waksberg quietly enjoy a cup of tea outside until they witness a nuclear explosion and become the sole survivors and wake up the following morning with super powers. Segal is given the power of X-ray vision, Bob-Waksberg has developed a fork and knife for hands, Novak has become a passionate Miami Dolphins fan and Janos has the ability to play Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life" simply by opening his mouth. The foursome decides to use their powers to fight crime even though the nuclear explosion has eliminated the population.

Their shorts also allow them to use other media for their comedy. "Training Video" is a parody of those employment instructional videos from the 1980s with bad acting and even poor video quality. The training video for this short is for the Oregon Consolidated Lifeboats and Dildos, Inc. and specializes in, of course, lifeboats and dildos. In "General Procrastination," the short is filmed using only a series of still photographs capturing the story performed by Bob-Waksberg and Conover as they both narrate their lines. The short details the day of a general with instructions to attack before noon but can't help but procrastinate as any typical college student would do, such as taking a nap and playing a quick round of Snood on a laptop. Last December the group filmed and produced their own DVD, entitled "Gorilla Warfare," and sold it through their web site. Their DVD consisted of six sketches surrounding the story of escaped gorillas attacking and killing the population. The DVD continues their unique brand of humor and featured audio commentary tracks by the performers that were sometimes funnier than the sketches themselves. It took only seven months before they sold out all 500 self-made copies, indicating how popular the group has gotten. It's only a matter of time before the group is able to film and distribute a second DVD.

The shorts have been filmed from the past few years and anyone who has followed them knows how much they've progressed from the beginning, from writing and performances to improved filming techniques. Up until last spring, the group had posted a new short every Monday during the school year and tried to do a few over their summer and winter breaks. However, last spring was also the time most of the group was graduating from Bard College and entering the real world. Yet, becoming a part of this comedy group has motivated them to progress further by not only continuing writing and filming video shorts, but also relocating to New York City. Since the summer, the troupe has booked shows at several improv comedy theaters. Those who still attend Bard make weekend trip to the city to perform with the rest of the group. Olde English has also been given the honor to perform at several annual sketch comedy festivals such as last January's Sketchfest in San Francisco and Sketchstock 3000 in New York City. However, the group has filmed and posted only two videos since last summer due to their busy schedules and focusing on booking shows. Also, Clark and Geudelekian have since left the group for their own careers. The group has been promising their fans better and longer sketches to be posted sporadically but have also indicated a weekly spot at a New York City theater starting in January.

If you need to fulfill a thirst for comedy, look no further than Olde English. Despite the possibility of not being appreciated by everyone's tastes, their unique comedy has resonated to a growing number of laughs from people over the last few years.