I tried to kill
4tvs in 2004. Was stunned it came back up again in
2006 for CBS and even more amazed it piqued Comedy
Central's interest in 2009... and after that was
passed on? More than done. Hell, even done with the
characters. I'm totally cool admitting it just didn't
happen and move on...
...but they keep
perking people's ears up. You know? You can't describe
the concept without people going: "Huh? I really want
to see that..." So now, 2 years after Comedy Central,
the pilot comes up with genuine interest at Gary's
company (Helsinger, not my character - LOL) and the
opportunity to finally put the entire thing online for
everyone to see. For longtime readers/viewers, this
should be a nice treat to see all together. The bits
were available online before, but now you see the
entire piece and how it ran together that magical
night for me. Let me give a quick description of
exactly what this was hoping to
accomplish.
You always cater
things like this TO the pitch. Just as Up & Adam
with CBS was made specifically to target Carson Daly's
show on NBC (who I would've gone up
against), this show was specifically for Comedy
Central. A mix of a bunch of genres pieced together
like "The Chappelle Show". The talent is onstage
talking to the audience and throwing to bits.
Ironically, for the people in the audience, a show
like this is pretty boring 'cause the whole show is
bits. So I decided to throw in The Egos being my
"house band" that performed live onstage through TVs,
and the bits would involve them. It livened it up for
the audience for sure. The final wrinkle was mixing it
with a Muppet Show/Larry Sanders type of dynamic with
backstage antics setting up what was happening
live
This show you're
about to see however was never meant to be aired
as-is. This was for the heads of Comedy Central to see
every possible comedic talent I could pull off in
a short amount of time with a pretty ambitious concept
of the 4tvs live onstage. Whether that even WORKS on
television is up for debate. It certainly works
live... but it could be argued that it loses it's
charm when taped and re-aired. Ideally? Sweeping
jib-arm shots over the crowd in a much bigger setting
will give the "live feel" that it needs. As it stands
a static shot for the main 4tvs just looks fake. Again
picture a sweeping shot over the heads of an audience
as I'm interacting live with the TVs? It instantly
hits you over the head with just how nuts the timing
of it all is because I play all the characters. But
I will again argue that "The iPad Comic" which
was essentially "1TV" gets the same "awe" factor
from the audience. With 4tvs it's almost too much.
After that rousing
description let me say this, I'm extremely proud of
this. I produced and created every second of this by
scratch with my own love sweat, tears and money. I
think it shows off my comedic talents very well even
though many have argued it's music heavy with two
songs. I chose to put the BackStreet Boys parody in
there because it's such a crowd pleaser... the "Aunt
Jemima" bit is technically better... but you
have to fault with giving more here. If the comedy
heads like it, they can always add and remove what
they want. The idea was to show Comedy Central what I
was capable of, and I left nothing on the table. So
here is the unaired Comedy Centrail pilot in 2 parts.
Enjoy...
Part
One:
Part
Two:
Hope you enjoyed
that, and well - I hope the new set of eyes watching
this like it too. My goal is to inspire the new
production company to pitch a show like they never
have before. There's a lot there to process, but that
can't be a bad thing.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
Merry Christmas. What a week ahead...
