Spring Break
'Olde English' Brings New American Comedy
Brad Tilles
Issue date: 12/7/05 Section: Focus
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.
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.