New Pictures
Some new shots by Lauren Hammersley of Jared are now available in the picture section. Also available are some Jared taken shots from the past few editions of Sunday Night Live at the Comedy Bar.
Have you ever deactivated your facebook account?
Hey everyone,
Jared is producing a new documentary series and is wondering if you, or anyone you know has ever deactivated your facebook account or other social media platform (messenger, myspace, etc) for an interesting reason. Are you addicted to facebook, avoiding someone, the target of an aggressive stranger’s crush, etc. and are willing to go on camera to talk about it? Contact me via the contact page form.
Please forward this message to anyone you think would be interested.
Thanks.
Two new videos at this weekend's Sunday Night Live
Two new Jared helmed videos will be debuting at Sunday Night Live this Sunday, January 10 at the Comedy Bar. The show starts at 9pm at 945b Bloor St. W (Just South of the Delaware St. exit of Ossington Station)
Mark Breslin Interview...
Jared recently sat down with Yuk Yuk’s founder Mark Breslin to talk about the internet and it’s future in comedy. Here’s the article which was published in this month’s issue of the Village Post. http://postcitymagazines.com/2009-01/story_200901_ComicStripped.php
Will the Internet replace comedy clubs?
Monthly show at The Rivoli showcases killer online comedians
by Mark BreslinIT’S A NEW year, and so my thoughts naturally gravitate to the future. “Where is comedy going?” is a question I’m often asked, and although there’s no one definitive answer, the Internet is a good place to start.
Thanks to the Internet, Bill Maher and the local emcee at the Anytown Chuckle Hut now have equal access to a distribution channel. Talent scouts no longer have to do much more than point and click. There are no “discoveries.” It’s all out there for anyone to see, amateur or professional.
But it’s not just stand-up comics posting their acts on the Web. Comedians are now making their own short films on portable cameras, doing their own editing, and uploading them onto the Internet.
A few years ago, I asked a producer at the Aspen Comedy Festival if he was going to the stand-up showcases. He told me there was no need. Since no industry bigwig is interested in the relatively nonlucrative live market, why not bypass the process entirely and just watch what funny people are posting on the Web?
So comedy clubs, at least in L.A. and New York, are no longer the front door of the business. It’s YouTube.
You can find almost anything you want by typing in a few key words. Now that the resolution issue has been improved, any comic can be seen and have work passed on by excited consumers. Russell Peters has claimed this is how his fame exploded all over the globe.
With this in mind, I talked to Jared Sales, a local guru of Internet comedy who teaches at the Humber School of Comedy. Sales, 28, has a cool, Brooklyn hipster look that makes him an appropriate poster boy for the Internet-comedy movement.
“YouTube has produced more comedy in the past three months than all the U.S. networks in the history of television,” says Sales.
I remind him that most of it is junk, and he doesn’t disagree. But this is where portals like “Funny or Die” come in, which tend to act as filters letting only the very best through. And Sales makes the point that Internet comedy tends to be quirky, which trickles up to mainstream media and encourages a Judd Apatow or Will Ferrell to take greater comedic risks.
But I have two major beefs with the new medium. One, that it only encourages short pieces of comedy, and two, that almost all of the humour tends to be slapstick.
Jared thinks “people’s attention spans haven’t adapted to the medium yet.” A fair reminder that the technology is still new. But I still think the medium works against creators of long-form programming where the audience is taken on a journey that involves character and story arcs that stick in your mind and touch your soul.
But what of the economics of all of this? Even Sales admits that “you could get a million hits on YouTube and only make a couple of hundred dollars.” But the model might be that you get discovered on YouTube and then hired by old media such as network television. Or, suggests Sales, direct sponsorship of popular Internet shows is a possibility, hearkening back to the early days of TV when companies would sponsor entire shows.
In the meantime, it’s not deterring any comics under 30 from picking up that camera.
If you want evidence, go to one of Jared Sales “NSFW” (Not Safe For Work) shows at the Rivoli the last Tuesday of every month. He picks 25 funny new videos off the Web and shows them, complete with a panel of comics who dissect them. It’s a fun evening, and it’s live because nothing will replace a bunch of strangers in a room sharing a good laugh. 
Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder and owner of the Canada-wide Yuk Yuk’s chain of comedy clubs. The former comedian and TV producer is also the author of several books, including Control Freaked.
3 New Videos at Tonight's Loner Show 4 Yr. Party...
Jared is debuting three new videos (one for himself, as well as for Norm Sousa and Daryn McIntyre.) at tonight’s four year anniversary edition of the Loner Show. Over forty of Toronto’s best comics will each be performing one minute monologues. The Rivoli - 9pm. Hosted by Brian Barlow.
Just Cuz' Music Video featured on Myspace Music!
(click for larger image)
Joining the ranks of Bruce Springsteen, Lily Allen and Kanye West, the Jared Sales directed video for Prairie Cat’s Just Cuz is featured this week at music.myspace.com
Mind Control Media Website Launch!
Jared’s production company and online portfolio, MIND CONTROL MEDIA just launched. Check it out at http://www.mindcontrol-media.com (flash is needed to view.)
Two new videos - Daryn's Community Corner
Two new videos featuring fellow Sketcherson, Daryn McIntyre are now available in the video player on the mainpage of www.jaredsales.com
Myspace Featured Photo
Jared’s picture is the myspace.ca featured photo today. Tonight’s installment of NSFW is also featured on the frontpage. Here is a screenshot in case you missed it (click for larger image)…
