Not Safe For Work in the York Excalibur…
Original Article here…
I sat in a dimly lit room at the back of the Rivoli bar downtown, hoping the one friend who accompanied me would find the show as good as I had made it out to be. As the room slowly filled with people, my friend and I munched on popcorn, a treat they served to all the guests, which added to the laid back feel of the event. The hosts, Jared Sales and Tal Zimmerman, finally walked onstage to kick things off and present one of the most unique comedy shows in Toronto: “Not Safe For Work” (NSFW). The idea behind the show is to present viral videos from around the Net, then have Sales, Zimmerman and two guest panellists pick them apart one by one. The event is held the last Tuesday of every month and has featured several guest panellists from the entertainment industry. On the last show, the guest panellists were Trevor Boris, well-known for his work on MuchMusic’s Video on Trial, and Pat Kelly, well-known for his work creating comedic shorts and viral videos and as the co-star of Good Morning World, a mock morning TV show on the Comedy Network. With one panellist known for making viral videos and the other for ripping on them, it promised to be an entertaining affair and I was not let down. The show works on a “pay what you can” basis, making it a favourite for students looking for an affordable night of entertainment.
Over the next hour, the audience was treated to videos from YouTube and other sites around the Internet. From William Shatner reminiscing about his encounter with Koko the gorilla and several hilarious news reel bloopers to C-Span crank calls and the ’80s Calgary Flames lip-synching the line “You can’t touch a flame when it’s red hot” in unison, the presented
videos were a treat to watch. If that wasn’t enough by itself, the accompanying commentary by the four comedians onstage was a treat for the audience. The show simply takes the enjoyment of watching these videos on your computer into a fun, public venue like a bar where you can kick back and enjoy. Previous guests include Alan Park (Royal Canadian Air Farce), Richard Crouse (Reel to Real), Fraser Young (Video on Trial), Debra DiGiovanni (Video on Trial) and Mark Hickox (Rent-a-Goalie). Even Jerry O’Connell and Jerry Minor, past members of SNL, have dropped in via webcam to talk about their video spoofing a Tom Cruise interview.
Sales and Zimmerman are both quite well known in the comedy circuit around the city. Sales is a filmmaker and comedian who began doing stand up in 2003 and became well known for integrating multimediainto his performances. His videos took first and second in FunnyorDie.com’s Funniest Video in Canada contest in 2007. Zimmerman is a York University alumnus actor and comedian. The two met while on the Sketchersons, a local sketch comedy troupe that won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Sketch Troupe last year.
“We have been doing NSFW for a year and a half now,” said Sales. “We started doing it just for our friends, and then we thought, ‘Why not make a show out of it for people?’” Both of them pitched the idea to Zoe Randall, the show’s producer, who came on board.
So what is NSFW? “It’s basically America’s Funniest Home Videos for the YouTube generation,” answered Zimmerman, “with live commentary of the videos and different guests each time.” They are obviously helped by the huge amount of material that is available online on sites such as YouTube, Break.com and FunnyorDie.com, to name just a few. “It is really unbelievable that when a lot of things shown in these videos happen, somebody was there with a camera to record it,” said Zimmerman. He pointed out how most of these videos are uploaded on the Internet by people intending to share a funny personal moment with their friends; in a few days, they’ve become wildly popular videos. In fact, many of these videos have a lot in common with other reality shows on TV. A lot of them show people doing pretty stupid stuff, and a fad factor usually plays a part in their popularity. This has made quite a few people famous overnight, and networks have noticed. Tay Zonday uploaded his own songs on YouTube until one of them, the now infamous “Chocolate Rain,” gained views from all over the world. With its current view count on YouTube over 29 million, Zonday has already secured a sponsorship deal with Dr. Pepper in the United States and has even performed the song on various shows on TV. Clearly, corporations have taken notice and want the free publicity tied to viral videos. So, after all this, what are the future plans for NSFW? While both Sales and Zimmerman are busy with the Sketchersons and their show “Sunday Night Live” at the Rivoli – which is basically the same as Saturday Night Live – they have been approached by a few online content producers to bring their material together. Watch out for their Monday and Tuesday night shows at the Rivoli. Sales and Zimmerman have been kind enough to offer York students free admission to their shows. “Not Safe For Work” is indeed a hidden gem in the Toronto’s comedy scene.
