Here is an example of a live studio audience piece we did for one of the last episodes of Mind Of Mencia.
This sketch has to be on stage in less than 2 days.
The script called for a crack alley that will play in front of the live audience during the taping. The art department got the script a few days before the shoot, and in the middle of two other field shoots, pre-tapes and cold open set construction this is what we came up with. First I drew the sketch, then Bianca Ferro waved her set decorator magic wand and found all the pieces and had the major pieces built and painted, Josh and Shane brought it to life building the telephone poles and Ron found some scary realistic drug props (hmmm, how did he find them). Here is what it looked like at show time.
The grey floor is just carpet with black tape to make the cracks.
What makes these sets difficult is they all have to be mobile and be set up during a commercial break in front of the audience in less than 8 minutes. Then after the sketch is finished it needs to be struck and gone in even less time to move on to the next segment. Not to mention it has to be made under budget and be staged for over a dozen actors and camera blocking, usually in less than 2 days.
Here is the set in action. We miss you Ned.
Costume design by Alison Freer, photos by Randy Shropshire
Here are a few stills from a sketch we did on Chocolate News for the Fat Man character.
This time Fat Man got his own sitcom on Nickelodeon called “Bitch You Betta Don’t”, sort of a Honeymooners meets King of Queens…except for the half naked dancers.
We had a limited budget and time frame to design, build, dress and prop this shoot but I think it came out perfectly. Julie Drach, the set decorator, was able to find the saddest run down inner city apartment dressing and Josh Green added such great details. At the end of the night Josh Ritcher & Shane Passantino wrapped the downstage side of the set with plastic and Fat Man had a foam party!
“Lewis Black’s Root of All Evil” (Wed at 10:30pm) is a hit!
It’s Comedy Central’s top-rated debut since the launch of “Chappelle’s Show” in 2003! Like “South Park,” it was the No. 1 show in all of television for its timeslot among men 18-34 (2.4/8). For the night, Comedy Central stood as the No. 1 cabler in men 18-24 and 18-34. The influx of young men helped lift “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” to its most-watched telecast (2.25 million) since October.
This was a great show to be a part of. I had a small but fierce art crew and it was great to be with Chris, Eric, Alison, Sketch, Devon, Mary-Eileen, Karen and so many more of the amazing Mind of Mencia crew for a couple months.This past week Comedy Central threw a premiere party at Lucky Strike in Hollywood (I missed it) and I have a new DVR that I forgot to program so I missed the episode too.
I used to reprimand my parents for never seeing the shows I work on, now I have turned into my parents.
Catch Root Of All Evil every Wednesday at 10:30 on Comedy Central
The other show I wrapped this week was The Chocolate News. TCN is a pilot for Comedy Central and was created, written and stars the brilliant David Alan Grier (you remember him from In Living Color). The show is a spoof of news magazine shows like 20/20 and Primetime Live but with a very black point of view. We shot thirty seven scenes in three days, those of you in the business know that’s pretty insane, but DAG is so much fun to be around we barely noticed the hectic pace. Here are some pictures I took on set.
Troy is only 10 years old so we built him a nice bedroom…
but don’t make little Troy mad…
because he will kick the shit out of your set…
Here Josh and Shane model the special couch they made…
and here it is in use…
And finally, meet Phat Man, he was kind enough to perform for some elementary school kids…
The Chocolate News is a pilot, which means who knows what will happen. I hope it gets picked up because I can’t even begin to describe how funny David Alan Grier is in his crazy costumes. Phat Man was unreal, I could barely keep it together while they were shooting it. I wonder if there if it would help to light a chocolate candle?
I just finished Art Directing eight episodes of a really funny new show for Comedy Central. It’s called The Root of All Evil and it’s hosted by the very irate Lewis Black.
The premise of the show is great. Root takes place in a courtroom, with Lewis as the judge, and the attorneys are comics (Patton Oswalt, Andy Kindler, Greg Giraldo and more) who debate over pop culture figures with Lewis ultimately deciding who is The Root of All Evil. A recent case? Paris Hilton vs. Dick Cheney…which one is the Root of All Evil?
A lot of my favorite people work on the show, Alison Freer is doing costumes, Eric McGilloway is the master of motion graphics and of course Chris Robinson rules the nest. Tonight is the wrap party at creator Scott Carter’s house. Scott is the Executive Producer of Real Time on HBO so maybe Bill Maher will be there with his date (a few Playboy Playmates)! The Root of All Evil premieres on March 12 after South Park on Comedy Central.
What up G Man?
Andy and I saw Patton Oswalt years ago at the Improv in DC before he was somewhat famous! It was the funniest hour of my life. Love him!
Merry
I am working on a stage next to where they shoot Family Fued. Seems they are doing a Halloween themed episode and having a bunch of set decoration delivered. Spiders, coffins, goblins and lots of tombstones are all being unloaded from the truck…including this one, which upon further inspection looks like it was stolen from a certain graveyard in Seattle.
I know it’s hard to see in this picture but the birth date and, well, death date are identical. Oh, and one one more thing-why wasn’t I hired to do this fucking gig?
Here is a webisode from an online series I art directed (with the amazing Bianca, Rock and Lindsey) for Harry Shearer. There is a bunch of great content over at My Damn Channel and soon there will be webisodes created by yours truly. More on that as it comes together, so, in the meantime enjoy “No Cooler For The Scooter” and see what we pulled together for $800 bucks. Somehow we made a real neon sign and photoshopped it on a picture of a bunker, a cabaret set, a fake rubber hand, a half broken heart monitor and me pulling a chair with fishing line look almost as good as Harry’s Dick Cheney makeup!
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