Olde English (sketch comedy)

Olde English is a sketch comedy troupe based in New York City. The group has published over 100 comedy shorts on the Internet,^[1] and has performed live at several venues and festivals across the country.

History

Olde English was formed by a group of students at Bard College, and was originally conceived by Ben Popik. While traveling in Europe during the summer of 2002, Popik chose the name for the group and began writing some of the early sketches. In the fall of 2002, Popik returned to Bard and held auditions for the group.^[2] Olde English currently consists of Adam Conover, Ben Popik, Raphael Bob-Waksberg, Dave Segal, and Caleb Bark, although several others have joined and left over the years.^[3]

Olde English has been producing videos on its website since 2002, usually posting one sketch approximately every two weeks.^[4] In 2004, Olde English released its first self-produced DVD, Gorilla Warfare.^[5] The group first gained popularity in 2003, when their video "Gym Class" became a viral hit. In 2006 the group released a video titled "One Picture Every Day," starring Ben Popik and featuring an original song by former member Jesse Novak. The sketch, a parody of an internet phenomenon popularized by Noah Kalina and Jonathan Keller, rapidly gained popularity on YouTube, where it has been viewed over three million times.^[6] The video has since been featured on Good Morning America^[7] as well as a Mountain Dew ad campaign.^[8] On January 17, 2007, Olde English announced that its videos would be regularly featured on the comedy website Super Deluxe.^[9]

Olde English has performed live at the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival (2005),^[10] the San Francisco Sketchfest (2005–07)^[11] and the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (2007).^[12]

Olde English's "Free NYC Rap," a rap music video protesting the restrictions for independent New York City filmmakers that were proposed in Fall 2007, was nominated for a 2007 ECNY award.^[13]

Recent projects

The members of Olde English — along with former members Joel Clark and Jesse Novak, as well as longtime collaborator Chioke Nassor — recently completed their first feature film, The Exquisite Corpse Project. The film first premiered at festivals in June 2012, and became available for commercial download at the end of April 2013.^[14]

References