Comedians’ old YouTube skits are enjoying a revival in lockdown. And now standups are returning to online video – to push its possibilities even furtherAt a house party in the north-east of England, teenagers are congregating around a computer, reciting the words to a video made by Picnicface, a group of Canadian comics. It’s an absurd spoof of a tourism advert, with clip art and photos flying across the screen while a hawk screams in our faces. The year is 2008, a time when comedians all over the world began adapting their humour for the internet.With easy access to quality cameras and microphones still a few years off, a lot of these videos are lo-fi, but no less funny for it. Picnicface have a honed but homemade style. Their videos, including an extreme advert for a drink called Powerthirst that gives you “menergy”, are now clocking up hundreds of thousands of views. Jon Lajoie’s 2007 rap spoof Everyday Normal Guy is also enjoying a renaissance: “I can’t afford a car, I use public transportation / I don’t mind, I read till I reach my destination.” Continue reading...
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jul/12/lockdown-comics-homemade-videos-jordan-brookes-northern-life-toussaint-douglass-kemah-bob