Fearless.
Over lunch today, I got into a conversation about what makes Tim and Eric’s comedy so sublime on one hand and so hit or miss/polarizing on the other. The conversation ended up shifting to some sketch/commercial parody work I did 12 years ago with my friend Dave Colin.
I went back to my desk and emailed some YouTube links over to my friend Tom, and the one that got chosen was the mail-order album parody “Look Who’s Hawking.” I sat and watched him react and felt really great about the enthusiasm (and proper timing) of his laughter. I also cringed a little after he eyed the video’s scrub bar about 3/4 of the way through.
Overall, it was a reaffirming experience for me. I miss making things like “Look Who’s Hawking” just as much as I miss being able to share my work with people and getting to participate in their enjoyment of it.
The thing that really struck me though was the story I told about how we would make these videos. Most often it would go something like this:
- We would have an idea, let’s say at 10:30p on a Friday
- We’d think about it for a little bit
- We’d dive right in
- By 6:30a on Saturday we’d have a finished video
- We’d crash and sleep until 4p.
Just retelling the story and actually listening to what I was saying got me inspired. What really inspired me wasn’t the short timeline (I have enough of that in my career, thanks) or the all-nighter (I’m too old for that now). What inspired me was the FEARLESSNESS of the process.
The way we dove right into an idea was admirable. We didn’t stop to think of whether or not our ideas would be well-received amongst our audience (friends). We didn’t stop to think of how much traffic the video would receive (even though we posted our work online back then, there was no YouTube. You had to suffer a Quicktime download over dial-up to see it). We just had an idea and we made it happen in whatever fashion we could.
Over the years, there have been things about the video that I would have changed in hindsight:
- As Tom’s itchy scrub finger reaffirmed, the piece is too long by about 2 minutes. The joke wears a little thin before you hit the big punch line.
- The big punch line is paced a little too quickly. In the 12 years I’ve watched people enjoy the video, their laughter steps on the best parts of the punch line. I guess there are worse problems to have.
- I really wish we hadn’t backlit the green bed sheet in the background.
But, the beauty of all that is that I recognize the shortcomings and I recognize that because we were learning our craft, these problems are good because it helped us become better with time.
I miss making videos like this. I miss being fearless with my ideas. I’ve become too worried about how my ideas will be received, and I need to change that.
By the way, if you’ve never seen “Look Who’s Hawking,” here it is. Enjoy.