by Jenni Powell on March 5th, 2010
Back in November, a video collaboration between wildly popular vlogger Shane Dawson and web comedy originators The Fine Brothers hit YouTube. Within a week, it had gathered a whopping 2 million views. The video was a parody of the Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, which would explain some of the success in terms of targeting a large and passionate audience. But what was interesting about the popularity of this video was the fact that it is over 10 minutes long and was actually viewed more often than the source material it was spoofing.
This weekend, a second video parody is going to hit the internet. Titled “Girls Gone Wild On Degrassi”, a sneak peak of the video reveals that the collaborators are going to kick it up a notch…by actually including a member of the Degrassi cast, Lauren Collins, who plays the girl girls love to hate, Paige. On how she became a part of this installment, Collins said: “It’s all thanks to the Twitterverse! I received a ton of @’s about Shane’s first Degrassi video so I had to check it out! I thought it was hilarious. Dirty, vulgar and slightly inappropriate…sure. But that’s what made it so much fun. Jokes aside…what impressed me the most was the amount of detail that went into the writing. I knew that Shane and the Fine Brothers were huge fans and really appreciated the show. So I tweeted Shane and we kept in touch from there. I happened to be in LA while they were shooting Part 2, which worked out nicely.”
by Jenni Powell on September 16th, 2009
With over 1.6 million hits on YouTube, The Fine Brothers’ “100 Movie Spoilers in 5 Minutes” is a prime example of true viral video success. Plus, it delivers what it’s title promises. The follow up, which was purposely released right before this year’s Oscars, spoiled all of the Best Picture winners in Academy Awards History and has near 500,000 total views.
This time around, Benny and Rafi Fine are tackling television in the latest installment of their Spoilers series. Released in honor of the upcoming Emmys and beginning with this year’s nominees for Best Drama and Comedy, no genre is safe from spoilage…including anime, kids shows, early cancellations, and sci-fi (…Felicity?). We also learn Rafi’s true feeling about Winnie Cooper. Having been released yesterday, the video is already racking up the views and with the Fine Brothers past successes and loyal fanbase, this installment will most likely go viral as well.
by Lesley Goldberg on April 6th, 2009
Brothers Benny and Rafi Fine, fresh off the second episode of Prop. 8: The Web Series, are keeping busy with today’s bow of My Profile Story, a satirical look at the drama that can come from changing your No. 1 friend on social networking sites.
The brothers wrote, directed, produced and appear in MPS and penned all the content on the microsite as well. The cast of MPS also includes faces familiar to fans of the Fine brothers: Lisa Schwartz and Kristin Findley.
MPS was produced by Streamy Award nominees Leah Mann (The Guild) and Sevan Najarian (The Legend of Neil, The Pop) did the editing and visual effects.
by Lesley Goldberg on March 14th, 2009
Web video pioneers Benny and Rafi Fine have joined the fight to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage with Prop. 8: The Web Series, a five-episode social satire that pokes fun at various rights from the state’s Constitution via a “what-if” scenario.
The series, in which the brothers will appear, also features familiar faces in the Web video community, including Sara E.R. Fletcher (Secret Girlfriend), Maxwell Glick (lonelygirl15) as well as Tubefilter’s own Lindsay Stidham. Filming took place in the home owned by series music composer Joseph Carrillo and his husband Gregory Frye, who assisted the production with filming locations. The fate of the couple’s marriage is now in the state Supreme Court’s hands.
by Marc Hustvedt on February 12th, 2009
Comedy Central’s web comedy network Atom.com today announced its slate of original web series for 2009, naming more than 15 series coming down the pipe throughout the year. Highlighting the list are A.D. Miles’ new sultry comedy Hot Sluts! Rated R (see our interview with A.D. for more about this series) and season 2 of Sandeep Parikh’s Zelda-spoofing Legend of Neil which is back for seven new episodes.
* Nick’s Big Show: (6 episodes, Spring 2009) — This new web series is a mockumentary that follows comedian Nick Thune as he quits stand up and writes, directs and produces his dramatic one man show.
* House Arrest With Andy Dick: (5 episodes, premieres Spring 2009) — While being detained at home for drug related charges, comedian Andy Dick passes the hours by interviewing his celebrity pals (scheduled guests include Tom Green, Joel Greco of Cheaters, and Sally Kirkland)
* Hot Sluts! Rated R: (5 episodes, Spring 2009) — The creators of the hit Web series Horrible People and Wainy Days return with a nighttime soap opera parody about the new girl in town trying to make her way at a seedy, down-at-the-heels club. Hot Sluts is executive produced by A.D. Miles, Jonathan Stern and Joe LoTruglio and written by Miles and LoTruglio.
* The Berry-Agee Experiment: (4 episodes, Summer 2009) — Comedian Steve Agee (The Sarah Silverman Program) and British comic Matt Berry (The Mighty Boosh) find new and inventive ways to put each other down … in song.
* El Vacio: (15 episodes, Spring 2009) — Worldwide Biggies and the sketch comedy trio of Dominic Dierkes, Jonathan Gabrus, and Chris DeLuca deliver office comedies that skewer the viral humor, addictive interaction and infinite possibilities of the internet.
* Dutch West Short Shorts: (13 episodes, Spring 2009) — Utterly random, fast-paced and funny micro-comedy from sketch comedians Dutch West.
* Legend of Neil Season 2: (7 episodes, Summer 2009) — Following the season 1 success of Legend of Neil, creator Sandeep Parikh returns to Atom with more of the exploits of the classic video game hero, Neil.
* American English With Jimmy T: (5 episodes) — Jimmy T hosts a show where he teaches American words and phrases to a Japanese audience. Produced by Laurie Kilmartin.
* Special Features: (3 episodes) — Animator Dan Meth, creator of the web hit The Meth Minute, skewers Hollywood mega-blockbusters.
* The Shaman: (6 episodes) — Comedian Jason Nash stars as the new-age healer who moves in with a reluctant roommate.
* White Gorilla: (4 episodes) — An albino gorilla immigrates to the US and struggles to fit in. By Jim Biederman, Burt Kreischer, and Chris Gillen.
* White People Problems: (music video) — Zach Selwyn reminds everyone that Caucasian-Americans have problems too.
* My Profile Story: (pilot) — A social networking parody from Benny and Rafi Fine.
* Puppet Rodeo: (pilot) — Kevin Maher, creator of Atom’s hit pilot Old People News, returns with puppet cowboys and real life cats and dogs.
* The Deepening: (pilot) — Viral hitmakers The Duncan Brothers stage a choose-your-own-adventure cop show.
* Video blogs from Mike DeStephano, Kurt Metzger and Mike Rose. Multi-episode deals with rising comedy stars including Dan Levy, Jake Fleisher, Will Carlough, Riegel & Blatt, Todd Berger and The Landline.
by Tubefilter News on February 6th, 2009
What a night! Nearly 1,000 web creators, producers, actors and other web television industry folks packed maniaTV Studios (yes, home of the old Gilligan’s Island soundstage) to network, imbibe, and assert that web television is a force to be reckoned with. We put on a showcase of web series from the Hollywood Web Television Meetup’s community, screening All’s Faire from Dinosaur Diorama, Leaving Bliss from Shanna Micko, GOLD from David Nett, Lost Parodies from The Fine Brothers, The Meatgrinder Show from Chris Erb and Dal Wolf, Valley Peaks from Chicken Cobra, Is It Safe? from Pith-e Productions, and Puppy Love from L Studios.
by Marc Hustvedt on February 6th, 2009
Furthering its digital extensions of its franchise primetime hit series LOST, ABC debuted this week a web series primer, LOST Untangled, taking a lighter spin on catching up confused newbies. The recap series blends comic book graphics with LOST action figures spoofing actual scenes from the show.
This sounds familiar. Oh wait, haven’t The Fine Brothers been spoofing LOST with action figures for over a year now? Their hit web series parody LOST: What Happens Next? has racked up over 4.5 million views on YouTube and other sites since its debut last January. Both use the same action figures licensed to a Chinese manufacturer, shaky hand-held figurine movements and silly exaggerated riffs on the actual characters’ voices. Interesting.
by Marc Hustvedt on December 18th, 2008
The Fine Brothers—Benny and Rafi Fine—are well known in the web video scene these days, netting over 21 million views and counting on their growing library of videos. Their clever brand of offbeat humor has been in high demand lately, as the comedy duo recently signed on with Just For Laughs to produce a second season of Lost Parodies, their hit action-figure spoof of ABC’s Lost. Add another feather to their caps, as they have now signed a multi-sketch deal with video site iKlipz. The first sketch, “What is Eggnog?” is up today on the site (see above).
The videos will be exclusively on iKlipz.com for one week, then will be released to their super popular YouTube channel, which has been steadily climbing up YouTube’s most subscribed comedy list thanks in part to the success (over 1.2 million views) of their recent “100 Movie Spoilers in 5 Minutes” video.
