Tittererer’s Digest #53 (feat. Nick Offerman)
Ahhhhh hello! It’s like properly December now. Weird right? It seems like ages ago since we were all complaining that the Christmas ads were too early. Those days are a distant memory now. We’re into proper Christmas buildup. Who even remembers what the John Lewis ad was about at this stage? Something about staying safe near rivers? I dunno, those lads peaked too early. The HeadStuff Christmas party is this Friday in a top secret location. It’s going to be packed with celebs like the various section editors of HeadStuff and contributors and such. Will Hozier be there? He said that he would be and Hozier is nothing if not honest. If he’s lying we’ll need to “take him to church” to cleanse him of his sins! Anyway, lots of videos this week including a very important Nick Offerman video.
1. Nick Offerman – Yule Log
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Apologies if you’ve seen this already. It came out the day after last week’s Digest so it’s just about eligible for inclusion. I have very strict rules here. So, I don’t know if this video of Nick Offerman drinking whisky for forty-five minutes, the only sound the crackling of a roaring log fire, could be considered an ASMR video but I do know that it produced a tremendous sense of well-being in me and makes for ideal ambient visual accompaniment to a variety of things: reading, writing, petting a dog, napping. The four main things in life there. Technically, it’s an ad for Lagavulin™ Single Malt Scotch Whisky but it’s 2015 and I couldn’t care less about whether things are ads or not as long as they’re good. A rare victory for capitalism.
2. The Alison Spittle Show
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This is the pilot episode of The Alison Spittle Show. We’ve mentioned Alison a lot on here lately and that’s because a) she’s brilliant and b) she’s doing lots of things worth mentioning. I was in the audience and it was a great night, Alison’s a natural host and directors Giles Brody and Diarmuid O’Brien did a fantastic job of capturing the feel of the night. The guests were Tara Flynn and Aidan Power and the house band were the brilliant No Monster Club. Full disclosure, my writing partner Ellen Tannam and I contributed some jokes and a small sketch to the show but it’s very much Alison’s thing and (repeat after me) it would still be here even if I wasn’t involved. The next one will be on January 8th and has very exciting guests that I can’t mention yet so keep an eye out for that.
3. Two Things From The New Yorker
Yes, two things from the New Yorker. The first is a good and funny piece about existential answers to famous riddles by Ethan Kuperberg which you can read here.
Th second is slightly more personal. As the humour editor here at HeadStuff and writer of the Tittererer’s Digest every week, I see a lot of web videos and web series and video series. As a result, I can confidently state that every web series mentioned in Jason Adam Katzenstein’s All The Web Series Coming Soon, To A Computer Near You actually exists and I’ve watched them ALL. Read it here and spare a thought for your old pal Alan.
4. Country A People Try Country B Things
The kinds of videos that Buzzfeed and FACTS specialise in are a bit of a guilty pleasure. They can be interesting and informative but we mostly watch them to see what other countries think of all the secret things we hold dear to our national sense of identity like Tayto and Loop The Loops. They’re harmless but they have a formula and some clearly defined-tropes that are just crying out to be poked at a bit. Coincidentally, two videos appeared this week that do it very well indeed.
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The first tackles the FACTS style video where Irish people are confused by pretzels and airplanes. It’s by new Dublin based viral solutions provider Con10t which is obviously a fake name. The exact motives and membership of Con10t are a mystery but the stars of this video are basically an Irish sketch comedy supergroup consisting of Heber Hanly, Alison Spittle (her again), Giles Brody (him again), and Edwin Sammon. It’s directed by Diarmuid O’Brien (him again).
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The second is from College Humor. They’re very different videos in style and tone but are both very very good so watch them both you guys.
All right, join me next week when I’ll be going through the most embarrassing late night tweets sent by HeadStuff editors at the Christmas Party. Byeeeee.
