Olde English

Olde English is a 5-person comedy group based in New York City, comprised of Caleb Bark, Ben Popik, David Segal, Adam Conover, and Raphael Bob-Waksberg. They have been together for four years, and have produced over a hundred short videos. Olde English is fond of collaborating with guest comics, giant beer banners, and mocking their detractors.

The above video spoofs Diablo Cody, Academy Award Winner for Best Original Screenplay (Juno, 2007). Before writing Juno, Cody wrote a memoir, Candy Girl: A Year in The Life of an Unlikely Stripper. If you haven't heard what the book is about, you've been hiding under a rock. Here it goes (inhale!): Cody graduated from the University of Iowa, got a boring copy-writing job after college, then decided to buck the conventional life by signing up for amateur night at a seedy Minnesota strip club — at which point she liked it so much she kept at the pole for about a year. According to Videogum:

... no matter your feelings on the Diablo Cody Industrial Complex, it's about time she got the parody treatment (even though, in the real world, Cody is hardly famous.) Comedian Jackie Clarke does her best (breast) Cody impersonation in this SuperDeluxe video by the comedy team Olde English.

The video is well-shot, and manages to be mildly pointed yet endearing. Jackie Clarke seems to beam as Diablo Cody, and you get the warm fuzzy feeling that she's actually razzing on her best friend.

Besides the Cody video, Olde English shows off their versatility while goofing on T-pain, Akon, and that Cher-voice-effect. Olde English paired up with Puny to create Akon calls T-pain. The animation features a surprise appearance by Snoop Dogg. Did I say surprise? Oops.

Everything on the Olde English site seems to inhabit that nebulous space between amateur and professional, which is half a notch above most Internet content. The website layout feels a little squished, and the monochrome sepia/green pictures give it that kitsch factor. They do have access to above-average equipment and a great grasp of white-boy comedy, music, and sound. Overall, they're good at what they do, and that's what matters. B+, guys. Good stuff.

(From Videogum, and Wikipedia.)