Summary
Olde English is a sketch comedy troupe formed in the Fall of 2002. Their work is characterized by their clever and absurd outlook on life. Their live shows consist of a combination of original live and video sketches, all of which are written, directed, edited, and performed by members of Olde English.
History
Olde English was formed at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, in upstate New York, by then-junior Ben Popik. Popik came up with the idea for a Bard-based comedy group while traveling through Europe in the previous summer. He quickly came up with the name (adopting the title of his favorite brand of malt liquor) and wrote the first few sketches. Upon his return to Bard, he posted flyers announcing the first meetings of his improv/sketch group and dozens of comedy hopefuls came out to join him. Naturally, not everyone at these meetings was fully committed to Popiks vision, and slowly the less-determined weeded themselves out over the coming weeks, until Popik had a following of ten in time to put on what became known as The Number One Show. At this time the group consisted of Emilie Bishop, Raizin Bob-Waksberg, Cameron Bossert, Joel Clark, Adam Conover, Tavit Geudelekian, Adam Janos, Jesse Novak, Popik, Shira Sandler, and David Segal.
The group started out with Popik as its authoritarian leader, but eventually as a group mentality formed among the remaining members, it became more like a tyrannical oligarchy of funny people. After the Number One Show, Olde English had its first roster change since its initial few weeks as Bossert and Bishop departed, and Jon Dame and Suzanne Richardson joined. After a few more shows (Slumber Party, The Comedy Before the Stormedy) Olde English lost both of their female members, Suzanne Richardson and Shira Sandler, but gained two new performers in Hana Scott-Suhrstedt and Caleb Bark, who made their first appearances at Were Getting Older; The Leaves are Changing. A few months later with the departure of Jon Dame, the troupe reached its current lineup.
A video that was made in the Fall of 2003 for their Nightmare Show and was released on the internet in 2004, caused a sudden surge in their popularity. That sketch was entitled Gym Class. Soon many other comedy sites were linking their viewers to Olde English. The internet had already helped Olde English gain notoriety for Dead Puppies and Hello? Fuck!, but it was not until Gym Class release that Olde English became more widely known.
Starting in late August with Adams Orange Stand, a video sketch from their live show You Broke Olde English, Olde English began uploading a new video to their website every Monday, a move that, along with their active message board, has made their website one of the more popular sketch comedy websites on the internet. In addition to these weekly sketches, Olde English members have participated in the 48 Hour Film Project, as well as the Second City Shortcuts Film Festival.
The next big move for the group would be the series of shows they performed in the Winter of 2004-2005. After a show at Brandeis University, Olde English released their first DVD, Gorilla Warfare, at their next Bard show. Following this the group traveled to perform in front of a meager audience at Chicagos SketchFest, but bounced back with a very successful pair of shows at San Franciscos SketchFest, opening for comedian Demetri Martin, and Dan Castellanetas group Totally Looped.
Where are they now?
With the exception of Jesse Novak who has graduated from Bard and resides in Los Angeles, and Adam Janos who is spending a year in Hungary, the other eight current members of Olde English still attend or live in the immediate area surrounding Bard College.
Current Members:
- Caleb Bark
- Raizin Bob-Waksberg
- Joel Clark
- Adam Conover
- Tavit Geudelekian
- Adam Janos
- Ben Popik
- Jesse Novak
- Hana Scott-Suhrstedt
- David Segal
Former Members:
- Emilie Bishop
- Cameron Bossert
- Jon Dame
- Suzanne Richardson
- Shira Sandler
External links
|
