On March 17, 2006, comedian Ze Frank started a video blog. Sounds commonplace, but Ze set out with a mission- to do a show every (week)day for a year. Originally meant as a news commentary vlog, The Show With Ze Frank eventually evolved into a mix of news, music, comedy, inside jokes, and a vibrant interactive community.
The quirky and quickly moving show usually starred Ze in his apartment. Some episodes were funny, some serious, and some bittersweet. Moving slowly away from doing a daily show about news, Ze eventually presented projects to his viewers (whom he called "Sports Racers").
Among these projects were:
- to make an "earth sandwich" (place two pieces of bread directly across from each other on each side of the earth)
- to dress up vacuum cleaners and take pictures of them
- to create opening greetings for the show
- to compete in a "I Knows Me Some Ugly MySpace Showdown" (in which participants try to make the ugliest MySpace page possible)
- to write parts of the show itself
- and, to remix a song sung by a man named Ray.
Ze found a recording on the internet of a man named Ray singing a song to his daughter. Ray's daughter had apparently had a very bad day at work, so Ray recorded a short song to give her encouragement. The song, entitled "Whip Somebody's Ass", captured Ze's attention and he encouraged his viewers to create remixes of the song and to find Ray so these remixes could be presented to him.
Upwards of a hundred remixes were created and submitted to Ze Frank's website. Ze also asked viewers to submit pictures and short video clips to compile into a music video for Ray. Ray responded first with a letter, and eventually Ze traveled to meet him. Ray was delighted by the creativity that had sprung from a simple impromptu song he had recorded for his daughter.
Ze Frank compiled an amazing community in a way only possible through the internet. Though Ze lives in New York City, The Show With Ze Frank was watched every day (and can continue to be watched) by people across the globe. This past summer, Ze Frank started a project called Color Wars, in which Twitter users joined teams and completed creative challenges. However, The Show remains Ze's most famous endeavor.
(This author created a remix for Ray herself, but the reader can find that on his/her own in the archives :D)
Extra links:
Here is the original challenge episode (Warning: could be confusing if you have never watched the show before)and the wrap-up episode (less confusing, and we meet Ray!).
Ze also presented at TED!
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1 comment:
First off, thank you so much for posting this. It's really funny.
This is a great example of how the Internet provides new opportunities that we can find through no other medium. The Internet is not the source of the creativity of Ray, Ze Frank, and the numerous remixers involved here. But through the web, creative entertainment such as this has a way to spread. Our generation is able to be entertained in so many ways that our predecessors never imagined.
As good as some of the remixes are, I still prefer the original best.
- Jordan Morsberger
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