David M. Green: Purveyor of fine humour

Month: July 2010

  • Televisionman: Comedy Megaproject!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=632EtPMRvKE

    Hello!

    I’m David M. Green. Well… see ya!

    Oh, right sorry… Behold the sketches above and below! This marks the debut of my latest and Melbourne-based sketch comedy videos I’m creating with TV’s Lachlan Cowlishaw, under the codename “Televisionman”. Hopefully by the end of the year there will be enough to put together some sort of collection…

    At the top of the page is “The Novel Advertising Sketch”, which I wrote last year, originally for Radio’s Sam Mac, but we never got around to making it. It did require a bit of organising. The more people involved the harder it becomes. The stuff in the library with Lachlan was quite easy to shoot, but that meeting room scene took a bit more effort. After a “once-over lightly” version in a hidden-away group study room at the RMIT library that turned out to be too long and poorly shot, we enlisted the help of TV’s Antonio Cafasso as director, and I managed to get permission to film in one of the swish new PhD student meeting rooms in Building 9. Much better. Definitely worth the extra stuffing around. In the sketch, a struggling publishing firm finds an unconventional solution to their cash flow problem… I could continue, or you could just watch it. Up to you.

    Below is a shorter sketch simply called “The Library Sketch”. It was a simple idea I came up with when we were filming the library part of the Novel Ad sketch. We were there. So we did it. Apologies to the people actually trying to study in that part of the library.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgfEAG7bXIs&feature=related

    Things that I would talk about if I were doing an audio commentary on these sketches…

    Think production value. With a budget of $0.00, a sketch can look pretty crappy. However, assuming access to decent equipment isn’t an issue, it’s often inexpensive little things that can add big production value, giving the illusion of money. Girls are great for that.

    Girls add production value. In our case, it was the vocal talents of Radio’s Lisa Pellegrino, whom I previously worked with at Radio Adelaide 101.5FM and who now does breakfast radio on Mix 104.9 in Darwin. She recorded a line for the “Little Women” ad and emailed it down to me here in Melbourne. Without her the sketch would still work, but it’d be a bit of a “sausage fest” if you know what I mean.

    Those 3 novels. Funny story. The RMIT city library didn’t have all 3 of them. They just had Moby Dick. I actually had to get Little Women sent from the Bundoora campus and Breakfast of Champions from their other library in Brunswick! Production value: Gold. And essential to the sketch (One of the joys of being the default producer… all that painstaking pre-production to organise…).

    You’ll also notice a few subtle props. Lachlan, in executive mode, is wearing a pair of reading glasses circa 1995. Hilarious. I’m also smoking a fake cigar. $2 off eBay. On-screen value… priceless! I love that fake cigar. I’ve thought of a couple more sketches to use it in too!

    Oh yes, and I love that opening shot of Melbourne Central Tower. Certainly the most evil-looking building I know of. Great production value. And hey, when in Melbourne…

    So, in conclusion, I do hope you enjoy these sketches. They were a joy to make and very rewarding. Thank you to everyone who helped us out. Full credits accompany each video on YouTube. If you haven’t already, feel free to subscribe to me on YouTube by clicking here.

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    (The) Televisionman

  • Forgotten sketches from a Damaged Brain…

    Hello!

    I was browsing my old Radio Adelaide folders in a dusty corner of my external hard drive (I have a serious dust problem in my bedroom at the moment… gotta stop shedding all this skin…) and I came across some old radio sketches from a show I did back in 2007 called Brain Damage. And I couldn’t believe that for some reason or another, I hadn’t uploaded these ones. I think because Radio’s Nathan Sharrad edited these particular sketches, and I didn’t initially have them on my computer when I created the Brain Damage page coming up on 3 years ago. In any case, it slipped my mind.

    Enough time has passed for me to completely forget these, and so it was like listening to them all for the first time. I’m very happy they still crack me up; One of the advantages of not doing topical humour. Nice foresight, past me! Actually it was more Nick Godfrey and Nathan Sharrad – I believe they wrote and or edited these ones. However, you can hear the competent vocal performances of all three of us, as well as the resplendent Matty B. They’ve been added to the Brain Damage page, but for your convenience, here they are right here. It’s four young guys having a hell of a lot of fun! Enjoy.

    Stay tuned for more original David M. Green radio sketches. I’m switching back into production mode on Melbourne’s SYN 90.7FM!

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    (Radio’s)

  • Adelaide Fortnight!

    Ahoy!

    My blog entries have been a bit “Too Easy-oriented” lately. Forgive me. I’ve been in Adelaide the last 2 weeks and was so busy catching up with people (and filming more “Too Easy”) I didn’t have time to properly archive my trip in blog form. It is a time consuming exercise…

    Anyway, hello! This was the first real time I’d returned to my home town since I moved to Melbourne back in February. I hadn’t been back in 4 months. People told me I’d be shocked when things didn’t quite appear exactly as I remembered them. That’s exactly what happened. Walking along North Tce, it suddenly seemed strange that there were many buildings to my right, but an empty skyline to my left. And you really do notice just how wide the city streets are. It’s crazy there aren’t more trams through the Adelaide CBD. I did take the opportunity to ride the new tram extension to the Entertainment Centre. Very nice. Now if only they could do an extension like that every year…

    I made sure to stock up on Fruchocs and was strangely compelled to drink a Farmer’s Union Iced Coffee while I was in town, even though I never actually drank them even when I lived there. They’re actually pretty good. I wanted to get a photo of myself leaning up against a Stobey Pole, drinking one, but I didn’t have the time. I was too busy catching up with all my Adelaide friends. It was great to see the ole gang again, plus my family too. I also played golf for the first time in about 6 months, the fun that came from which can clearly be seen in the below photographs:

    We also took the opportunity while I was in town to film some more of our “Too Easy” webseries. We filmed 2 more episodes. I’ve had a look at the rough cuts and they’re very funny. Can’t wait to get them online. I think the fans will like these. Just imagine more ridiculously inappropriate behaviour from Adrian and more misfortune for Toby. I think we’ve found our formula for hilarity!

    Here are some production stills for the upcoming episodes 7 and 8:

    To see more photos, become my friend on Facebook. Or alternatively, if you don’t like me enough to justify becoming my friend, just look through my photos anonymously (they’re set to public).

    We recently became YouTube partners, which means YouTube is now putting advertisements on our Too Easy videos! So if you’d like to show your support for our webseries, why not give us financial incentive by watching the videos and clicking on an ad every now and then? You don’t have to buy anything, just click the ad and then close the window. It’s a victimless crime. The only victim is our economic system.

    But as good as my trip down Adelaide memory lane was, it’s good to get back to Melbourne to continue, you know, my life. Since my return on Thursday I’ve already had an audition for a TV sitcom (can’t say much more at the moment) and I’ve got a meeting with the makers of “In Joke” on SYN 90.7FM this week to discuss my impeding “coming onto” the show. You know what this means… More radio sketches! HAZAA!

    Kind regards,
    David M. Green
    MelbAdelurnean