CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (4/10/20): IT'S OUR SHOW (WE DO WHAT WE WANT)
CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (4/10/20):
IT'S OUR SHOW (WE DO WHAT WE WANT)
By Chris La Vigna (@Chris_LaVigna)
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| IT'S OUR SHOW hosts Chris La Vigna & Dan Servian are total professionals. |
C'mon, you really thought I was gonna be churning these posts out five days a week and never once mention one of my own projects? That's just stupid! Anybody who knows me knows that I'm a thoroughly shameless self-promoter, and today is no different. So sit down you hooligans (or if you're already seated, get up, then slowly sit back down), and let Grandpa Chris tell you about one of the coolest DIY web series around: IT'S OUR SHOW (WE DO WHAT WE WANT)!
Our story begins in the heady days of the early 1990s, specifically on the morning of October 15th, 1991. THE FISHER KING was the number one movie in the country, 9/11 was still roughly ten years away from happening, and yours truly was delivered into the world via C-section...what? Too far, both in terms of chronology and personal information? Alright, I'll trim the timeline a bit...
It was fall 2017. I'd moved back to my hometown of Mamaroneck, NY after having lived in Baltimore for the better part of a year. I was doing my best to get myself back together, both financially and artistically (still kinda working on that to be honest...) when my pal Danilo asked me about helping him script/film a sketch that was meant to be a final project for one of his film classes at WCC. The sketch was called "Acid News," and it was about a local news weatherman tripping balls live on the air because his coffee was spiked with LSD (we ultimately used it as the first sketch of the first episode).
It was a fun little shoot. Dan and I both got to stretch our acting muscles, our buddy Jim Tucci worked the teleprompter, and after a few takes the whole thing was done (Jim, along with our fellow friend/collaborator Matt Ritacco, both make appearances in the sketch as well). As we were breaking the equipment down, Dena Schumacher, the insanely awesome studio manager over at our local public media station LMCTV, remarked that in all her years working at the station, they'd never had a "WAYNE'S WORLD" type show. Dan and me looked at each other and basically said "Welp, challenge accepted." I'd already had experience making a show at LMC, so it seemed like a no-brainer.
And from that, IT'S OUR SHOW was born. The easiest way I can describe the show is that it's what you'd get if Wayne and Garth from WAYNE'S WORLD decided that they wanted to give TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB a run for its money. Each episode features Dan and I as the hosts, playing cartoonishly absurd versions of ourselves as we banter and bicker, introduce bizarre sketches, and bring on local bands we dig to perform live in the studio. The show airs on Fridays after midnight on LMCTV, and we always post it up on YouTube the next day.
Every aspect of the show is a lo-fi labor of love, from the sketches we produce along with Jim and Matt, to the quilt made out of our old band t-shirts we drape over the couch and the wall of empty beer boxes we proudly display in the background for every shoot. When you watch this show, you're entering a basement located in the deepest depths of the weird little world that collectively exists between our fractured minds.
Our sketches range from bits like "Deep, Intellectual Thoughts With Jim," where Jim sits in front of a fireplace in a robe, slippers, and fez hat, saying the stupidest shit we can think to throw at him before we hit record, to "Drinkin' Linoln" where Matt dresses like our nation's 16th president and forces the rest of us to go on a bender with him, and "The Kinky Slasher," which features yours truly playing a serial killer who finds himself at a loss when a potential victim he's trying to strangle turns out to really be into getting choked.
And not to brag about our taste in music, but so far we've managed to get a pretty great roster of bands to perform on our stage: Babe Patrol, Maintenance, American Pinup, even Dan's own band Without Oars. We're both musicians who have loved going to shows for years now, and we love having a platform to showcase bands we see that we think everybody needs to hear. We've also gotten CLAM PALS member and all around cool-guy comedian Frank DeRuggiero to grace us with a stand-up set, and filming it with a live audience was one of my favorite parts of shooting the first season.
I'm so proud of this show, and how it's managed to bring out the best in me and my friends creatively. Before the world was forced to go into lockdown, we'd begun filming season 2, and as soon as we can all go outside and be human beings again, we're gonna get right back into shooting this season and putting out there for all you lovers of weird TV.
Meanwhile you can watch the first season of IT'S OUR SHOW (WE DO WHAT WE WANT) on our YouTube page (don't forget to like & subscribe), as well as on LMC's website. As Dan and I like to say at the end of every show: "FUCK YOU, AND GOODNIGHT!"
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| A title card for the pilot ep, designed by Marcus Beschloss |
It was a fun little shoot. Dan and I both got to stretch our acting muscles, our buddy Jim Tucci worked the teleprompter, and after a few takes the whole thing was done (Jim, along with our fellow friend/collaborator Matt Ritacco, both make appearances in the sketch as well). As we were breaking the equipment down, Dena Schumacher, the insanely awesome studio manager over at our local public media station LMCTV, remarked that in all her years working at the station, they'd never had a "WAYNE'S WORLD" type show. Dan and me looked at each other and basically said "Welp, challenge accepted." I'd already had experience making a show at LMC, so it seemed like a no-brainer.
And from that, IT'S OUR SHOW was born. The easiest way I can describe the show is that it's what you'd get if Wayne and Garth from WAYNE'S WORLD decided that they wanted to give TIM AND ERIC AWESOME SHOW, GREAT JOB a run for its money. Each episode features Dan and I as the hosts, playing cartoonishly absurd versions of ourselves as we banter and bicker, introduce bizarre sketches, and bring on local bands we dig to perform live in the studio. The show airs on Fridays after midnight on LMCTV, and we always post it up on YouTube the next day.
Every aspect of the show is a lo-fi labor of love, from the sketches we produce along with Jim and Matt, to the quilt made out of our old band t-shirts we drape over the couch and the wall of empty beer boxes we proudly display in the background for every shoot. When you watch this show, you're entering a basement located in the deepest depths of the weird little world that collectively exists between our fractured minds.
 |
| Baby look pretty now mommy? (from S1E03: "This Is Our Sermon") |
Our sketches range from bits like "Deep, Intellectual Thoughts With Jim," where Jim sits in front of a fireplace in a robe, slippers, and fez hat, saying the stupidest shit we can think to throw at him before we hit record, to "Drinkin' Linoln" where Matt dresses like our nation's 16th president and forces the rest of us to go on a bender with him, and "The Kinky Slasher," which features yours truly playing a serial killer who finds himself at a loss when a potential victim he's trying to strangle turns out to really be into getting choked.
And not to brag about our taste in music, but so far we've managed to get a pretty great roster of bands to perform on our stage: Babe Patrol, Maintenance, American Pinup, even Dan's own band Without Oars. We're both musicians who have loved going to shows for years now, and we love having a platform to showcase bands we see that we think everybody needs to hear. We've also gotten CLAM PALS member and all around cool-guy comedian Frank DeRuggiero to grace us with a stand-up set, and filming it with a live audience was one of my favorite parts of shooting the first season.
 |
| Drinkin' Lincoln! (From S1E05: "Our Name Is Mud") |
I'm so proud of this show, and how it's managed to bring out the best in me and my friends creatively. Before the world was forced to go into lockdown, we'd begun filming season 2, and as soon as we can all go outside and be human beings again, we're gonna get right back into shooting this season and putting out there for all you lovers of weird TV.
Meanwhile you can watch the first season of IT'S OUR SHOW (WE DO WHAT WE WANT) on our YouTube page (don't forget to like & subscribe), as well as on LMC's website. As Dan and I like to say at the end of every show: "FUCK YOU, AND GOODNIGHT!"
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