Extra Medium Sketch Comedy
25 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 14 years ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsPortland, OR stand-up comics, filmmakers and other aspiring creative-types combined efforts to produce a monthly multimedia comedy showcase in historic Jasmine Tree tiki lounge. Though the bar is gone, the live sketches and comedy film shorts live on in this biweekly podcast.
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Episodes
Not Safe for Work
November 24, 2009 01:54Written by guest star Adam Higgins of Kick the Squirrel improv and countless other stand-up and comedy theater collaborations before he moved to Chicago to teach his wares, this is the video short that made audiences most squeamish. Though absurd, something about the animated humping wireframe "jumped the shark." Thanks, Adam! Get the latest video podcast here: Sodomy
Job Interview
September 27, 2009 04:03Nick Wells, the Phantom Hillbilly, wrote this comedy short while acting as a human resources director for Marketing Decisions. His contempt for authority is palpable, yet his sympathies for those who are gatekeepers for desirous hirees are perceptible too. Directed and edited by Danny Norton, starring Lydia Carrigan, shot after hours in Portland State University's student newspaper offices. The making of this film, which was recast halfway through production, was a comi-tragedy in itself. ...
Baby Sushi
August 31, 2009 02:49A man returns from a business with a most unusual confession to his wife. Written by Adam Higgins, performed by Nathaniel "Hub" Hubbard and Laura Patterson live at Portland, OR's historic Jasmine Tree tiki lounge. Get the first video podcast here:Baby Sushi
Bozar: Clown from the Future
August 29, 2009 02:44Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is visited with a warning message from the future. When he refuses to take heed, violence, profanity and a coerced sexual favor ensue. Some of Nicki Toma's most inspired weird sketch writing, and a genuinely bizarre turn by Scott "Hecktow" Klatt as Arnold and The Phantom Hillbilly, Nick Wells, as a media makeover mogul. Get the first video podcast here:Bozar: Clown from the Future
Baby Jack
August 28, 2009 00:45Longtime friends and cofounder of Extra Medium Nicki Toma and Tatyana Zaytseva delivered sporadic delerium to the online video ether and are poised to do so again soon. This bizarre parody of Jack in the Box and other advertising features Fogotron and Danny Norton and a cast of hilarious kid's meal toys. Get the latest video podcast here: Baby Jack
Nightly News
June 01, 2009 21:47The Phantom Hillbilly and Danny Norton were once frequent contributors to Independent Tuesdays, a Portland filmmaker showcase with monthly themes and challenges hosted by Jef Draubaugh. After changing venues from Nocturnal to ACME to The Standard then finally, Someday Lounge, so many new alliances had been made and broken and so much attrition, that it seemed the only salvation of the scene would be to hand it over entirely to another generation, another breed of filmmaker. Which we did. The...
Cokey Monster
April 09, 2009 08:42Mr. Children's Television Workshop gives Cookie Monster some time off to hone his craft. Cookie recommends that his brother fill in during his absence, but brother Monster does not have a predilection for cookies. Get the latest video podcast here: Cokey Monster
Ground Charlie - Shampoo
March 20, 2009 03:57Nicki Toma and Tatyana Zaytseva collaborated on what they often called an acoustic Tenacious D tribute duo. I always thought they beat Jack and Kyle in the clever lyrics department, but that's just my hip, disaffected "Tenacious D is too popular to be cool" side talking. Get the latest video podcast here: Ground Charlie - Shampoo (live)
Lashes
March 02, 2009 23:18Nicki T made this make-up commercial parody with Jihad Qutub at the camera and edit with her best performing compatriot Tatyana Zayseva. It features not one, but two rubber masks of former presidents. Which is creepy. Get the latest video podcast here: Lashes
Two Minutes to Midnight
February 27, 2009 10:00What Phantom Hillbilly could accomplish with a couple of industrial lamps from Home Depot and iMovie always impressed me. Here he manages to spin a yarn about protagonist Sage Negadeth going to hell, precisely where he's always thought he'd go when he dies. Why? Because he's so metal! Get the latest video podcast here: Sage: Two Minutes to Midnight
Revenge of the Sage
February 17, 2009 09:37Longtime collaborator Nick Wells, AKA The Phantom Hillbilly produced a series of shorts for independent Tuesdays, which soonafter reran at Extra Medium's multimedia comedy showcases to a new audience. Their odd pacing and heavy metal humor were so well received that he wrote the screenplay for a Sage Negadeth feature, shot a trailer and is still pursuing budgeting it's eventual fruition. Get the latest video podcast here: Revenge of the Sage
Attrition
January 28, 2009 19:53As the cast of Extra Medium dwindled, were replaced, dwindled again, the final throes consisted of guest appearances at other sketch ensemble's showcases and dredging the deepest crevices for funny video. This embarrassing nugget is one of the first I made using analog 8mm tape-to-tape decks. Get the latest video podcast here: Little Green Men
Against Free Speech
January 24, 2009 23:23The cast of Extra Medium were so anxious to support Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004 that we made our own signs. We were then whisked away to a "free speech zone" far away from where supporters with official John Kerry signs culd see Leonardo DiCaprio and John Bon Jovi up close and personal. "Grrr," we thought. "This free speech thing isn't so free after all. Let's protest free speech with new signs!" We confused people, as would be expected. Four years late for a big, De...
Help! A Bear is Eating Me!
December 28, 2008 08:01Friend of Extra Medium Mykle Hansen performed a glorious reading from I Heart Everything at their final live performance in December, 2006 @ Portland's Bagdad Theater. Since then, musical collaborator in The Golden Greats, Danny Norton, worked with him on a book trailer to promote his latest comic novel "Help! A Bear is Eating Me!" Mired in pathos, the timeline follows a Seattle ad executive pinned under his Rangerover for 13 chapters, being eaten slowly feetfirst. This installment sheds lig...
Punk'd Lite
December 22, 2008 23:18It's like MTV's practical joke show, only with safer, risk-free pranks. Danny Norton's first foray into editing with Final Cut Pro @ Portland State University saw him working up an idea of Star Can't Dead's Jihad Qutub into a digital short for their multimedia comedy showcase at nearby Jasmine Tree tiki lounge. Get the latest video podcast here: Punk'd Lite
Sex Therapy
December 10, 2008 05:27Laura Patterson and Scott "Hecktow" Klatt have a counseling session facilitated by Adam Higgins. Performed live at Portland's historic Jasmine Tree tiki lounge, now a level plain of grass upon which cranes erecting a new student recreation center can entertain you. Get the latest video podcast here: Sex Therapy
James Bond: Cookiepussy
December 07, 2008 01:45The final cast of our multimedia sketch show included Adam Higgins, who traveled East to study with Second City in Chicago and teach improv. He was reticent to play a "mentally different" character until it became clear it could be pulled off a a simple goon. Masterfully written by Nathaniel "Hub" Hubbard, who also stars as James Bond a la Connery brogue. Get the latest video podcast here: Cookiepussy
The Polls Part 1
November 04, 2008 01:13We know it's SO November 2, 2004, but this series of videos was shown on election night 4 years ago to cheer people up. We anticipated that every vote "would count" and that the election would have a happy ending. Get the latest video podcast here: The Polls Pt.1
The Polls Part 2
November 04, 2008 01:12We know it's SO November 2, 2004, but this series of videos was shown on election night 4 years ago to cheer people up. We anticipated that every vote "would count" and that the election would have a happy ending. Get the latest video podcast here: The Polls Pt.2
The Polls Part 3
November 03, 2008 00:51We know it's SO November 2, 2004, but this series of videos was shown on election night 4 years ago to cheer people up. We anticipated that every vote "would count" and that the election would have a happy ending. Get the latest video podcast here: The Polls Pt.3
Custard
October 20, 2008 23:12In one of our most elaborate live sketches (OK, Condos and Lawyers had real costumes), a boardroom of company cronies must answer the CEO's demands for new marketing strategies. Written by Nathaniel "Hub" Hubbard, with Steve Libbey, Scott "Hecktow" Klatt, Laura Patterson and Danny Norton. Get the latest video podcast here: Custard
Escape from USA
October 09, 2008 20:09November 2, 2004 was a dark day for liberal-minded Americans anxious for John Kerry to turn the political future around. And he should have, too. Diebold delivered an empty victory as promised, so this short follows a disgruntled ex-pat who immigrates as a mail order husband. Get the latest video podcast here: Escape from USA
Plastic Culture
September 14, 2008 22:43OK. This is probably the strangest film collaboration in my recollection. Portland, OR's Bear Deluxe Magazine and parent environment watch organization ORLO host a yearly film competition. What possessed us to spin the theme "plastic culture" into the story of rock monolith Ted Nugent losing his hunting bow is anyone's guess. Get the latest video podcast here: Max Gross
Vader Vacation
September 06, 2008 21:46Another great Animation Schmanimation short courtesy of Cinema Queso's John C. Meyer, shown at Extra Medium's multimedia comedy showcase near the final installment (we hope) of George Lucas' prequel trilogy, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. Get the latest video podcast here: Vader Vacation
Blind leading the Blind
August 25, 2008 22:27About all I can say to introduce this short is that my blind roommate pretty much suggested the direction of this storyline, offering to do as many falling and rolling stunts as possible. I couldn't see much in the Scruffers costume either, so it was up to cameraman/director/conspirator Crispin "Credible" Rosenkranz to guide us across busy streets via his voice. So it's about a half-man half-dog/guy in a fuzzy car seat cover who is a terrible assistant animal. Don't get too offended. We had ...