Neil Cicierega

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Neil Cicierega
Born	Neil Cicierega August 23, 1986 (1986-08-23) (age 22) Kingston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Occupation	Internet personality, actor, comedian, puppeteer, vocalist, musician, animator, filmmaker
Website EvilTrailMix.com

Neil Stephen Cicierega (born August 23, 1986), is an American comedian, filmmaker and musician. He is the creator of a genre of Flash animation known as "Animutation".

Contents 1 Animutation 2 Potter Puppet Pals 2.1 The Mysterious Ticking Noise 2.2 Videos 3 Lemon Demon 3.1 The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny 3.2 Discography 4 Short Films 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Animutation

Neil Cicierega is the creator of a genre of surrealist Flash animation known as "Animutation".^[1] Animutation features arbitrary, nonsensical scenes and pop culture imagery, are typically set to novelty or foreign music, often Japanese. Most of his early Animutations used music from the original Japanese version of Pokémon.

Animutations found online popularity in early 2001 with Cicierega's "Hyakugojyuuichi", and the genre soon developed a cult following. Over the following years, a community of Flash animators began making their own animations inspired by Cicierega's works.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Potter Puppet Pals

Potter Puppet Pals
Also known as	PPP
Genre	Comedy, puppetry, variety
Created by	Neil Cicierega
Directed by	Neil Cicierega
Voices of	Neil Cicierega, Emmy Cicierega, Alora Lanzolotta
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
Broadcast
Original channel	Newgrounds (2003) YouTube (2006-present)
Original run	Animated series: September 27, 2003 – December 15, 2003 Puppet series: September 26, 2006–present
External links
Official website

Cicierega's Potter Puppet Pals is a comedy series which parodies Harry Potter. It originated as a pair of Flash animations on Newgrounds in 2003, and later resurfaced in the form of a series of live action puppet shows released onto YouTube and Potterpuppetpals.com in 2006. The central characters of the Harry Potter series are portrayed simply by hand puppets (with the exception of Neville Longbottom, who is portrayed by a butternut squash). Originally, the only characters shown were Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, Snape, and Voldemort, but recently Hagrid and Neville have featured. The characters' personalities are altered or exaggerated for comical effect: Harry is an angst-ridden and egotistical jerk, Ron is child-like and innocent, Hermione is obsessed with learning, Snape is emotionally fragile and dull, Voldemort is less evil and less intelligent (he answers the phone with the phrase "Dark Lord Voldemort speaking."), and Dumbledore is portrayed a senile nudist.

The relatively short series has spawned several hundred tribute videos, which have encorporated characters like Malfoy and Dobby.

Cicierega has done puppetry live at Harry Potter-themed events.

[edit] The Mysterious Ticking Noise

"The Mysterious Ticking Noise", released March 23rd 2007, is one of the most viewed videos on YouTube, with over 64 million views as of July 14, 2009. The video was nominated and won^[2] in the Comedy category in the 2008 YouTube Awards with 61.6% of the votes in that category.^[3] In the vid Snape hears a strange ticking and begins singing to it, followed by Dumbledore, Ron, Hermoine, and Harry. Towards the end Ron finds the source of the ticking is a pipe bomb and everyone is blown up as they celebrate, letting Voldemort sing by himself.

[edit] Videos

Flash animations:

• "Bothering Snape" (September 27, 2003)
• "Trouble at Hogwarts" (December 15, 2003)

YouTube episodes:

• "Potions Class" (September 26, 2006)
• "Wizard Angst" (November 2, 2006)
• "The Mysterious Ticking Noise" (March 23, 2007) In this chapter every puppet (except Hagrid and Neville) sings his name in a rhythm.
• "Wizard Swears" (December 1, 2007) This chapter starts when Harry find a list with wizard swears, after showing it to Ron and Hermione they continue insulting different people, they even make a prank call to Voldemort (who actually answers: "Dark Lord Voldemort speaking."); the episode finishes when Dumbledore says "the Elder Swear" :a minute-long mostly-bleeped swear. Neville appears for the first time.
• "School Is For Losers" (April 7, 2008)
• "HOLY CRAP, THIS VIDEO HAS OVER 2 MILLION VIEWS, WTF" Formerly known as "The Awakening of the Incorruptible" (May 16, 2008) Its a very short episode in which Dumbledore appears and then disappears.
• "The Vortex" (May 17, 2008)
• "Ron's Disease" (April 13, 2009) Hagrid appears for the first time.
• "Snape's Diary" (July 15, 2009)

Live performances:

• Yule Ball 2007, Harvard University The puppets performed Mahna Mahna as a tribute to the late Jim Henson.

[edit] Lemon Demon

Lemon Demon
Lemon Demon, performing at Lemonic Demonade
Background information
Also known as	Trapezoid, Deporitaz
Origin	Kingston, Massachusetts, United States
Genre(s)	Pop, rock, new wave, novelty, alternative, comedy
Years active	2000—present
Website	www.lemondemon.com
Members
Neil Cicierega Alora Lanzillotta[4] Charles "Chooch" Sergio Dave Kitsberg[5]
Former members
Tony Wry[6]

Neil Cicierega releases music and performs it live under the name of "Lemon Demon". He previously released instrumental music and several remixes of video game music under the moniker "Trapezoid", which was later changed to "Deporitaz" on request of another band called Trapezoid.

[edit] The Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny

In 2005, Neil Cicierega and animator Shawn Vulliez released the Flash video Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny on Newgrounds. This became very popular, topping the "Funny Five" on The Dr. Demento Show for several weeks and becoming the #1 Request for 2006.^[7] In 2009, a rerecording of the song was produced.^[8]

[edit] Discography

As Trapezoid/Deporitaz:

• Outsmart (2000)
• Microwave this CD (2001)
• Dimes (2002)
• Circa 2000 (2007)

As Lemon Demon:

• Clown Circus (2003)
• Live From the Haunted Candle Shop (2003)
• Hip to the Javabean (2004)
• Damn Skippy (2005)
• Dinosaurchestra (2006)
• View-Monster (2008)

[edit] Short Films

In addition to Potter Puppet Pals, Cicierega adds regular video content to his YouTube channel. He has worked on videos with fellow Massachusetts internet film makers and friends Kevin James, Ryan Murphy, Max Pacheco and J.L. Carrozza. In 2008, Neil, Ryan and Kevin were commissioned to make a series of "webisodes" for Plymouth Rock Studios. The series, New Kids on the Rock, is a tongue-in-cheek comedy about the trio's attempts to make webisodes for Plymouth Rock Studios. Several of Neil's short films have been featured on television shows such as G4's Attack of the Show!, The CW's Online Nation and CBBC's Chute!.

[edit] References

• "All hail Neil Cicierega" by Katharine Mieszkowski and Amy Standen, Salon.com, 26 April 2001
• "He's a hit with Internet set" by Emily Sweeney, Boston Globe, 22 June 2006

[edit] External links

• EvilTrailMix.com, Neil Cicierega's personal website
• Lemon Demon homepage
• Potter Puppet Pals homepage
• Animutation homepage
• Neil Cicierega's YouTube profile
• New Kids on the Rock