Olde English (sketch comedy)
Olde English is a sketch comedy troupe formed in the Fall of 2002. Their work is characterized by their clever and absurd outlook on life, and their often over-the-top dramatizations of otherwise mundane situations. Their live shows consist of a combination of original live and video sketches, nearly all of which are written, directed, edited, and performed by members of Olde English.
History
The College Years
Olde English was formed at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, in upstate New York, by then-junior Ben Popik. Popik came up with the idea for a Bard-based comedy group while traveling through Europe in the previous summer. He quickly came up with the name and wrote the first few sketches. Upon his return to Bard, he posted flyers announcing the first meeting of this improv/sketch group and dozens of comedy hopefuls came out to join. Naturally, not everyone at this meeting had matching senses of humor, and slowly the less-enthusiastic weeded themselves out over the coming weeks, until there were eleven members left to put together The Number One Show. At this time the group consisted of Emilie Bishop, Raphael "Raizin" Bob-Waksberg, Cameron Bossert, Joel Clark, Adam Conover, Tavit Geudelekian, Adam Janos, Jesse Novak, Popik, Shira Sandler, and David Segal.
After the Number One Show, Olde English had its first roster change since its initial few weeks as Bossert and Bishop departed, and Jon Dame and Suzanne Richardson joined. After a few more shows (Slumber Party, The Comedy Before the Stormedy) Olde English lost both of its female members, Suzanne Richardson and Shira Sandler, but gained two new performers in Hana Scott-Suhrstedt and Caleb Bark, who made their first appearances at We’re Getting Older; The Leaves are Changing. A few months later, Jon Dame departed.
A video that was made in the Fall of 2003 for their Nightmare Show and was released on the internet in 2004, caused a sudden surge in their popularity; this sketch was entitled "Gym Class", and it featured the members of Olde English in a stylized shoot-out which originated from a game of phys. ed. badminton. Soon many other comedy sites were linking their viewers to Olde English. The internet had already helped Olde English gain notoriety for "Dead Puppies" and "Hello? Fuck!", but it was not until the release of Gym Class that Olde English became more widely known. Their "Rap Video" has also done much to increase the group's popularity.
Starting in late August with "Adam’s Orange Stand", a video sketch from their live show You Broke Olde English, Olde English began uploading a new video to their website every Monday, a move that, along with their active message board, has made their website one of the more popular sketch comedy websites on the internet. In addition to these weekly sketches, Olde English members have participated in the 48 Hour Film Project, as well as the Second City Shortcuts Film Festival.
The next big move for the group would be the series of shows they performed in the Winter of 2004-2005. After a show at Brandeis University, Olde English released their first DVD, Gorilla Warfare, at their next Bard show. Following this the group traveled to perform in front of a meager audience at Chicago’s SketchFest.
Post-graduation
As members of Olde English graduated from Bard, the group underwent a transitional period. The result was the departure of many former members. By the middle of 2005, seven members were left: Ben, Adam, David, Raizin, Jesse, Caleb, and Hana. At the end of 2005, Jesse left, and a year later, Hana followed. Currently Olde English has five remaining members. During the summer of 2006, the group again started making new sketches, and despite the reduced cast, many of the new sketches are regarded highly by OE fans. Recent sketches have featured a number of guest stars. Some of the more prominent ones are as follows: former members Adam Janos and Jesse Novak; Julia Segal, David's older sister; Asif Siddiky; and Dan Leif and Jake Goldman from the comedy sketch group "Cleanest River in America".
On October 13th, Olde English released a sketch called "One Picture Every Day". This sketch was a take-off of an internet phenomenon popularized by Noah Kalina and Jonathan Keller, and seen frequently on YouTube. An immense amount of work went into the sketch, work which quickly paid off when the video was featured on the front page of YouTube a short while later as well as being featured on Good Morning America, bringing new attention to Olde English's work.
Olde English today
Ben, Adam, Dave, and Raizin perform regularly in New York City. Caleb is still attending Bard University, but continues to work with the group.
Current Members:
- Caleb Bark
- Raphael "Raizin" Bob-Waksberg
- Adam Conover
- Ben Popik
- David Segal
Former Members:
- Emilie Bishop
- Cameron Bossert
- Joel Clark
- Jon Dame
- Tavit Geudelekian
- Adam Janos
- Jesse Novak
- Suzanne Richardson
- Shira Sandler
- Hana Scott-Suhrstedt