It has been a little over one hundred days since the Vine app made its debut. While Twitter (the owner of Vine) made the transition from a curious and mocked social media application to a respected and recognized fertile ground for creativity after a couple of years of existence, Vine has already made comedic stars out of illustrators, art directors, musicians, and other walks of life that aren’t normally directly associated with comedy. And of course, there are the Rob Delaneys of Vine: veteran comedians that found themselves to be uniquely suited to the new app, finding it almost too easy to tell a joke in six seconds or less, essentially mocking those that make an effort.
Here are twelve Viners that consistently bring the laughter, in alphabetical order, because height order would be hard to accurately research. These funny people and others are featured on our weekly Vine column, The Vine 5 Film Festival.
Steve Agee
Fun Outdoors
The former Sarah Silverman Program actor managed to get the star of that Comedy Central show on his already legendary six second talk show Hollywood & Vine, as well as other high profile guests including Jon Hamm. When Agee isn’t hosting or rehearsing his show, he can be found consulting with Beezlebub on his nutrition, and respecting the craft of acting.
Matt Braunger
The Moment It All Turns
The stand-up has written and starred in many funny short shorts, in which he has practiced an upcoming therapy session, forgotten a very important thing, and strangely, just like Steve Agee, talked about eating unhealthy food to an unlikely person.
Chris D’Elia
Time Machine
Even though the show he co-starred in, Whitney, has been canceled, and his new sitcom Undateable is currently without a time slot and on NBC, the male lead and stand-up has plenty of potential projects lined up. One of these is a series he created himself called Excuse Me, Sir, where D’Elia shows the audience a person either wearing something out of style, or doing something pretentious, or just looking like an unflattering version of a celebrity, calls them out on it (not to their face), and flashes the cheesiest, insincere, most douchiest smile imaginable. D’Elia is great at getting laughs out of being a jerk, and other funny recurring Vine bits of his are speaking gibberish to confuse people, and excitedly exclaiming how little he cares about sports as he watches it.
Adam Goldberg
Andy, Dance Rehearsal
Adam Goldberg thrives on being different, and has said that from the beginning has seen the app as perfect for making horror films. Most of his videos are a part of a long, strange, but ultimately funny story, whether it be Andy Dick and Goldberg switching bodies, or Goldberg and Goldberg recording the new Goldberg Sisters album. When Adam doesn’t feel like being the Fellini/Godard/Warhol/Your Go-To Experimental/Pretentious Film Director, he is capable of making a funny without any visual trickery or weirdness.
Gillian Jacobs
Origin Story
Jacobs portrays Britta Perry on Community and is a rising movie star who has committed herself to the art of Vine, going as far as to hold on to a tree costume for months for a few funny videos. Her busy schedule unfortunately has caused her to miss Coachella, but she still has time to show off her well-informed mother.
Keelayjams
Black Metal Pizza Party
Keelayjams likes to create a series of images that presumably nobody else would ever think of. Sometimes the titles of the vines says all you need to know about the videos: Pizzas Parachuting From A Very Pretty Bridge, Self Portrait from a Ceiling Fan, A bowl of salad in the seat of a wheelchair rolling down the street unassisted, etc. In the universe of Keelayjams, where the GAP sells possessed attire, and the hiding of pornography is impressively elaborate, the black metal character always wins in the end.
Jamie Lee
Sugar Cat: Mean Prank
Jamie Lee’s Sugar Cat character is one of the best characters in the fledgling Vine universe. A current cast member of Girl Code, Lee is comfortable with playing neurotic, heartbroken, and momentarily braless.
Marlo Meekins
Tube Collection
A fantasic, surprisingly complex character on Vine is Marlo Meekins’ Rose, a clumsy, coked up, tube loving nerd-a-linger. Meekins also volunteers her pets for some impressive and funny vines, including the canine reenactment to Back to the Future. The cartoonist/writer has even collaborated with felines of an animated nature.
Will Sasso
Robert De Niro Saying Popular New Slang Words
Sasso has impressively created several running gags and characters in such a short span of time. The former MadTVer has alternately played the badass “Corey†in an ongoing story (Marlo Meekins apparently killed him a few days ago and buried him last week, unfortunately), Arnold Schwarzenegger while driving a car, Hulk Hogan, providing a Bill Cosby voice to comedians or strangers and pretending that they are Bill Cosby, and an always apologetic Robert DeNiro. Not to mention the segment Word Repeat With My Adorable Italian Mother, and the consistent punchline of vomiting out a lemon, which has become the first meme of Vine, repeated as an homage even on the slightly bigger screen on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, as well as Adult Swim.
Ridd Sorensen
Siri and Me Part 9
The cartoon art director is on the run from the FBI, and has had issues with his children, but at least he is able to teleport.
Brody Stevens
Hey Buddy #throw
Stevens’ Vines are powered by the powerful, unique and positive personality possessed by the one and only Brody Stevens. He sings, has hidden tambourines in his car, and sings even more. His account is basically six second snippets of how Brody lives his life (a few vines have simply been footage of the ingredients and subsequent blending of a health shake), which is lived one lilting word at a time, occasionally punctuated with a “yes,†“positive energy,†or “push,†like there should be a hashtag immediately preceding it.
James Urbaniak
Behind the Scenes
The actor and voice of Dr. Thaddeus S. “Rusty†Venture is a committed and talented viner, who as seen above and in the ’76 Oscar Party video likes to cast more than the normal number of people in a vine. His Bowie at Home is equally as funny, but the concept is much simpler.