I hope I’m making the right decision here. I hope I’m doing my part to further the art form by refusing to censor. I hope I’m seen as a champion of free speech.
But, what if I shouldn’t have given such a mouthpiece to creators whose minds wallow in the most perverse corners of human consciousness, amid topics too taboo to cover like killing animals (none were harmed, none were harmed), the passing of a child, or making love to a Cuban sandwich?
This could be the beginning of something wonderful or the end of everything sacred. Let me take a moment to say to you, reader, if you’re offended by anything you see below, I hear you, I understand you, and I agree with you.
I popped a softer one in the middle, but the first and last are doozies. Here we go.
Losing a Child, by OSFUG
New York–based sketch group OSFUG is eight members strong and home to some of the most progressive comedy minds in the business, including Sudi Green and frequent collaborators Sam Reece and Becky Chicoine. In Losing a Child, Michael Wolf and Colin O’Brien challenge all goodwill as they helm a 1:33-minute comedy sketch about the grieving process of a father who has just lost his child. Seriously. That’s what’s going on in this one. It’s really an extended blackout, and while the joke hits, I’m covering it more because I can’t believe they dared to make it in the first place.
Pigeon, by Boris Khaykin and Leah Spigelman
Morbid? Yes. Nowhere near as macabre as the death of a child. Unless, of course, your child is a pigeon, in which case this’ll be very difficult to watch. All that aside, this low-budget contribution feels deft and buttons nicely with a touch of slick camera work that feels unexpected in a sidewalk affair like this.
Flavortown Is Dying, by Nick Logsdon†and Michael Lange
I hate that I like this. First, it’s one big Guy Fieri joke, which I had trouble covering the last time. I found a way then, and I will now because this is so beautifully shot and so intensely bleak. It ushers the old-hat mockery of Fieri into a space that’s more fever dream than first-thought lampoon about frosted tips and bad taste. Also, the makeup! Those wrinkles!
Was all of this too much?
Luke Kelly-Clyne is executive producer at Big Breakfast and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours @LKellyClyne.