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Live From Sacramento
Special Interview By Suzon Walton
Publisher, Connected Now, Inc.
If you have not visited this website, I must ask what rock are you hiding under? A parody of BUSH vs. KERRY in a hilarious offbeat website cartoon. JibJab.com has had over 50,000,000 hits (they stopped counting last month) on their website for this one tune “This Land is Your Land”, beating out their previous rap parody of Bush Gore’s hit wonder of 3,000,000 - 5,000,000 hits. This famous parody is non-partisan, because it pokes fun of both President George Bush and Senator John Kerry. Singing, dancing and grunting to somewhat of a tune of “This Land Is Your Land,” brothers Gregg and Evan both get to let loose in the creativity department and do a political satire of the political figureheads of 2004.
I had to admit that 50 Million was a big number but Evan said “It is shocking and overwhelming, mind boggling, and not a real number anymore.”
I recently spoke to Evan Spiridellis (the animator) of JibJab.com and played phone tag with Gregg, his brother (the writer). They were down to earth individuals that still work out of a warehouse in Santa Monica. The owners of JIB JAB were kind enough to grant me an interview. They have been seen on many TV shows such as the Tonight Show with Jay Leno and the much watched Television News channel, CNN. I was flattered and astonished when I found out they answer the phone. Evan and I had a nice talk for several minutes. He even sent us his logo and “This Land” art for our article. What an accommodating man. You might see the nasty Santa e-cards online as well as other animated pieces, but the overwhelming success of these two brothers has not gone to their heads. They are taking real jobs from real companies so they can afford to do “This Land” when they have time to chill.
CN -How do you start the process? Do you animate first?
JJ -” The way it works (simplified version), I animate and Gregg writes. There is a gray area, a good 50/50 collaboration. We set down and create a storyboard to start with. Then Gregg writes and then we do our voice stuff and music first and then go from there.”
CN -Do you make money from your site?
JJ -”The animated shorts are a purely a labor of love
and a way to get our work out there hopefully in front
of millions of people. We do other things to make money.
We published with Disney last year, a best seller book
- “Are you Grumpy Santa?” Available at both Barnes and
Noble and Borders.
CN -Do you think you are the next wave of animators?
JJ “I think that what our success has showed future animators, is the Internet is not a dead space. There is unlimited potential. This is the first time in history, that one or two creators can put their work out there without someone pulling the strings. This was the spark that got us going into business.”
We are eternally grateful to those who laughed at it, and sent it to a friend. This is how it spreads.
CN –Why do you use such a rough style of animation?
JJ “Herkey Jerkey Animation” is our main style because
five years ago, people didn’t have the bandwidth to
download the smooth flowing cartoons, so we had to come
up with creative solutions to overcome technical pitfalls.
On top of that it is a look that we love. You can look
at the Terry Gilliam stuff and see the brilliance of
their work that has influenced us. (See www.terrygilliam.com)
KERRY: You can't say nuclear, that really scares me.
Sometimes a brain can come in quite handy.
But it's not going to help you
because I won three Purple Hearts.
This land will surely vote for me.
DEAN: YEAAAAGHHH!
BUSH : You're
a liberal sissy.
KERRY : You're
a right-wing nut job.
BUSH : You're a pinko commie.
KERRY : You're dumb as a doorknob.
BUSH: Hey, you got that Botox.
KERRY:But I still won three Purple Hearts.
BUSH & KERRY: This land will surely vote for me.
NATIVE AMERICAN: This land was my land.
CHORUS: But now it's our land.
SCHWARZENEGGER:
From California...
CLINTON : ... to the New York islands -- what'd I do?
KERRY: From the liberal wieners...
BUSH : ... to the right-wing nut jobs.
KERRY : This land belongs...
BUSH: This land belongs...
BUSH & KERRY: This land belongs to you and me.
BUSH: Oh, and Dick Cheney, too.
Written, Directed and Animated by Gregg & Evan Spiridellis
Voice Talent of Jim Meskimen of Really Spontaneous Theater Company
Music Performed by: Adrienne Spirdellis of Speller Music Studio
Technical Direction Mike Jaffe of Jaffe Media, Inc.
Well, it has worked thus far. It has been emailed millions of times. For $2.49 you can download this funny cartoon and pass it on. Here is a excerpt from “This Land” featured at www.JibJab.com.
WEB STATISTICS:
Late this summer:
JibJab #1 most searched term on MSN.com
JibJab #1 most searched term on yahoo.com
Also, during the month of July, 2004, their site had more traffic than: Orbitz.com, Earthlink.net, Comcast.net, Bankofamerica.com,
Go ahead and view the clip, you know you want to.
Suzon Walton, publisher of Connected Now, wishes to thank the Spiridellis brothers for their insight into political humor and animation reborn.
For more information, contact Suzon Walton at
Suzon@ConnectedNow.com.
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