Dave Hill Sighted on 'Elevator'!

You can usually find Dave Hill interviewing celebrities on his Instant Talk Show.

Well, F that! We brought him into the Elevator for a little taste of his character "Randy", the impassioned crooner who's got a song for just about everybody who needs to change floors.

Dave coming in for this filming was actually the first time I got to meet him in person, and let me just say, he is just as charming and debonair as he is on screen. He was great to have around, and an awesome addition to the "Elevator" series. Hopefully he'll be around more often.

Below: Dave Hill, although it looks like his name should be something like... Skip McPerv here. Took this from his blog, which you can read here.

More Elevator Bloopers

You guys asked for them so here they are!

Bloopers for last week's Elevator episode -- "Don't Be a Drip".

Classic.



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Felicitaciones a Spanish Mike... y el tigre azul!

I just wanna take the time to point out just how successful our "One Semester of Spanish Love Song" video has been.

Mike is now inexplicably an authority on first semester Spanish. The DVD has been requested by Pepperdine University for their first year Spanish program, the LA county Office of Education for use by their Pre-K Dual Language Teachers, and countless Spanish teachers from around the country for use in the classroom. Mike has also been invited to perform at the Cervantes Center's Folklore Festival... Mind-blowing.

On top of it all, later this week Mike is going to speak at Rocky River High, a high school in a suburb of Cleveland. A spanish teacher invited him to come in and talk to her class. I imagine there will be a lot of laughing, and little to no learning whatsoever. Sounds like my entire college experience, actually.

Below: Andrew, Jaime, and Woody have a celebration jam for Spanish Mike's success! And, the answer is, yes, their band sounds just as AMAZING as it looks.

Everybody, This is Thad. Say "Hi, Thad!"

Our new series "Thad" finally dropped on Monday, albeit to mixed reviews, but that was fully anticipated. It's not for everyone; just cool people. Check it out and see if you're cool! Then, test your friends!

But, seriously, it's an acquired taste, although four episodes in, it seems like people are really beginning to appreciate it. It's not as "in your face" as "Elevator" or "Man in the Box", but we figured it'd be good for us to experiment with some different "flavors", if you will, of comedy (my fav is cherry vanilla, but "Thad" is also good on a waffle cone). Animation seemed like a great idea, considering how much we love all those Pixar movies. Apparently computer animation is a little pricey these days; we felt little yellow pads were more in our budgetary range. So we bought some of those, threw them at our animator Zack, and waited to see what would happen.

Luckily, we scored big time with getting Zack on board. He's a really funny and super-creative guy. I highly recommend checking out his website, www.zacksmovies.com, and taking a look at some of his other projects. I particularly enjoyed "Annihilation (the making of)".

So here are a few frequently asked questions Zack gets about the animation, answered by Zack himself! Enjoy!

THAD ANIMATION FAQ:

Is the show really animated flipbook-style, with actual post-it notes?

Yes. I mean no. I mean yes. I use a generic brand of sticky note, but yeah, it's done flipbook-style. I don't use extra animation software, or any such nuttiness.

Doesn't it take a long time to animate it that way?

Kinda. If the show looks all crusty, that's my excuse. Hopefully, *said crustiness adds a quaint charm to the show.

How do you record the flipbook animations to video?

I just put the flipbooks flat on a marked space on a desk, then point a camera down and record. Each episode is made with multiple flipbooks recorded separately, but edited together to play like one long flipbook.

Who are you? Does Greg/Mike Polk animate the show?

My name is Zack, and I have flipbook skillz. Mike lacks *said skillz.

*I do not apologize for my indulgent use of the word "said" as an adjective. Said said usage amuses me.

More questions about "Thad" or anything else Runaway Box? Leave them in the comments section! Or if you just wanna, like, say hello... Blogging gets lonely.