Bloopers for Man in the Box - It's My Birthday!

Enjoy!

Behind the Scenes of An Honest R&B Song

"Ooh, Girl!" - An Honest R&B Song is blowing up. The raw sexuality Mike Polk displays in the video rivals that of Horace Brown's 1994 "Taste Your Love"... Except that Mike openly admits he's bad at sex. Here are some pics from that shoot.

Mike sings to camera as his lady friend sits back on the bed, unsatisfied. All too familiar.

The house we shot in was huge, providing all sorts of places for Mike and his girlfriend to have awkward, elbow-y sex.

Matt and Brian were on set to help with the shoot, as always.

Mike taking a time out to test the waters. Is it me or does he look six years old here to anybody else?

Mike looking especially pale.

Matt is either shedding some light on our actors, or is about to do some serious kickboarding action.

Smooth.

Jaime helped direct and produce the video. She jumped in to get a pic with the big, black, beautiful... Escalade.

Matching Adidas track suits are all the rage on the L.A player scene these days, FYI.

Fucking epic. This is an album cover if I ever saw one.

Leave comments and feel free to describe your most embarrassing sexual encounter! Don't all go at once, we might flood the boards with this one.

Vote for Elevator on the Youtube Video Awards!

Wow, Runaway Box is racking up quite the list of nominations. It's like Titanic in '97. Or was it '98? Oh, that's right, it won Best Picture two years in a row because that's how ridiculously obsessed we all got with that movie. And now, ten years later, I think we all feel a little ashamed that we got so caught up in a sinking boat (aka Kate Winslet).

Here's how to make up for that: Go vote for Elevator - Music for best comedy series on YouTube. We've brought you a lot of laughs, it's the least you can do for us.



Don't forget to vote for Spanish Mike at the Yahoo! Video Awards as well. Do it right now, before all is lost!

Vote for Spanish Mike on Yahoo! Video Awards

Hey Gang!

Big news. Mike Polk's "One Semester of Spanish Love Song" has been nominated for a Yahoo! Video Award in the category of "Best Comedy Video". We think that's pretty darn sweet.

But here's the thing... In order to win, we have to get the most votes. I know, we should just win automatically, that's what I said. So turns out we need you guys to do your part, and vote for Mike! That is, if you think it's the best video. But somehow I doubt the dog puppet who says five words every thirty seconds is a worthy competitor. That's right, I'm trash talkin' the Yahoo! Video Awards! Get over it!

Mike has promised that if he wins, his acceptance speech will rival that of Sir Daniel Day Lewis' at this year's Oscars. I would personally love to see that.

Thanks for the votes!

Behind the Scenes of Elevator - Strip Club!

These are from the shoot for today's episode of Elevator - Strip Club! Check it out here.

Here is the cast of this episode getting ready to enter the 'Vator. That's sheer determination on their faces.

Things tend to get a little rowdy in there. Not because of the flamboyant homosexuals, but because of Ben Pace.

This was filmed the same day as the episode 'A Friendly Wager'. As ridiculous as these two look, Woody was in a dress and a tiara carrying a pink purse. He wins.

The banana was a last minute detail we decided to throw in. We thought it would be ironic if Chris was munching something phallic while unwittingly planning a trip to a gay strip club.

Yes, it's just a set! Any time somebody has to get in or out of the elevator, they have to step around that black metal pole that holds a light.

What a beautiful couple... Couple of what, I don't know.

Leave comments ftw!

There Will Be Miscellaneous Pictures

So I found some of these pictures lying around and figured I might as well put them to use and post them on the blog for y'all to look at. I guess I shouldn't say "lying around" (or y'all) since they only exist digitally and are therefore fundamentally incapable of "lying around". I didn't like, find them in some dusty bin or something. They were on my desktop. But I digress. Enjoy!

A table of props used during an Elevator shoot. Seems to be a fake beard, a bottle of alcohol, several coffee mugs, a bottle of cologne, a rubber stretchy toy thingy... Yes, it all adds up.

The ladies. And some dude.

How sexy is this on a scale from 1 to 10. Leave it in the comments!

Elevator's most recognizable props. Also typically the carrier of many other props.

Table read. Look at all the scripts!

Can any other song besides "I Believe I Can Fly" accompany this picture? Answer: Probably, but I don't care to hear them because in my head this is too perfect.

Woody stands alone in his elevator set. That's about as interesting a caption this pic deserves. No wonder it was just lying around.

Hope you enjoyed the rejects of past behind the scenes! I know I did!

Leave comments, fools.

Behind the Scenes with Jason Earles from Hannah Montana

I think one of the biggest secrets of our time is that everybody watches Disney. Everybody. If you deny this, you're lying to yourself. You watch Disney. You're a Hannah Montana fan. That's why you'll love this behind the scenes feature with Jason Earles in the Elevator.

Leave comments here!

Bloopers - Elevator - Intern Shawn Pyfrom Is Not a Puppy

Who doesn't love some good bloopers?

Shawn Pyfrom from Desperate Housewives can't keep a straight face. Thanks for these, Woody!



Leave comments here!!!!!!!!!!!

Behind the Scenes with Melora Hardin!

You've watched her all week here at Runaway Box, and loved her. At least we did. In fact, we loved her so much we named this week "Melora Hardin Week". Still waiting for a "Paul Gulyas Week", but then again I don't play Jan on "The Office".... I play Paul on "Elevator". And my performance is SPOT ON.

Anyway, here's some footage from behind the scenes of the episode "The Office Song". Enjoy!

Leave comments for Heaven Points, and subscribe to youtube.com/elevatorshow to see all Melora's episodes!

Behind the Scenes of "Marty's Love Song"

If you recall, Marty recently asked viewers to help him write a love song for his Valentine, Renee. And millions of Marty fans the world over answered, sending suggestions for what Marty could say to woo the sweet Renee. Here are some behind the scenes shots from that head-over-heels romantic music video...

Renee is played by Genevieve Jones, or Intern Jane from "Elevator". Here she takes a GINORMOUS bite of a sandwich. This shot actually looks like a panel from a Dilbert comic strip come to life.

Recognize the purple bear? Woody went on to use it in a vlog of his. You can often spot various props being used in multiple videos on Runaway Box. See if you can pick out more (and no, those are NOT the same roses used by Spanish Mike)

This is Brian Mendoza behind the camera. He lights and shoots a lot of our stuff. And he's damn good at it.

And this pic looks like it was taken out of a Sears catalog, of which I just realized Marty would blend right into. I think he'd be in the Duvet covers section.

Brian shoots but the directing is usually a joint effort between Andrew and Brian. Here, Andrew oversees the shot.

This is one of our kitchens here at Runaway Box. They look nice but nobody actually eats in them since we're all addicted to the internet and need a computer in front of us at all times. That's why it's so clean.

Genevieve had to pretend Marty's face was on the heart-shaped card and singing to her in this shot. In reality, a green screen effect was used... No, Andrew can not magically project his face on things, believe it or not.

Andrew records the audio of the song first, then plays it while they are filming so he can lip-sync to it perfectly. Later, in editing, he matches the shots to the music.

There you have it... Leave comments! Maybe Marty will put it in a new song... No promises though. Thanks to Matt for the pics!

OH! And by the way, I definitely just attempted to "Rick Roll" Runaway Box fans in my previous blog. I apologize for anybody I "Rick Rolled".

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

It's the day after Valentine's Day. And I bet you think all the sweet romancing is over....

Well, IT'S NOT!

If you want to keep living the love of Valentine's Day, (or even if you never started, like me), just click here! You'll thank me later.

And keep checking the blog for more updates on behind the scenes action here at Runaway Box!

Woody Live Chat - Wednesday 8PM EST and Live Chat Info in General

Here's the quick and dirty blog entry.

WOODY TONDORF LIVE CHAT! WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 13TH, 8PM EST, JUST GO TO RUNAWAYBOX.COM AND CLICK THE LINK!

ANDREW ZILCH LIVE CHAT! WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 20TH, 8PM EST, JUST GO TO RUNAWAYBOX.COM AND CLICK THE LINK!

MIKE POLK LIVE CHAT! WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 27TH, 8PM EST, JUST GO TO RUNAWAYBOX.COM AND CLICK THE LINK!

Here's the rest of it.

Did you see an emerging pattern above? Look closely.

From now on, at least three weeks out of the month, on Wednesdays, at 8PM EST, there will be somebody to chat with you live. It will probably be Woody, Andrew, or Mike, but if not.... who knows? Harold? Terry? Me? Spider Spud? Basically, if we have to pull a homeless man off the street, there will be somebody there. So come chat with Boxcar Jim, I'm sure he's got plenty to say.

But seriously, tune in Wednesday night and chat with Woody! It'll be a great time, I promise. If it's not you can... give me purple nurples until I bleed. That's what I'm willing to put on the line. I'm not even scared.

Behind the Scenes: Runaway Joke of the Day

Here are some photos taken during the shooting of a bunch of Runaway Jokes of the Day.

Here's how a typical shoot goes. We fill our fishbowl with dozens of awful jokes. Just really, awful, bad jokes. The worse the better. The more you feel like an ass when you've told the punchline, the more successful the joke is in our eyes. We'll gather some completely random props beforehand to kind of throw at people (not literally, although, sometimes, literally) to use at the end of the awful bad not funny joke. And we hope this somehow makes it funny.

Then we invite random people to come, tell a joke, and eat some cookies.

We set up the camera to shoot down the same long hallway every day. I stand in that office with the fishbowl waiting to pop out and hand the person a joke.

Normally we don't pick the joke before it is shot, but this was an exception because she was French. Also, FACT: I was actually not ill when this picture was taken, I just typically do not look healthy.

Scott Chan takes his Joke of the Days very seriously.

Woody raises his arms in triumph after telling a horrible joke.

And Brian and I carry him away from the camera.

Some typical props for a Joke of the Day shoot. My favorite is the horse thing. Do little kids actually use those anymore? I think they are solely produced as jokes.

Danila waits off camera to toss a baby at somebody telling a Dead Baby joke. Look at the deep concentration on her face. The Joke of the Day is not all fun and games; it's precision and timing of throwing silly objects at people.

When we can't find actual people to tell our stupid jokes, we'll just get an inanimate object to do it. More cookies for us.

The Baby and The Sword; pretty much our Runaway Joke of the Day emblem. Our motto: Live by the Baby, Die by the Sword. Or is it the other way around? Either way, it makes no sense.

There you have it! Leave comments and don't forget to check out our Runaway Joke of the Day, every day on runawaybox.com!

What We're Liking

As you probably already know, Joey and David are on Elevator this week; They really nailed it. If you haven't seen it, check it out here.

They just have good comedic chemistry, and they brought that to the Elevator. Check out their youtube channel and joeyanddavid.com. Tons of hilarious stuff.

Including, this, which is one of my favorites of theirs. I like it because they are not afraid to be the straight men in this and let the joke play out without them getting involved or even commenting. Brilliant.



Where did you think those apple pies came from? Leave comments and subscribe to our youtube channel, youtube.com/runawaybox!

Behind the Scenes of Elevator "EWF 2"

Here's a unique look at what it's like to be on the set of Elevator.



This may shatter a few youg children's dreams. No, it is not a real elevator. There aren't even any doors. And the "button" is a black piece of tape. Sorry guys.

But seriously, Santa is so real, I'm not even joking.

Diamond Dave Outtakes!

Apparently Mike Polk went on for quite a while as Diamond Dave, from the Marty Show episode "Car Dealer". Here are some of the takes straight from the cutting room floor.

Leave comments here!

Man in the Box Bloopers - Greg's New Office

Try to keep a straight face with Mike Polk's head popping out at you.

Leave comments if you like!

THE TRUTH BEHIND MY NEW HAIRCUT!!!

So over the holidays I returned to my hometown of Milford, CT and caught up with some buddies of mine. However, there was something distinctly different about them. For one thing they kept referring to women as "fuckin' skanks." And they didn't so much drink Jägerbombs as much as they enjoyed repeating the word over and over again. It was pretty horrific.

After inquiring what their deal was, I learned of "My New Haircut", a video not so new to YouTube about That Guy in every bar and club you'll ever go to, at least from my experiences in Los Angeles and the Tri-State area. A good concept. Decently executed, although I don't think it was funny as much as it was quotable. Thus all my friends quoting it as if it had come straight from Will Ferrel's mouth.

Come to find out that a co-worker and friend of mine Mike Polk was the originator of the concept of "My New Haircut", except his was called "Look at My Striped Shirt!", and actually hilarious. He first published this essay on thephatphree.com, and then later in a book entitled... what else? "Look At My Striped Shirt!: Confessions of the People You Love to Hate", which was published in December of 2006. Mike even taped a live performance of this monologue and posted it on YouTube on August 31st, 2006. It currently has around 23,000 views. The "My New Haircut" video was posted on YouTube June 10, 2007, just shy of a year after Mike's. It has almost 10,000,000 views. Holy shit.

Now, the second "My New Haircut" hit it big, Mike was getting calls from friends up in arms about the blatant plagiarism. "Skanks", "Jägerbombs", calling bartenders "chief". It couldn't be more obvious. But, to be honest and quite frank, Mike didn't give a shit. He still doesn't. Mike's not the type of guy who gets his feathers rustled easily. He's also not the type of guy who would approve of the expression "feathers rustled", so I apologize, Mike.

But here at Runaway Box, our feathers were rustled (again, I'm sorry), and so something had to be done in Mike's defense. Justice needed to be served. Mike's a brilliant, funny guy and he deserves some credit. What really ticked us off is that this guy with his shitty new haircut is now making money from t-shirts and, get this, a college tour. Who wants this guy at their college? Like, really, who wants to say they partied with that guy? I'd be embarrassed. But the point is, he's making money off of something that is not his, without ever even hinting at giving credit to Mike Polk the original author. It's just wrong.

Anyway, the result of our frustrations (and not Mike's, to be clear) was this video. So spread the word. Get the truth out there. Do something good for once in your life.

What We're Liking

So about every week or so I'll be kind of showcasing some stuff here on the blog that we're watching around the offices of Runaway Box. Believe it or not we don't just watch our own stuff over and over again. Well, we do, because it's that awesome, but there's also some other stuff thrown in there sometimes. And sometimes, we really like that stuff.

Here's what most of us were huddled around my laptop watching yesterday. It's called Jingle Cats. I'm aware there is a plethora of kitty videos on youtube that all suck, all with a minimum of 70 million views. This is not one of them. Sing along if you know the words.



Watch this video on drugs. Any kind. It will be the best thing you've seen since "The Godfather".

Leave comments and subscribe to our youtube channel: youtube.com/runawaybox!

Behind the Scenes - Speed Dating

In December we showcased several new series, one of them being created by Ben Pace (aka Harold the Janitor from "Elevator"). Five episodes of "Speed Dating" ran daily for a week. All five were filmed in one day. Here are some behind-the-scenes stills from that shoot.

The guy on the right is Nathan Naesel, a friend of Ben's. Each episode originally started and ended with Nate leaning over to Ben to give tips on the speed dating experience. However, due to time constraints, Nate ended up on the cutting room floor.

This is one of the above mentioned lean-ins that you never got to see. In the episode "Uptight Woman", Nate began by leaning in and telling Ben to just be himself. At the end, Nate leaned in again and told him to try being "less himself" next time.

This restaurant set was completed fabricated in our insert stage. Recognize that carpet pattern? We also film "Elevator" here.

This is Matt on camera. He's not really a midget, although I wish he was because it'd be fun to work with one, I think.

This is Julianna Guill from the episode "Bubbly Bitch". In her glass is pure pina colada mix, with no alcohol, and I think Ben's is a Snapple Iced Tea.

Here they are going over the script for the episode. Ben Pace wrote these himself. He pretty much stuck to his script while filming, contrary to "Elevator" where he improvs quite a bit as Harold.

Behind the Scenes of "A Look Back"

As 2007 wound down a couple weeks ago, we did a "year in review" of sorts here at Runaway Box, highlighting some of our most enjoyed videos, and featuring all new introductions from your favorite Runaway Box people, Mike, Woody, Andrew, and Thad.

Obviously Thad couldn't make it, as he is under house arrest (and animated, therefore not real), but here are some pictures from that magical shoot.

Here is Andrew as "Marty". The green vest and bow tie are meant to be reminiscent of the walls in Marty's house.

Check out the coat tails on Mike's suit. Mike was quick to point out his theory of "The longer the coat tails, the bigger the douchebag." Unfortunately, we never saw them in frame.

Woody introducing "Elevator Music". None of these introductions were written beforehand; they were all made up on the spot.

Mike takes a load off after a strenuous three minutes on his feet.

Woody had to come out from behind that curtain 392482375483 times. I counted.

Here you go, superfans. Make this one your wallpaper.

Leave comments, and subscribe to our youtube channcel, youtube.com/runawaybox!