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Bushwick

Curtis and John’s Excellent Adventure

By DAVE ITZKOFF

Published: June 8, 2008

BEHIND every window in every converted warehouse or factory in Bushwick, Brooklyn, where artist work spaces are slowly flowering, there could be a photographer or a painter putting the finishing touches on a modern masterpiece, or a mad scientist plotting humanity’s downfall. In one cramped and dank little space on Ingraham Street, two young Bushwick residents have commandeered the Internet itself to make it do their satirical bidding.

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Robert Stolarik for The New York Times

“Fat Guy Stuck in Internet,” was created by John Gemberling, left, and Curtis Gwinn, center. With them at the Bushwick studio is the director, Ryan McFaul.

At 12:15 a.m. next Monday, the Cartoon Network will introduce a comedic adventure series, “Fat Guy Stuck in Internet,” as one of the cable channel’s late-night offerings for grown-ups. The television show, the creation of John Gemberling and Curtis Gwinn, lampoons every fantasy adventure movie from “The Goonies” to “The Matrix.”

As the show’s title implies, “Fat Guy” is set inside the World Wide Web because, as Mr. Gemberling said, “It’s this kind of repository for everything,” a digital playground where he and Mr. Gwinn’s pop-cultural obsessions can run amok.

An Abbott and Costello for the Internet age, the taller, clean-shaven Mr. Gwinn, 33, and the shorter, burlier Mr. Gemberling, 27, met eight years ago at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Chelsea, where they attended improv classes, performed in shows, and bonded over their mutual love of video games.

The two, who now live and work in Bushwick, came up with the idea of a Web-based comedy series around the end of 2004, after Mr. Gwinn bought a $150 green screen. (He was enticed by an eBay listing that emphasized that this was the same technology that Peter Jackson used to place live actors in front of computer-generated landscapes in the “Lord of the Rings” series.) They initially produced short videos guerrilla-style in a Park Avenue advertising office, gaining after-hours access to the building by using a friend’s security card.

The original videos starred Mr. Gemberling as a cocky, corpulent computer programmer, also named Gemberling, who gets trapped inside the Internet and must fight his way out by channeling his inner hero.

“It was this insane vanity piece,” Mr. Gemberling said, “that someone would cast themselves as this messiah, and perform great feats — and then name it after themselves.”

Two years ago, the videos got the attention of executives at the Cartoon Network, who commissioned the pair to produce their own 10-episode series.

With the green-screen technology, which requires little more than a wall on which to hang the screen and a camera to point it at, Mr. Gwinn and Mr. Gemberling could produce the Cartoon Network series almost anywhere in the city, or the country, or the world, for that matter.

But they didn’t expect to do so in Bushwick, particularly after they paid their first visit late last year to the space that would become their production offices and studio. Here, on a desolate stretch of Ingraham Street lined with warehouses and barbed wire fences, they work from an uninviting structure that looks like a white masonry and wood-panel gulag, and was even less inviting on first sight.

“The studio was just a concrete shell,” Mr. Gemberling said, “and it was dank and drippy.”

Mr. Gwinn added: “There was a string of dead rats in various stages of decomposition on the street. I was really hung over the day we came to check it out, and I was like: ‘No way. I’ve got to go home.’ ”

Yet by electing to shoot their show in Bushwick rather than more expensive locations elsewhere in the city, the “Fat Guy” team was, at least, able to save money they could channel into other elements of the series. “We wouldn’t have been able to do the show the way we did it,” said Ryan McFaul, the director of “Fat Guy.” “Which is not to say it’s massive, but it would have been scaled back even more.”

Mr. Gemberling and Mr. Gwinn have gained a greater appreciation for their adopted neighborhood since they moved from a slovenly bachelor pad in Murray Hill to Bushwick last July.

Now they live about 10 blocks from their offices in a renovated two-level apartment on Graham Avenue, a few blocks from the L train, on the borderline between East Williamsburg, the last vestiges of Brooklyn hipsterdom, and a still-forbidding swath of Bushwick. “It’s like a little island that, if you can just get to it, you’ll be fine,” Mr. Gwinn said.

They recognize that their new accommodations are not necessarily representative of the neighborhood as a whole. The “Fat Guy” offices are, Mr. Gemberling said, “to a good degree, more desolate than where we live. Here, there’s broken glass sprinkled everywhere on the street. If somebody comes up to you at night, you’re alone. There’s nobody to see it happen.” (Indeed, an intern quit “Fat Guy” after being mugged twice.)

BUT the two men take it as a good omen that, in the same neighborhood where they produce a show whose genesis began with a random reference to Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” films, they recently spotted Orlando Bloom, the young actor who played the elf-warrior Legolas in Mr. Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies. Mr. Bloom was standing outside their offices, checking out the spot for a new movie, on the recommendation of a location scout who had previously worked for “Fat Guy.”

“He was on his cellphone, right in front of this building,” Mr. Gwinn said. “He gave us the stink-eye. Legolas! We walked upstairs and we were like, what is going on?”

Mr. Gemberling added proudly: “He would not have been here, were it not for ‘Fat Guy Stuck in Internet.’ We have literally brought ‘Lord of the Rings’ to Bushwick.”

Fat Guy Gets Stuck in Internet

(Series -- Adult Swim, Sun. June 15, 12:15 a.m.) Produced by Cowboy & John Prods. and Williams Street. Executive producers, John Gemberling, Curtis Gwinn, David Tochterman; director, Ryan McFaul; writers, Gemberling, Gwinn.

Ken Gemberling - John Gemberling

Chains - Curtis Gwinn

Byte - Liz Cackowski

Bit - Neil Casey

By BRIAN LOWRY

Like so much occupying the Adult Swim universe, "Fat Guy Gets Stuck in Internet" takes a great title and fertile premise and goes nowhere with it, unless you happen to be so baked that everything's funny. Derived from a web series, the show boasts more ambitious production values than much of what's created for the web, but content-wise, it's simply a collection of uninspired movie spoofs, beginning with the central "Tron"-like concept. Aside from stealing a potential title for my eventual autobiography, it's more thin gruel for Cartoon Network's latenight, young-guy constituency.

The good news, from a critic's standpoint, is that the name provides all one needs to know: Hot-shot programmer Gemberling (series co-creator John Gemberling) gets sucked into a computer, where he reluctantly teams with hero-worshipping Bit (Neil Casey) and Byte (Liz Cackowski) against an assortment of tech-support-worthy foes. Meanwhile, a hooded bad guy resembling the Emperor from "Star Wars" dispatches dimwitted Chains (fellow co-creator Curtis Gwinn) to kill Gemberling, providing a semi-serialized thread to the otherwise fairly self-contained adventures.

In the three installments previewed, the objects of spoofery include not just the ahead-of-its-time "Tron" but "The Shining" and various zombie movies. Other than some visual flair, alas, the gags are relentlessly stupid.

"Fat Guy" merits some attention because it's one of the few web-originated concepts to migrate to the slightly-larger screen ("Quarterlife," by contrast, began as an ABC pilot before hitting the Internet and then, however briefly, NBC), but its TV incarnation doesn't mark much of a breakthrough for either medium.

Granted, the goals of such material are understandably modest, but this pales next to, say, "Robot Chicken's" "Star Wars" send-up. By that measure, even applying the standards of young dudes hungry for broad humor, this is barely a snack, much less a meal.

Line producer, Michael Eder. Running time: 15 MIN.

Fat Guy Stuck in Internet Spoofs Tron, Star Wars

By Jenna Wortham June 13, 2008 | 4:48:57 PmCategories: Comedy, Sci-Fi, Star Wars, Television

Trapped in the net: Fat Guy Stuck in Internet's Ken Gemberling (right) prepares to explore a series of tubes with cybersiblings Bit and Byte.

When hotshot programmer Ken Gemberling gets sucked into a computer after dumping beer on its keyboard, he's transported Tron-style into internet purgatory.

That's the premise of Adult Swim's latest after-hours addition, Fat Guy Stuck in Internet, a 15-minute comedy series that's riddled with sci-fi spoofing and internet meme busting.

After landing in Fat Guy's not-quite-virtual reality, Gemberling begins a journey down a digitized yellow brick road in hopes of finding his way home. He's accompanied by a strange pair of "programs," dubbed Bit and Byte, who believe he's the "chosen one," sent to cure their ailing planet. Hot on Gemberling's trail is goofball bounty hunter Chains, hired by an evil CEO who looks like a dark-cloaked Sith.

If Fat Guy sound like a mashup of Tron, The Matrix and Star Wars, that's because it kinda is -- and that's all in the first 15-minute episode. The show premieres at 12:15 a.m. Monday during Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Fat Guy was born of an indie show called Gemberling, created by John Gemberling (who plays the main character in both shows) and Curtis Gwinn (who portrays vigilante-for-hire Chains). The duo filmed Gemberling using a cheap green screen purchased on eBay, and showed the five-minute episodes at meet-ups in New York called Channel 102.

Two years ago, executives at Cartoon Network took notice. Gemberling and Gwinn got a bigger budget and a less-than-stellar studio space to produce Fat Guy for the cable channel's late-night programming block known as Adult Swim. From the looks of the first few episodes, Fat Guy will fit in perfectly with the ADD-, booze- and bong-friendly shows.

Like the rest of Adult Swim's after-hours fodder -- the animated snack food entourage of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, the spastic infomercial spoofs featured on Tim and Eric Awesome Show and the raunchy stop-motion shorts on Robot Chicken -- Fat Guy should strike a chord with a tech-savvy, geek audience able to pick out the internet in-jokes and cult movie references.

(Watch a clip from the first episode of Fat Guy, right.)

Eagle-eyed viewers will recognize certain characters: Liz Cackowski, who plays Byte, most recently appeared in Judd Apatow's Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Rich Fulcher, better known as fumbling zoo keeper Bob Fossil from off-kilter BBC comedy show The Mighty Boosh, makes a cameo.

Photo courtesy of Cartoon Network

‘Stuck’ on you

Internet-centric epic comedy anchors Adult Swim’s premiere night

by daniel holloway / metro new york MAY 10, 2007

John Gemberling and Curtis Gwinn don’t agree on much. For example, Gwinn points to the 1982 sci-fi film “Tron” as a major influence on the pair’s new Adult Swim show, “Fat Guy Stuck in Internet.” But Gemberling cries foul.

“I would like to go on record as saying that I am not a fan of ‘Tron.’ I hate ‘Tron.’ It’s boooooring.”

“Stop telling people that’s your opinion of ‘Tron.’” Gwinn cuts in.

“It’s embarrassing.”

Gemberling and Gwinn are the co-creators of “Fat Guy,” which won’t begin in earnest until fall. But the pilot — along with the first episodes of four other Adult Swim series — premieres Sunday on Cartoon Network. “Fat Guy” tells the story of Ken Gemberling (played by John), a “rock ’n’ roll computer programmer” who one day spills beer on his keyboard and is sucked into the Internet. Gwinn plays Chains, a mustachioed bounty hunter dispatched in pursuit of the reluctant hero. The two characters debuted in “Gemberling,” a series of five-minute episodes originally aired on the competitive New York video Web site Channel 102. But how the series found its way from the Web to television is a contentious issue between the two comics.

“We made up a DVD with all of the Channel 102 episodes in a nice-looking package and gave a bunch to our agents and manager,” Gemberling says. “One of the executives from Cartoon Network was in town about a year ago, and one of the guys over at our agency, William Morris, sent the DVD over to his hotel room, and he watched it, liked it and took a meeting with us. A couple months later, we did the pilot.”

Gwinn tells a different story.

“That’s the boring answer,” he says. “The exciting answer is that there was a DVD in a

rock, sealed in stone, and John pulled the DVD from the stone. Then we got a TV show.”

Three series take dip in Adult Swim

By Paul J. Gough April 27, 2007

NEW YORK - Adult Swim will launch three new series and a seventh late night of programming, beginning this year. Two series -- "Fat Guy Stuck in Internet" and "Superjail" -- join the previously announced "Lucy, Daughter of the Devil" on the schedule for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block. "Stuck" is a live-action comedy about a computer programer who finds himself inside the Internet and chased by a bounty hunter. It's created by John Gemberling and Curtis Gwinn, and will debut in the fall. "Superjail" is about the universe's most violent prison that is run by Warden, shrouded in mystery. The series, created by Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick and Ben Gruber, will Cartoon Network's late-night programming block will add its seventh night at 11 p.m. ET on Friday, July 6.

article online:Village Voice

White Like MeVictor Varnado is a white black man. And he wants you to crack up about it.by Ben Westhoff April 24th, 2007 12:42 PM (excerpt) Varnado's gold lamé costume features crotchless hot pants, knee-high white go-go boots, a cape, and a gym sock hanging from his unit. He is playing a cybervillain in a pilot called Fat Guy Stuck in Internet. He abducts the fat guy and forces him to transfer files recklessly."Victor was hilarious" during the taping, says Curtis Gwinn, who co-created the show along with John Gemberling. "He was always willing to go the extra mile to be funny. It was his idea to wear the sock. At first he wanted to be completely naked. We thought, since he was working with female actors, he should wear clothes. Since I couldn't be naked, the sock just seemed like the next logical step," explains Varnado. "Everyone else was in leotards."

Adult Swim Unveils Fat Guy, Superjail

Anthony Crupi

APRIL 26, 2007

Adult Swim on Thursday announced its new development slate for the rest of the year and early 2008, introducing three new series and returning an even dozen.

In an upfront presentation held at Manhattan’s Chelsea Art Museum, Adult Swim unveiled two previously unannounced series in the live-action Web spin-off, Fat Guy Stuck In Internet, and the animated prison psychodrama, Superjail. Also landing a slot in the late-night lineup is Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil, a CGI comedy that was originally touted in the 2005 upfront.

April 26, 2007

Adult Swim Says T.G.I.F.

Cartoon Network's rude, crude and fun wee hours persona—Adult Swim—expands to Fridays and unveils new programming and returning faves at its Manhattan upfront for advertisers

By Shirley Brady

Adult Swim, the animated channel that Cartoon Network morphs into overnight, unveiled its upcoming programming slate at an upfront ad sales event tonight in New York. But in bigger news for night owls, the network goes to seven nights a week by adding Fridays starting July 6 at 11pm.

The Turner-owned network didn't throw the typical upfront-style presentation of execs introducing video clips and charts touting ratings growth as the crowd grows antsy. Instead, the 500 or so media buyers, executives and journalists each received a digital, virtual upfront presentation—loaded onto a 30-gig Microsoft Zune player, featuring full episodes of Adult Swim's new and returning series, as presented by the erudite Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne.

Here's what they get to watch at their leisure, starting with Adult Swim's new original programming:

• Robot Chicken: Star Wars, a special that premieres June 17, is being produced in partnership with Lucasfilm and in a nice casting coup, it also uses the voice of Star Wars creator George Lucas.

• Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil (above) is—yep—Satan's daughter, a San Franciscan with a meddling Dad who uses her love life as an excuse to hasten the apocalypse; the series premieres this summer.

• Fat Guy Stuck In Internet is just that: a computer programmer is accidentally sucked into the Internet, and finds himself on a quest of epic proportions. Based on a cult hit on the Web, this live action series premieres this fall.

• Superjail is a series set in "the most violent prison complex in the universe." The psychedelic jail features a sadistic warden, uber-criminals, wacky creatures and, of course, frequent riots; it debuts next year.

Media

The Anti-Upfront

Lacey Rose, 04.27.07, 3:44 PM ET

How do you get geeky twenty-something ad buyers to purchase airtime on a cable network aimed at twenty-something geeks?

Give away MP3 players, apparently. That is the strategy Turner Broadcasting Cartoon Network used Thursday to promote its Adult Swim programming block. Traditionally, these things are a lot more staid: Stuff media buyers into Carnegie Hall or someplace similar, inundate them with an hour's worth of statistics about being No. 1 in something, then roll out the booze.

But thankfully, the good folks at Adult Swim decided to skip right to the party and give away specially branded Microsoft Zune players to partygoers on their way out. Thanks, guys! (Note to any media ethics hawks out there--I'm returning the Zune next week.)

When they weren't putting back sushi rolls and Amstel Lights, the predominantly male attendees took prop-filled pictures with the Saul of the Mole Men gang and sneaked peaks at an upcoming Robot Chicken parody of Star Wars. And they lined up to pose with a cardboard version of the network's Assy McGee. And in typical Adult Swim fashion, their heads were aptly positioned between McGee's, well, you know.

A team of network executives did find 10 minutes early in the evening for their not-so-formal pitch to the deep pockets milling about the room. Their lone statistic: The edgy late-night network was able to deliver more total daily viewers in the coveted 18-to-34 demographic than any basic cable network before them. Among the other announcements squeezed into the refreshingly brief presentation: a seventh night of programming beginning in July and a new slate of shows. The latter include Superjail, Fat Guy Stuck in Internet and the previously announced Lucy, the Daughter of the Devil.

And lest the attendees were too busy playing Biblefest--the network's latest videogame, where Bible characters duke it out--to hear those announcements, their preloaded 30-gigabyte Zune players will prove a refresher course. In addition to a video presentation by Turner Classic Movies columnist Robert Osborne, the device came equipped with full episodes from new and returning Adult Swim series.

And while an episode of Grey's Anatomy may not play well on a 3-inch screen, 12-minute shows about a, well, fat guy stuck in the Internet do just fine.

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