Those Guys Bring on the Goofy

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Dec 4, 2006 4:32PM

It's easy to watch a lot of crappy comedy on TV. "The Daily Show" is always reliable for some laughs, and "30 Rock" and SNL have their moments. But by and large contemporary TV comedy is a wasteland of retreads, anemia and laughless vulgarity. We're becoming increasingly convinced that the future of television isn't television at all. It's the internet. Because there's plenty of really funny stuff online, and most of it is even free.

A perfect example is the local comedy group ThoseGuysFilms. At their site you can watch over a dozen funny short films (including an awesome "MTV Cribs" parody) as well episodes from such series as "Raw Raw Rangers" and "101 Reports." The hilarious "Medicine Man" has some spot-on moments satirizing medical dramas and forensic crime shows. Thanks to some guerrilla-style shooting, the exterior of the Notebaert Nature Museum doubles for one of those sleek hospitals that's everywhere on TV. It's like "Nip/Tuck," but actually funny.

The group has been around since 2004. This summer they started making digital shorts for their site and their live show "Growing Up Normal" opened at Second City's Skybox Theater. Like any good comedy group they aren't afraid to act like idiots if it can get a laugh. In the music video for their song "The Heist" they even frolic around in their birthday suits while doing laundry. It's the kind of stuff that would make the FCC go nuclear.

The Guys (as they like to be called) will be performing in the closing slot at the 2007 Chicago Sketchfest in January. We wish them well, and we hope they'll keep the digital laughs a-comin'.