Matt McCarthy, Pete Holmes and Oren Brimer collectively are comedy trio Front Page Films, chances are youâve already seen one of their brilliant Batman parodies which they teamed up with College Humor to produce.
Easily one of the most popular videos has Batman (played by Pete Holmes) selecting his voice, running through an assortment of impressions before a sore throat inadvertently provides him with the gruff tones heâs been looking for. Other instalments include Batman blowing his cover in epic fail fashion and an encounter with the Scarecrow revealing Batmanâs deep rooted fear of energy efficient lightbulbs and Christopher MacDonald. Their love of the caped crusader has found a massive audience and is widely regarded as some of the best Batman parodies in recent years.
Having been around since 2005 their website is filled with a variety of animation, sketches, TV commercial parodies and a selection of micro web shows.
‘Cashier’ takes a peek behind the counter at a supermarket. â?ICGHâ charts Mattâs unsuccessful sex life. â?Doctorâ introduces the world to the least subtle medical practitioner and Hotel finds an over zealous employee obsessively hounding the latest guest. My personal favourite (Batman aside) is their web series Kid Farm; Bill and Jean Engvall try and balance a normal life although their ever growing family of 16 children just got bigger.
Part sitcom, part faux documentary this longer form series from the guys is better than many of the TV comedies that are currently clogging up TV schedules.
What I respond to about these guys work is their ability to making short snappy comedy. Not everything is a success but their brand of well observed humour is infectious. Thereâs the same spirit in their work as the near legendary Kids in the Hall comedy troupe. My only possible complaint would be there isnât more of their work to watch as I more or less watched everything on their site in a single afternoon.
Director and writer Oren Brimer has worked on Jon Stewartâs Daily Show and has also written for The Onion News Network, Matt has a successful one man show and has appeared in Curb your Enthusiasm and Will Ferrell movie The Other Guys. Recently Oren produced the pilot episode for The Midnight Show hosted by Pete Holmes, this has now been picked up for a full series and will broadcast in the US later this year.
Earlier this month after a hiatus they returned with a new Batman/Badman video, titled Batman Says His Goodbyes. This latest episode does feel like it brings the series to a conclusion. Although the trio are to be involved in lots of other things, they remain focused on Front Page Films, which is great news. I canât wait to see what the future holds for them.