Profile: Clark And Michael
Show: Clark And Michael
Launched: May 2007
Distributed by: CBS, at clarkandmichael.com
Located: Los Angeles
Updated: Series Completed
Talent: Michael Cera & Clark Duke
Stand-Out Episode: Episode Three. If you don’t find the first 25 seconds funny, Clark And Michael probably isn’t for you.
The Angle:
Clark And Michael stars… Clark and Michael. At least, semi-fictional versions of the two actors. Think Curb Your Enthusiasm, but with even more awkward silences (if that’s possible). The premise is that the duo have written a show, and this 10-episode series chronicles their attempt to sell that show to the networks. The series is filmed in a mockumentary style, with cameras following two awkwardly hilarious stars because they themselves hired the crew to follow them around to capture their efforts to get the show picked up. From the New York Times recent piece on Cera:
So without commercial sponsors and focus groups, “Clark and Michael” unfolds in weekly bursts of 7 to 10 minutes long, filled with the awkward silences that Mr. Cera likes so much and plenty of absurdist low-key mockery of life on the show-business fringe, including one scene in which Mr. Cera, after having a script rejected, cries in a bathtub and refers to a well-known screenwriting guide. “We wrote symbols and themes and motifs,” he moans. “We read the whole Syd Field book.”
Our Thoughts:
There’s no doubt that Cera is darn close to being crowned the new king of awkward comedy. Arrested Development creator Mitch Hurwitz has stated that he pushed Cera’s character George Michael into even more awkward territory than originally planned, because he knew that Cera could handle it. Clark & Michael is Cera’s first big writing/directing coming out, and his comedic chops shine just as brightly in those roles. Clark Duke, an old friend of Cera’s, might not have as much comedy cred, but his egotistical, arguably alcoholic alter-ego on C&M plays perfectly off of Cera’s understated mannerisms.
Matt Kirsch has explored whether C&M is a true web show, or a sitcom premise that was just a little too niche to actually make it on TV, and got shunted online instead. In VidHammer’s opinion the show exists (creatively) in a fairly unexplored middle ground between the two mediums. On the one hand the quick-hit episodes are only 7-10 minutes long, there’s all kinds of meta humor, and quick, jarring edits are used to great comedic effect. Yet compared to most web video, the pace of an episode seems almost glacial - much more TV-like. Long setups are the norm, as are plenty of leisurely editing choices.
Critically, the show is great, but we do have to wonder how Clark And Michael made sense for CBS financially. The videos ran at a spun-off website and not on any CBS portal, and the only advertisement is a banner ad for Cera’s upcoming Superbad - more or less a house ad. Why did CBS Interactive online content supervisor Matt Kaplan buy the show? We’re glad he did and it makes a pretty good case to argue that CBS “gets it,” but was that reason enough to fork over the money?
Resources
Clark & Michael IMDB
Michael Cera IMDB
Clark Duke IMDB
Michael Cera New York Times Interview
Collider.com Clark And Michael Interview
Hollywood Reporter Review
