Greg Benson
Encyclopedia
Greg Benson is an American
comedian
, actor
, and director
of short film
s. His production company, Mediocre Films, promotes its creations via YouTube
and MySpace
.
, Benson graduated from W. T. White High School in 1986. Eventually he moved to California, where he has since appeared in several television commercials for companies that included electronics retailer Best Buy
, Kia
automobiles, Blue Cross Blue Shield medical insurance, and Lean Pockets frozen sandwiches. Benson is a sometime member of the ACME Comedy Theatre
improv
troupe in Hollywood, where he first worked with writer/actor Wil Wheaton
, who has since appeared in a variety of Benson's projects.
He started making videos in 2005, initially putting them up on his own Mediocre Films website. Eventually he moved his distribution from his own site to YouTube, where within one month one of his shorts, "Greg Hits Hollywood", was featured on the site's home page. The video and its sequels feature Benson interviewing strangers as a pretext for hitting them with his microphone to see "what people will put up with just because they want to be on TV, or even just YouTube." Since then he's become a popular YouTube comedian with over 285,000 subscribers, and he's currently number 27 as most subscribed comedians. His most popular video as of early 2009 was episode 1 of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show
, which was selected to be featured on YouTube shortly after being posted February 25, 2007, and subsequently drew nearly 2 million viewers. The series later was picked up by Sony Pictures, who continued the show through two seasons on YouTube as part of its "C Spot" lineup; one reviewer for The Times of London described it as "Pee-Wee Herman meets Monty Python via the hyperkinetic madness of Japanese television." Benson also landed a short segment role as a pet owner on an episode of the reality show "The Dog Whisperer" in 2007.
Benson's most prominent directing credit is his work on the Internet series The Guild
, on which he worked again with his wife, Kim Evey, producer of The Guild and writer/star of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.
customers as one of the top five videos of the Amazon/Tribeca Film Festival
's short films division. His short "Phone Call to God" was chosen for second place in the best comedy division at the 2006 Evil City Film Fest.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
of short film
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
s. His production company, Mediocre Films, promotes its creations via YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
.
History
Born in Dallas, TexasDallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, Benson graduated from W. T. White High School in 1986. Eventually he moved to California, where he has since appeared in several television commercials for companies that included electronics retailer Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
, Kia
Kia Motors
Kia Motors , headquartered in Seoul, is South Korea's second-largest automobile manufacturer, following the Hyundai Motor Company, with sales of over 1.4 million vehicles in 2010...
automobiles, Blue Cross Blue Shield medical insurance, and Lean Pockets frozen sandwiches. Benson is a sometime member of the ACME Comedy Theatre
ACME Comedy Theatre
The ACME Comedy Theatre is a sketch comedy and improvisational theater located near Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on La Brea near Wilshire's "Miracle Mile" in the U.S. ACME was started by M.D. Sweeney as "The Two Roads Theater" in Studio City in 1989, with the players known as the Two Roads...
improv
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
troupe in Hollywood, where he first worked with writer/actor Wil Wheaton
Wil Wheaton
Richard William "Wil" Wheaton III is an American actor and writer. As an actor, he is best known for his portrayals of Wesley Crusher on the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation, Gordie Lachance in the film Stand by Me and Joey Trotta in Toy Soldiers...
, who has since appeared in a variety of Benson's projects.
He started making videos in 2005, initially putting them up on his own Mediocre Films website. Eventually he moved his distribution from his own site to YouTube, where within one month one of his shorts, "Greg Hits Hollywood", was featured on the site's home page. The video and its sequels feature Benson interviewing strangers as a pretext for hitting them with his microphone to see "what people will put up with just because they want to be on TV, or even just YouTube." Since then he's become a popular YouTube comedian with over 285,000 subscribers, and he's currently number 27 as most subscribed comedians. His most popular video as of early 2009 was episode 1 of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show is an internet comedy talk show parody starring a Japanese character called Kiko. The video series debuted on YouTube in 2007 and was created by husband-and-wife team Greg Benson and Kim Evey's production company, Mediocre Films...
, which was selected to be featured on YouTube shortly after being posted February 25, 2007, and subsequently drew nearly 2 million viewers. The series later was picked up by Sony Pictures, who continued the show through two seasons on YouTube as part of its "C Spot" lineup; one reviewer for The Times of London described it as "Pee-Wee Herman meets Monty Python via the hyperkinetic madness of Japanese television." Benson also landed a short segment role as a pet owner on an episode of the reality show "The Dog Whisperer" in 2007.
Benson's most prominent directing credit is his work on the Internet series The Guild
The Guild
The Guild is an American comedy web series created and written by Felicia Day, who also stars as Cyd Sherman . It premiered on YouTube on July 27, 2007. Subsequent webisodes premiered on Microsoft's Xbox Live Marketplace, Zune Marketplace, and MSN Video. The webisodes were later made available on...
, on which he worked again with his wife, Kim Evey, producer of The Guild and writer/star of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.
Awards
His first video, "Coming Home", was chosen by Amazon.comAmazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
customers as one of the top five videos of the Amazon/Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
's short films division. His short "Phone Call to God" was chosen for second place in the best comedy division at the 2006 Evil City Film Fest.