The Robot Johnson Show
Encyclopedia
The Robot Johnson Show is a weekly sketch comedy
show put together by the members of Robot Johnson, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina
. The show format consists of sketches, commercial and song parodies and original comedy songs, and lasts roughly an hour and ten minutes. Founded by Sean Keenan and A. Blaine Miller, two original members of Charlotte stalwart comedy group The Perch, Robot Johnson is made up of Perch alumni along with local actors and comedians. Relying on local humor and pushing the envelope on racial, sexual and political issues, Robot Johnson claims to provide "good humor by bad people."
, of which Spirit Square is a part. Given the previous success of The Perch (which had folded in 2006 after eleven years of performing in Charlotte) and Keenan's national notoriety as the voice and puppeteer of MTV2
character The Talking Baby, Young thought that the time was right to start a new sketch comedy troupe in the city. Although initially reluctant to get involved, Keenan eventually agreed, calling Miller to gauge interest in the foundation of a new group. The Robot Johnson Show debuted in the Charlotte Comedy Theatre on December 7, 2007, with its first show including favorites like "Quay Rogers: Surrogate Black Guy," "Of Maple Leaves and Human Suffering," and "The Incredibly Sad Indian." The show performed in the Charlotte Comedy Theatre through April 2008, when the group went on hiatus to prepare for its move to the big stage.
Beginning in 2009, the Robot Johnson Show began performing at the CAST Theatre on Clement Avenue. Then in October of 2011, the show moved to The Mill, a bar at 3306A North Davidson Street in the NoDa neighborhood
of Charlotte.
Shelby Gerkin (Meghan Lowther)
in the early 2000s. The sketch typically starts out with Disembodied Voice paraphrasing a pop song to introduce the baby (one segment featured Disembodied Voice singing the entire first verse to "More Than Words
" by Extreme
) before introducing the first film to be reviewed.
In September 2008, the troupe partnered with Collaborative Arts Theatre to produce SITCOMS LIVE, which featured three weeks of three separate sitcoms from the latter half of the twentieth century, including episodes of "Three's Company
," "The Facts of Life
," and "Married...With Children." Robot Johnson performed the commercial breaks for each sitcom, along with a new hour-long sketch comedy show after each performance. The following year, The Robot Johnson Show received the Metrolina Theatre Award (MTA) for "Other Exemplary Performance/Element - Comedy" for its contribution to SITCOMS LIVE.
On September 21, 2008 Robot Johnson announced that they would move back into The Charlotte Comedy Theatre in October of that year to begin workshopping shows for 2009.
In February 2009, Robot Johnson partnered with Charlotte photography museum The Light Factory to promote "American Zombie," a citywide festival devoted to the work of director George A. Romero
. Cast members Sean Keenan, Zaq Rogers and Tiffany Apple appeared on "Wilson's World" segments of local news program "Fox News Rising" on opposite sides of the zombie
-rights argument in order to promote the event.
September 2009 saw Robot Johnson's first musical releases. The troupe released free promotional CDs at performances at the Carolina Actors Studio Theatre in Charlotte, NC and at The Gathering Spot in Greenville, SC. The promo CD singles featured members of the troupe performing parodies of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles
, "The Times They Are a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan
, "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton
and Kenny Rogers
, and "Disarm" by The Smashing Pumpkins
. Also in September 2009, troupe member David Golden released his debut album, "Here's What I Really Think of You," featuring songs he had written for the troupe.
In January 2010, Robot Johnson began a year long run of monthly shows at the CAST Theatre.
On February 4, 2010, Robot Johnson performed at the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival
.
Sketch comedy
A sketch comedy consists of a series of short comedy scenes or vignettes, called "sketches," commonly between one and ten minutes long. Such sketches are performed by a group of comic actors or comedians, either on stage or through an audio and/or visual medium such as broadcasting...
show put together by the members of Robot Johnson, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
. The show format consists of sketches, commercial and song parodies and original comedy songs, and lasts roughly an hour and ten minutes. Founded by Sean Keenan and A. Blaine Miller, two original members of Charlotte stalwart comedy group The Perch, Robot Johnson is made up of Perch alumni along with local actors and comedians. Relying on local humor and pushing the envelope on racial, sexual and political issues, Robot Johnson claims to provide "good humor by bad people."
History
The initial concept for The Robot Johnson Show came out of a series of conversations Keenan had with Douglas Young, Director of Theatrical Programming of the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts CenterNorth Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center
The North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center is located in Charlotte, North Carolina. It opened in 1992 and is named in honor of the people of the state of North Carolina and the Blumenthal Foundation established by I.D. Blumenthal who founded RSC Brands, the largest private donor to the...
, of which Spirit Square is a part. Given the previous success of The Perch (which had folded in 2006 after eleven years of performing in Charlotte) and Keenan's national notoriety as the voice and puppeteer of MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
character The Talking Baby, Young thought that the time was right to start a new sketch comedy troupe in the city. Although initially reluctant to get involved, Keenan eventually agreed, calling Miller to gauge interest in the foundation of a new group. The Robot Johnson Show debuted in the Charlotte Comedy Theatre on December 7, 2007, with its first show including favorites like "Quay Rogers: Surrogate Black Guy," "Of Maple Leaves and Human Suffering," and "The Incredibly Sad Indian." The show performed in the Charlotte Comedy Theatre through April 2008, when the group went on hiatus to prepare for its move to the big stage.
Beginning in 2009, the Robot Johnson Show began performing at the CAST Theatre on Clement Avenue. Then in October of 2011, the show moved to The Mill, a bar at 3306A North Davidson Street in the NoDa neighborhood
NoDa (neighborhood)
NoDa is a popular arts district in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. It is located in the North Charlotte neighborhood on and around North Davidson Street and 36th Street, approximately one mile northeast of Uptown. Formerly an area of textile manufacturing and mill workers' residences, the area has...
of Charlotte.
Present
Currently, Robot Johnson is performing at the CAST Theatre in Charlotte, NC and is a touring company across both North and South Carolina.Cast Members
The current cast and writing staff of The Robot Johnson Show is as follows:- Sean Keenan, producer and co-founder
- Candice Cortinas, associate producer
- Tiffany Apple, performer
- David Golden, writer/performer
- Graham Odom, writer/performer
- Jason "Bear" Blackman, performer
- Zaq Rogers, performer
- Meghan Lowther, writer/performer
- Brandon Ballard, writer/performer
- Luci Wilson, performer
Recurring characters
- Gordon, the Marginalized Redneck (Sean Keenan)
- Becca Norwood, Channel 5 reporter (Tiffany Apple)
- Father Arlo McAfferty (Jason "Bear" Blackman)
- Paula and Skalene, the "Double Wide" girls (Tiffany Apple and Luci Wilson)
- Gene Shalit (Brandon Ballard)
- The Talking Baby (Sean Keenan)
- Disembodied Voice (Graham Odom)
- Gene and Monty, two '40s-era movie execs (David Golden and Zaq Rogers)
- The Guardian Pancake (Sean Keenan)
- Kelly Hornsby (Luci Wilson)
- Dr. A**hole (Zaq Rogers)
- Drs. Howell, Utley, Cornwallis, and Patricks, the redneck NASA rocket scientists (Luci Wilson, David Golden, Tiffany Apple, and Graham Odom)
Shelby Gerkin (Meghan Lowther)
The Talking Baby
The Talking Baby is described by creator Sean Keenan as an "R-rated puppet show," though the baby in question is not actually a puppet but rather an anatomically correct baby doll. During the Talking Baby segments, audience members are able to see Keenan's hand as he operates the baby, changing its hand positions and turning its head. The ostensible function of Talking Baby is to review movies, but the character often goes off on tangents about characters, actors, directors or concepts involved in the movie and quite often has not seen the movies he reviews. The Talking Baby segment is the raunchiest and most profanity-laden of each show, with the Baby promising to "clean it up" for children and the elderly before descending into a tirade of obscenity. One of the most popular sketches in the show, Talking Baby was eventually made the spokesman for MTV2MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
in the early 2000s. The sketch typically starts out with Disembodied Voice paraphrasing a pop song to introduce the baby (one segment featured Disembodied Voice singing the entire first verse to "More Than Words
More Than Words
"More Than Words" is a ballad written and originally performed by the rock band Extreme. It is built around acoustic guitar work by Nuno Bettencourt and the vocals of Gary Cherone . Released in 1990 on the album Extreme II: Pornograffiti, the song marked a departure from the funk metal that had...
" by Extreme
Extreme (band)
Extreme is an American rock band, headed by frontmen Gary Cherone and Nuno Bettencourt, that reached the height of their popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s.Among some of Extreme's musical influences are Queen and Van Halen...
) before introducing the first film to be reviewed.
Partnerships and Media Appearances
At their July 26 shows, Robot Johnson filmed a national 30-minute pilot. As of February 2009, the pilot is in post-production and there are plans to shop it to two major networks as well as smaller cable stations. Robot Johnson recently launched its own Youtube channel and plans are in the works for a national tour and a comedy album.In September 2008, the troupe partnered with Collaborative Arts Theatre to produce SITCOMS LIVE, which featured three weeks of three separate sitcoms from the latter half of the twentieth century, including episodes of "Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
," "The Facts of Life
The Facts of Life (TV series)
The Facts of Life is an American sitcom that originally ran on the NBC television network from August 24, 1979 to May 7, 1988. A spin-off of the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes, the series' premise focused on Edna Garrett as she becomes a housemother at the fictional Eastland School, a prestigious...
," and "Married...With Children." Robot Johnson performed the commercial breaks for each sitcom, along with a new hour-long sketch comedy show after each performance. The following year, The Robot Johnson Show received the Metrolina Theatre Award (MTA) for "Other Exemplary Performance/Element - Comedy" for its contribution to SITCOMS LIVE.
On September 21, 2008 Robot Johnson announced that they would move back into The Charlotte Comedy Theatre in October of that year to begin workshopping shows for 2009.
In February 2009, Robot Johnson partnered with Charlotte photography museum The Light Factory to promote "American Zombie," a citywide festival devoted to the work of director George A. Romero
George A. Romero
George Andrew Romero is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his gruesome and satirical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He is nicknamed "Godfather of all Zombies." -Life and career:...
. Cast members Sean Keenan, Zaq Rogers and Tiffany Apple appeared on "Wilson's World" segments of local news program "Fox News Rising" on opposite sides of the zombie
Zombie
Zombie is a term used to denote an animated corpse brought back to life by mystical means such as witchcraft. The term is often figuratively applied to describe a hypnotized person bereft of consciousness and self-awareness, yet ambulant and able to respond to surrounding stimuli...
-rights argument in order to promote the event.
September 2009 saw Robot Johnson's first musical releases. The troupe released free promotional CDs at performances at the Carolina Actors Studio Theatre in Charlotte, NC and at The Gathering Spot in Greenville, SC. The promo CD singles featured members of the troupe performing parodies of "Here Comes the Sun" by The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
, "The Times They Are a-Changin'" by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, "Islands in the Stream" by Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton
Dolly Rebecca Parton is an American singer-songwriter, author, multi-instrumentalist, actress and philanthropist, best known for her work in country music. Dolly Parton has appeared in movies like 9 to 5, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Steel Magnolias and Straight Talk...
and Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, and "Disarm" by The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins are an American alternative rock band that formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1988. Formed by Billy Corgan frontman and James Iha , the band has included Jimmy Chamberlin , D'arcy Wretzky , and currently includes Jeff Schroeder Mike Byrne , and Nicole Fiorentino The Smashing...
. Also in September 2009, troupe member David Golden released his debut album, "Here's What I Really Think of You," featuring songs he had written for the troupe.
In January 2010, Robot Johnson began a year long run of monthly shows at the CAST Theatre.
On February 4, 2010, Robot Johnson performed at the North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival
North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival
The North Carolina Comedy Arts Festival is an annual comedy festival in Carrboro, North Carolina, United States. The festival was started in 2001 by Zach Ward as an improv showcase and improv seminars. The festival has grown year over year...
.