arts // no. §

Tune in and Dropout

» Anew chapter for CollegeHumor

and internet comedy

Jacey Gibb
Distribution Manager

 

I: no secret that making money off of the
internet can be a fickle business. Look

at how the transition to online readership
has torpedoed advertising revenue for most
media organizations, or how other online
platforms are shuttering their theoretical
doors altogether.

“Making internet videos is
challenging, mostly because it pays dick
and dick doesn’t pay for internet videos,”
laments CollegeHumor president of
content Sam Reich in a YouTube video
titled “How the Internet is Ruining
Comedy.”

Reich explains how the majority of
their videos can’t be monetized on YouTube
due to containing “controversial” content,
despite how vague and encompassing
a label that is. He also takes a stab at
branded content—videos or articles
where a particular product is featured in a
supposedly organic fashion in exchange for
advertising revenue.

“So what do we do?” Reich continues
in the same video. “How do we produce
the shows we want and you want, without
watering them down for advertiser or
networks? The answer is by going straight
to you.”

Enter Dropout TV, the new
subscription streaming service being
offered by CollegeHumor.

By launching their own subscription
service, the jokesters over at CollegeHumor
hope to fund the R-rated content they
want to without having to dilute it for
advertisers. Dropout offers new and
returning sketch web series as well as
original comics and “interactive” chat
stories. Subscribers also get access to
CollegeHumor’s usual short-form sketch
videos before they’re available on the
parent website.

CollegeHumor began releasing some
of their longer-format videos in the months
leading up to Dropout, so regular viewers
should already have a taste of what's being

  

offered. Like any streaming service, the
highs are high while the lows are... mostly
just okay.

One early favourite of mine is Rank
Room, where host Katie Marovitch and
three other panelists discuss life’s most
ridiculous questions. (The first episode
asks, “What is the sexiest way to die?”
and it’s as glorious as it sounds.) Another
favourite is Dimension 20: Fantasy High, a
largely improvised fantasy campaign like
Dungeons & Dragons played by current
CollegeHumor cast members and previous
alumni. There's also See Plum Run, a
continuation of the Precious Plum videos
that so gloriously lampooned the Here
Comes Honey Boo Boo craze of the early
20108.

However, the website is still in its
beta phase so there are a few issues that
need addressing. For now, Dropout is only
available through the website, unlike other
streaming services that offer their own
app. Promisingly though, Reich responded
to a tweet on October 1 saying that apps
would be available “before the end of
the year.” The website can also be slow to
respond, and videos from further back in
CollegeHumor’s archives sometimes have
difficulty loading.

As well, many of the shows such as
Paranoia, Total Forgiveness, and Troopers
were advertised in their introductory
video as “coming soon” but they remain
MIA from the website. In the meantime,
Dropout has compiled many of the shorter
sketch series like Jake & Amir and The
Adventures of Kim Jong-Un into one place
for you to binge.

I'll be diving into Dropout’s original
series more in future articles, so I won't go
into them here. However, if you're on the
fence, I'll say that some shows on their own
are worth the monthly subscription cost
of $3.99 US. When the beta phase ends in
November, the cost jumps to $5.99 US. If
paying for content isn’t really your thing
though, you can sign up for a free seven-
day trial—but in that case, you're kind of
missing the point of the whole experiment.

Image via College Humor

Jerrison Oracion
Senior Columnist

 

here is a debate over which type of
music is better: J-Pop or K-Pop. While
1 like both types of music, I prefer J-Pop
because there is a variety of different styles
of music, unlike K-Pop which to me sounds
like the music in the US except cooler and
better.

In the past few months, a lot of great
songs have been released in Japan. Two of
them have gotten the entire country and
possibly the rest of the world hyped. One
is made by a group that released their first
hit single after a long time, and the other
song is made by a sister group of AKB48,
which I’ve mentioned a lot in this column
recently. Here are the music videos of those
songs that will cause you to like J-Pop.

“U.S.A.” by Da Pump

Usually, every summer a song is declared
to be the biggest song of the season.
While there were a few hit singles last
summer, there was not a lot of hype for
them. The biggest song this year is avery
American song by a group called Da Pump
which consists of Issa, Daichi, Kenzo,
Tomo, Kimi, Yori, and U-Yeah. The music
video combines American elements

with everything that makes J-Pop great,
including Issa’s singing, the lights, a very
interesting dance, a bit of M.C. Hammer
in the end, and a chorus that will have you
hooked: “C'mon, baby America”.

The person who got me hooked on
the song is NGT48’s Faka Murakumo.
The version available on YouTube ends
30 seconds before it is done because
they might have shown credits during
that section of the music video, which

 

theotherpress.ca

The best of J-Pop

» YouTube Music Video Classics:
Two current Japanese hits

  

'U.S.A.' by Da Pump music video still

is unusual. The missing section ends

with the group doing a dab. Many people
have been making parodies of the song

by changing the word America with
something else. If you'd like to see more of
Da Pump, the group will perform on Songs
of Tokyo which will airon NHK World this
December.

“Sekai no Hito e” by NGT48

This song’s title translates to “To the people
of the world.” NGT48, which is based in
Niigata, has made a lot of hit singles and
set standards in the AKB48 world since
they began in 2015. They take it to the next
level by filming the music video of their
recent hit single in Russia.

In the music video, Arinka, who is an
actual fan of the band, wants to be part
of a group. She sees a message from the
lead member and my favourite member
in the group, Ogino Yuka. Ogino tells her
that she should pursue her dream. We see
Arinka wearing the clothes from the video
of NGT48’s “Sekai wa Doko Made Aozora
na no ka?” We also see an aerial shot of
the city leading to the group performing
in the street with a huge crowd, and
we see a circus at night. Arinka’s father
provides comic relief because he is a circus
entertainer.

This music video appeals to
international fans because it shows that
you can still try to see groups in person.
The song is one of the reasons why I like
J-Pop because it causes everyone to come
together and have a great time. Currently,
NGT48 is doing a project where people
record themselves lip syncing to the song
and post it on Instagram, which could be
used for a video that will be put on their
YouTube channel.

‘Sekai no Hito e' by NGT48 music video still