Alan Resnick (born July 16, 1986) is an American comedian, visual artist, and filmmaker. He is a member of the Wham City arts collective and founding member of Wham City Comedy.[1]
Alan Resnick | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 16, 1986 |
| Alma mater | SUNY Purchase |
| Years active | 2011–present |
| Spouse | Dina Kelberman |
| Comedy career | |
| Medium |
|
| Genres | |
Work
editBefore working on Adult Swim, Resnick first gained recognition for creating the popular YouTube web series, alantutorial, in 2011.[2] The surrealist series initially began as a tutorial channel from a man attempting to instruct the viewer on nonsensical tasks. Over the course of three years, the series gained strong horror elements as the videos depicted Alan locked out of his house, left homeless, and kidnapped. In the final "tutorial" video, uploaded December 12, 2014, Alan breaks through a wall and escapes the building where he was being held. Gizmodo called Resnick's video "ARM tutorial" one of the "weirdest videos on the internet".[3]
In 2012, Resnick self-published the book $8.95, a series of online customer service chats between Resnick and Bank of America in which Resnick pleads to recover his eponymous bank fee.[4] Also that year, Resnick directed the music video for Dan Deacon's "Guilford Avenue Bridge" and Lower Dens' "Candy".
In 2013, Resnick and fellow Wham City member Ben O'Brien created & directed the TV special Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick, pitched to Adult Swim. The short starred Resnick as himself, in a surreal parody of self-help infomercials, selling digital immortality. This was the duo's first collaboration with Adult Swim and premiered on the network's Infomercials block - premiering at 4:00 A.M., without a title card or common identifier. Despite this, it received positive acclaim and recognition for Wham City, being called "hilarious" and "a good representation of their bizarre comedic stylings." [5] Principal photography for the infomercial was conducted in the Copycat Building during the summer of 2013.[6]
In 2014, Resnick and O'Brien continued to work with Adult Swim's Infomercials, creating the horror short Unedited Footage of a Bear,[7] a parody of allergy medication advertisements, and a veiled cautionary tale about antidepressant abuse, which slowly descends into chaos.[8] The short gained the duo more popularity, and was called "the scariest TV show of 2014".[9] Since launching that year, Resnick has been a contributing writer for The Onion's sister publication, ClickHole.[10] Resnick also premiered a set of new media art pieces in collaboration with artist Lesser Gonzalez, at the Springsteen Gallery in Baltimore, MD.[11][12]
In 2016, Adult Swim aired Resnick's third short film, This House Has People in It.[13] The short film aired at 4:00 A.M. between March 14–19.[14] The short itself consists of surveillance camera footage of a mundane suburban family that descends into surreal horror as the eldest daughter begins phasing through the kitchen floor, based on the found footage genre. Clues hidden throughout This House then direct viewers towards a fake security company website with additional surveillance material of the family and the paranormal events surrounding them, as well as a bootleg episode of a fictional TV show titled the Scultor's Clayground [sic] and its associated website run by the eponymous host (played by Resnick himself). The resulting alternate reality game explores many of the events leading up to and following This House with a total of over two hours' worth of video and audio files alongside numerous logs, images, and text documents.[15][16]
Later in 2016, Resnick starred in IFC's webseries "The Mirror" as Wesley. In 2017, Resnick made an animated film for Super Deluxe called "Johnny Bubble", featuring the titular character in a series of odd events until he dies.
In 2018, his short film, May I Please Enter, was released. In 2020, his short What Codec Should I Use? was released. In 2021, he collaborated with Meow Wolf Denver to create the short film Mac and Cheese. In 2022, his latest short film Cool Blue Car was released as part of Adult Swim's smalls.
In 2022, he created a music video for I Didn't Know I Was Dead. by Negativland[17] That same year, he co-directed (with Patti Harrison) the music video for Bicstan by Hudson Mohawke.[18]
All his work on Adult Swim has been made in collaboration with Baltimore-based production company AB Video Solutions, LLC, (referenced within This House Has People In It as AB Surveillance Solutions) an offshoot of the Wham City arts collective. AB Video Solutions LLC is made up of Resnick, Ben O'Brien, Robby Rackleff, Cricket Arrison, and Dina Kelberman.
Personal life
editResnick lived in Baltimore for 10 years and is currently residing in Los Angeles. He is married to fellow artist Dina Kelberman.[19]
Filmography
editTelevision
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick | Himself | Also creator and writer |
| 2014 | Unedited Footage of a Bear | Bear narrator | Also director, writer and executive producer |
| 2016 | This House Has People in It/Sculptor's Clayground | The Sculptor | Also director, writer and executive producer |
| 2018 | May I Please Enter | Lone Cowboy/Himself | Writer and director |
| 2020 | What Codec Should I Use? | Himself | Writer and director |
| 2022 | Cool Blue Car | Writer and director |
Web
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–2014 | alantutorial | Alan | Also creator and writer |
| 2015 | Visitor Information | Sick person/garage | Also director and writer |
| 2016 | Children of the Mirror | Wesley | Also editor, photography director and executive producer |
| 2017 | The Cry of Mann: A Trool Day Holiday Spectacular in Eight Parts | Jack Mann | Also writer |
| 2018 | Electronic Game Information | Himself | Also additional writer |
| 2019 | Everything Borrowed | Dancing Jerry Paper | Also director |
| 2021 | Mac and Cheese | n/a | Creator |
Audiobook
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Reverse Transmission | Car |
References
edit- ^ Case, Wesley."More focused Wham City Comedy Tour gets seriously funny", "The Baltimore Sun", Baltimore 19 April 2013, Retrieved on 22 July 2014.
- ^ Elphick, Jody. "Like and Subscribe: a Q&A with alantutoiral" Archived 2019-09-24 at the Wayback Machine London, 3 June 2013, Retrieved on 22 July 2014.
- ^ Feinberg, Ashley. "11 of the Weirdest Videos on YouTube", New York, 30 May 2014, Retrieved on 22 July 2014.
- ^ Deacon, Dan. "From The Desk of Dan Deacon", Philadelphia, Retrieved on 22 July 2014
- ^ McLellan, Lea (May 6, 2014). "Smart Bets: Wham City". Mountain Xpress. Archived from the original on August 19, 2014. Retrieved August 17, 2014.
- ^ Woods, Baynard."Wham City makes an infomercial", "The Baltimore City Paper", Baltimore 1 January 2014, Retrieved on 22 July 2014.
- ^ "Adult Swim Creeps Again With New 'Infomercial', "UNEDITED FOOTAGE OF A BEAR"". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ "Adult Swim's Descent Into Madness - Bloody Disgusting!". 18 December 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ "This Year's Scariest Show Aired on the Cartoon Network". Observer. 19 December 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2018.
- ^ "Contact ClickHole". 12 June 2014. Archived from the original on 24 July 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ Livingston, Jack. "Scene Seen: BASE PERIOD – Alan Resnick & Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez @ Springsteen Gallery", Baltimore, 19 July 2014, Retrieved on 22 July 2014.
- ^ Woods, Baynard. "This Modern World: Two artists turn cultural detritus into high art", Baltimore, 4 August 2014, Retrieved on 1 October 2014.
- ^ Adult Swim (15 March 2016). "This House Has People in It". Retrieved 31 July 2016 – via YouTube.
- ^ "This House Has People In It airs on March 14–19 [Discussion] • /r/adultswim". 13 March 2016. Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ "AB Surveillance Solutions". Retrieved 31 July 2016.
- ^ "The Sculptor's Clayground". Retrieved 23 May 2021.
- ^ "I Didn't Know I Was Dead". negativland. 2022-05-07. Retrieved 2022-05-07.
- ^ Hudson Mohawke - Bicstan (Official Video), retrieved 2023-05-12
- ^ "Film Director/Performer Alan Resnick Talks AlanTutorial, Producing for Adult Swim, & More". YouTube. Retrieved 23 May 2021.