Kaufmanesque Comedy on YouTube

Fred Armisen played a little joke on YouTubers over the summer, with the help of a relatively unknown actress-comic named Charlene Yi. I say “relatively unknown” because when I first saw these videos, I sincerely felt sorry for what appeared to be a 12-year-old kid who honestly believed this audition might get her a spot on Saturday Night Live:

Fred Armisen then responds with this video, in which he talks about how he’s really too busy to respond to her:

The video conversation continues along this thread, with Charlene pulling off the wide-eyed schoolkid act so well that I was completely fooled, and Armisen continuing to talk about how swamped and important he is. It ends with this last video, where Armisen begins the video and Yi ends it:

Viewers who dismiss Charlene Yi (and her oddly charming YouTube films) are surprised to learn that she had parts in both Knocked Up and Semi Pro last year. And by “viewers” I mean “me”. It turns out that her sincere naivety is all part of the act, an act which is pretty much bulletproof in everything else I’ve seen. Her style of comedy really is made for YouTube’s hyper-intimate stage, where she can seem completely awkward and unplanned, making fun of herself and her audience at the same time. That takes guts, people. In 2007, Variety highlighted her as one of their 10 Comics to Watch, remarking that her style is already being compared to Andy Kaufman.

The skit might have been better suited to a site like Seesmic, with the conversation held together, but it’s still a pretty cool example of a sort of post-modern comic routine. I can’t even imagine what Andy Kaufman would be doing on YouTube were he alive today. I guess it might be something like this, but like, ten times more awkward and offensive.

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