Greg Benson
Gregory Benson is an American comedian, actor, and director. His production company, Mediocre Films, creates comedic short films, generally for YouTube. He is a frequent director for The Guild.[2][3]
| Greg Benson | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.jpg.webp) Benson at VidCon 2012 | ||||||||||
| Born | 1967/8 Dallas, Texas, U.S. | |||||||||
| Years active | 1990–present | |||||||||
| Spouse |
Kim Evey | |||||||||
| Children | 1 | |||||||||
| Notable works and roles | Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, The Guild | |||||||||
| Website | mediocrefilms | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2006–present | |||||||||
| Genre(s) | Comedy, pranks, entertainment | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.7 million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 392.74 million[1] | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: 6 April 2023 | ||||||||||
History
Benson graduated from W. T. White High School in 1986. Eventually he moved to California, where he has since appeared in several television commercials. 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.[4]
He started making videos in 2005, initially hosting them on his own Mediocre Films website.[5] Eventually he moved his distribution from his own site to YouTube, where within one month, "Greg Hits Hollywood", one of his shorts, was featured on the site's home page.[6] 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."[5] Since then, he has become a popular YouTube comedian, number 47 on the list of most subscribed comedians on YouTube. His most popular video as of early 2009[6] 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,[4][6] 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."[7]
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, as well as creator and performer of the Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show.[8] He also portrayed one of the passengers on the short Docudrama "The Flight that Fought Back". He and his wife, Kim, adopted a baby boy named Charlie in January 2016.
Awards
His first video, "Coming Home", was chosen by Amazon.com customers as one of the top five videos of the Amazon/Tribeca Film Festival's short films division.[9]
His short "Phone Call to God" was chosen for second place in the best comedy division at the 2006 Evil City Film Fest.[10]
"The Guild", which Benson Directed the second half of season 1, has won several awards including 2007 YouTube Awards (Best Series), 2009 Streamy Awards (Best Series, Best Comedy Series), 2012 IAWTV Awards (Best Comedy Web Series).
Retarded Policeman
Retarded Policeman is an American YouTube comedy web series written, directed, and edited by Benson, and based on an idea by his wife, producer and performer, Kim Evey. Scott Perry, Josh "The Ponceman" Perry's brother, has worked on the series.
The videos are uploaded on YouTube under the channel MediocreFilms.
Synopsis
The fictional series follows learning impaired Officer Ponce (Josh "The Ponceman" Perry) as he pulls over members of the public.
Theme song
The following is the lyrics to the 8 second long theme song played at the start of the video. Episode 15 had a rock remix of the theme song performed by Dave Days.
He is a cop,
And he's learning impaired,
He's the retarded policeman! (that's me!)
Episode list
| # Episode no. | Episode name | Guest starring | Air date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hi | Scott Perry and Stacey Perry | September 19, 2007 |
| 2 | Officer Monkey | Kim Evey | September 27, 2007 |
| 3 | Coked Up | Greg Benson | October 4, 2007 |
| 4 | Racial Profiling | Cozmo Johnson | November 20, 2007 |
| 5 | Writers Strike | Wil Wheaton | January 22, 2008 |
| 6 | Sobriety Test | David Hussey | February 4, 2008 |
| 7 | MILF | Cory Williams and Jody Hoells | March 20, 2008 |
| 7.5 | Fish (April Fools) | Felicia Day | March 31, 2008 |
| 8 | Tazer | Mark McCracken and Laura House | April 1, 2008 |
| 9 | Boobies! | Heather Provost, Valerie Querns, Alan Heitz and Scott Perry | April 23, 2008 |
| 10 | Mexicans | Connie Perry and Al Perry | June 10, 2008 |
| 11 | GILF | Peggy Grigsby | June 25, 2008 |
| 12 | Casual Friday | Shelby Malone | July 2, 2008 |
| 13 | Mime | Doug Jones | July 10, 2008 |
| 14 | Bribes | Phil DeFranco | July 25, 2008 |
| 15 | Assburgers Syndrome | Charles Trippy and Dave Days | August 8, 2008 |
| 16 | Stalker | Michael Buckley | August 15, 2008 |
| 17 | Nalts | Kevin Nalty | August 29, 2008 |
References
- "About MediocreFilms". YouTube.
- Mediocre Films profile at YouTube
- Monas, Steve (2007). Yourspace 2. Fast Agency. ISBN 978-1-4196-5321-6.
- April MacIntyre."Wil Wheaton interview: A Gorgeous Tiny Chicken C Spot Archived 2010-01-02 at the Wayback Machine," Monsters and Critics, May 29, 2008.
- Tommy Garrett. "Nothing mediocre about Greg," Archived July 8, 2011, at the Wayback Machine Canyon News (Laurel Canyon, CA), April 20, 2008.
- Kellie Hwang. "With Mediocre Films, couple embraces Internet's viral video," The Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ), March 28, 2009.
- Nigel Kendall. "The Web watcher: Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine; Mediocre Films," The Times (London, England), June 16, 2008.
- WorldofHiglet (November 16, 2008). "Exclusive interview with Kim Evey, Producer of The Guild". Whedonverse.net. Archived from the original on November 18, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2012.
- "Beginner filmmaker wins Amazon Theater/Tribeca Film Festival Short-Film Competition with his second film: Jack Paccione, Jr. took second place in inaugural competition last July with his first-ever film," Business Wire, November 3, 2005: "Other finalist films included ... 'Coming Home,' written, directed and produced by Greg Benson: Inspired by Woody Allen, Spike Jonze and Monty Python, this comedy was based on a dream and shot in one evening with a budget of $10. No one expects to come home to this."
- Evil City Film Fest 2006: Winners List. Retrieved January 21, 2008.