JibJab

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JibJab Media Inc.
File:JibJab Logo - Wikipedia.png
Type of businessPrivate
Type of site
Humor
Available inEnglish, Spanish, Japanese, French, Portuguese, Dutch
Founded1999
Headquarters
Venice, California
,
U.S.
Key peopleEvan Spiridellis, Founder
Gregg Spridellis, Founder & CEO
Employees35
URLJibJab.com
AdvertisingBanner ads
RegistrationOptional
Launched1999
Current statusActive

JibJab is a digital entertainment studio based in Venice, California. Founded in 1999 by Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, the company achieved international acclaim during the 2004 US presidential election when their video of George Bush and John Kerry singing 'This Land is Your Land' became one of the biggest viral video hits in history. Since the election, the Spiridellis Brothers have built JibJab into an online entertainment studio with 35 employees creating, producing and distributing original content, including sendable eCards and viral videos.

The Early Years

JibJab was started by Gregg Spiridellis and his brother Evan. Before JibJab, Gregg was an MBA student at the Wharton School of Business and Evan was an accomplished independent animator creating festival-winning short films. The idea that production costs were dropping and distribution was opening up led the brothers to believe that they could create a giant, new entertainment brand. In 1999, the brothers started JibJab in a Brooklyn garage.

Evan assembled a team of painters, photographers, illustrators and sculptors. Most of them had little or no experience with technology, but Evan challenged them to think about the computer as just another tool, like a paintbrush or a sculpting knife. Gregg called people in search of business and, on the side, took to writing comedy, because the art team needed concepts to produce.

At the beginning, the brothers supported their business producing high quality eCards for other companies. Then, in February 2000, the brothers created their first viral video hit with an interactive video of the Founding Fathers rapping about the Declaration of Independence. They quickly followed it with an even bigger hit featuring George Bush and Al Gore in a rap battle for the 2000 presidential election. The video was one of the web’s first broad based hits and landed on Fox’s MadTV, ABC News, CNN and a host of other national media outlets. The brothers were on the verge of success when the dot-com crash knocked them off course.

Within six months, all of JibJab's clients went out of business. The brothers scrambled to find creative ways to make enough money to keep their new business afloat. They created a line of gag gifts based on their popular online series “Nasty Santa” and sold it nationwide through Spencer Gifts and Urban Outfitters. They also created animations for companies like Disney, Noggin and Kraft. They even published a children's book with rap super star LL Cool J.

By the end of 2001, it was clear that online entertainment was not coming back anytime soon. The brothers realized that in order for JibJab to survive, they would need to close down their Brooklyn shop and move to Los Angeles in January 2002.

For two years, the brothers toiled in obscurity. Despite the anonymity, it was a productive two years. They published a best-selling holiday book for Disney called “Are You Grumpy Santa”. They produced a series of viral animations for Sony. They created the Bananagrabber character for the hit TV series “Arrested Development”. Most importantly, they continued to pour everything back into original short programming for JibJab.com because they believed that building an audience by serving great content would ultimately lead to big opportunities.

In August 2003, they created a political parody called “Ahnold for Governor” that quickly spread across the web and landed them a coveted spot at the Sundance Online Film Festival.

Prior to Election 2004

The following are a list of JibJab's early political videos:

  • Capitol Ill (Bush/Gore Rap Battle)
  • Godzillary
  • Rumple (President Bush's Imaginary Friend)
  • Cooking with Clinton
  • Bush on Education
  • Gore on Special Interests

The following are some of the studio's early non-political videos:

  • Founding Fathers Rap
  • Geezers
  • Breedin' in Eden
  • Nasty Santa
  • Sandbox
  • Exit 109
  • Nookie & Wheels
  • Hoola Boy
  • Riddle King
  • Fart Waffle
  • The Dick Johnson Show
  • Turkey Baseball
  • The History of Jibjab

JibJab produced the following childrens' books:

  • Are You Grumpy Santa
  • And the Winner Is... (with LL Cool J)
  • Don't Talk to Strangers (with Kevi Kev)

JibJab produced viral videos for:

Election 2004

"This Land"

File:JibJab This Land.png
Ending of "This Land"

For the 2004 presidential election, JibJab created a Flash movie entitled This Land, which featured a parody of Woody Guthrie's song "This Land Is Your Land", sung by animated caricatures of George W. Bush and John Kerry.

This animation was an instant hit. Visits to the site skyrocketed, and the site was listed number one on Alexa's "Movers and Shakers" list. The video was so popular, it was viewed on every continent as well as the International Space Station. The traffic surge forced JibJab's server to be shut down after one day, and the clip was placed on AtomFilms, where it got more than 1 million hits in 24 hours.[1]

After being linked to on thousands of websites, the song was featured several times in the printed media and on television, including NBC Nightly News, Fox News and ABC World News Tonight. On July 26, 2004, the creators appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

The popularity of the animation has resulted in The Richmond Organization, a music publisher that owns the copyright to Guthrie's tune through its Ludlow Music Unit, threatening legal action.[2] JibJab responded with a lawsuit in a California federal court, claiming the song was protected under a fair use exemption for parodies. JibJab and Ludlow Music reached a settlement after JibJab's attorneys unearthed evidence that the song had passed into the public domain in 1973. The terms of the settlement allowed for the continued distribution of This Land.[3] Jim Meskimen voiced almost all the characters. Minor characters include Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Howard Dean, John Edwards, Colin Powell, and Dick Cheney.

"Good to be in DC"

Due to the popularity of This Land a second parody, Good to be in D.C. featuring President George W. Bush, Former Democratic Presidential and Vice Presidential candidates John Kerry, John Edwards, Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman was made to the tune of Dixie. Also featured were Dan Rather, John Ashcroft, Michael Moore, Rush Limbaugh, and John McCain. It also poked fun at Vice President Cheney's ties to Halliburton and former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey's coming out as a homosexual, Former President Bill Clinton in the arms of two women while his wife Hillary smacks him, and actress Jane Fonda dressed as a 1960s hippie protesting the Vietnam War and being set on fire. The cartoon was shown on The Tonight Show, The Today Show, and many other news programs. Jim Meskimen voiced most of the characters again.

"Second Term"

For the inauguration in January 2005, a third parody, Second Term, featuring most of the political figures already mentioned, was made to the tune of "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain." The cartoon premiered on The Tonight Show. It dealt with the reactions to Bush's 2004 electoral victory, both in the US and around the world. Jim Meskimen voiced almost all the characters once more.

Post-Election 2004

Santa Claus!

This cartoon is about Santa ranting about Christmas. ". As of now, this cartoon was the last in the "Nasty Santa" canon as there has yet to be another one.

The video is sung in the tune of Jingle Bells.

Matzah!

Matzah features a Hebrew hip-hop artist, Smooth-E, rapping about matzah, the unleavened bread observant Jews eat during Passover. The main character is reminiscent of rapper Eminem, and appears in front of rap-video clichés. It also features a burning bush -- part of the story of Exodus, which is told at Passover. It was aired on The Tonight Show on Thursday, April 21, 2005.

Big Box Mart

Another criticizing cartoon, "Big Box Mart" follows Jibjab's tradition of lampooning big retailers. It premiered October 13 2005 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. It follows a man, representing the typical American consumer, who shops and purchases "crap" with "a wallet full of credit cards" at a fictional store called Big-Box Mart; partly based on Wal-Mart, to fulfill his "needs". Later the man's factory job is outsourced to China, as it's cheaper to sell merchandise to retailers by using cheap foreign labor. He ends up as an employee at the big-box store he regularly shopped at, Big Box Mart, an obvious caricature of Wal-Mart. The cartoon is notable for containing the faces of approximately one thousand JibJab fans.

The video is sung to the tune of Oh! Susanna.

"2-0-5"

This cartoon, which premiered on the Tonight Show on December 15 2005, is sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne" and "Turkey in the Straw". It depicts President George W. Bush singing about the many setbacks and issues he has faced and allegedly caused during 2005 and how he is hoping that 2006 will be better. Jim Meskimen provided the voices. The cartoon competed in the Internet category of the 2006 Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Jokebox

Jibjab introduced a new feature which allows members (who can sign up for free) to compile and view written, video, audio or photo "jokes" and store them in their own "JokeBox". JibJabbers have uploaded more than 100,000 jokes, creating what many believe is the largest online joke database.

Weird Al - Do I Creep You Out

JibJab has released a video for "Weird Al" Yankovic's parody song "Do I Creep You Out?", taken from his Straight Outta Lynwood album. The video can be watched on the site. It involves the song's character (played by Weird Al himself, looking similar to Taylor Hicks, the artist who sings the original song "Do I Make You Proud") stalking the object of his affection until he is violently beaten and arrested by the police. The song ends with him at the prison's talent show, and the object of affection for one of the larger inmates.

Deck the Halls

A relatively unknown post-2004 elections piece by JibJab is "Deck the Halls." It isn't an animation, but more an amalgamation of President Bush's and other press conferences with Bush's voice timed to sound like the Christmas carol Deck the Halls. The song is very high-paced and very jumpy with its clips, where some are also stopped and replayed to keep its high-paced mood going.

Nuckin' Futs- A Jib Jab Year In Review

This Jib Jab music video features kids in a "school play" singing a song about things that happened in 2006. It is sung to the tune of Jingle Bells. It was shown on December 13, 2006 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

What We Call the News

This music video criticizes the sensationalism, punditry, and gossip in modern TV news shows. It is sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic. The characters tend to use a different style of talking animation, with separated heads that are similar to the depiction of Canadians on South Park (literally a 'talking head'). It was shown on March 28, 2007 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Star Spangled Banner

The same concept as the Deck the Halls video, with video clips of U.S. presidents speaking the lyrics of The Star-Spangled Banner.

In 2007- A Jib Jab Year In Review

This music video involves angels compiling an annual report on humanity, but they realize that the report is dismal enough to deserve another flood, and so attempt to sugarcoat it by putting it to song. The tune is "We Didn't Start the Fire" by Billy Joel. It appeared on the Tonight Show on January 3, 2008.

Time for Some Campaignin'

Released mid-July of 2008, this video sums up the 2008 US Presidential race thus far, poking fun at many of the candidate's flaws and platforms. A part of the cartoon shows Bill Clinton lounging in an armchair, with a hooker behind him, singing "You dod well my dear, but alas, no cigar." On 'cigar' Hillary conked him in the head with a pan. It also points out the hypocritical nature of the Presidential race, saying "we promise you anything you want to hear" and "then we spin you around and poke you in the rear". The song's tune is based on Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are A-Changin'". It debuted on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Parodies of Companies

References

  1. ^ Maney, Kevin. , USA Today, 2004-07-27. "This Net was made for you and me and the rest of the world"
  2. ^ Metz, Rachel. , Wired News, 2004-08-01. "JibJab Asks for Court's Help"
  3. ^ Hansen, Evan. , CNET News.com. 2004-08-25. "JibJab beats copyright rap"

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=JibJab&oldid=226359066"