How has everyone been? Staying warm? It’s a blizzard here in Detroit (and other places), so it’s the perfect day to cuddle up with your sweetheart and watch some Internet sketch comedy from your favorite sketch comedy troupe, or if they don’t have a new video, us.

Today’s offering opens our 5th season of videos and was shot in L.A. with the West Coast unit of ThesePeople, myself (MaTT), Joel Slabaugh and Ryan Mason (star of “Buddy Escorts” and “My, Robot”). It tells the touching tale of a man’s struggle with addiction. And really there’s no better time than Valentine’s Day to release a sketch called “Sex Addict”. Will its title do it the same favor that “Homemade Porn” has done for “Homemade Porn”? Only time will tell.

Please enjoy “Sex Addict” on our site, facebook and on our YouTube page and subscribe if you haven’t yet, what’re you waiting for? It’s free.

Oh and one little quick note on the aforementioned “Homemade Porn”, it is now the 20th most viewed comedy video of ALL TIME on YouTube, and has over 27,000,000 views. I guess that will be this troupe’s legacy… prove us wrong “Sex Addict”.

As always fans and friends, keep those pin requests coming in, we’ll send them out when the snow stops, and also don’t forget to get a ThesePeople DVD full of our favorite sketches and tons of extras for the true ThesePeople completist.

Enjoy the new sketch! Sorry for the initial new sketch gap, but stay tuned for more work from the L.A. and Detroit ThesePeople crews! 2 more sketches are in postproduction as we speak.

Happy Valentine’s Day,
MaTT and ThesePeople

As the year winds down so does another thrilling and, at times, hilarious ThesePeople season of comedy.

We leave you with a just (barely) in time for New Year’s Sketch “Midnight Kiss” starring our good friend and founding member Kim “Kat” Cooper.

This year brought a lot of firsts for ThesePeople including our first DVD (on sale on the site now) and our first ever STAGE performance. Not only that, we cranked out 19 more sketches for you to enjoy.

We are looking forward to trying some new things and finally getting around to a pile of scripts we’ve got stored up in 2K10 (spoiler alert some scripts are CAT related) so we hope you’ll stay tuned for more of our general Internet wackiness.

As people sometimes do at the end of a year (or season) we like to look back at the year that has passed and call out our favorite ThesePeople moments. Rather than make a hokey list, we’ll just call out every member’s favorite sketch (luckily there weren’t a lot of repeats)

Matt: Hairy Guyz
Jeff: Help Keep Cat off the Streets
Joel: Guitar Hero for Girls
Nick: Mindblowers
Tim: Matthew and Timothy: Amazing Magicians
Steve: Mindblowers (I guess 2 votes makes “Mindblowers” #1)

So there you have it kids! Go out there for New Year’s, get drunk, be safe, kiss some one, and then blog about it.

See you in the next Decade my loves,

MaTT and ThesePeople

Matt here to share with you the latest ThesePeople creation shot earlier this year in LOVELY Los Angeles in 109 degree weather. This is a sketch we’ve been excited about for a while, but had to wait to get SHOCKTOBERSKETCH IV to be done and buried before its release.

This sketch features our good friend and fellow creator of comedy Dwayne Bartholomew who devotees may remember from “Professor Pals.” This time we took the cameras to his turf and made a little piece of funny we call “Hot Dogs, Anytime.” Once again inspired by a true story… sort of (thanks Ciara). And for “Hot Dogs” we have to throw a huge thanks out to our once again guest editor/special effects guru Joel Slabaugh.

We’re working around the clock to get you one more sketch for 2009, and we’re prepping for 2010 with a mighty fury. So we hope you stay tuned as always.

On the Atom.com/Comedy Central front we’re doing very well in the polls, but voting goes until Friday, so every vote counts. If you haven’t heard or done so already we’d really appreciate you taking a moment to help us out on Twenty-Something Normal Turtle here: http://www.atom.com/showdown. And if you’ve already voted, well thanks! A little bit of that turtle costume belongs to you now.

Also on the ThesePeople Button front we just sent out 70 pins to fans and friends so please keep those requests coming! If you got some of your very own, remember to show them off on our Facebook page.

AND don’t forget!! Nothing makes a better Xmas Gift for the ThesePeople fan in your life than a ThesePeople DVD NOW just $5! Or even better? A ThesePeople T-shirt! Available in most sizes.

Thanks for watching and we’ll talk at ya real soon,
Happy Holidays!
MaTT and ThesePeople

You should probably vote now!

Close enough, right?

Hope you guys had a great Halloween, we didn’t seem to get any pictures of people dressing up as ThesePeople characters! What gives? No one went as “Homemade Porn girl”? All you need are shorts and a bra. I’m sure some one did, and maybe didn’t even realize it.

Actually speaking of Homemade Porn girl… guess who is in our latest sketch. If you guessed Nick! Well… you’re right, but what I was setting up here is that the star of Homemade Porn herself, Lauren is BACK for her third ThesePeople appearance.

Today she stars in “Romance is Undead.” A sketch intended to come out a few weeks back to be Halloween topical, but instead is being released now to keep the Halloween spirit alive a bit longer. This sketch needed a lot of people to help out so I have to give a tremendous shout out once again to Aaron Moring for lending his skills to the audio side of things and a super big thanks to my own brother Paul Cassatta for strutting his editing stuff for the first time on a ThesePeople sketch while Steve was away on business. Great work all around!

“Romance is Undead” tells the story of the strange bedfellows zombie invasions tend to make.

This puts a close to our elongated and very successful SHOCKTOBERSKETCH IV, we hope you enjoyed it! And encourage you to go check out “Mindblowers,” and “Burn Barn” if you’ve not seen them yet or if you want to laugh again.

Lots more fun coming up as the year winds down. So please stay tuned!

And keep those ThesePeople Button Requests coming! We’re going to do a mass mailing soon.

You guys are my favorites and I’m not just saying that,
MaTT and ThesePeople

Check out the latest maps:

We’d love some photos of you rocking the pins, or whatever you’ve done with the stickers. You can add them to our Facebook page or send them to pics {at} thesepeoplecomedy {dot} com.

And if you don’t have any of your very own all you need to do is drop us a line with your address and we’ll post, post-haste. We’ll never sell your address or send you spam. We really have nothing else to offer you but funny videos and free pins (oh, and a DVD).

(:|)

Halloween is drawing ever closer, and so is another terrifyingly funny sketch from ThesePeople. Enter Shocktobersketch IV sketch number two, “The Burn Barn!” The burn barn is a rickety old barn haunted by the spirit of The Burnmaster! A plucky group of teens try to take him on only to find themselves… BURNED.

Check it out here!

This sketch should be a hit amongst the ThesePeople faithful as it stars original members (rarely seen these days) Aaron and Joel. As well as top notch performances from our friends Nick H. (not Asian Nick), Andrea and Rachel. And HUGE props have to be thrown out to my boys Paul “Lester Stickens” Painter (who is also our voice over on several ThesePeople hits) and Eric for a sweet cut and some amazing special effects, brought together with some wonderful sound design from Aaron (not actor Aaron, sound design Aaron.)

And good news kids! Shocktober is going to become Shock-vember as we have one more sketch that ran into some production snags and therefore will be released a little later than planned, but it’ll be worth that wait because it’ll have zombies. You’re gonna love it.

What’s everyone doing for Halloween? We’ll be partying down in Ann Arbor at the Bang! The most fun dance party around. Come see us and get our autographs (just $20).

Anyone dressing up as a ThesePeople character for All Hallo’s Eve? Send us a picture and get a FREE ThesePeople DVD. That’s right! FREE! Send them to pics [at] thesepeoplecomedy [dot] com.

Oh, speaking of pics at ThesePeopleComedy.com, Homemade Porn is about to break broke 20,000,000 views. God bless perverted YouTubers, and also the Balloon Boy, just because.

See you in a couple weeks!

Happy Halloween!
MaTT and ThesePeople

Happy Halloween!!!

We are halfway through October and our Halloween excitement is at fever pitch! Today I’m taking a quick time out from choosing between being Billy Mays or David Carradine for Halloween to share with you all the FIRST of our Shocktobersketches, a scary little number we call “Mindblowers.”

An evil terror is on the loose blowing minds and only one rookie renegade cop can bring him to justice… or can he?

You can check it out on BooTube, or right here on our homepage.

This is our first entry in our FOURTH year of Shocktobersketches, we have two more to come before October is out, and we’re very excited for all of them.

Today’s sketch “Mindblowers” is full of surprises, including one very big one in particular. Long time ThesePeople fans will notice the triumphant return of our good friend and original ThesePeople member, Aaron. “Mindblowers” also features our good friends Ciara, Rachel and a mindblowing cameo from our perennial corpse actress Birgit.

Speaking of Shocktobersketches, we’ve been getting a lot of emails and texts lately about Richard Kelly ripping off last year’s runaway hit, “The Killing Button” in his new movie “The Box.” And yes, he absolutely did, tell your friends. (Some lines from the trailer are a DIRECT lift.) But in fairness we ripped off the sketch from a 1980s Twilight Zone episode that ripped it off from an old ghost story. Although I have no idea how they’re going to stretch what we did in 5 minutes into an hour and a half, I’m probably going to see it anyway out of curiosity.

See you guys next week for Shocktobersketch Part 2 featuring the star of “Homemade Porn” and “Killing Button,” Lauren AND some Zombies! You won’t want to miss that!

Happy Hauntings,
MaTT and ThesePeople

Featuring an amazing song recorded by our good friend Matt Raetzel, and featuring the vocal stylings of “ThesePeople.” TSNT tells the story of the 5th lesser known and under-appreciated mutated turtle from the mid-80s whose life without Master Splinter’s guidance turned out less than splendid.

This sketch is a big deal for us (mostly because it justified us buying a full body turtle costume) because it’s been a bit since our last sketch and this sketch was truly a team effort that we’re VERY proud of.

More good news is that this is sketch 1 of 4 all-new sketches we are in post production on and we’ve only got ONE more Shocktobersketch to shoot for this year’s amazing 3 sketch series featuring our favorite type of comedy… HORROR comedy. So if you’ve been hungry for some new material, we are going to bombard you with stuff over the next month and a half.

And don’t forget to keep those pins request coming, we’re going to spend a whole ThesePeople meeting answering fan mail soon.

Our next release will kick off Shocktobersketch IV, as we all get ready for the Halloween season, but for now, please to enjoy “Twenty-Something Normal Turtle” right here on our site or on our beloved YouTube page.

Tell your friends.

Stay awesome, and good luck picking out a Halloween costume! If anyone out there is a ThesePeople character for Halloween send us a picture and we’ll send YOU a ThesePeople prize pack. “Slutty versions” of ThesePeople characters get the deluxe prize pack.

Enjoy!

See you in a couple weeks,
MaTT and ThesePeople

We’ll pass them shortly…

How is everyone? Can I get you anything? No? Perhaps a ThesePeople pin that I still haven’t sent? I’m on it. Believe me.

But I’ve got better news than even getting TWO pins in the mail, it’s A NEW SKETCH!

TA-DAA!

And “Ta-daa” is right as this sketch highlights to world of magicians for hire, it’s “Matthew and Timothy: Amazing Magicians.”

This sketch was a true collaborative effort featuring all sorts of ThesePeople regulars and most of my nieces and nephews. We even got our editor Steve on camera in this one, as well as his girlfriend Elizabeth (the winner of the live show raffle prize a “Walk on Role n a ThesePeople sketch”)! Don’t blink or you’ll miss them both.

Be amazed here:

Things have been insane with ThesePeople lately, we’ve been writing and shooting as fast as our schedules allow us to (which sadly isn’t as much as we’d like), and we’re buckling down for SHOCKTOBERSKETCH 4! Our latest Shocktobersketch to date! So I hope you like horror-comedy because it’s gonna be flying at your face soon!

One last thing, if you’re at work or school wishing you had music to listen to Tuesday afternoons from 2-4 you can listen to ThesePeople’s own JEFF @ http://whfr.fm/ It’s really good music. I promise.

In the meantime we hope you enjoy “Matthew and Timothy: Amazing Magicians.”

Stay tuned for our next sketch in the coming weeks, it’s gonna be totally tubular!

Stay cool,
MaTT

Miss us? We missed you!

Hope you’ve been enjoying watching and re-watching “Hairy Guyz” for the last few weeks, and by the looks of the views I think some of you have been. If for nothing else at least than the ads YouTube put next to it promoting “Gay Cowboy Central.com.” There really are sites out there to help anyone to meet anyone.

This week’s offering is something a little different, a little “out there,” a little “against the grain,” and a lot “ThesePeople.”

It’s called “The Self-Deprecating Bachelorette” and it’s based on a true story… well the first 30-45 seconds really happened, and we made the rest up.

It’s about a young lady on the verge of a wedding who deems herself SO unlovable she must set all males everywhere at ease by letting them know they’ll never have to date her.

You can check the sketch out right here:

For anyone out there who has requested pins, we are ON TOP OF IT, and by “on top of it” I mean, “really running behind” BUT we will get them to you. It is always our concern that as many people out there as possible be explaining to people what the totally awesome pin on their backpack means. Thanks for your patience!

In other ThesePeople news, we have recently finished shooting TWO new shorts that we think will make your next few weeks a lot funnier. Also, the most perfectly named and marketed sketch EVER “Homemade Porn” continues it’s reign of awesomeness, it has broken the 14 MILLION view mark and is now the 73rd MOST WATCHED Comedy video on YouTube of ALL TIME! Not too shabby for some kids from the D.

Well until next time my summer loves, enjoy the “Self-Deprecating Bachelorette” and keep your eyes peeled for the sequel, the “Self-Defecating Bachelorette.”

Your pal 4-Ever,
MaTT

Matt here to bring you some summer fun and a hot new sketch that will turn you on as much as it makes you laugh… if you’re a very specific type of female.

You see, sometimes people have accused ThesePeople of objectifying women, most recently, Bill O’Reilly. (True story.) So we wanted to flip the script, turn the tables, spin the bottle and turn everything you thought you knew upside down by giving the fellas a chance to strut their stuff.

Introducing “Hairy Guyz,” a chat line for girls who like to run their fingers through their man’s chest hair while they spoon. (In this scenario the girl would have to be the big spoon.)

Check it out herez:

In other ThesePeople news, we have recently passed 10,000 subscribers on the YouTube and 12,000,000 views for “Homemade Porn,” and speaking of “Homemade Porn” it is the 92nd89th most viewed Comedy video on YouTube of ALL TIME! So, we’d like to take a moment to thank all of our fans for helping us be an actual YouTube presence in the endless void of Internet video.

We’d like to thank you by sending you a pin OR selling you a DVD or T-shirt! Details for all are available on the site!

We’ll see you in July! Have a great 4th. Don’t blow your fingers off, you need those.

MaTT and ThesePeople

Hey everyone! If you were at our live show last month you could have already snagged one, but now finally our online store has been updated with new t-shirts. These are heavy weight 100% cotton shirts in navy blue, with an orange ThesePeople face emblazened on front and our web address on back. Get yours today, just click over there in the sidebar!

I know, right? It’s been a while. We do a live show and then fall off the face of the Earth. Well, believe you me, we have some really great excuses.

First off, after the live show we were hungover for like three weeks, and we had to take like a dozen paternity tests (you know how THAT goes). THEN right when we were going to focus on videos again I (Matt) got sent to LA for two weeks, our editor Steve got sent to Dubai (no joke, he’s there right now), and our sound editor Andrew’s car caught fire! So even though we shot “Tim’s Idea” a while ago, it took us a while to get it on the interweb, which is fine, because I really wanted “Keep Cats Off the Streets” to linger for a while.

So that brings us to where we are now… “Tim’s Idea” one of our more bizarre sketches to date, but I love it. It’s a true ensemble sketch, and if you love self-reflexive insanity and explosions, you will love “Tim’s Idea.”

AND while you’re here, why not pick up a ThesePeople DVD!? Just $10 and THAT includes shipping! There is order info on the site. They were made with A LOT of love and care and are LOADED with special features. Definitely worth the $10! Plus you get stickers and pins and stuff when you order, so why the hell not, right?

We’ve got T-shirts for sale too! All new Dark blue with the Orange face! You’ll love them!

We’ll see you in a couple of weeks with a little something for the ladies!

Thursday this week our first ever DVD went on sale right here on the site. If you were at our live show you already got one (or three) for yourself, but now everyone else (in the United States, for now) has a chance. Here are the details and order information! Support your indie sketch comedians, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son. At the very least you’d be helping us pay for that human-sized turtle costume.

In other post-live show news, Matt held up our end of the bargain and delivered the proceeds of our 50/50 raffle to the Michigan Humane Society. The woman at the office was extremely happy with the donation and seemed very interested in our work. Hopefully she never watches the end of Help Keep Cats Off The Streets.

If you can’t afford a DVD, we’ll still send you some pins if you just ask. España, Portugal, Sweden and Indonesia have been added to our great map.

Finally, this week ThesePeople received one of the Internet’s highest honors… being remixed by a random YouTube user. It’s weird and wonderful, see for yourself…

Weekends don’t get much bigger than this past one.

The first ever LIVE ThesePeople event. I really don’t think it could have gone any better. We packed the Belmont, we projected some classic sketches, we remembered all of our lines… it was great. PLUS we had amazing support from Elle and the Fonts, Lightning Love, and Millions of Brazilians. Then just as predicted DJ Grand Dad Crunk played “Pogo” by Digitalism (my most played song on my iTunes) I shouted the words like a drunken idiot and it was fantastic. Oh yeah, and there was confetti EVERYWHERE.

For those of you who made it out, thank you SO MUCH, it’d of been nothing without you and we hope to do it again real soon. For those of you who couldn’t be there, get some folks together, secure a venue and we’ll come to your town. We have a box of DVDs to sell and there are still lots of states I haven’t Karaoked in.

In the next couple weeks we’ll be posting pictures and some of the live material from the show so it can feel like you were there, and TODAY we’re sharing with you the NEW SKETCH we debuted on that special night.

“Keep Cats Off the Streets.” This sketch was made because we donated the results of the raffle we had at the live show to the Michigan Humane Society, however we feel the sketch stands up pretty good in any context, and is my favorite thing we’ve made in a while. I hope you love it.

Check it out here:

Speaking of DVDs… we have them for sale now! Right here on the site! $10 a piece for a DVD loaded with our favorite sketches, commentary, outtakes, interviews, all sorts of cool crap!!! And every DVD order comes with a FREE ThesePeople sticker which is also totally awesome.

And we’ve got Tshirts for sale too! Soon we’ll have pictures of all these things up on the site so you know what you’re buying. The DVD artwork is super sexy though, you’re going to love it.

Enjoy the new sketch and thanks for making us want to make videos.

Happy Mother’s Day,
MaTT and ThesePeople

If you couldn’t make it out we’ll have pictures and video posted soon to give you a taste of how it all went down, and our “Best of… Volume 1″ DVD will be on sale here on the site tomorrow.

Hey Every-Body!

Hope you’ve all been enjoying our latest sketch, “Joel’s Addiction,” but we’re here today with a BIGGER message…

We’ve been talking about it, but now the time has come to invite you to it.

The first ever, live ThesePeople event! The ThesePeople DVD Release party.

On May 2nd ThesePeople will be releasing their Best Of… Vol. 1 DVD upon the world (loaded with extras), and we wanted to do it in style.

At 9pm, May 2nd, we are taking over The Belmont bar in Hamtramck, MI, and we’re bringing our favorite Detroit Bands and DJ with us.

ThesePeople will be doing live comedy throughout the night while you’re treated to live performances from:

• Elle and the Fonts
• Lightning Love
• and our good friends Millions of Brazilians

When the bands stop the music doesn’t.

DJ Grand Dad Crunk will be spinning indie rock awesomeness ’til they kick us out of the bar, so bring your dancing shoes.

PLUS we’ll be having a 50/50 raffle throughout the night with your chance to win some fabulous ThesePeople prizes. (All proceeds from the raffle will be going to the Humane Society.)

This is a HUGE deal for us and we’re planning a lot of fun surprises so I hope you all can make it. For our out of state fans, start driving now! This could be your only chance to meet/assassinate us!

Cover is $5 for 21+, $7 for 18 and up

DVDs will be on sale at the show for $5! Get them there before we jack the price up to $10 on the site starting May 4th.

May 2nd. 2009
The Belmont Bar in Hamtramck, MI
Doors @ 9pm.

See you on the Dance Floor.
MaTT and ThesePeople

What is up Puppet People?

Happy April Fool’s Day! This year the joke is on/for you, five hilarious minutes of something a little bit different from ThesePeople. Presenting our first outing with the latest ThesePeople investment, four wonderful Muppet-like puppets.

Watch as they star in “There’s a Monster in my Sublet,” a story that could easily be the premise for a DreamWorks animated film, but instead is a ThesePeople sketch.

Hit by these hard economic times Scotty’s parents sublet the space under his bed… to a real MONSTER! Hijinx ensue. And keep this one from the kids, there’s some naughty language.

You can watch all the puppet magic here or of course on our YouTube page where it’d be super cool if you subscribed to us! We’re almost to 10,000 subscribers. I think YouTube sends you a hat if you break that barrier.

And don’t forget! We’re giving out free pins like crazy! Just send us your address and we’ll send you some pins, no matter where you live! We’ve got cool pins for our cool fans and we’ll do what it takes to get them to you. We even bought a ThesePeople return address stamp. THAT’S HOW SERIOUS WE ARE!

BUT now it’s time for the biggest most official-est news of all, and NO this is not an April Fool’s Joke!

SATURDAY MAY 2nd! At the BELMONT in HAMTRAMCK, MI is your chance to see ThesePeople LIVE! (Just like Sesame Street LIVE, but better.)

YES to celebrate the release of our first ever THESEPEOPLE DVD we will be doing some live sketches and showing some of our favorites to a real live audience for the first time ever!

Also, you will be treated to live sets from some of Detroit’s best rock bands like Millions of Brazilians AND when the bands stop we’ll be closing the Belmont down with a dance party featuring DJ Grand Dad Crunk, and he’s promised to play “Pogo” by Digitalism so I am stoked.

So to recap: May 2nd. Belmont. Hamtramck, MI. Meet ThesePeople. See ThesePeople. Be among the FIRST to get the ThesePeople DVD, and most importantly have your FACE ROCKED OFF!

More details as we get them.

Enjoy the Puppets! And Enjoy life!

See you in a couple weeks,
MaTT and ThesePeople

Hope those of you over 21 are recovering from bathing in green beer last night and are ready to get your laugh on. For you kids out there, I hope you wore plenty of green and no one pinched you.

Today ThesePeople are happy to share with you our latest sketch. A little gem we call “Fun Gus.” “Fun Gus” takes place at a party of suspiciously good looking people all abuzz over the arrival of a VERY special guest, everyone’s best friend, Fun Gus.

This sketch has one of our biggest casts to date, and features a lot of familiar ThesePeople faces as well as some new ones. A huge thanks to all of our friends who came to help out. They are too many to list, but we very much appreciate your help. As well as the help of our fabulous post production team, Editor Steve, Sound Engineer Andrew, and Matt R. on the background music.

Please join the party and watch the sketch on our beloved Website OR our equally beloved YouTube page. For every thousand views YouTube gives us a shiny 50-cent piece!

As you guys know we always strive to keep you up to date with ALL of our goings on, so I’d like to mention once again how good our “Operation Give Pins to EVERYONE” is going. As you can see from the map on our homepage, we are in well over half the states, but certain states are driving me nuts because they create big glaring holes in an otherwise coated countryside.

So this week we call out YOU Iowa and Louisiana. Iowa, for shame, you are our Midwestern brethren, you’re telling me no one in that whole state is watching “Full Throttle Douche Bottle” over and over? And Louisiana!? You’re like party town USA and the most haunted state in America (right?) you’re telling me no one like “Dead Girls Gone Wild” and “Ghostel” enough to get some free pins? Come on you guys, step up and be counted. Make your country proud.

And now on to the HUGEST news… EVER… this very weekend those ThesePeople members NOT in Chicago are heading to Chicago to do commentaries for the ALL NEW THESEPEOPLE DVD! Cover art for the DVD is currently in production, and bonus features are being put together. It’s going to be large and in charge.

When can you get this DVD you ask?

Why May 2nd at The Belmont in Hamtramck, MI. The first ever LIVE ThesePeople event featuring support from some of our favorite Detroit musicians including Millions of Brazilians. It will be a night of live comedy, rock and roll, old sketches, new sketches AND a dance party. Plus, your chance to be in a ThesePeople sketch. What more could you ask for!?

DVDs will be available on the site the day AFTER the show for you non-Metro-Detroiters.

Stay tuned to ThesePeopleComedy.com for more details. Questions or comments? Contact us on our website.

Next sketch drops April 1st… why, that’s April Fool’s Day! What a coincidence.

Your pals,
MaTT and ThesePeople