Guest Column: Mark Day’s Comedy Picks from ‘08

From political parodies that helped shape an electoral narrative to high-pitched tween sensations, comedy continues to be the many-flavored substance that keeps online video sticky. With so much to choose from, at every point on the low-to high-brow spectrum, what follows is simply a few personal comedy highlights from ‘08.

Too Many Mavericks. Obama may have clinched the highest office in the land, but it was Palin for Parody all the way in ‘08. Tina Fey cornered the market in Palin-verbatim comedy, but she shouldn’t be allowed to overshadow Sara Benincasa’s epic efforts to provide the Alaska governor and then-Veep candidate with a rich and often ridiculous interior life (and a closeted lesbian best buddy). While there was a point in late October when it felt like every comedy video on YouTube featured a bespectacled, brown-haired woman with an accent of unknown origin, Benincasa’s vlogs (which migrated from her own YouTube channel to the Huffington Post’s 236.com) did much more than simply xerox the meme.

Dark Knights and Twilights. I’m not a big moviegoer and by the time I got round to catching an Imax-sized Batman, I’d seen what felt like every keen scene restaged in Legos on YouTube or sent up in greasepaint via low-budget webcam. Brandon Hardesty’s take on the Dark Knight interrogation scene, as premiered at YouTube Live, was the most requested re-enactment by YouTube users. Earlier in the summer, MonkeyandApple’s growling spoof of the same scene was one of the year’s defining comedy clips. Matching it almost view-for-viral-view was EvilIguanaProduction’s tribute/send-up of the Dark Knight trailer. The same crew took on the Twilight trailer, although as a non-Twilighter I couldn’t say how well it skewers that particular franchise. I will, however, give a nod to BeanerLaRue’s Twilight High School Musical — Deena is the LisaNova you’ve not heard of yet.

Self-tanned Storylines. The NewTeeVee Live panelist who claimed that you simply can’t tell a good story in three minutes (Hardie Tankersley of Fox) probably hasn’t seen Fred’s Fred on Father’s Day. And I don’t blame him for that, for he’s not the Fred Figglehorn demographic and neither am I. But if you force yourself to watch a few Fred clips, it’s easy to appreciate the family-focused narrative created off-camera by the helium-pitched narrator. As for the web series that got me actually rooting for the protagonists? I’d semi-seriously contend that the Jersey Shore antics of 60Frames’ Douchebag Beach had more body spray, self-tanner and heart than obvious inspiration Entourage’s recent, tired series.

Walking tall. Rather than offend any of my favorite sketch and short film creators by unintentionally leaving them off a “Best of ‘08″ list, I will simply note that of the many video that I insisted on gathering my housemates around the laptop to watch, none brought more joy than thegavin200’s Sophie Can Walk. I have nothing but the highest admiration for any man willing to turn a beautiful life experience into an excellently constructed joke.

Mark Day is YouTube’s comedy content manager, and an increasingly infrequent videoblogger.