Onyx the Fortuitous's "Welcome to the Shadow Zone"

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Trailer: https://youtu.be/1q6AnVTK-P0

This just started - a web comedy in the vein of Napoleon Dynamite with modern-day geek/gaming subculture as its affectionate target. Available from the website, The Nerdist.

Its creator, and the actor portraying Onyx, is Andrew Bowser, who played the character in a series of viral videos in which most people were completely taken in by the character. This video from E3 has had millions of views: https://youtu.be/egV9yWMFuCE

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Bowser

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It's seriously good. It's got moments of fine pure physical comedy (e.g. meeting the model in episode 5), sitcom-esque recurring characters who are all instantly accessible, clever wordplay and callbacks, inventive presentation (fake news inserts, fake vines, fake youtube videos, fake cheap transitions) as well as plenty of social satire from an area of society not often parodied.

There's far too many good moments to name right now but I especially liked this unusually poignant moment from Episode 6


(12:00 minutes in):

Interviewer - So let's talk about dad. What kind of dad was he?

Oh my dad's actually an astronaut(?) rockstar, ...football player ...man

- Was he there for you?

I kinda feel bad for lying right now(?) ...uh.... because he's not an astronaut

- okay

he is a football player though

- ...yeah

...no he's not :(

- What is he?

He deals blackjack in Vegas

- Is that the truth?

Yeah... before that he just kinda "hung out"

- ...in terms of "being at home"?

yeah... if the racetrack was "home"(!)

- ooh

he he he I was always like "hey why does Carl like the horses more than he likes me" he he he

I can run fast

...i couldn't run that fast


It's all in the delivery. I think this is the funniest "loser" character I've seen since Tony Hale as Buster Bluth.

[swordfish_bhoona]

Ah good to hear. Ive got a lot of time for this guy and his Weird Gamer Video and to a lesser extent the Satanist vid are fixed favourites of mine and my girlfriend's. Remember watching some of his other stuff and him essentially playing the same character and executing the same schtick (erratic, fast monologues at a bemused secondary character) seemed like it might become draining pretty quickly.

That said, its a character he plays masterfully, with so many hilarious tics and vocal inflections, so excited to give it a watch whilst drinking a tiny wine or two

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Now he's got more play with the format he's expanding from just verbal jokes - for example there's this hilarious bit in episode 3 where, sitting decorating with a woman inexplicably attracted to him, he ices a cupcake to look like "Vassago," "Jeremy Sisto's character from the movie "Hideaway" - yeah - he plays the deceased serial killer who possesses Jeff Goldblum from beyond the grave ....'cause he never wants to stop killing(!)"

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Bumping again

With this fine little skit which I think was the character's first incarnation

https://youtu.be/QOoMV8eDpS4

Here the joke about "tiny wines" makes the most sense

And the basic concept of moving with cringey alacrity from "jokes about the lame small talk you have to make" to "questions that sci-fi nerds actually want to ask these goddess women in order to test their perfection" is at its clearest here

[Shaky]

Just watched episode 1 and Bowser's delivery is indeed fantastic. He somehow manages to put a new spin on the cliche of the hideous, offensive nerd.

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The last episode was just released. It ends on an interesting promise of a second series exploring him and his dad in Las Vegas.

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New mini-episode:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDFVIKn4t4

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I liked the expansion of the format to make him more of an Alan Partridge-like character whose career we track.

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The best non-verbal wordplay I've ever heard:

And doyou ever dress up yeah...yeah... iduno pretend to be in... you know in your eh rolepaly for... when you get ...duidat getit on gettit done gedit on getit done when you do it

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He's also been doing some innovative old movie reviews, as he was also doing during the main series:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69YahxUUDok

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Bumping this very sad thread of mine with some updates for those who care:

Andrew Bowser has been incredibly busy and though not everything he's currently making is as well crafted as the sitcom, it is still at a consistently high standard. Most comedy videos revolve around interviews with a single actress who is dating Onyx via their phone (prescient, given the lockdown). I like how he continues to let the forms of everyday social media inform the format. In many of the videos you feel quite convinced that you are watching it unfold on your own phone's hardware.

Unfortunately his content has this softcore porn vibe that it didn't use to have. I don't want to sound like a prude but it casts a shade over the whole channel now via its thumbnails and so on.

Onyx's Kinky Date
google if you want but it's just not good

Shame Breakers with Bree Essig (4:30)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbYj5XakKow
this is good - the film references might be simple but I like them. "my ween deen dong dangler". Licking the train was funnier without the porny ending, though.

Halloween Theme with Lyrics (4:52)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUUIh6eLfX4
just what it says

We Dem Arby's Boys
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrzOx_EQEBo
a throwback to the first videos but makes no pretence to realism: it seems like he's grown to appreciate playing the role more cartoonishly than nervously, and this is a version of Onynx with 0 nervousness left.

"ASMR" short film
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMBPxKCVlGU&
Quite remarkable. Not quite sure what to make of it as it isn't comedy. The actress looks perfect. It's almost like a horror film.

I'm going to call it a day and name this "part 1" since there is a lot more to get through.

[C_Larence]

Funny this has come up as today my friend linked me a tiktok referencing him (a guy mouthing along to a video of him saying "notice me senpai") and I instantly recognised him from the E3 awkward gamer video, which I have always hated. I find his delivery extremely annoying, the "i dunno" thing is especially grating, so it's disappointing to see from the other videos you posted that that's basically his catchphrase. I like the commitment to realism in the Arby's video, but then he comes in doing his schtick and I lose all interest. He reminds me a lot of Spencer, the dungeon master on Harmontown, specifically his opening monologues/recaps at the beginning of D&D sessions. They both mask the fact that what they're saying isn't particularly funny by saying it in an unrealistically verbose manner.