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Goodnight Burbank: Episode 33
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A hybrid of late-nite comedy, soap opera, and even a little actual news reporting, Goodnight Burbank is one of the web's most established original series. In this episode, original cast member Susan Jones returns to visit little sister Kelly, tech correspondent Dane Rivers tries out some material on the makeup girl, and Gordon may be dead of a heart attack. Just another day at our favorite local news broadcast.
Creator and star Hayden Black began Goodnight Burbank in January 2006 when a friend offered him access to a green screen: "I dusted off the idea because it was the easiest, quickest, cheapest thing to do." Although every episode uses real headlines as set-up for jokes and fodder for discussion, Black is careful to make sure that the majority of the topics discussed are "evergreen": "From the get go, the idea was to question the press/media and its motives - and there's no easier way of doing that then to break through the smoke and mirrors of a glossy newscast and see what's REALLY being talked about."
GNB benefits from Black's connections within the comedy world -- initially casting actors he met through an improv class at Upright Citizens Brigade, he went on to assemble a large ensemble of actors with impressive credits. His latest coup is Rich Fulcher of the British comedy series The Mighty Boosh, who plays tech correspondent Dane Rivers; Fulcher actually approached Black about making an appearance and Black jumped at the chance. "I couldn't be happier. He's back in the UK shooting the third season of Boosh, but he's coming back to the US for a while in September and we'll make sure to shoot a bunch more segments with him."
Rivers's segments give Goodnight Burbank a chance to plug other web series, a practice which Black says is purely altruistic. "Last year at the podcast expo, I realized there were two ways of building an audience: one, screaming "Look at me!" to the mainstream media and two, taking the audience that exists online and letting them know about other shows. So I told some people I was going to put my money where my mouth was and start doing a segment that (in GNB's inimitable fashion) promoted them. I never did it to have other people promote me in return. I did it to promote online media -- in the spirit of brotherhood. Or sisterhood, depending on if I'm wearing a dress that day."
-Liz Miller
Hayden Black
Comedy, Web Series
9:40
Burbank, CA
Gordon Winston-Smythe : Hayden Black
Kelly Jones : Shulie Cowen
Susan Jones : Jamie Denbo
Trisha Sakamoto : Angela Espinosa
Dale Rivers : Rich Fulcher
Hayden Black
Hayden Black
Joshua Lipkin
Director : Bry Sanders
Graphics : Brian Goodman
