“Fried Nothing Television” is one of Denver’s only sketch comedy troupes, and one of the most unique. Their brand of comedy is mostly online, creating their sketches in a television-like format and broadcasting on many different internet sites. Their videos have accumulated over 2,000,000 + views on over 12 different sites and it keeps growing every day as word gets spread about FNTV. They have been compared to popular shows of the same genre like “The Whitest Kids U Know”, “Tim & Eric’s Awesome Show Great Job”, and even Saturday Night Live’s “Digital Shorts”. As their popularity continues to grow, they plan on branching out to DVD sales and a hopeful eventual show on television.
“Fried Nothing Television” began in 2005 when founding members Jordan Wieleba and Clinton Polson met in college and discovered their brand of humor was one in the same. Their first video, “Bob Ross: Happy Little Outtakes” – in which the popular public television painter is spoofed in a blooper reel-type format – gained instant popularity on the video hosting site YouTube. Soon after, friends Tom Van Meel and Brock Baker joined the cast and continued making videos that gain more fans daily.
Since it’s conception, FNTV has branched out from original sketch comedy videos to stand-up comedy, cartoons, comedic writing, video contests, music videos, and live comedy events. In 2008, FNTV were semi-finalists in both the “2008 MTV Movie Awards Spoof Contest” and the Dreyer’s “Do Dibs Instead” contest. In 2009, FNTV entered the 48 Hour Film Project in which filmmakers were given only 48 hours to write, produce, shoot and edit a short film; FNTV were featured at the 'Best of Denver' screening and won "Best Use of Prop" for their short horror/comedy film "Towelface IV". Also in 2009, FNTV was featured in a nationwide commercial for Hasbro’s “Cranium” board game and were on an episode of Comedy Central’s “Atom TV”.
In 2008, Fried Nothing Television held its first live comedy night entitled “Fried Nothing TV Comedy Night” at Bender’s Tavern in Denver, Colorado. The show featured local stand-up comedians (some newcomers as well as some veterans of the Denver comedy scene), live music, and a video presentation of FNTV sketch comedy videos. The show sold out and received acclaim from the local entertainment community. In 2009, FNTV held ‘Fried Nothing TV Comedy Night 2: Comedy Harder’ at the Oriental Theater in Denver, Colorado which featured a bigger venue, more comedians, more live music and more laughs! 2010 brings "Fried Nothing TV Comedy Night 3" which will be the biggest event yet!
Always striving & seeking out that special break, Fried Nothing TV will be the "sketchiest in sketch comedy" for years to come!
