Alan Resnick
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Alan Resnick (born July 16, 1986) is an American
comedian A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing Amusement is the state of experiencing humorous and entertaining events or situations while the person or a ...
,
visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts al ...
, and
filmmaker Filmmaking (film production) is the process by which a motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, starting with an initial story, idea, or commission. It then continues through screenwriting, castin ...
. He is a member of the
Wham City Wham City is an art and performance collective based in Baltimore, Maryland. Members of Wham City include musicians Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader, visual artists Jimmy Joe Roche, Peter Ryan O'Connell, Mason Ross, Adam Endres, Dina Kelberman, April Ca ...
arts collective and founding member of Wham City Comedy.


Work

Before working on Adult Swim, Resnick first gained recognition for creating the popular
YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
web series, ''alantutorial'', in 2011. The
surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...
series initially began as a tutorial channel from a man attempting to instruct the viewer on nonsensical tasks. Over the course of three years, the series gained strong horror elements as the videos depicted Alan locked out of his house, left homeless, and kidnapped. In the final "tutorial" video, uploaded December 12, 2014, Alan breaks through a wall and escapes the building where he was being held.
Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...
called Resnick's video "ARM tutorial" one of the "weirdest videos on the internet". In 2012, Resnick self-published the book ''$8.95'', a series of online customer service chats between Resnick and
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
in which Resnick pleads to recover his eponymous bank fee. Also that year, Resnick directed the music video for
Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...
's "Guilford Avenue Bridge" and
Lower Dens Lower Dens was an American alternative indie pop band from Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The band was formed in 2010 by Jana Hunter, Geoff Graham, Abram Sanders and Will Adams. Lower Dens has released four albums: their debut on Gnomonson ...
' "Candy". In 2013, Resnick and fellow Wham City member
Ben O'Brien Ben O'Brien (born November 4, 1984) is an American comedian and filmmaker from Baltimore, Maryland. They are a member of the Wham City arts collective and founding member of Wham City Comedy. They have directed videos for Adult Swim and Merge Rec ...
created & directed the TV special ''
Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick ''Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick'' is a television special written, created and directed by Alan Resnick and Ben O'Brien for Adult Swim, as part of the Infomercials series. The special is presented as a parody of self-help infome ...
'', pitched to
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
. The short starred Resnick as himself, in a surreal parody of self-help
infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
s, selling
digital immortality Digital immortality (or "virtual immortality") is the hypothetical concept of storing (or transferring) a person's personality in digital substrate, i.e., a computer, robot or cyberspace (mind uploading). The result might look like an avatar beh ...
. This was the duo's first collaboration with Adult Swim and premiered on the network's
Infomercials An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...
block - premiering at 4:00 A.M., without a title card or common identifier. Despite this, it received positive acclaim and recognition for Wham City, being called "hilarious" and "a good representation of their bizarre comedic stylings." Principal photography for the infomercial was conducted in the
Copycat Building The Copycat Building is a former manufacturing warehouse at 1501 Guilford Ave, Baltimore, Maryland, today used as an artists' studio and living space. Built in 1897, it is home to the city's creative class and a landmark of the Station North Arts ...
during the summer of 2013. In 2014, Resnick and O'Brien continued to work with Adult Swim's ''Infomercials'', creating the horror short ''Unedited Footage of a Bear'', a parody of allergy medication advertisements, and a veiled cautionary tale about antidepressant abuse, which slowly descends into chaos. The short gained the duo more popularity, and was called "the scariest TV show of 2014". Since launching that year, Resnick has been a contributing writer for ''
The Onion ''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 2 ...
s sister publication, ''
ClickHole ClickHole is a satirical website (formerly owned by ''The Onion'') that parodies clickbait websites such as BuzzFeed and Upworthy. It was launched on June 12, 2014, in conjunction with ''The Onion''s decision to stop its print edition and shif ...
''. Resnick also premiered a set of new media art pieces in collaboration with artist Lesser Gonzalez, at the Springsteen Gallery in Baltimore, MD. In 2016, Adult Swim aired Resnick's third short film, ''This House Has People In It''. The short film aired at 4:00 A.M. between March 14–19. The short itself consists of surveillance camera footage of a mundane suburban family that descends into surreal horror as the eldest daughter begins phasing through the kitchen floor, based on the found footage genre. Clues hidden throughout ''This House'' then direct viewers towards a fake security company website with additional surveillance material of the family and the paranormal events surrounding them, as well as a bootleg episode of a fictional TV show titled the and its associated website run by the eponymous host (played by Resnick himself). The resulting
alternate reality game An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...
explores many of the events leading up to and following ''This House'' with a total of over two hours' worth of video and audio files alongside numerous logs, images, and text documents. Later in 2016, Resnick starred in IFC's webseries "The Mirror" as Wesley. In 2017, Resnick made an animated film for
Super Deluxe Super Deluxe was an entertainment company owned by Turner Broadcasting. The company's main output was in online video, television series, and documentaries. History Turner Broadcasting System announced the launch of Super Deluxe, a digital com ...
called "Johnny Bubble", featuring the titular character in a series of odd events until he dies. In 2018, his short film, ''May I Please Enter'', was released. In 2020, his short ''What Codec Should I Use?'' was released. In 2022, his latest short film ''Cool Blue Car'' was released as part of Adult Swim's ''smalls''. In 2022, he created a music video for ''I Didn't Know I Was Dead.'' by
Negativland Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The core ...
All his work on
Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; stylized as
dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representati ...
and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...
has been made in collaboration with Baltimore-based production company ''AB Video Solutions, LLC,'' (referenced within ''This House Has People In It'' as AB Surveillance Solutions) an offshoot of the
Wham City Wham City is an art and performance collective based in Baltimore, Maryland. Members of Wham City include musicians Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader, visual artists Jimmy Joe Roche, Peter Ryan O'Connell, Mason Ross, Adam Endres, Dina Kelberman, April Ca ...
arts collective. ''AB Video Solutions LLC'' is made up of Resnick,
Ben O'Brien Ben O'Brien (born November 4, 1984) is an American comedian and filmmaker from Baltimore, Maryland. They are a member of the Wham City arts collective and founding member of Wham City Comedy. They have directed videos for Adult Swim and Merge Rec ...
, Robby Rackleff, Cricket Arrison, and Dina Kelberman.


Personal life

Resnick lived in
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
for 10 years and is currently residing in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
. He is married to fellow artist Dina Kelberman.


Filmography


Television


Web


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Resnick, Alan State University of New York at Purchase alumni Comedians from Maryland Living people American music video directors People from Baltimore 1986 births 21st-century American comedians