Ask A Ninja is a series of comedy videos about the image of

ninja A or was a covert agent or mercenary in feudal Japan. The functions of a ninja included reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enem ...

in popular culture available in

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

and

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form, as well as in mov and

WMV Windows Media Video (WMV) is a series of video codecs and their corresponding video coding formats developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Windows Media framework. WMV consists of three distinct codecs: The original video compression technology ...

file formats. The episodes were released between 2005 and 2011. In December 2007, television industry trade magazine ''TelevisionWeek'' (www.tvweek.com) reported that ''Ask a Ninja'' creators Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine made about $100,000 a month in ad revenue and income from merchandising and licensing from the show. In January 2007 Forbes listed The Ninja as one of the top "Fictional Celebrities" on the web.

Overview

The series, created by Los Angeles improvisational comedians Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, features a ninja who answers e-mails from "viewers" (a similar format to Ask Zorbak and

Strong Bad Email ''Homestar Runner'' is an American Flash animation, Flash animated comedy web series and website created by Mike and Matt Chapman, known collectively as The Brothers Chaps. The series centers on the adventures of a large and diverse cast of chara ...

, which was an influence on Ask A Ninja's creators according to Kent Nichols). According to an interview, ''Ask A Ninja'' was originally supposed to be an animated show about two Ninjas living in

Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...

Podcast

The episodes feature constant and erratic camera-angle changes, as well as enthusiastic and wild hand gestures by the Ninja. Each episode usually ranges from four to seven minutes, usually ending with Ninja's signature remark to each questioner: "I look forward to killing you soon!" New episodes had been released bi-weekly during the height of the podcast's popularity. Starting with Episode 23, "Ninternships", the behind-the-scenes-team decided to have sponsors for their episodes. Although episodes 1 to 16 are answered by Ninja in front of a featureless blue background, the action sometimes goes to other places, such as inside a car or another house. Episodes after the "Ninja Omnibus" episode use the Ninja edited onto a red circle gradient background, and episodes after the "BBQ" episode changed to blue. The episodes start with the song "I Am Ninja", performed by The Neu Tickles and written by satirist

Brently Heilbron Brently Heilbron (born December 1, 1976) is an American comedian, musician, and actor based in Austin, Texas. He is best known for Tiny Desk Concerts with emo puppet band Fragile Rock and his work with director Robert Rodriguez. Career Brentl ...

Re-launch

After a nearly two-year hiatus, during which time only specials were released, the web series relaunched in October 2010 as a daily series with new videos each week day. The new lineup featured an experimental sketch show along with a weekly wrap up show (''The Stare'') and a showcase of emerging web shows liked by the Ninja. Web series producer Brett Register, creator of '' The Crew'', ''A Good Knight's Quest'' and ''Craig & The Werewolf'', was hired on as the new day-to-day producer-director for ''Ask a Ninja''. This run concluded in December 2011. In 2014, five of the earliest episodes were re-performed and released as ''Ask a Ninja reMASTERed''. In 2015, nine episodes featuring jokes about ninjas submitted by fans were produced as ''NinJokes''.

Advertising and other appearances

''Ask A Ninja'' has widespread popular appeal, and has appeared in numerous media outlets. Douglas Sarine was once asked to report as a guest film critic on

National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...

's show, ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

''; his review there of '' Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'' is classified as a special delivery episode. In a 5- to 10-minute piece ''Ask A Ninja'' interviewed ''

Blades of Glory ''Blades of Glory'' is a 2007 American sports comedy film directed by Will Speck and Josh Gordon, written by Jeff Cox, Craig Cox, John Altschuler and Dave Krinsky, and starring Will Ferrell and Jon Heder with Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, William Fich ...

'' stars

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 200 ...

and

Jon Heder Jonathan Joseph Heder (; born October 26, 1977) is an American actor, best known for his role as the title character of the 2004 comedy film ''Napoleon Dynamite''. He has also appeared in the films '' Just Like Heaven'', ''The Benchwarmers'', ''S ...

for which he asked a series of movie related questions. At the end of the interview he ice skates circles around Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton. One notable episode was shot in the ''

MythBusters ''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...

'' warehouse with

Jamie Jamie is a unisex name. It is a diminutive form of James or, more rarely, other names. It is also given as a name in its own right. People Female * Jamie Anne Allman (born 1977), American actress * Jamie Babbit (born 1970), American film and te ...

and

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, where he disputed the theory of gravity, but when asked for proof, claimed he would have to perform a move in which he would simultaneously pull out both their brains. At the end of older episodes, the Ninja advertised the Ninja-Mart Store, where viewers may buy "Ask A Ninja"-related merchandise. More recent episodes have ended with Ninja advertising Ask A Ninja's first DVD release in the style of

HeadOn HeadOn is the brand name of a topical product claimed to relieve headaches. It achieved widespread notoriety in 2006 as a result of a repetitive commercial, consisting only of the tagline "HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead", stated three ...

commercials. He's also advertised ''

The Simpsons Game ''The Simpsons Game'' is a 2007 platform game based on the animated television series ''The Simpsons'' made for the Nintendo DS, Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. The game was published, and distributed by Elec ...

'' as well as

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced since 1964 by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The original Doritos were not flavored. The first flavor was Toasted Corn, released in 1966, followed by Taco in ...

. Ask a Ninja also started hosting their videos with CastFire's video hosting service, likely to add to their monetization strategy. Recently, Nichols and Sarine appeared as commentators on VH1's ''

Best Week Ever ''Best Week Ever'' is an American comedy series created and executive produced by Fred Graver. The series originally aired from January 23, 2004, to June 12, 2009, on VH1.Harris, Scott"VH1 Cancels 'Best Week Ever'". ''Inside TV''. January 13, 20 ...

''. The Ninja, however, does not appear with them. The Ninja appears alongside

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

Liam Kyle Sullivan Liam Kyle Sullivan (born July 17, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, director and video editor. Sullivan has made several guest appearances on television programs—including ''Gilmore Girls'', ''8 Simple Rules'', and ''Alias (TV series) ...

's "Let Me Borrow That Top" music video. The Ninja has also appeared as a judge on

Yahoo Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo! Inc. (2017–present), Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds ma ...

's talent-show contest. On April 11, 2007 episode of '' The Showbiz Show'', the Ninja, in a pre-recorded segment, provided a short review of the first episode of the final season of ''

The Sopranos ''The Sopranos'' is an American Crime film#Crime drama, crime drama television series created by David Chase. The story revolves around Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a New Jersey-based American Mafia, Italian-American mobster, portraying h ...

''.

Jessica Lee Rose Jessica Lee Rose (born April 26, 1987) is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of ''lonelygirl15'', a fictional teenage homeschooled character named Bree who appeared in YouTube video blogs, beginn ...

appeared with Ninja in an episode called "Jessica Lee Rose" to celebrate his series' 50th episode anniversary and to comment on the death of

lonelygirl15 ''Lonelygirl15'' is an American science fiction thriller web series created by Miles Beckett, Mesh Flinders, Greg Goodfried, and Amanda Goodfried. It was independently released on YouTube from June 16, 2006 to August 1, 2008, and was also brief ...

. Vodcast Bikini News featured an extensive interview with Nichols (against the familiar Ask A Ninja background) discussing the origins of the show.

Day of the Ninja involvement

Since 2006, ''Ask a Ninja'' has been involved in organizing and coordinating events for the annual Day of the Ninja, December 5. On December 5, 2006, the Ninja made his first live onstage appearance at the ''Ask a Ninja'' DVD Release Party, where he played the guitar after opening act The Neu Tickles. The Ninja made his second live stage appearance at the

El Rey Theatre The El Rey Theatre is a live music venue in the Miracle Mile area of the Mid-Wilshire region in Los Angeles, California. This art deco building was designed by Clifford A. Balch (who designed over twenty classic art deco movie theatres aroun ...

on December 5, 2007 with

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

and

Hard 'n Phirm Hard 'n Phirm was a comedy/parody musical duo based in Los Angeles. The members are Chris Hardwick and Mike Phirman. They began performing at UCLA in 1994, but broke up in 1997, to reform 7 years later. After the success of their song "Rodeo ...

. On December 5, 2007, The Ninja guest starred on ''

Attack of the Show ''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program and that aired on G4 (American TV network), G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally a ...

'' alongside

Olivia Munn Lisa Olivia Munn (born July 3, 1980) is an American actress and former television host. After an internship at a news station in Tulsa, she moved to Los Angeles where she began her professional career as a television host for the gaming netwo ...

on G4 while

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was on the road hosting live from people's homes.

Other releases

* The DVD of Ask a Ninja was released on December 5, 2006. In addition to 30 episodes of Ask a Ninja, it includes commentaries,

Easter eggs Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...

and bonus shorts. * Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine have written an Ask a Ninja book (''The Ninja Handbook: This Book Looks Forward to Killing You Soon''). * Ask a Ninja has also been released to

Xbox Live Marketplace Xbox Games Store (formerly Xbox Live Marketplace) is a digital distribution platform used by Microsoft's Xbox Series X, S, Xbox One and Xbox 360 video game consoles. The service allows users to download or purchase video games (including both ...

Episodes

Special deliveries

NinJokes

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.askaninja.com/
''Podcast interview with Kent Nichols and Ben Stiller (Feb. 22, 2006 – 11min.48sec. 5.47MB)''
(Businessweek.com)
Interview with Kent Nichols about the origins and success of Ask A Ninja
on Bikini News Podcast

weekly web show that covers online pop culture (October 14, 2008) 2005 web series debuts 2011 web series endings American comedy web series Ninja parody Japan in non-Japanese culture