Viva La Dirt League or VLDL are a New Zealand group of professional

sketch comedy Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and is ...

YouTubers. The founding members are Rowan Bettjeman, Alan Morrison and Adam King, but their productions have featured other regular cast members such as Byron Coll, Hamish Parkinson, Adrian Williamson, David Correos, Britt Scott Clark, Ben Van Lier, Ellie Harwood, and Robert Hartley. , their YouTube channel has 4.66 million subscribers, and over 1.553 billion views. Their second YouTube channel, ''Viva La Dirt League D&D'', has 309 thousand subscribers, and over 27.4 million views. They have a Spanish language channel, , launched in July 2022, which has 3 thousand subscribers and over 203 thousand views.

Background

Before forming VLDL, Bettjeman and Morrison's

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

''Beached'' was selected for showing at the New Zealand International Film Festival in 2010. Bettjeman and Morrison present a weekly news media online clip show "Media Ocre Awards" for the WatchMe.co.nz. The group went full-time in 2017. The group's sketches have been nominated for Streamy Awards. Fans of the group include English actor Andrew Koji. The group is represented by Creative Artists Agency.

Series

''PUBG Logic''

''PUBG Logic'' is set in an online multiplayer battle royale game (ostensibly '' PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds''). Characters are players' avatars and the comedy focuses on the

bugs Bugs may refer to: * Plural of bug Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Bugs Bunny, a character * Bugs Meany, a character in the ''Encyclopedia Brown'' books Films * ''Bugs'' (2003 film), a science-fiction-horror film * ''Bugs ...

, gameplay limitations, and exploits in the game. Use of the '' PUBG'' imagery has been endorsed by the game's creators, and due to the popularity of the game, and the group's sketches, they have attended gaming

conventions Convention may refer to: * Convention (norm), a custom or tradition, a standard of presentation or conduct ** Treaty, an agreement in international law * Convention (meeting), meeting of a (usually large) group of individuals and/or companies in a ...

( Armageddon) and tournaments ( League of Legends Pro League) to promote these characters. A

supercut A supercut is a genre of video editing consisting of a montage of short clips with the same theme. The theme may be an action, a scene, a word or phrase, an object, a gesture, or a cliché or trope. The technique has its roots in film and televis ...

of the first season has reached over 17 million views on YouTube.

''Epic NPC Man''

''Epic NPC Man'' is a

set within "''Skycraft''", an entirely fictional fantasy

MMORPG A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a Player charac ...

where

non-playing character A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster ...

s (NPCs) and players interact. The series deconstructs the logic of RPGs, the mechanics of video games and the fantasy genre at large, typically spoofing real-life game franchises such as '' The Elder Scrolls'', '' World of Warcraft'', '' Dark Souls'' and '' The Witcher''. Initially, ''Epic NPC Man'' was presented almost exclusively from the perspective of Greg (Morrison), a lowly NPC garlic farmer and quest-giver in the tranquil but unremarkable village of Honeywood in the nation of Azerim. Other recurring characters include the blacksmith Bodger (Bettjeman) and the sorcerer Baradün (King). Many scenes have been filmed at Howick Historical Village.

''Baelin's Route: An Epic NPC Man Adventure''

In 2020, the group crowdfunded NZ$660,000 (c. €390,000) via Kickstarter to produce a short film set in the ''Epic NPC Man'' universe. ''Baelin's Route: An Epic NPC Man Adventure'' premiered on YouTube on 9 May 2021. The film, which was written by Morrison and directed by Morrison and King, stars Bettjeman as Baelin, a non-player character whose normal route, from home to fishing spot, is interrupted by a human player (Ben Van Lier) and a damsel in distress (Phoenix Cross) making him into a reluctant hero. It had over 900 thousand views within 24 hours of its release.

''Bored''

''Bored'' is a series of sketches primarily based in a computer store. New Zealand Radio Award-winning presenter Ellie Harwood co-stars as an employee.

Viva La Dirt League D&D

Starting in July 2019, Viva released a short Dungeons and Dragons series where their ''Epic NPC Man'' characters adventured into Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, with Robert Hartley as Dungeon Master. Building on its success, in March 2020, Viva launched their second YouTube channel focusing on Dungeons and Dragons content set in the ''Epic NPC Man'' universe. King, Morrison and Bettjeman reprise their roles as Greg, Baradun and Bodger and Van Lier debuts the character Bob in the campaign.

Studio

A Kickstarter campaign for a filming studio and office space for the company raised over US$2.5 Million in March 2022, with a location to be determined. In August, the Kickstarter campaign page (Update #38) and the VLDL YouTube channel updated with the news of the new studio location having been secured after a long search. The video shows a tour of the new, unrenovated facilities.

References

External links

* * {{authority control Comedy YouTubers English-language YouTube channels Gaming YouTubers New Zealand comedy troupes New Zealand television producers New Zealand YouTubers People from Auckland Works based on Dungeons & Dragons YouTube channels launched in 2011 YouTube filmmakers Comedy-related YouTube channels