At last night’s 2012 Vimeo Awards we had the chance to catch up with the evening’s host, music virtuoso Reggie Watts, and naturally we proceeded to grill him about his recebt jam session with Jon Hamm, which IFC later released as part of a web series teasing its new show Comedy Bang! Bang! (premiering tonight at 10pm). “All he was doing was literally describing mostly the plotline and characters of the TV series Taxi, mixed with a bit of Taxi Driver, the De Niro movie,” Watts told us. He went on to reveal that everything about Reggie Makes Music is “very, very impromptu,” and even admitted he was a little scared to watch his session with Zach Galifianakis which went up earlier this week.
“I forgot what we did,” he explained, “and then I saw it today and was like that’s so hilarious because when we did it I was really nervous, because I didn’t know what was going on and it was really short.” We watched. We have no idea what Galifianakis is saying but it makes us feel like cotton candy and bedtime.
Not only is Watts the kindest man in the world (it’s true, you really do want to hug him), but he also, somehow makes time to watch TV. His current diet includes Walking Dead, Mad Men, Awake, The Good Guys, and BBC shows Sherlock and Luther. He doesn’t watch in real time because he hates commercials and we didn’t have the heart to tell him that Awake has been canceled.
We also spoke with Watt’s co-emcee for the evening, fellow musician and London native Beardyman, who told us how much he admires Watts for “sticking to his guns and doing exactly what he wanted to do, and just waiting for the world to eventually, one by one, find out that he’s a genius.” When we asked if artists like himself are indebted to platforms like Vimeo, he affirmed a new dawn is indeed upon us, an age where would-be niche artists are now exposed to disperse groups. He quipped it “the new world of media awesome.”
Since the whole night was dedicated to independent creatives (also known as the “Vimeans”), we couldn’t help but prod Beardyman about commercial operations like Idol and X-Factor, which he analogized to “the church in the 16th century who would only let certain chords be played.” He immediately felt bad and said one shouldn’t moan about what they don’t like, and instead “just do something awesome and keep doing it.”
Beardyman and Watts took the stage together at the evening’s close for a karate-themed music duel, complimented by meticulously matched sweatbands. As you can see, this was a nice moment to note the irony in Beardyman having far less facial hair than Watts.
So, if you don’t have plans for the weekend we recommend making a batch of popcorn, turning up the AC, and bellying up to Comedy Bang! Bang! and some good vimeos. You can find all the 2012 Vimeo Award finalists here, but we’ve posted the Grand Prize winner below to get you started. If this is the future of entertainment, we agree with Beardyman. It’s going to be awesome.
Symmetry from Everynone on Vimeo.
Main photo credit: Sean Ludwig/Venturebeat and Vimeo PR