Eastern Michigan University alumni Cooper Barnes and Chuck Ganchorre have always had a love for sketch comedy. Although the two have been working diligently creating hilarious YouTube videos with their Frog Island Comedy troupe since 2005, the comedians will finally get their national TV debut on the Syfy network’s new show, “Viral Video Showdown.”
In “Viral Video Showdown,” which is hosted by Kevin Pereira of G4’s “Attack of the Show,” two teams compete to see who can create the best viral video for a cash prize. Teams are given a budget, an assignment and 72 hours to write, shoot, edit and upload their videos. The videos are then judged by a panel of experts and web royalty. The winning team receives $5,000 and delicious Internet glory.
The competing teams were cast by the show’s executive producer SallyAnn Salsano of 495 Productions, who was also the executive producer of MTV’s “Jersey Shore.” Salsano and her team scoured the Internet searching for the best of the best. Their search led them to Barnes, Ganchorre and the rest of the Frog Island Comedy troupe.
A few years after graduating from EMU in 2001 with a degree in theatre and fine arts, Barnes moved out to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting and comedy. With dreams of forming a comedy troupe of the funniest people he knew, Barnes called up his old college friend Chuck Ganchorre, a 2002 EMU graduate with a major in communications and a minor in theatre.
“I think I promised him ‘You’ll be on your own TV show, you’ll be famous and you’ll meet ladies and make lots of money,’” Barnes recalled. “And so far that hasn’t happened, but he has been able to put on several wigs and play ugly women, so it’s pretty close.”
The comedians looked to their college days for inspiration for their comedy troupe, drawing their name from a familiar Ypsilanti location.
“We spent a lot of time in Frog Island Park, looking for Smeets,” said Ganchorre.
Smeets, or Smeet Frogs, are the mythical, furry, flying squirrel-like frogs said to inhabit the Huron River. The Smeet Frog is also the mascot of Frog Island Comedy.
“They’re real to us,” Ganchorre said. “It’s our way of keeping the dream alive.”
During their time at EMU, the two alumni learned the skills
necessary to make it in the comedy business.
“Doing theater at EMU, that was our bread and butter,” Ganchorre said.
Barnes agreed. “The professors at EMU and the department really molded and inspired us,” he said. While in school they learned skills including characterization, the business of entertainment and the power of their messages.
“Whether you’re doing comedy or drama, you have the responsibility to really say something with everything you put out there,” Barnes said. “All of the skills that we learned were very valuable. We’re very grateful.”
After the Frog Island team was assembled, they went to work making original, funny content and even pitched a pilot video to Comedy Central. The network was impressed with what they saw, but did not pick up Frog Island’s content since they tend to feature more recognizable acts.
“They told us to keep in touch but keep making content,” Barnes said.
So they did. Frog Island Comedy began creating and uploading sketch comedy acts to YouTube, where they gained an Internet following.
“Some of our videos have gone legitimately viral, with millions of hits,” Barnes said.
One of their most notable videos, “Elmo’s World Behind the Scenes,” has over 8 million views on YouTube.
No strangers to Internet comedy, the Frog Island team members were in their element while making their video for “Viral Video Showdown.”
“It was essentially our regular process, but on steroids,” Barnes said. “We did what we do with basically all of our videos, but with a lot less sleep.”
With 72 hours to complete their viral video project, Barnes said sleep was the last thing on the team’s collective mind.
“By the end of it, we looked like crap. But we’re happy with the video that we made,” Barnes said.
Doing the show proved to be a valuable experience for the Frog Island team.
“It brought us all closer together, even though we’ve been working together for several years,” Barnes said.
Ganchorre added that they’ve begun to take the skills they learned through participating in the competition and apply them to their new content.
The experience also afforded Frog Island Comedy an opportunity to gain some recognition on a national level. “As much as we’ve had success on the Internet, it would certainly be increased by getting some television viewership as well,” Barnes said. “It would be cool to get the Ypsilanti community to be more aware of our troupe.”
The comedians are excited to see their episode on TV.
“It will be interesting to see what they show the audience in terms of process. The whole process is documented,” Barnes said. “You always see the end result, but you never see what goes into it.”
“And I had just gotten a haircut right before the show, so I really wanna check that out,” Ganchorre joked.
You can catch “Viral Video Showdown” at 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday nights on the Syfy channel. The episode featuring the Frog Island team will run Dec. 4.
