Fenslerfilm (stylized as FENSLERFILM) is an American video production company, based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, and headed by Eric Fensler. [1]
The company gained a reputation in 2003 for a series of short films which parodied the public service announcement (PSA) safety messages used at the end of every episode of the 1980s G.I. Joe animated series, based on Hasbro's toy line. [2] Fensler, a fan of the series, had recalled the PSAs after rewatching G.I. Joe: The Movie which had included the PSAs as bonus features on its DVD, and played around with the footage. While Fensler did the video editing, he had friends supply the new voice-over lines. [3] Fensler's friend Doug Lussenhop helped Fensler to prepare the parody PSAs for screening at the Heaven Gallery in Chicago, after which gallery visitors got VHS copies of the PSAs, while the gallery uploaded them to their website. The traffic from the popularity of the videos crashed the gallery's server, and eventually two other websites, eBaum's World and Heavy.com, provided copies of the videos. By 2004, the videos had been considered viral hits, and Hasbro had sent Fensler a cease and desist order. [3] One of the more recognized of the parody PSAs involved Blowtorch arriving to help stop a kitchen fire started by two boys, randomly shouting "Porkchop sandwiches!" on his appearance. The catchphrase became part of unofficial merchandise based on the parody PSAs. [3]
Fenslerfilm also did some Sealab 2021 TV spots for Adult Swim. The spots mirrored the previous G.I. Joe PSAs in tone and execution, as they were animated and dubbed in a similar fashion. [4] In 2004, Lussenhop successfully applied to write for Tom Goes to the Mayor , created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, and became one of their close collaborators. When Heidecker and Wareheim were preparing their next show, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! , Lussenhop convinced them to bring on Fensler. Fensler stayed on for the show's five seasons, and continued to collaborate on the team's ongoing smaller projects. [3] In addition, Fensler contributed music videos for the songs "Don't Mess With Illinois", "Hand Over Fist" and "Special Effect" by his fellow Chicagoans, electronic music group TRS-80. [5] He also produced a music video for Daniel Johnston's song "The Monster Inside of Me", using footage from the Captain America animated series from the 1960s. As of 2013, Fensler works for the advertising firm Wieden+Kennedy. [3]
Jem, also known as Jem and The Holograms, is an American animated musical television series that ran from 1985 to 1988. The series is about record company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, and the adventures of her band Jem and The Holograms. The series was a joint collaboration by Hasbro, Sunbow Productions and Marvel Productions, the same team responsible for G.I. Joe and Transformers. The creator of the series, Christy Marx, had also been a staff writer for the aforementioned programs. The animation for most of the episodes was provided by Japanese animation studio Toei Animation with eleven episodes, including the opening sequence provided by South Korean studio AKOM.
Tom Goes to the Mayor is an American adult animated sitcom created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 14, 2004 and ended on September 25, 2006 with a total of 30 episodes.
Eric Alexander Wareheim is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, musician, and winemaker. He is best known as one half of the comedy duo Tim & Eric, alongside Tim Heidecker. He also had a recurring role on the Netflix series Master of None.
Timothy Richard Heidecker is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a military-themed line of action figures and toys in Hasbro's G.I. Joe franchise. The toyline lasted from 1982 to 1994, producing well over 500 figures and 250 vehicles and playsets. The line reappeared in 1997 and has continued in one form or another to the present day. It was supported by two animated series as well as a major comic series published by Marvel Comics.
G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero is a half-hour American animated television series created by Ron Friedman. Based on the toyline from Hasbro, the cartoon ran in syndication from 1983 to 1986. 95 episodes were produced.
Sunbow Entertainment was an American animation studio and distributor, founded on June 23, 1980, and owned until May 4, 1998, by Griffin-Bacal Advertising in New York City and in the United States. Griffin-Bacal's first animations were animated commercials for Hasbro's G.I. Joe toy line. The success of the animated commercials led partners Tom Griffin and Joe Bacal to form the company. Due to their close working relationship with Hasbro, Sunbow came to be recognized as the toy giant's unofficial television arm.
The Transformers is an animated television series that originally aired from September 17, 1984, to November 11, 1987, in syndication based upon Hasbro and Takara's Transformers toy line. The first television series in the Transformers franchise, it depicts a war among giant robots that can transform into vehicles and other objects. The series was produced by Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions in association with Japanese studio Toei Animation for first-run syndication. Toei co-produced the show as the main animation studio for its first two seasons, having been tasked with creating and finalizing animation models, designing transformation schemes, storyboarding some episodes, and general direction. In the third season, Toei's involvement with the production team was reduced and the animation services were shared with the South Korean studio AKOM. The show's supervising producer was also AKOM's founder. The fourth season was entirely animated by AKOM. The series was supplemented by a feature film, The Transformers: The Movie (1986), taking place between the second and third seasons. This series is also popularly known as "Generation One", a term originally coined by fans in response to the re-branding of the franchise as Transformers: Generation 2 in 1992, which eventually made its way into official use. The series was later shown in reruns on Sci-Fi Channel and The Hub / Discovery Family.
Super Deluxe was an entertainment company owned by Turner Broadcasting. Founded by Wolfgang Hammer in 2007, the company's main output was in online video, television series, and documentaries.
Tim & Eric are an American comedy duo consisting of Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. They are the creators and stars of the Adult Swim television series Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule, Tim & Eric's Bedtime Stories, and Beef House.
Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! is an American sketch comedy television series created by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim for Cartoon Network's nighttime programming block Adult Swim. It premiered on February 11, 2007 and originally ran until May 2, 2010. The show features surreal, dark and often satirical humor, public-access television-style musical acts, bizarre faux-commercials with a unique editing and special effects style by Doug Lussenhop to make the show appear off-kilter.
Special Entertainment is a Milwaukee based media production company established in 2003 by Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant.
Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule is an American comedy television series starring John C. Reilly as Dr. Steve Brule. The show is a spin-off of Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, originating in a segment called Brule's Rules. The series premiered on Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim, on May 16, 2010.
G.I. Joe: Renegades is an American animated television series based on the G.I. Joe toy franchise. The series aired on The Hub from November 26, 2010, to July 23, 2011.
G.I. Joe is an American media franchise and a line of action figures owned and produced by the toy company Hasbro. The initial product offering represented four of the branches of the U.S. armed forces with the Action Soldier, Action Sailor, Action Pilot, Action Marine and later on, the Action Nurse. The name is derived from the usage of "G.I. Joe" for the generic U.S. soldier, itself derived from the more general term "G.I.". The development of G.I. Joe led to the coining of the term "action figure". G.I. Joe's appeal to children has made it an American icon among toys.
Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie is a 2012 American absurdist black comedy film starring, written, directed, and produced by the comedy duo Tim & Eric in their feature directorial debuts. The plot follows Heidecker and Wareheim, playing fictionalized versions of themselves, who are forced to re-open an abandoned mall to pay back a wasted billion-dollar loan. The supporting cast includes Zach Galifianakis, Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly, Ray Wise, Twink Caplan, Robert Loggia, Jeff Goldblum, Bob Odenkirk, and Will Forte.
W/ Bob & David is an American sketch comedy television series created by and starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross that premiered on Netflix on November 13, 2015. The sketch show consists of four half-hour episodes plus an hour-long making-of special entitled "Behind the Making of the Scenes". It is a revival of sorts of the 1995–1998 HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David, which also starred Odenkirk and Cross. W/ Bob & David shares many of the same supporting cast members and writing team of the earlier series, and its title is also a variation of that of Mr. Show. Odenkirk described W/ Bob & David as "lighter", "less complex" and "faster" than Mr. Show.
Doug Lussenhop, known professionally as DJ Douggpound, is an American musician, video editor, and comedian. Lussenhop is best known for his weekly appearance as co-host and valued member of "The Holy Trinity" on Office Hours Live. He is also widely recognized as the editor for Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!, which prominently features his trademark editing style. He edited and acted in many Tim & Eric projects including Tom Goes to the Mayor, Tim and Eric Nite Live!, and Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. In 2024, Lussenhop continues to support The Eric Andre Show Live Tour as its opening act.
Beef House is an American sitcom created by and starring Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim. The series premiered on Adult Swim on March 30, 2020. The series is a parody of 1980s and 1990s American family sitcoms, featuring Wareheim and Jamie-Lynn Sigler as a married suburban couple who live with the former's best friend (Heidecker) and a trio of eccentric men.