The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs News

Frank Meyer, lead singer for punk bands the Streetwalkin' Cheetahs and Sweet Justice and author of On The Road With The Ramones, has teamed with comedian/actor Scott Chernoff (MTV's Big Urban Myth Show) and Crank Yankers puppet producer/Team America puppeteer B.J. Guyer to create the online show Video Game Theater.

The resulting video--which depicts '80s video game icon Pac-Man as a pill-popping, wifebeating has-been--was originally conceived as a television pilot last year, but was turned down by several networks. (According to Meyer, the general consensus was that video games were too much of niche market for a TV show.) So the trio decided to start a website and MySpace page to get it out to the public and let the people decide. And now the Video Game Theater pilot has taken off, in an example of a phenomenon only the Internet could create.

Incorporating puppets, hand-drawn crayon backgrounds, and quirky '80s-style music, Video Game Theater reveals the twisted, secret lives of classic video game characters (next up: Frogger and Donkey Kong). "Video games are part of the pop-culture landscape at this point," says Meyer. "It won't be long before TV networks realize this and start programming shows that speak to this audience...not just TV shows that talk about video games, but that appeal to that audience for the same reasons they are attracted to video games in the first place: offbeat humor, bizarre images, surreal outrageousness, wild action, and a pop-culture-gone-awry sensibility."

The video showed up on YouTube last week, after which it got linked to the popular entertainment industry blog www.waxy.org. By March 17, the views were in the hundreds, and by March 21, it had 37,904 views on YouTube alone. The overwhelming number of hits briefly crashed the show's official website (though it's back up now), and the numbers have gone up by the thousands every day since. According to www.bloglines.com, Video Game Theater was the number 40 link on YouTube as of March 21. In the last few days, Meyer, Chernoff, and Guyer have received calls from TV networks, press, and other websites wanting more episodes, along with hundreds of fan emails. And this is all based on the little show that could--that everyone said couldn't.

Part of the snarky appeal of Video Game Theater is the Devo-inspired theme song and wacky background music, recorded and produced by the production team Messiaz. Meyer is one half of Messiaz, along with partner Bruce Duff (ADZ, Simon Stokes, 45 Grave, Sweet Justice), and they recorded all of the music at Duff's Toneduff Studios in Hollywood. While Messiaz produce rock music for heavy-metal cult hero Thor, L.A. punks the Ladykillers, Finnish rockers Circle, Save Ferris vocalist Monique Powell, and Supersuckers frontman Eddie Spaghetti, they mainly specialize in electronica and hip-hop. Recent rap productions have included Freddie Foxxx (Gang Starr family), Hell-Razah (Wu Tang's Sunz Of Man), K-Rino (Houston's South Park Coalition), Lord G (L.A.'s Militia), and L.A. urban singer-songwriter Neila.

"We really wanted the music to have this Devo-meets-Gary Numan-meets-Frank Zappa sound," says Meyer. "We did it all on old synths and antiquated drum machines to capture that '80s feel. It's a far cry from my punk days, but I grew up in the '80s, the Duran Duran era, so believe me, I know cheesy new wave! We had a blast doing it."

As for Video Game Theater's success, and its future, Meyer says, "It just goes to show that video on the Web has finally arrived. If we had put this on the Net right when we shot it months back, I don't know if it would have blown up the way it has. Of course, we still want to make more episodes and turn this into an actual TV show, but we are just thrilled that it's getting so many views. It just proves what we said all alone: People want to see video game characters do drugs, smack each other around, and be retarded! The world is ready for video games to enter the comedy landscape like everything else. I mean, video games have been around since the '70s now, so it's about time that they get treated with the same disrespect and vulgarity that music, movies, and books are, damn it!"

The Video Game Theater pilot is now screening at www.videogametheater.com.