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Sketchy characters: W’burg animation fest features hand-drawn hosts

Sketchy characters: W’burg animation fest features hand-drawn hosts
Photo by Elizabeth Graham

These aren’t your average awards show hosts.

Two cartoon scuzzbags are hosting an animation festival at Williamsburg bar-theater Videology on June 14. Their creator said the event — dubbed “Twillerama” for cartoon co-host Jeff Twiller — will feature a selection of animated adult shorts by the likes of Bill Plympton and Leah Shore, interspersed with commentary from the sketchy pair that parodies the stuffy festival circuit.

“Film festivals take themselves so seriously, and I thought it would be fun to makes fun of the pretentiousness,” said animator Morgan Miller.

Between screenings of more than a dozen animated shorts selected by Miller, audiences will be treated to the foul-mouthed, booze-addled musings of Twiller and his animated buddy Randy J. Johnson.

The duo is part of a long-running web series “The Twiller Zone,” which set in a satirical parallel of Brooklyn and Queens called “Slushing Brooks.” The series parodies homemade Youtube broadcasts, said Miller, who lives on the border of both boroughs in industrial Williamsburg.

In past episodes, the cartoon twosome have tried their hands at parkour, reviewed ’70s porn flicks, and grappled with the love between a man and a vacuum cleaner. They are a bit like MTV’s “Beavis and Butthead” — if the feisty truants got their hands on a webcam.

But unlike today’s video bloggers, Miller couldn’t just fire up his computer and shoot off a one-minute video.

“It’s all hand-drawn on paper,” said Miller, who spent four months of his free time drawing, animating, and voicing “Twillerama.” “It’s got kind a of sketchy style that I really like.”

“Twillerama” at Videology [308 Bedford Ave. at S. First Street in Williamsburg, (718) 782–3468, www.videology.info]. June 14 at 8 pm. $5.

Reach reporter Max Jaeger at mjaeger@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-8303. Follow him on Twitter @MJaeger88.
Twill tape: Jeff Twiller lives in a parody of Brooklyn and Queens called “Slushing Brooks.”
Photo by Elizabeth Graham