''Epic Fu'' (formerly known as ''JETSET'') was a

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

created by producers Steve Woolf and

Zadi Diaz Zadi Diaz is an American producer and director, known for founding the web series '' Epic Fu'', co-hosting the podcast ''New Mediacracy'', and executive producer of YouTube Nation. She has won a number of Webby and Streamy Awards. Early life Za ...

. The show premiered on June 1, 2006 with

as the host and ended in 2011. Airing weekly on the ''Epic Fu'' web site and various online distribution channels, the show draws its content from current news stories centered on art, music, technology and web culture.

Format

Compared to ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' and

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

by ''

Advertising Age ''Ad Age'' (known as ''Advertising Age'' until 2017) is a global media brand that publishes news, analysis, and data on marketing and media. Its namesake magazine was started as a broadsheet newspaper in Chicago in 1930. ''Ad Age'' appears in mu ...

'' and described as a hyperfast-paced pop culture newscast by

Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fran ...

, each episode of ''Epic Fu'' runs an average of 5–10 minutes and is generally divided into four main sections: news, music, interviews, and community.

News

Every episode of ''Epic Fu'' begins with Diaz at her desk introducing the week's top stories. The news section often includes stories highlighting how

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, scie ...

and the web is affecting culture in art, music, style and politics. News stories are also submitted by audience members.

Music

The show typically includes a

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

intermission called "Music Video Spotlight" also known as "Sh!t We Like," which highlights an independent or unsigned band or musician.

Interviews

Interviews appear in the second half of the show and are generally conducted on-location. Guests include web personalities, technologists, artists, musicians, political figures,

inventors An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an id ...

, authors,

television personalities The Television Personalities are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 by London singer-songwriter Dan Treacy.Earp, Joseph.The Missing Man Of Music: A Search For The Elusive Dan Treacy Of Television Personalities. ''The Brag'', 26 July 2016 ...

, and off-beat types.

Community

The Epic Fu community provede news links, correspondent pieces, and response videos to "Campfire" discussions. The central hub for the show's community is called MIX, currently involving over 4,000 of the show's fans, and is located on the Epic Fu website. There, fans upload photos, videos, music, submit ideas, and begin discussions on forum threads. EPIC FU also uses social networking sites like

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

to connect with fans. The show regularly initiates collaborative projects to involve its community. Some of these have been a collaborative film,

flash game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...

battles,

Alternate Reality Games An alternate reality game (ARG) is an interactive networked narrative that uses the real world as a platform and employs transmedia storytelling to deliver a story that may be altered by players' ideas or actions. The form is defined by inten ...

(ARGs), and participation in an eco-challenge called ''Seven Days Without Plastic''. Participating members are incorporated into the show.

History

Epic Fu first premiered as JETSET (also referred to as ''Jet Set Show'') on June 1, 2006.

Amanda Congdon Amanda Thornton Congdon (born August 4, 1981, in New York City) is an American former video blogger. She began her on-screen career as the first anchor of the online daily news show, ''Rocketboom'', which she hosted and produced until June 23, 2 ...

and

Andrew Baron Andrew Michael Baron (born 1970) is the creator of Rocketboom, Know Your Meme, the video aggregator site, Magma and Humanwire. Baron has taught undergraduate and graduate classes at Parsons and was teaching IDTech at M.I.T. when he came up with ...

were initially tied to the first few episodes of the production, but the partnership dissolved with the ''

Rocketboom Rocketboom was a daily vlog produced by Andrew Baron in the format of a newscast with a comedic slant. Since 2004 Rocketboom has presented oddities, vlog excerpts, social and political commentary. The Rocketboom weblog and Apollo Pony featured ...

'' split in July 2006. In April 2007, JETSET was the first established web show to sign with web video studio

Next New Networks The YouTube Next Lab and Audience Development Group, founded as Next New Networks, is a company based in New York City. Next New was launched in March 2007 by founders Fred Seibert & Emil Rensing, and co-founders Herb Scannell, Timothy Shey and ...

(NNN). NNN took the role of selling sponsorship and handling

cross-promotion Cross-promotion is a form of marketing promotion where customers of one product or service are targeted with promotion of a related product. A typical example is cross-media marketing of a brand; for example, Oprah Winfrey's promotion on her tele ...

for the show. In its tenure with NNN, the show grew from 30,000-40,000 views per episode to 3 million views a month. In October 2007, Smashface Productions decided to change the name of the show from JETSET to Epic Fu, citing a need to protect their

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, cop ...

with a more original name. After a year with NNN, Epic Fu was contemplating a move to television, but then signed with West Coast digital studio

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The ...

in June 2008. A the time, EPIC FU was the highest profile web show to switch from one new media studio to another. The partnership ended shortly after in December 2008, when Revision3 laid off nine employees, cancelled three original shows and eliminated two of its distribution deals, citing that the shows didn't fit with their long-term plans. Currently, Epic Fu is independently run and distributed through

Blip.tv Blip (formerly blip.tv) was an American media platform for web series content and also offered a dashboard for producers of original web series to distribute and monetize their productions. The company was founded on May 5, 2005, and it was locate ...

Production

Episodes of Epic Fu are produced by Smashface Productions and filmed in Los Angeles, California. Production is led by Diaz and Woolf. The show has had various producers involved throughout its time on-air, including Brian Lerner and Rick Rey. Annie Tsai and Sarah Atwood have also helped in production efforts and occasionally acted as correspondents. Daniel Merlot and Mike Ambs have been credited as editors.

Segments

Below are past and present segments that have appeared on EPIC FU.

Notable interviews

A partial list of some of the people that have been interviewed on EPIC FU *

Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of '' The ...

of The Huffington Post *

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D helped crea ...

of Public Enemy *

Dan Harmon Daniel James Harmon (born January 3, 1973) is an American writer, producer, and actor. He is best known as the creator and producer of the NBC/ Yahoo! Screen sitcom ''Community'' (2009–2015), creator and host of the comedy podcast '' Harmont ...

Rob Schrab Robby Christopher Schrab (born November 12, 1969) is an American comic book creator, screenwriter, director, and producer. He is the creator of the comic book '' Scud: The Disposable Assassin'', co-writer of the feature film '' Monster House'', co ...

, creators of Channel 101 and The Sarah Silverman Program * Dr. Horrible writers

Maurissa Tancharoen Maurissa Tancharoen () in Los Angeles, California)Maurissa Tancharoen
biographical inf ...

, Jed Whedon,

Zack Whedon Zachary Adam Whedon (born August 14, 1979) is an American screenwriter, film director, and comic book writer. Early life Whedon is from a family of writers: he is the son of screenwriter Tom Whedon, grandson of screenwriter John Whedon, and ...

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The ...

, founder of Tesla Motors and SpaceX *

Fatal1ty Johnathan Wendel (born February 26, 1981), more commonly known by his online alias Fatal1ty (pronounced "Fatality"), is an entrepreneur and former professional esports player of the first-person shooter titles '' Quake'' and ''Painkiller.'' He ...

, pro gamer *

Felicia Day Kathryn Felicia Day (born June 28, 1979) is an American actress, writer, and web series creator. She is the creator and star of the web series '' The Guild'' (2007–2013), a show loosely based on her life as a gamer. She also wrote and starred ...

, actor and star of Dr. Horrible and The Guild *

Jonathan Coulton Jonathan William Coulton (born December 1, 1970), often called "JoCo" by fans, is an American folk/comedy singer-songwriter, known for his songs about geek culture and his use of the Internet to draw fans. Among his most popular songs are " Co ...

, singer-songwriter *

MC Frontalot Damian Hess (born December 3, 1973), better known by his stage name MC Frontalot, is an American rapper and web designer. Hess began releasing music as MC Frontalot in 1999. His first successes came through Song Fight!, an online songwriting an ...

, nerdcore hip-hop musician *

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter and author who became an influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album ''Horses''. Called the "punk poet ...

, singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame musician *

Tim Heidecker Timothy Richard Heidecker (; born February 3, 1976) is an American comedian, writer, director, actor, and musician. Along with Eric Wareheim, he is a member of the comedy duo Tim & Eric. He has also appeared in films, including '' Bridesmai ...

Eric Wareheim Eric Alexander Wareheim (; born April 7, 1976) 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 Netf ...

of Adult Swim's Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job *

Xeni Jardin Xeni Jardin (; born Jennifer Hamm, August 5, 1970) is an American weblogger, digital media commentator, and tech culture journalist. She is known as a former co-editor of the collaborative weblog ''Boing Boing'', a former contributor to '' ''Wire ...

of Boing Boing

Awards

References

External links

* *
''EPIC FU''
on Blip *
''EPIC FU'' Official Myspace page

''EPIC FU'' Official Facebook fan page
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Epic Fu 2006 web series debuts 2011 web series endings Creative Commons-licensed podcasts American non-fiction web series Internet television channels American news websites Video podcasts 2010s YouTube series Streamy Award-winning channels, series or shows 2020s YouTube series