ASK A NINJA

'Ask A Ninja' is an award-winning^[1] series of comedy videos about the image of ninjas in popular culture available in podcast and vodcast form, as well as in mov and wmv file formats. The first episode was released in November 2005, but production and editing of that initial episode is not as proficient as the episodes from number 2 (January 2006) onwards. The ninja himself is played by 'Douglas Sarine', one of the co-creators.

Contents

Overview

Other releases

Episodes

Special Deliveries

See also

References

External links

Overview

The series, created by Los Angeles improvisational comedians 'Kent Nichols' and 'Douglas Sarine', features a ninja who answers e-mails from "viewers" (a similar format to Ask Zorbak and Strong Bad Email, which was an influence on Ask A Ninja's creators according to Kent Nichols).^[2] According to an interview,^[3] ''Ask A Ninja'' was originally supposed to be an animated show about two Ninjas living in Orange County.
Although episodes 1 to 16 are answered by Ninja in front of a featureless blue background, the action sometimes goes to other places, such as inside a car or another house. One notable episode was shot in the Mythbusters warehouse with Jamie and Adam. Episodes after the "Ninja Omnibus" episode use the Ninja edited onto a red circle gradient background, and episodes after the "BBQ" episode changed to blue. In some episodes, the chair Ninja is sitting on can also be seen.

Ninja is known for his emphatic declarations, as well as his expansive, spontaneous, and often extremely exaggerated hand gestures (helpful in communicating his comedic intent, as one can only see his eyes). Ninja is also fond of using linguistic blends in his speech, particularly those involving the word "ninja" ("ninjelephant," "ninternships," "chickinjas," "caninjas," "minjas," etc.). Video editing is often used for emphasis, such as showing him doing the same throwing motion three times. It is also used to emphasize his mysterious ninja powers, which include the ability to adopt impenetrable disguises, and to make himself microscopically small (Ninjascopic). Recently the Ninja has begun to answer questions in a way that the asker did not intend. For example in "Ninja Dates" the question was asked, "What kind of dates do Ninjas go on?" The Ninja responded "You ask this as if ninjas stop on some dates. There is not a date on the calendar on which we do not go." The episodes feature constant and erratic camera-angle changes. In Special Delivery 10: "Pop!Tech" the Ninja makes reference to this erratic editing, explaining that during the course of filming each episode he has 14 or 15 ninjas trying to kill him while he's filming, so he has to edit all the ninjas out of it so that the episode does not consist solely of thrilling fight sequences.
Each episode usually ranges from two to three minutes, usually ending with Ninja's signature remark to each questioner: "I look forward to killing you soon!" (or some variation thereof, usually relating to the episode e.g. 'I look forward to playing through you soon!'). New episodes are usually released bi-weekly. Starting with Episode 23, "Ninternships", the behind-the-scenes-team decided to have sponsors for their episodes. The episodes start with the song"I Am Ninja", by German band The Neu Tickles.
''Ask A Ninja'' is popular enough that Douglas Sarine was once asked to report as a guest film critic on National Public Radio's show, ''All Things Considered''. His review of '' is classified as a special delivery episode. In a 5-10 minute piece ''Ask A Ninja'' interviewed ''Blades of Glory'' stars Will Ferrell and Jon Heder for which he asked a series of movie related questions. At the end of the interview he ice skates circles around Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton.
At the end of older episodes, the Ninja advertised the Ninja-Mart Store, where viewers may buy "Ask A Ninja"-related merchandise. More recent episodes have ended with Ninja advertising Ask A Ninja's first DVD release in the style of HeadOn commercials.
Ask a Ninja also started hosting their videos with CastFire's video hosting service ^[4], likely to add to their monetization strategy.
Recently, Nichols and Sarine appeared as commentators on VH1's ''Best Week Ever''. The Ninja, however, does not appear with them.
The Ninja has also appeared as a judge on Yahoo's talent-show contest.
On the 11 April 2007 episode of ''The Showbiz Show'', the Ninja, in a pre-recorded segment, provided a short review of the first episode of the final season of ''The Sopranos''.

★ The Ninja guest-starred in the ''Mythbusters'' episode titled ''Ninja Myths'', which aired on April 25th, 2007. ^[5]

Other releases

★ A DVD of Ask A Ninja was released on December 5, 2006 (the Day of the Ninja). In addition to 30 episodes of Ask A Ninja, it includes commentaries, Easter eggs and bonus shorts.^[6]

★ Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine announced that an Ask A Ninja book (tentatively titled ''Ninja Handbook: A Guide for Non-Ninjas to Become more Ninja-like'') is currently underway and will be released sometime next year. ^[7]

Episodes

Special Deliveries

The Ninja has also released special episodes that are known as "special deliveries." Special deliveries are usually unrelated to the rest of the episodes, as they do not answer questions asked by real people (an exception of that is the first special delivery, "What is Podcasting?" and "Pop!Tech"). The topic of these episodes may vary. Sometimes they are special "interviews" (e.g. "Doogtoons Asks a Ninja"), and other times it advertises a cause (e.g. "Net Neutrality").

See also

★ Real Ultimate Power

References

1. Ask A Ninja - Ask A Ninja wins big at the Vloggies - 10 November 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
2. Interview with Amber MacArthur on Webnation
3. Bikini News - Episode 52: The AskANinja Interview Retrieved 13 June 2007.
4. Ask a Ninja: Now Powered by Castfire - 18 May 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
5. Ask A Ninja - Great Week And Thanks Again - 14 April 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
6. Ask A Ninja - Ninja Update - 15 August 2006. Retrieved 13 June 2007.
7. Ask A Ninja - Ninja Book Coming Next Year - 13 April 2007. Retrieved 13 June 2007.

External links

★ Official website

★ Ask a Ninja on Myspace

★ ''Podcast interview with Kent Nichols and Ben Stiller (Feb. 22, 2006 - 11min.48sec. 5.47MB)'' (Businessweek.com)

★ Interview with Kent Nichols about the origins and success of Ask A Ninja on Bikini News Podcast