Under InspeKtion: A Shtick Figures Production

Under InspeKtion: A Shtick Figures Production

Allegra Rosenbaum

Everyone who has ever entered so much as a post office knows that bureaucracy involves tricky layers of forms and customs that no one really understands. Franz Kafka’s The Trial speaks to this in a way that has often been interpreted as serious and dark. While these interpretations are true, many people often pass over the idea that The Trial is actually very funny. Shtick Figures’ new web series, Under InspeKtion directed by Alessio Franko and Max Marcellus, is a brilliant and hilarious take on Kafka’s posthumous work.

K (Alessio Franko) is an account accountant at a German bank that translates loosely to "Germany Money Venture Powerhouse Framework". He works hard to make ends meet and to support his sick father, but never really seems to advance anywhere in his career. He is infatuated with Anja Burstner (Emily Hooper), who seems very uninterested in him. Just as K finally convinces Ms. Burstner- as K addresses her- to come to his home for tea, he is visited by Inspector Hans Freie (Clay von Carlowitz). Apparently K is under arrest for charges that the inspector won’t disclose.

Franko and Marcellus take daily life events (going to work, making dinner, tea, talking to a woman), and show how every little misstep can be construed against us (suspicious activity, lack of inflection, copyright infringement, sexual harassment). The banal becomes suspicious and any attempt to redirect suspicion is even more suspect. Under InspeKtion uses this paranoia that is ever-present in Kafka’s novel and makes it genuinely funny. The series takes the 21st century liberal desire to be consistent and politically correct and shows the viewers just how ridiculous that desire is. Everyone has done something wrong in the eyes of the law. We are all just as guilty and just as innocent.

Check out the Shtick Figures YouTube Channel here.

Between the Sidewalk and the Street: a Shtick Figures Production

Between the Sidewalk and the Street: a Shtick Figures Production

Allegra Rosenbaum

Everyone in New York City is trying to sell you something- whether it’s their newest performance art installation, a new car, or how to brand your content- and there is a selfish conspiracy behind all of it. If you think you're special, Shtick Figures is here to tell you that you're not. And they'll put you down with an eerie smile akin to the absurd realism their web series strive for.

I'd like to talk about a web series currently being produced by Shtick figures: Between the Sidewalk and the Street directed by Daniel Goulden and Jasper Johnson. While some may think the struggling female writer in New York City is a tired plot line, the directors totally agree and they approach this issue by attacking it with characters who tear down the protagonist Sonia (Piyali Syam) from all angles. 

Sonia lives with her college boyfriend Rob (Clay von Carolowitz) who is a bit full of himself and what he thinks he learned in college to say the least. She has been accepted to a prestigious writing program, but is afraid to attend. Her parents (Meeni Naqvi and Siraj Huda) disapprove of her "drifting" lifestyle. Sonia's quest for authenticity is both touching and hilarious as she is harangued by various characters in New York City, almost none of whom respect her. The series brilliantly points out to the viewer, that if you want to make it in New York, "you" as you know you will change, and probably not for the better.

While some might view the show as pessimistic, I see it as a hyperbolic lens on the bubble that is New York City writers try to inhabit and the insanity that ensues as we struggle to stay afloat financially (debt, rent, grad school) and mentally (job, friends, meaning). Between the Sidewalk and the Street takes us to the roads not taken in New York City: the ones of failed and half-hearted aspiring artists, sell-out marketers, and pseudo-intellectual potheads. None of us have anything to show for ourselves, and there is a solace in knowing that we're all doing terribly on the inside. So what's your Shtick?

Check out the Shtick Figures Youtube Channel Here.