By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed on Wednesday, June 17, 2015
Comedy Central's "Tosh.O" and MTV's "Ridiculousness" have mined Internet videos of people doing stupid things for comedy gold.
MTV2 decided to take those videos and treat them like actual news, creating a faux news team which includes Lovett graduate Matthew Broussard.
"We pretend it's like real breaking news," he said, when a skateboarder falls flat on his face or a city councilman farts. "We also show how stupid we are as a news team."
Broussard, now 27, said he felt Lovett and Westminster were basically the same school, two miles apart. "They're the same size, same reputation," he said. "It was like building a Starbucks across from a Starbuckes."
He was a financial analyst in Houston out of Rice University forced to listen to CNBC all day, including Jim Cramer. But he decided to leave and pursue comedy in Los Angeles instead. His heroes are Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and imagined become a news correspondent for them. "I'm getting to do something close to that," he said. "It's really cool."
Now in Los Angeles, he's proud to be a Southerner at heart and calls Atlanta his hometown. And he's psyched to see so much acting work going to Georgia.
TV PREVIEW
"Not Exactly News," 11:30 p.m., Wednesdays, MTV2
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Credit: Rodney Ho
Credit: Rodney Ho
"Many people associate this city with peaches and airport hell. We know the city to be vibrantly diverse and full of surprises."
That's how the Lee Brothers opensthe latest episode of their new Ovation travelogue show "Southern Uncovered With the Lee Bros," airing at 8 p.m. Sunday night.
Each episode focuses on a different Southern city's food scene. As Charleston natives, Matt and Ted Lee visit Atlanta several times a year and wanted to show the depth of the city's culinary delights.
"It's one of the cities we love and advocate for," said Matt, who is the brother sans glasses. "We've been pitching Travel and Leisure magazine a piece about Atlanta for a decade without success. This was our opportunity to celebrate the riches of the city."
Over the course of 30 minutes, the brothers cover a lot of ground. They shop at Buford Highway Farmers Market with Heirloom Market BBQ's Cody Taylor and Jiyeon Lee for ingredients to their signature Korean spicy pulled pork barbecue sandwich. They help create the sandwich at the humble restaurant off I-75 and I-285.
"Those two guys are compelling," Matt said. "They have an outpost in Charleston so we were well aware of them. They have this scrappy entrepreneurial energy that we relate to."
The King of Pop founders then set up two carts and mock competed with the Lee brothers to see who could sell more pops in an hour in Poncey-Highland near Manuel's Tavern where thy planted their first stand seven years ago.
"Ovation is an arts channel, not just a food channel," said Ted. "We can cover design. We can cover dance like we did in Charleston."
Before they left town, they visited Concourse E at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to check out the fine dining establishment One Flew South with chef Duane Nutter and mixologist Tiffanie Barriere.
One of the challenges of being behind security, they learned: knives all have to be chained down and inspected daily.
If the show lasts several seasons, the brothers hope to return to Atlanta to seek more cool places to highlight for a national audience.
"People bring so many different preconceived notions of what the South is, that it's a homogeneous 'Duck Dynasty' land or we're all swamp creatures," Matt said. "We want to bust through to show what the South really is: a cosmopolitan and internationally connected place. What's not to love?"
TV PREVIEW
"Southern Uncovered With the Lee Bros," 8 p.m., Sundays, Ovation
