Ask a Ninja

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Ask a Ninja
Hosting	The Ninja
Atom	feeds.feedburner.com/askaninja
Debut	November 2005
Genre	Comedy
Website	askaninja.com

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.

Contents 1 Overview 2 Ninja's other appearances 3 Other releases 4 Episodes 5 Special deliveries 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

[edit] 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. These angle-changes are also often used to comic effect by having perhaps a single word or phrase in a very short clip, often shot at a bizarre angle (usually sideways).

Each episode usually ranges from four to seven 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", performed by German band The Neu Tickles and written by satirist Brently Heilbron.

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 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 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. He's also advertised The Simpsons Game as well as Doritos.

Ask a Ninja also started hosting their videos with CastFire's video hosting service ^[4], likely to add to their monetization strategy.

In December 2007, television industry trade magazine TelevisionWeek (www.tvweek.com) reported that Ask a Ninja creators Kent Nichols and Doug Sarine make about $100,000 a month in ad revenue and income from merchandising and licensing from the show.^[5]

[edit] Ninja's other appearances

• Recently, Nichols and Sarine appeared as commentators on VH1's Best Week Ever. The Ninja, however, does not appear with them.

• The Ninja appears alongside Margaret Cho in Liam Kyle Sullivan's "Let Me Borrow That Top" music video.

• 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. ^[6]

• Jessica Lee Rose appeared with Ninja in an episode called "Jessica Lee Rose" to celebrate his series' 50th episode anniversary and to comment on the death of lonelygirl15.

• Vodcast Bikini News featured an extensive interview with Nichols (against the familiar Ask A Ninja background) discussing the origins of the show. ^[7]

• His grandfather, (also played by Sarine) has appeared in the episode, Ninja Lifespan.

• Ask A Ninja made his second live stage appearance at the El Rey Theatre on December 5th, 2007 with Patton Oswalt and Hard 'n Phirm.^[8] He had previously appeared onstage the year before (also on December 5) at the Ask a Ninja DVD Release Party, where he played the guitar after opening act the Neu Tickles.^[9]

• On December 5th, 2007, The Ninja guest starred on Attack of the Show alongside Olivia Munn on G4 while Kevin was on the road hosting live from peoples homes.

[edit] 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.^[10]
• Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine have written an Ask A Ninja book (tentatively titled Ninja Handbook: A Guide for Non-Ninjas to Become more Ninja-like) and is now available for pre-order. ^[11]

[edit] Episodes

Further information: List of Ask a Ninja episodes

[edit] 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").

[edit] See also

• Real Ultimate Power
• YouTube celebrities

[edit] References

This article needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of the article are generally not sufficient for a Wikipedia article. Please include more appropriate citations from reliable sources, or discuss the issue on the talk page. This article has been tagged since October 2007.

[edit] 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