What’s so funny about the 2008 presidential race?
Not much so far, unless you count Rudy Giuliani taking a cell phone call from his wife while he was giving a speech to members of the National Rifle Association, a moment that became a YouTube hit.
But, take heart; JibJab.com is back and making fun of the scary side of politics.
JibJab, you may remember, is the Internet humor site that produced the flash animation video, This Land is Your Land for the 2004 presidential race.
The video established the JibJab brand and significantly improved its fortunes.
The This Land video featured singing heads of George W. Bush and John Kerry dissing each other to the tune of the Woody Guthrie song.
“You have more waffles than a house of pancakes,” sang the Bush character.
“You can’t say ‘nuclear.’ That really scares me,” countered Kerry.
“You’re a liberal sissy,” sang Bush.
“You’re a right-wing nut job,” rejoined Kerry.
The video, according to JibJab, was seen on “every continent (including Antarctica).”
For sure, it lowered workplace productivity for weeks, as people played it again and again for themselves and their colleagues.
Evan and Gregg Spiridellis, JibJab’s founders, also became media favorites, appearing on numerous television shows and debuting their follow-up video, Good to be in DC on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
JibJab has now released, along with CNN.com, the Halloween-themed duo, Night of the Living Republicans and Night of the Living Democrats.
The plot for each video, which uses faces on film rather than animation and spoofs the 1968 film classic Night of the Living Dead, is the same.
In Night of the Living Republicans a hoard of “brainless Conservative ghouls” attack.
In Night of the Living Democrats, a crazed group of “mindless liberal zombies” rise from the grave.
The frightening thing is that the ghouls and the zombies will, hold your breath, vote. The challenge is to neutralize them before they do.
Each video encourages visitors to www.jibjab.com to insert their own faces into the films. (Warning, some computer skills are required.)
Mark Memmott of the “On Politics” blog at USAtoday.com gave it a try and posted the result on the blog.
(Full disclosure. Mark Memmott is this writer’s brother.)
The Spiridellis brothers created JibJab in 1999, each bringing specific skills to the venture.
Gregg Spiridellis has an M.B.A from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. His brother Evan graduated from the Parsons School of Design in 1996 with a BFA in illustration.
Since their 2004 success, they have expanded their company, which is based in California. In addition to CNN.com, they have partnered with Yahoo.com, Anheuser Busch, MSN Video, V Cast and other companies.
JibJab has added a “Jokebox” to its website. It’s a place where people can send videos, pictures and text jokes.
Bud Light, an Anheuser Busch brand, sponsors the Jokebox, a spokesman calling it a “perfect way to engage adult beer drinkers with social humor.”
In 2006, JibJab received an undisclosed amount of funding from Polaris Venture Partners of Waltham, Mass.
Jon Flint, a Polaris managing general partner, joined JibJab’s board.
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