S. Samuel
[With the Internet still chuckling over Diddy's "Downton Diddy" spoof, Funny or Die's The Director's Bros Josh & Ryan give SOHH the inside behind Will Ferrell's parody site and Puff's must-see video.]
Ryan and I started working at Funny or Die about two and a half years ago. We were actually doing a job with Snoop Dogg, it was an X-Box commercial. That’s really where we met and so a lot of the commerical videos, Ryan and I would work on them. Ryan is the photographer and I’m a producer as well, then we started to realize we wanted to direct videos.
Through Funny or Die, that’s really where we came up. Also working over the past couple of years, we were able to put together a production company that focuses on music videos and commercials. Over the past year, we’ve watched that company and got some of the guys from Funny or Die to be on our roster. We work with Funny or Die all the time, they work right next to us. I can’t even count how many Funny or Die videos we’ve worked on together.
In some capacity, there’s so many videos. Funny or Die is just an awesome place. I don’t know of any other place in Hollywood where they allow young talent to work with all of these celebrities to make these ridiculous videos every day. It’s really an awesome place to work. -Josh
Diddy doing ‘Downton Diddy’ didn’t really surprise me. He’s been around Funny or Die a little bit, but was just trying to figure out the right project. The concept came up for ‘Downton Diddy.’ We knew something was brewing but Diddy was just waiting for the right thing. He just jumped at it and loved the idea. I don’t know, it was hilarious.
With Funny or Die, there’s just not too many places where celebrities can go and do these types of sketches. I guess “Saturday Night Live” was that place but that only happens once a week and not every celebrity gets asked to come on “SNL.” They’re just down to do stuff that Hollywood’s not necessarily offering them. -Ryan
They also don’t have anything to lose. You’re just coming in and if people watch it, then that’s great and you get a lot of notoriety from it. If not, then that’s fine. Being on the Internet, you can really do whatever you want. It’s awesome. -Josh
The Director Brother’s are signed to Funny or Die’s new music video and commercial division Gifted Youth. The production company is responsible for Pepsi Test Drive with Jeff Gordon, the Old Milwaukee campaign featuring Will Ferrell and the recent Gamefly campaign with Blake Griffin.
Check out Diddy’s “Downton Diddy” spoof:
