Bad Ben Franklin Rocks Thanksgiving Eve at the Muddy Cup
by Jessica Mendez - December 2004

(Click here to download pdf)

Thanksgiving Rockin’ Eve, (Wednesday November 24, 2004) at Staten Island’s Muddy Cup was great this year! Oh, you’ve never heard of Thanksgiving Rockin’ Eve? That’s because Staten Island’s champions of independent filmmaking, Bad Ben Franklin, made it up. Thanksgiving Eve at the Muddy Cup never looked so deranged…in a good way.

For those of you not in the know, Bad Ben Franklin consists of CSI graduates Chris Sorrentino and John Szeluga, student and everyone’s favorite Film Lab smart ass Bryan McGuckin, and fellow alumnus Frank LaMonaca. For years the guys of BBF have been making film shorts. Hordes of Islanders descended upon the Muddy Cup. The buzz for this event has been strong, with tireless promotion, including some insanely funny promotional spots that ran on Wednesdays. (My favorite: a hirsute Sorrentino with greasy black curls, in tighty-whities smacking his ass and demanding we “rassle” with him. The tagline: “Better than Wrestling with Your Uncle in His Underwear.” If that doesn’t capture your interest, you are dead inside. BBF kicked off Thanksgiving Rockin’ Eve with “live satellite coverage” from Times Square with CSI’s very own Professor George Sanchez giving a hysterical performance as Chief Tony Tonto Tatanka, Dick Clark’s worst nightmare: a Native American (headdress included) slowly morphing from cheerful symbol of Turkey Day to disgruntled Indian whose rants about the desecration of his Native land were superbly matched by Bad Ben Franklin’s live sketch performance. In between these segments, film fans were treated to a feast of classic Bad Ben Franklin shorts, including Dead Baby Factory, He Finally Did It, and Passion of the Christ: Deleted Scene (Jesus as played by Bryan McGuckin given the Benny Hill treatment? Good Times). Another standout was the black-and-white B-Movie homage The Thing in the Car, guest-starring Sally Polizzi as wife of John, a man whose car is plagued by sounds that don’t belong in any engine. They bring the car to a body shop, where the owner Chris and his “special" son, Bryan discover the problem: a miniature Michael Jackson (voiced with surprising accuracy by Sorrentino). And that’s not even the weirdest part of the film. Biting social commentary in the form of B-movie, with signature BBF humor make this film a definite winner.

There was also coverage of The 2004 International Rock-Paper-Scissors Championship, featuring a hilarious interview with Scott (Sorrentino), the stuttering geek that you would figure any Rock-Paper-Scissors champion would be. (A cameo by yours truly didn’t exactly hurt.) Also shown was a trailer for the Bad Ben Franklin DVD, featuring Girl-Arm and lots of other goodies.

The real treat, however, was the Staten Island premiere of The Adventures of Chubbi-Wan Kenobi, the Star Wars fan film that has become BBF’s labor of love. McGuckin plays the snack obsessed Obi-Wan with a mix of indignation and humor. McGuckin’s humorous performance is enhanced by some brilliant special effects by the crew, particularly Szeluga and LaMonaca, wonderful props by Dan Johnson (who also designed the amazing theatrical poster for Chubbi-Wan) and a great supporting cast particularly Eric Beyer, as an antagonistic Jedi. Bad Ben Franklin just keep getting better, and I’m waiting eagerly for their next big move. In the meantime, satiate your BBF desire with a Bad Ben Franklin DVD, coming soon. Go to www.badbenfranklin .com for news.

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