ze end of ze show
Well, folks, it’s finally happened. The Show with Ze Frank has finally run its course. On March 17, 2006, Ze promised to do one brief show every weekday for a year, and he held to that with few exceptions. Over the past year, The Show became a genuine phenomenon, an oddly personal epicenter of political insight, funny songs, creative endeavors, and a very cool social network. Rumor has it that Ze has caught the attention of Hollywood.
During a presentation he gave in 2004, Ze said that he’s primarily interested in enabling peoples’ creativity. Can’t draw, but wish you could? Why not create a tool that works with the user to elaborate simple sketches into more beautiful art? The Show ended up being an extension of this philosophy. Some German guy complains that he can’t afford Ze’s t-shirts, and Ze begins collecting donations. Then he gets everyone to collectively design the shirt. Ze’s loyal audience, the Sports Racers, created daily intros for The Show, animations for Ride the Fire Eagle Danger Day, remixes for Ray, a music video, vacuum cleaners dressed like people, Power Moves, an Earth sandwich, and a bazillion other things.
Last Tuesday’s show was twenty minutes long, comprised of nothing but brief clips from the Sports Racers. Many thanked Ze for being awesome. Many more thanked Ze for enabling their creativity. They said that through watching Ze every day, and through these little projects, they learned that they could do it, whatever it was. There’s something incredibly powerful in that, but I think that elaborating on what that might be would be inadequate and pretentious.
I discovered The Show a little late, in the early summer. If you look through my archives, you might notice that I started posting daily as of the first week of October. The Show is not wholly responsible for this sudden commitment, but it certainly played a part. If Ze could do a video every day, I reasoned, surely I could bring myself to write something, even if it’s just a haiku. I’ve since found that I enjoy this very much.
I’m going to miss The Show. I believe that in ten years time, when we look back at the emerging social spaces of the internet, The Show will be remembered as something unique and wonderful, something that spoke to that fundamental human drive for creativity, and did so with an uncommon honesty and sense of joy. Whatever Ze does in the future, I hope he has lots of success.
Incidentally, I’m clip number nine in last Tuesday’s show. It’s the one with the picture of two people hugging. That’s my two cents.
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