Project: Ask the Optimist! The Year: 2007 Type: Promotional Video

Description "Ask the Optimist" is a production of George Saunders' piece of the same name, which was printed in the New Yorker, and is featured in his new book of essays, "The Braindead Megaphone." The production was produced by Jesse Thorn of Maximum Fun, and Brian Hogg, of Hoggworks. The cast of performers lending their voices to this production are: Andy Daly, Jen Kirkman, Jonathan Coulton, James Adomian, John Hodgman, Maria Bamford, Jonathan Katz, Dan Klein, and Xeni Jardin ! What We Did Hoggworks used the existing dotBoom puppets and sets, and staged the performance of the piece, using the audio recorded for the radio version of "Ask the Optimist" as a guide. That audio was laid on top of the video recording, making it look like John Hodgman, Xeni Jardin and others are accomplished puppeteers. Which they may be, come to think of it, but I don't know if they are. Where You Can See It http://www.dotboom.ca/video.php?vid=ask_the_optimist