Any avid Youtube viewer is familiar with the short films and commercials done by The Duncan Brothers, a pair of Seattle transplants now living in Los Angeles. If you’re not, here’s their magnum opus, “Overdrift” (non-youtube link here):

I had the opportunity of interviewing Teh Duncs the other day. The mysteries of dinos and drift racing await, beyond the fold:

Supergenius: You must get this a lot: WTF?

Duncan Brothers: Hey, why NOT teh f*? (1)

SG: Your films show a high level of production quality; can you tell us what kinds of equipment you’re using? Who’s the filmmaker? How did you guys get into this, anyways?

DB: Everything we use is frankensteined together, even the camera. It’s mostly a Panasonic DVX and Final Cut. We got into this because we have a passion for film, no lives, and no money. There is a great community of similar like people called Channel101 that is the best film school on a budget of 0 dollars and is a great inspiration. As far as the actual filmmaking, we outsource everything to China and recommend that you do too.

SG: Most of your films are trailers or Act I pieces of a seemingly larger film. Do you plan on finishing any of these films? What of Overdrift: Stage 3?

DB: We get bored with ourselves very easily and are always looking for new challenges and new ways to destroy our lives. We think that fan feedback is very important and if they want an Overdrift: Stage 3, we’ll make it.


SG: Possibly the finest aspect of the films are the character names. Corporal Tyrannus? Dr. Kagamura? Where do these come from?

DB: China.

SG: I understand you guys are originally from Seattle? Why would you ever leave? Can you explain why people like Dick’s hamburgers?

DB: We are from Seattle, born and proud. But we left the nest, with a dime and a dream, for the Golden State to offend the entire film industry. We’ve never eaten a Dick’s, only held it in our mouths, but never swallowed.

SG; What would you do with a $200 million budget?

DB: Make a real time machine and make a sweet f* movie actually going back into time. We could get some sick dino footage.

SG: What do you guys do for ‘real jobs’?

DB: We work as editors/designers/treasure finders.

SG: Your video for “Out of Touch” is a permanent classic. Ever thought about doing other videos? How did you come to make that one?

DB: Ah, yes. The old Out of Touch video, that was a birthday present for a friend who currently resides in Thailand. We’ve thought of doing a whole library of Hall and Oates videos. Journey and Kenny Loggins in the mix as well. We’d love to do more music videos, but wouldn’t it be sweet if they would be real? Ya, we’d like to do real ones.

SG: My wife works for American Express and informs me they in fact have no Xtreme Card for Teens. I also suspect that there is no magic portal-opening Windex. What’s the story with the spec commercials?

DB: What?! No Amex for teens!? We’d happily work on the ad campaign for that product. But other than that, most commercials today are a slow, schizophrenic death to our culture. We just want to speed up that process.

SG: Your videos have been seen hundreds of thousands of times on Youtube, and who knows how many thousands of times off your website and elsewhere. Has that translated into any real-world fame for you? What do you do with internet celebrity, anyways?

DB: Absolutely not. We can’t get any free drinks, free hookers, or free cocaine. When is Corbin Bleu gonna star in one of our videos? Can someone please help us out with that? The internet is like an old timey gold panner, with crooked teeth and a drinking problem, who weeds out the finest nuggets of talent…like Sneezing Baby Panda. That panda is soooooo f* famous and cute. We wish it was on a T-shirt.

SG: What’s next? Please tell me dinos are involved.

DB: Dinos are always involved. We’ve been working on an exclusive for Atom Films. It’s going to be something that that site has never seen before. The awards for Channel101 are coming up in December and we will have some content in that ceremony. We’ve also built an entire suit of armor and that will certainly make it’s way into something. We’d love to continue the Overdrift saga as well, there is a lot to explore in that universe.

Thanks again to The Duncan Brothers for taking the time for the interview. If you’re not familiar with these internet legends, consider this just the kick in the stones you need.
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(1) ucks
(2) ucking
(3) ucking