Strip Search 1.1 – 1.4: Check Your Egos!

Four episodes into Penny Arcade’s new web show, Strip Search, there have been introductions to the contestants, conveyance to the mystery house (via blind fold, no less), the first challenge, the first elimination, and a veritable lightning storm of commentary on the show itself. Which, according to Krahulikc is “specifically the idea of doing, for all intents and purposes, America’s Next Top Web Cartoonist.” This will go beautifully and without any hitch.

As a personal fan of Project Runway, America’s Next Top Model (body shaming issues aside), So You Think You Can Dance, not to mention having been a reader of Penny Arcade for five of their now fifteen years online – which led to reading far too many other webcomics for my own good (some entirely NSFW) – I couldn’t pass this up. Besides, Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik are evilly hilarious.  Bastards.

With $15K in cash, a year at Penny Arcade’s Seattle, Washington HQ, and exposure to the millions of Penny Arcade fans (even for the losers!), it’s go time. Out of nearly a thousand applicants, six women and six men were chosen. Let the strip search begin! The first episode, “1.1: Artists Assemble” introduces us to the twelve who were selected, as well as the show’s host and narrator, the calm and serene Graham Stark.

Slap together twelve highly individual artists in one eyes-are-everywhere, house, and pit them against each other in the gladiartorial arena.

“1.2: Fax Machine” continues right where 1.1 ended and the contestants are tossed into an art ice-breaker, with the game… Fax Machine. It’s interesting to watch artists interpret the words of other artists, either by drawing those words, or by having to describe the quick sketches. Most were enjoying themselves. Some were stressed. Whatever the reaction, Maki gets called out for having the most clarity overall – and is handed the coveted Redraw Ticket, Strip Search‘s immunity equivalent, except this only gets you a second drawing attempt. You can still get booted. No fear, right! Or something.

The next webisode, “1.3 Burning That Bridge“, is still the same day and shows the show content to keep pushing their artists, right into the first trial: Design a t-shirt and logo for Strip Search in one hour.  A little lesson in merchandising that will be judged by Penny Arcade’s own employees Kiko, Erika, and Levin.

Awesomely, the prize for winning this episode’s challenge, is the winning t-shirt design will be put on Penny Arcade’s site, for sale, and all the profits go to the artist. Which is GIGANTIC. While I was rooting for Katie’s design (the “or GTFO” won me over), Amy won, hands down. Errr, up. (Note: as of this article’s publication, it’s not yet in the shop.) (Edit! The tee is in available in the shop for pre-order until 3/25!)  Not ones to let the winner sit, satisfied, the nut twister of the entire episode is that Amy is required to choose the two artists who’ll go on the chopping block. Which is a heavily double-bladed headman’s axe: remove those who are heavy hitters and worry about the social implications post-Strip Search. Amy chooses Katie and Alex.

This type of elimination is a smart move on Strip Search‘s part. Though hailed as egregious and seemingly irresponsible by many viewers, it removes almost all elimination responsibility from Jerry and Mike, who will still judge the two up for the final cut.  Objectivity in a subjective field is tough; here’s a way to do it with a little bit of snark and heart. And it works.

“1.4: Elimination #1” opens with Alex and Katie face to face with Jerry and Mike.  Katie and Alex, in surprisingly amusing elimination ceremony (a nice parody of the name bag in Project Runway, or the cd case in So You Think You Can Dance), is The Wastebasket of Broken Dreams. Katie and Mike each blindly retrieve a discarded idea and in the remaining seventeen minutes of the episode, are required to draw that idea into a comic strip and be judged. Hilarity ensues. Katie: Space. Alex: Table Tennis. “Ready, Set, ART!’ Jerry proclaims, and off the two go.

In what is one of my favorite moments of the series thus far, Jerry asks Mike, “Could you do… as an artist…what we’re asking these people to do?” Mike honestly answers, “I’d like to think I could, but no. Probably not.”

In the Strip Search elimination room, painted all black, and surrounded by life-size cartoon cutouts of each contestant, Alex and Katie are given 90 minutes to illustrate the discarded idea. During that entire time, Mike and Jerry speak to them, joking, asking probing questions, distracting them. But always, enjoyably, keeping the tone of Strip Search in tune with what Penny Arcade ultimately is in the business of: making people laugh. However, Mike and Jerry treat the final judging of the two with complete seriousness. In the end, it’s Katie who stays and Alex who goes.  Booting Alex, while personable and clearly talented, was the right choice. In the vehicle that’ll remove Alex from the Search, Mike and Jerry clamber in to say goodbye personally, offering sincere compliments and critique.

Best. Show. Elimination. Ever.

Watching the first four episodes allayed my worst fears of this show haplessly tarnishing so much of what I’ve come to love and admire about Penny Arcade.  Strip Search has successfully straddled the divide between personability, contest, and making qualified objective decisions. There’s nothing short of a worldwide internet outage that would keep me from seeing what happens next.

New episodes air Tuesday and Friday on Penny Arcade and youtube. My thanks to the Kickstarter stretch goals that made this show possible.

My current top contestants so far:

Katie, Mac, and Tavis

Current Standings:

Abby Howard, 20, Montreal, Quebec.
She’s the youngest and has the least experience. But she draws dinosaurs! However, will any of those things even matter?

Alex Hobbs, 22, Tempe, AZ.
This swear-word dropping free-spirit is highly likeable, but will his work be up to par? Set to graduate post-Strip Search, it’ll be interesting to see where this will take him.  Eliminated 1st Challenge

Amy Falcone, 24, Noank, CT
Gamer to the innards, Amy is serious and competitive to a fault. Will that fault be her undoing? Whatever the result, quitting her job to do Strip Search shows her passion.
(Winner: Challenge #1)

Erika Moen, 29, Portland, OR
Proven work in social and sexual commentary brings her to the contest with a following that marks her as one to have eyes on.

Katie Rice,31, Burbank, CA
A soft-spoken artist with a following of her own.  Some of those fans are also fellow contestants. Will she use the star power to stun?
(Kept: Elimination #1)

Lexxy – Alexandra Douglas, 27, Carmel, IN
Also seen in Penny Arcade: The Series, she’s dealt with Gabe and Tycho’s reality egos. If that helps or harms remains to be seen.

Mac – Mackenzie Schubert, 26, Portland, OR
Quiet, doe-eyes Mac has a very defined artistic style all his own. It’ll be interesting to watch how his gentle soul deals with the mood swings a competitive show can bring.

Maki Naro, 31, Brooklyn, NY
While I sincerely hope this guy watches Psych, his cool logic and talent may very well be what brings him to the final set of competitors.

Monica Ray, 22, Northbrook, IL
While seemingly quiet at the beginning, Monica’s super-power of Always Doing Something And Befriending All seems a gift. Remains to be seen if that gift implodes or explodes.

Nick Trujillo, 30, Walnut Creek, CA
Something of a philosopher and jack of all trades, Nick’s ability to be alright with people and make good art is something to watch. But will his relative newness to the industry be a detriment?

Tavis Maiden, 31, Mesa, AZ
Bringing the attitude only a parent can, Tavis wants this more than any five-year-old screaming for the last piece of cake. He may get it, too.

Ty Halley, 25, Portsmouth, OH
Clipped, dry witted Ty has no brain-to-mouth–filter. And, he’s using his time on Strip Search as material for his own daily life strip. That will be interesting.

All the bios and links to the personal websites of each artist can be found here.