Blewt!

Blewt! is a live entertainment and media production company based in Chicago, Illinois. Blewt!'s motto is "Comedy to delight and confuse." The group produces comedy and variety shows performed with a silly, absurd sense of humor. Blewt!'s best known productions are the live comedy show Don't Spit the Water!, the live variety competition Impress These Apes, the cable access call-in show Talkin' Funny, and the nationally syndicated, small-scale talent show Steve Gadlin's Star Makers.
== History and productions ==
Blewt! was founded in 2004 by Steve Gadlin. Ensemble members since 2004 include Erica Reid, Paul Luikart, Fuzzy Gerdes, and Bryan Bowden.
== Don't spit the water! ==
The group's first show was Don't Spit the Water! In this show, contestants from the audience attempted to hold water in their mouths without spitting while a series of comic characters tried to make them laugh. The show was hosted by Sasha and The Noob (characters played by Gadlin and Luikart), assisted by Timekeeper Willis (Bowden). The show ran weekly at the Playground Theatre in Chicago from 2004 through 2008, and also played in other cities, including at the Comedy Central Stage in Los Angeles.
In 2011, Blewt! produced a television pilot of Don't Spit the Water! with all of the regular cast members, which aired on WCIU in Chicago. 
== Talkin' funny ==
The characters Sasha and the Noob are also the hosts of a call-in cable access talk show called Talkin' Funny. It ran on Chicago's CAN21 from 2005 to 2009. In 2020, Blewt! relaunched it as a streaming show on their YouTube channel called Talkin' Funny 2020.
== Impress these apes ==
Between 2006 and 2014, Blewt! produced 8 seasons of Impress These Apes, a talent competition judged live on stage each week by a panel of hyperintelligent apes from the future. Each week featured a different creative challenge for the contestants. Challenges involved a variety of talents, including standup comedy, songwriting, lip syncing, video production, and many more. The ape judges were characters named Bushmeat (Bowden), Captain Apehab (Luikart), Barry Shirley (Gadlin), and April May (Reid).
== I want to draw a cat for you ==
Gadlin is also known for I Want to Draw a Cat for You, a small business venture in which he created over 21,000 custom drawings of cats commissioned for $9.95 each. Gadlin appeared on the ABC television show Shark Tank on January 27, 2012 in an attempt to get investors for his cat-drawing enterprise and future Blewt! projects. Celebrity billionaire Mark Cuban agreed to invest in Blewt! While I Want to Draw a Cat for You was not officially a project under the Blewt! umbrella, Cuban's investment allowed Blewt! to award a $1000 cash prize to the winner of season 7 of Impress These Apes.
== Steve gadlin's star makers ==
Between 2013 and 2018, Blewt! produced 3 seasons of Steve Gadlin's Star Makers, a talent show "featuring tomorrow's stars of Hollywood and/or Broadway." The show is non-competitive, and having exceptional talent is not a requirement to perform. Each episode is recorded in front of a live studio audience of 2 people, known as the Party Lounge.
== Other projects ==
Other Blewt! projects have included:
* Blewtenanny: a standup showcase.
*A Demon Who Never Appeared: a midnight comedy revue starring Jared Logan and Kumail Nanjiani.
*The Nairobi Project: a melodrama written by Kenyan playwright Victor Gido. The project began when Gido sent Gadlin an unsolicited email offering to write a play to Gadlin's specifications in return for 50 US dollars.
* Montrose sinkhole protest: when a large sinkhole opened up in the middle of Montrose Avenue in Chicago, Blewt! sent a group of protesters to try to convince the city to leave the hole unrepaired.
* Two film t-shirts: Blewt! sells t-shirts that combine the names of two well-known movies.
* 1,000 Racoon Penis Bones. In 2017, Gadlin undertook a Kickstarter campaign to raise $19,000 to buy 1,000 raccoon penis bones and sell them to people all over America. Gadlin produced a music video in which he outlined his goals in a patriotic song. Funding for the project was suspended by Kickstarter before the goal was reached.
== Critical acclaim ==
In 2009, TimeOut Chicago included the founding of Blewt! in its list of "Top moments that cracked us up--and changed Chicago comedy."
In 2007, Margaret Hicks of Chicagoist praised Don't Spit the Water as "one of the best comedy shows in town."
Gadlin and Luikart, as Sasha and the Noob, came in second place in the competition for the 2010 Andy Kaufman Award.
In 2012, NewCity Stage highlighted Steve Gadlin as one of the magazine's "Fifty people who really perform in Chicago." NewCity offered this praise: "Steve Gadlin and his Blewt! cohorts create some of the funniest, most imaginative projects anywhere."
==In the media==
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== References ==
== External links ==
* Blewt! YouTube channel
* Blewt Erica Reid
* Steve Gadlin's Star Makers
* Blewt! Flickr Photostream
* Want to Draw a Cat for You
* Blewt! Twitter page
* Blewt! On vimeo
* Blewt! Facebook page
* With Blewt! Productions (Sorted by Popularity Ascending) - IMDb
* Blewt Company Profile: Valuation & Investors | PitchBook
Category:American companies established in 2004
Category:Companies based in Illinois
Category:Companies based in Chicago
Category:American entertainment companies
Category:Film production companies of the United States
Category:American comedy television series
Category:American variety television series