WHO WE ARE
Swant & Ciraldo
Special Entertainment is an award-winning production partnership between Bobby Ciraldo and Andrew Swant whose works include William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet, distributed by Epix (Paramount/Lionsgate/MGM); the partially animated comedy Hamlet A.D.D.; the production of Frankie Latina’s Modus Operandi (distributed by Kino); a line of iPhone Apps called Shaky Advice; and the YouTube phenomenon What What (In the Butt).
Their YouTube videos have been downloaded over 50 million times and their films have screened in numerous film festivals and art galleries in the U.S. and abroad.
Their work has been seen on Comedy Central’s South Park and Tosh.0, BBC’s Lily Allen and Friends, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360, E!, Boing Boing TV, Virgin America TV, Manhattan’s ADD-TV, and a DVD box set of Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Their projects have been written about by Roger Ebert, The New York Times, Variety, MSNBC, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, The Hollywood Reporter, indieWire, NME, Time Out, and have appeared on websites such as BuzzFeed, VH1′s Best Week Ever & Web Junk, Gawker, BoingBoing, PerezHilton, SavageLove, DangerousMinds, urlesque, The Onion’s A.V. Club, and MTV.
Bobby and Andrew began collaborating in 2003 because of a shared interest in New Media and Memetics, and the desire to experiment with and blend traditional rules of art, entertainment, and humor. The duo received the Mary L. Nohl Emerging Artists Fellowship for 2009.
Past titles include: The Robot Mousetrap, shown at White Columns gallery in New York; the award-winning Studying the Lie, with artist David Robbins; Zombie Killer, a music video for Leslie & The Lys (featuring guest vocals by Elvira); Something Theater, a broadcast television series that airs in Southwestern Wisconsin on The CW network; The Found Footage Show, which aired on The Onion’s A.V. Club website; and production work on David Robbins’ The Ice Cream Social, a television pilot financed by the Sundance Channel.
AWARDS
Mary L. Nohl Suitcase Grant, 2010
Mary L. Nohl Fellowship, 2009
Best Documentary Award for William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet, Marbella International Film Festival, Spain, 2009
President’s Impact Award for William Shatner’s Gonzo Ballet, Nashville International Film Festival, 2009
Best Animation & FX for What What (In the Butt), Pill Awards, New York, 2009
Best Parody for Samwell Goes To The Woods, Pill Awards, New York, 2009
1st Place for Table Talk, Milwaukee 24-Hour Film Competition, 2007
2nd Place for Humanism: Join the Movement!, American Humanist Association Video Competition, 2007
1st Place for Studying the Lie, Milwaukee 24-Hour Film Competition, 2005
"Swant & Ciraldo do not participate in the romantic tradition of the tortured artist; they measure success in the populist terms of showbiz and the Internet. They aspire to be players without sacrificing the spirit of play." -- David Robbins, Artist/Writer
SELECTED ONLINE PRESS
The Onion A.V. Club, “Screening Room: Andrew Swant & Bobby Ciraldo”
BlogCritics Magazine, “Q&A With The Creators Of What What (In The Butt)“
The Onion A.V. Club, “Milwaukee Ballet Bringing Back Shatner’s Common People“
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “William Shatner’s Gonzo (Milwaukee) Ballet”
OnMilwaukee, “Shatner Goes Gonzo”
Read an essay about Special Entertainment by artist/writer David Robbins
Listen to Spoiler Alert Radio‘s podcast “Interview with Bobby Ciraldo”
FILM/VIDEO SCREENINGS
“Milwaukee Film Festival” – Landmark Oriental Theater, Milwaukee, WI, 2010
“Something Theater” – The CW, Channel 18, Milwaukee, WI, 2009
“Milwaukee Film Festival” – Landmark Oriental Theater, Milwaukee, WI, 2009
“Milwaukee Film Opening Night Gala” – Discovery World, Milwaukee, WI, 2009
“Gallery Night” – Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee, WI, 2009
“Electro” episode #53 of ADD-TV featured “What What” – Channel 34, New York, 2008
“Milwaukee Film” – Landmark Oriental Theater, Milwaukee, WI, 2008
“The Experimental Comedy Video Show” – Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2008
“Canada on Strike!” episode of South Park re-created the “What What” video, 2008
“Locally Grown” – University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee Film Series, 2007
“Scary Movies” – The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
“Milwaukee International Film Festival” – Landmark Oriental Theater, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
“24-Hour Film Competition” – Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, 2007, 1st Place
“Humanism! Join the Movement” – AHA Conference, Washington D.C., 2007
“Beverly Sillsbillies” – White Columns, New York, NY, 2007
“Movies & Masala” – Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
“Please Love Me” – Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
“Early Work” – Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
“Maple Punch Screening” – Darling Hall, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
“Evan Murphy Presents” – Fasten Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
“Apple Cider Screening” – Heaven Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2005
“Behind the Scenes II” – Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 2005
“Chicago’s Heaven Gallery Presents: Apple Cider Screening” – Darling Hall, Milwaukee, WI
“Milwaukee International Film Festival” – Landmark Oriental Theatre, Milwaukee, WI, 2005
“24-Hour Film Competition” – Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI 2005, 1st Place
“Donnerstag” – Historic Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI, 2004
“What’s Up With Milwaukee?” – Ocularis, Galapagos Art Center, Brooklyn, NY, 2004
“Behind the Scenes” – Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, 2004
“Beauty Benefit” – Historic Turner Hall, Milwaukee, WI, 2003
“Soup and Cinema” – Bamboo Theatre, Milwaukee, WI, 2003
“Desire to Conspire” – The Warehouse, Milwaukee, WI, 2002
“Plat and Form” – Foster Gallery, Eau Claire, WI, 2002
“Milhaus” – Deluxe Gallery, Chicago, IL, 2002
“Acts of Architecture” – Milwaukee Art Museum, part of Vito Acconci’s Tele-Furni, 2002
Ciraldo & Swant with Green Friend
ART EXHIBITIONS
“Club Nutz Screening” – Next Fair, Chicago, IL, 2010
“Club Nutz” – Frieze Art Fair, London, 2009
“Special Artifacts” – Nohl Fellowship Exhibition, INOVA, Milwaukee, WI, 2009
“Renato Umali on Knowledge” – My Vote Performs, Milwaukee, WI, 2008
“John Reipenhoff Experience” – Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2008
“Vending Machine” – IN:SITE, Sherman Park, Milwaukee, WI, 2008
“Streetique” – The Pink Studio, Milwaukee, WI, 2008
“Internet Work Spaces” – Golden Age, Chicago, IL, 2008
“The Friendship Force” – MonteVideo, Milwaukee, WI, 2008
“The Nothing Show” – The Green Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
“The Martin Ramirez Box” – Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
“Don’t Torture the Rotten Ducklings” – Institute of Visual Arts, Milwaukee, WI, 2007
“Milwaukee International Art Fair” – Polish Falcon, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
“Mustache Experience” – Fasten Gallery, Milwaukee, WI, 2006
“4-Color Pen Show” – Locust Projects, Miami, FL, 2004
“Milhaus” – Art Chicago, Navy Pier, Chicago, IL, 2004
“Drunk vs. Stoned” – Gavin Brown Enterprise at Passerby, New York, NY, 2004
“Grand Opening with Laura Owens” – General Store, Milwaukee, WI, 2003
“The Stray Show” – Art Chicago at Kingsbury Place, Chicago, IL, 2003
LECTURES
“Green Screen Work” – Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, April, 2010
“Artists Now! Special Entertainment” – University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee, November, 2009
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY (print media)
Mary Louise Schumacher, “New Nohl Fellowship winners strong on film,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 11/10/08
“Greenburger Award Winners, Nohl Fellows Announced,” Artforum, 11/11/08
Dudek, Duane, “Milwaukee Show Announces Line-Up,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/14/08
Schumacher, Mary Louise, “Gallery Night Picks,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 10/16/08
Bose, Lilledeshan, “Postcards from the Brew,” MKE Magazine, 6/6/08, Vol. 4, Issue 32, p. 6
Levine, Matt, “The New Film Coast?” Vital Source Magazine, March, 2008, Vol. 7, Issue 2, pp 6-8, (cover story)
Bose, Lilledeshan, “The Who Who Behind the What What,” MKE Magazine, 11/15/07, Vol. 4, Issue 3, pp 3, 9-11, (cover story)
Hintz, Martin, “Somewhere Under the Radar,” Shepherd Express, 11/06/03, pp19, 24
Cotter, Holland, “Doing Their Own Thing, Making Art Together,” The New York Times, Sunday, 1/19/03, Section 2