HISTORY BITES

One of my graphic efforts – "Serf Park". 

Rick Green had been one of my comedy idols – particularly for his work with the comedy group The Frantics. In 1998, I got a chance to work with him on a new series, History Bites. It was a sketch comedy show consisting of brief TV parodies, and it asked the question "what if television had existed for the past 2000 years?" We would show what TV would have looked like in Ancient Rome or in medieval Europe. The show was well received and between 1998 and 2008, we ended up making 101 episodes, as well as six one-hour specials. We received many award nominations, and won a few.

More graphics work – this time copying the style of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. 

I was a writer and story editor on the whole series. Because it was Canadian TV on a specialty channel, the budget was minuscule, so we all ended up wearing many hats (figuratively and literally – writers were also paid as background performers). When I wasn't writing, I also created many of the graphics for the show.

When not writing or making graphics, I got to play minor roles. Here I'm Leonard, a useless gameshow contestant. 

I was principal  writer on the following episodes:

"Dead Philosopher Walking" (Death  of Socrates), "Great Fire of London", "Shakespeare in Love - Drake in Battle", "Cartier Does Canada", "Everything You Need to Know About God"  (Council of Nicaea), "The Commander in Chief is a Eunuch" (Cheng Ho the eunuch admiral), "Battle of the Antipopes", "Goodbye Tudor Rose" (Henry VIII), "Alexander's Wartime Band" (Alexander  the Great), "The Man Who Wouldn't Be King" (Cromwell), "The First Emperor" (Sargon), "Rock and Roll Has Got to Go" (Greek Music), "Psychic Celebrity" (Nostradamus), "Xena's Evil Sister" (Boadicea), "The Uncivil War", "Kamikaze Save the Day", "The Domesday Book", "Tax This!" (American Revolution), "Got You Dead To Rights" (Pope Formosus and the Cadaver Synod), "A.D.D in 1495 AD" (Leonardo), "A Newtiful Mind" (Newton), "Never Been Kissed" (Ulrich von Lichtenstein)