Organic Produce And Birthday Cakes Are The Two Most Common Types Of Terrorist Acts In The U.S.: "NTSF: SD: SUV::" Public Service Announcements

By Rob Payne | Videos | August 10, 2011 |

By Rob Payne | Videos | August 10, 2011 |

Let me just get this out of the way, right up front: I love Paul Scheer.

What does that have to do with organic farming and the birthday cake cabal, much less terrorism? Well, I feel compelled to share that love immediately because this realization only hit a day ago, when I saw that he was a guest on the Doug Loves Movies podcast and I became, well, more excited to listen to it than most guests that come on. I don’t mean either aroused or in some obsessed stalker sort of way, not yet, but from 1/3 of “Human Giant” to his cameos on some of contemporary TV’s best sitcoms (“30 Rock” and “Party Down” especially) to his numerous appearances on Doug Benson’s podcast to his own podcast, How Did This Get Made. I always love what Paul Scheer brings to the comedy table.

So, I only have myself to blame for not knowing that his new Adult Swim series “NTSF: SD: SUV::” premiered on July 21st after “Children’s Hospital.” In fairness to myself, I don’t watch Adult Swim regularly, if at all, as the programming tends to be geared toward inebriated college students, and that just isn’t my scene anymore — not being in college, not not being inebriated. I do enjoy “Children’s Hospital” when I happen to catch it, but for whatever reason, I never watch it on its original source, the wonderful world wide web. If I had, I would have probably heard about “NTSF: SD: SUV::” before now.

But thankfully, Paul Scheer knows how to promote his show, because no sooner had I heard his DLM appearance, where he plugged the new series, than I saw thaT Vulture had posted an exclusive Public Service Announcement about the dangers of organic produce masquerading as an ad for the terrorist-fightin’-themed comedy. I can only link to it, but the Adult Swim site contains another NTSF: SD: SUV:: Approved PSA about the invisible threat of birthday cakes, specifically birthday cakes, that I can share. And that’s how we come full circle. (Possibly NSFW for comedic violence.)

The whole acronymic title stands for “National Terrorist Strike Force: San Diego: Sports Utility Vehicle::” and, yes, the final two colons are intentional, which belies that it’s a parody of both serialized action fests and procedural dramas. But considering Paul Scheer just suffocated a lady with her own homemade birthday cake, I suppose that should be fairly obvious. Scheer describes his horribly-bewigged character, Trent Hauser, as specifically spoofing “a more extreme version of Jack Bauer from ‘24’ meets David Caruso directed by Michael Bay.” In one episode, the villain’s uppance comes by way of an energy drink explosion, which might be funnier than it sounds. Sounds about right. Sounds about hilarious.

If that PSA and the linked videos don’t do anything for you, then the show probably won’t, either. The first two episodes are available in their totality, and besides the incessant ads, they are much funnier but they contain the same sense of absurdly violent humor as seen above. Still, the main cast also includes June Diane Raphael, Martin Starr, Rebecca Romijn, Brandon Johnson, Rob Riggle, and, Captain Janeway herself, Kate Mulgrew. The likes of John Cho, Adam Scott, Jerry O’Connell, and J.K. Simmons have, or will have, guest spots. All of that is really just icing on the sugar-free non-birthday cake for me, though, as Paul Scheer is more than enough to get me to watch Adult Swim, again. On Thursdays at 12:15am/11:15pm Central, anyway, as the constant online ads at the Adult Swim site are so annoying that watching live is now the only good option.

That said, this real commercial-type promo for “NTSF: SD: SUV::” is quite brilliant in its delivery.

If that did nothing for you, I don’t know what will. It’s the best use of time-lapse that I’ve ever seen.

Rob Payne also writes the indie comic The Unstoppable Force, co-hosts the internet radio show We’re Not Fanboys, and can be tweeted on the Twitter @RobOfWar. He seriously wants Adult Swim to know how ridiculous it is to have commercials between ever 90-second to two minute video clip. He would rather press the button to implode the last remaining K-Mart to the ground than shop at one ever again.