Premiere: ‘Dr. Gordz’ Episode 2 – ‘Bad Reviews’ Phish ‘Dr. Katz’ Spoof

Earlier this year, JamBase shared the first installment of filmmaker Nick Setteducato’s animated spoof of Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz program “starring” Phish bassist Mike Gordon as the title character – “Dr. Gordz.” The parody followed the release of a stop-motion video with Phish references galore that went viral both in the states and in Nick’s current home country of New Zealand. Setteducato’s latest creation is another Dr. Gordz installment titled “Bad Reviews,” which we’re pleased to premiere.

JamBase spoke with Setteducato, a New Jersey native who moved to New Zealand nearly a decade ago to work with filmmaker Peter Jackson, about his latest video. Check out our chat with Nick followed by the premiere of Dr. Gordz Episode 2 – Bad Reviews:

JamBase: What kind of reaction did you get to the last video?

Nick Setteducato: The first Dr. Gordz video was great because the reaction was so completely polarized. People were either totally entertained by it and loved all the little inside Phish jokes, the Dr. Katz influence and all of the pop culture references, or they had no idea what the hell they were looking at. In some cases, people were almost angry that I sent it to them. It was awesome!

JamBase: How did you come up with the idea for Dr. Gordz?

Nick Setteducato: The original idea for Dr. Gordz was born out of boredom, really. I’d made a couple of stop-motion Phish videos in my spare time, as a sort of crash course in learning video making. When those videos were posted online, a lot of Phish fans really enjoyed them. I decided to make more, but thought I could probably make a few quick 2D Phish animations while I thought up ideas for my next stop-motion project. But I discovered that 2D animation is actually quite hard, and you have to be kind of good at drawing. Then I remembered one of my favorite animated shows from the 1990’s called Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, about a psychotherapist whose clients were all stand-up comedians.

The show pioneered a simple, crude animation technique called “squigglevision” that seemed easy enough to replicate. So, Dr. Katz became Dr. Gordz, and his comedian clients were replaced with members of the band Phish.

JamBase: How long did it take to make this one?

Nick Setteducato: I make these videos in my spare time, at night, usually after dinner, or on Sunday afternoons while the laundry is drying. The first Dr. Gordz video took a long time, almost a year on and off as I putzed around learning the software and all of the technical bits. But this second episode only took about four or five months to complete, in between other projects. It’s a bit shorter too. The first one was over five minutes, and I realized too late that it’s a bit long for modern attention spans!

[The First Dr. Gordz Episode]

JamBase: Can you describe the process used to create the video?

Nick Setteducato: I started with the audio, and then came up with ideas for the visual ‘gags.’ In this case, I took the audio from the 2000 Phish documentary Bittersweet Motel, where guitarist Trey Anastasio reads bad reviews to the camera. It’s one of the best parts of the film! Then, I drew some basic keyframes for each visual gag, worked out the timings of each shot in video editing software, finalized the drawings in Photoshop, and brought it all together in After Effects. There are more elegant and efficient ways to animate, but the one thing I’ve learned from other animators is that there’s really no correct way to do anything – whatever works for you is ok!

JamBase: Have you started work on the next one?

Nick Setteducato: I’ve been busy working on a few other video/animation projects in my spare time – one for an awesome band from San Francisco called Electric Beethoven, and another for a documentary filmmaker here in Wellington. But I would like to continue making the Dr. Gordz series in my spare time. I think the next one needs to feature Page McConnell on the couch, obviously, But after that, the possibilities are endless really. There’s heaps of audio of Jerry Garcia and other artists like that. I’d really like to do an episode with Joe Walsh from the Eagles, because I think he has the greatest voice ever. He sounds like Cheech and Chong meets a grown-up Jeff Spicoli. Basically, I’ll keep making these Dr. Gordz videos for as long as people enjoy them, and as long as Mike Gordon’s lawyers don’t send me a cease and desist letter!

Without further ado, here’s the “Bad Reviews” episode of Dr. Gordz:

If you enjoy his creations as much as we do, like his Lucy’s Place Productions Facebook page and consider contributing to The Mockingbird Foundation and WaterWheel Foundation.