Praise on my eco comedy from Down Under

Got this beautiful email this morning from an eco-crusader down in Australia:

Hey Josh,
I have a green message website - converseconserve.com, and think your Enviroman identity and videos are fantastic. We had a Get Eco Creative exhibition earlier this year as part of the Sustainable Living Festival Melbourne, Australia. 
I was just wondering if you are happy for me to add one of your videos in my website? I already posted a link to one of them on my converseconserve blog.
I hope to hear back and all the best with your continuing and highly important role as enviroman.
Keep up the jolly good green work,
Cheers
-- Nicolle Kuna
Author
www.converseconserve.com

I checked out her blog and found the post that you can see by clicking here or in the attached screen grab. Nice to know Enviroman is making a difference globally. Take that, Superman. ;)

I'm on the OKCupid Enemies site

A girl in North Carolina popped up on my Facebook just now and asked if that's me on the "enemies of OKCupid page." I had no idea what she was talking about, so I Googled it, and, well, of course it's me. That's just how my life is. Check it out: http://www.okcenemies.com/post/25447844858#notes

I'm not sure if that's something I should be posting on this site that's supposed to be about my creative work. But, well, maybe being vilified on a blog about awful Internet dating profiles is a kind of fame in this modern age. After all, as I write this, there are 76 "notes" under the posting, which is more comments than I've ever gotten on my own Facebook posts. And because the girl who told me about it is N.C., that means I'm "known" in the United States. And I'd like to believe that it was my creative writing and photographing that made me worthy of this international public ridicule.

For the record, there's a bit more to the story than made it into the blog. I didn't just write "I'm not gay!" in my profile and leave it at that. I'm weird, but not that weird. If you're interested in the context, feel free to read my full profile at http://www.okcupid.com/profile/BertSeeksErnie. It seems everyone else in the world already has.

The initial warning on Facebook. Boy, I love getting messages like this. How come nobody can ever just say "Hey, how are you?"

The posting on OKCupid Enemies. (Couldn't I be an OKCupid Annoyance? Am I really so bad as to be an Enemy?

76 "notes" under the posting so far.

More of these brillant notes.

What I actually said about being not gay.

I'm quoted in The Huffington Post about the plastic bag ban

Toronto's surprise move to ban plastic bag giveaways at stores is the talk of the town today. So The Huffington Post Canada did a story about people's reactions, and I'm proud to say that the popular online newspaper did not consider my thoughts to be "disposable." Rather, they "reused" my Facebook comment for their article. I'm glad Toronto is following their lead by doing the same with plastic bags. To read my quote, check out the article by clicking here.

I made one of the Top political YouTube videos of 2011!

This week I was thinking back on 2011 and wondered if my Love Song for Elizabeth May really just happened this year. Seems so long ago. But then tonight, on the last night of the year, I got a nice reminder that, yep, it happened in 2011: According to Yahoo! News, it was one of the Top political YouTube videos of 2011. Check out the article by clicking here. Glad I could be a part of a big Green step forward for Canada. Here's to more steps in 2012!

I explain to the National Post what greens care about

In response to a National Post column claiming that environmentalism is about trying to control people's lives, I wrote a letter to the editor explaining that I care about the environment for quite different reasons. They were kind enough to print it as one of the few letters that day. Perhaps that means they'd like to take me on as their environmental columnist? (Hint hint)

Pop-culture site Crushable labels me the Worst Trend Ever

You may have thought Nazism was the worst trend ever. Or maybe even the Macarena. But you'd be wrong. At least according to pop-culture/celebrity gossip site Crushable. Because in this past Saturday's article, author Lilit Marcus writes that eco-comedy (or "eco-medy" as she calls it but which I refuse to call it because even though it's catchy it reminds me of email) is the "Worst Trend Ever." Now, she's basing this solely on the recent Mother Nature Network article about eco-comedians. And you'll notice that there's already a nice comment under the Crushable article saying that my bald joke is actually quite funny. Oh, after that MNN article was published I got an email was published from a guy starting a stand-up comedy site who wants a clip of that bald joke. But whether something is funny or not is obviously in the funny bone of the beholder. The other question is whether the work is indeed "green washing," as the article suggests. I can only speak for my own work, but I can say that I'm careful to insert accurate, important environmental information in my stand-up comedy and short films. Now, I know the article was written tongue-in-cheek, but I'd still like to defend what little honour I have. And so I'm happy to report that Crushable liked my Facebook fan page posting about the article and has contacted me with an invitation to convince them that they're wrong about eco-comedy. I'm up for the challenge. Though to be honest, I'm actually happy to be known as the poster boy for the Worst Trend Ever. Takes some focus off my other role as poster boy for the Worst Date Ever.

I'm a GreenHeroes category winner! Come to the Green Living Show to see if I win the Grand Prize!!

GreenHeroes is an eco web channel and television series that will be announcing the Grand Prize Winner of their GreenHero contest at the Green Living Show this Sunday. The lucky winner, selected from nominations to www.greenheroes.tv (to see my nomination, click here) will be featured in an upcoming episode of GreenHeroes. Why am I telling you this? Because I just got an email saying I'm a category winner! Which apparently means that at the very least, I'll be getting a T-shirt. Which is very exciting for me, because it means I can delay doing laundry for another day. Oh, and I'm also now in the running for the Grand Prize. To see the Green Living Show's Main Stage schedule click here, and be at the Green Living Show on Sunday at 1:30 PM to congratulate me. Or to console me. Either way, I will let you touch my T-shirt.


Oh, and for the skeptics who need proof, here's the email:


Congratulations Josh! I am pleased to let you know that you are a category winner in the GreenHeroes contest!

With this distinction, you are also a finalist for the Grand Prize winner. The winner will be announced this coming Sunday, April  17^th at 1:30 p.m..

We will be making a short presentation on-stage to all the finalists and then will be announcing the grand prize winner.  It would be great if you could join us to celebrate.

As a finalist you will receive a green heroes t-shirt, so please let us know your size, and if you will be able to attend on Sunday. We have a complimentary ticket for you and a guest. We also hope to host a little celebration afterward at our booth #337.

  

Thanks for participating and I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Sincerely,

Joan Prowse

Producer

www.GreenHeroes.tv

The WMEAC Blog asks if my eco-comedy is effective

Click here to read a nice piece about my eco-comedy in the WMEAC Blog (oh please, stop pretending you don't know WMEAC stands for West Michigan Environmental Action Council). The article ends by asking the reader to decide if eco-comedy is an effective tactic. Well, I sure hope it's effective, 'cause otherwise hosting Night For Nature in two days will be a waste of my Friday night. Oh, who am I kidding... I'd just be spending Friday night crying into my pillow as usual. So at least I'm getting out of the house. If you, too, need an excuse to pry yourself from your tear-salted bedding this Friday, get ticket info at the Facebook event listing by clicking here. I'm not saying you'll see a live performance of my new love song for Green Party leader Elizabeth May, but, well, ok, yes, I'm saying that.

America's Comedy reports on MY comedy!

If any U.S. customs agents are reading this, I want you to know that having a video featured on the site America's Comedy grants me permission to work in America. After all, did you hear that Conan O'Brien got his start by having a video featured on America's Comedy? He didn't, but I was wondering if you'd heard that. Ok, ok, fine, ouch - Enough with the cavity search. Just check out the article by clicking here.

My eco-comedy is profiled in The Ottawa Citizen!

The Ottawa Citizen. Leading newspaper in our Nation's Capital. Keeping us informed about the most important issues in our country since 1845. And today, I am one of those issues. Well, ok, maybe the environment is the real issue in this story. But still, it's me getting the word out. I don't see any trees winning eco-comedy film awards. Trees are so lazy. I'm just kidding, I love trees. I mean, not THAT way. I'm into women. Although, come to think of it, I'd probably have more success with trees. Anyway, what was I happy about a second ago? Oh, right. The article. Check it out by clicking here.

Mother Nature Network profiles me in eco-comedy article!

Recently, a writer from Mother Nature Network asked to include me in a story about eco-comedians. And today that story was published. You can see the section about me by clicking here. And that's that. I can't think of anything witty to add. Which kind of undermines the story's claim that I'm one of the funniest eco-comedians. So I'll just end this post now and hope nobody notices that it wasn't funny. (Although, hey, by writing that this post wasn't funny, I'm supporting her claim that "Josh Rachlis specializes in his own brand of self-deprecating eco-irreverence." Ok,  whew. Reputation salvaged.)

I'm a Top 10 finalist for ad industry's most creative Canadian

 Okay, so Marketing Magazine is having their 2nd Annual Great Canadian Creative Faceoff. And after reviewing all of their submissions, the judging committee has chosen yours truly as one of the Top 10 finalists. It's a contest to find the most creative person who works in the ad industry, based on their activities when not at work. A cursory perusal of this blog will show you that I engage in a number of creative activities when I'm not at work. Whether I'm any good at them is a whole other matter, to be discussed at another time, preferably over tequila. But right now, we're talking about this contest. Here's how it's officially described:

This is a search for the cream of Canada's creative crop, from across all sectors of our industry-agency, marketer, media, PR. Based on all the nominations received, the top 10 will be selected by Marketing's writers and editors, then posted and profiled on creativefaceoff.ca. From there we turn it over to the audience. We'll be asking you to vote for your favourite. Based on the voting results, the list will be narrowed to 5 semi-finalists. Then, we'll ask for a vote again. A second round of voting will take the Top 5 to Top 3, and the final voting will determine the winner of the 2010 Great Canadian Faceoff, revealed at the 2010 Media Innovation Awards on November 18.

Blah, blah, blah. The point is, go to www.creativefaceoff.ca and vote for me. Under my picture you can click on the link to vote via Twitter. But also, if you scroll down past the faces (which you have to do if you have a teeny laptop like moi), that's where you can select my name to give a non-Twitter vote as well. I hate asking people to go to websites to vote for me. But, well, I guess it's just the curse of being so fabulous that I get shortlisted for so many things. Also, since only half of Toronto actually went out and voted for Mayor, here's the other half's chance to redeem themselves and vote for something. Just don't vote for Rob Ford in this contest, for god's sake. It's going to start going to his head.

My eco vid airs on Comedy Network - and is reviewed as best video!

My eco hip hop music video was just featured on the Series Premiere of the Comedy Network's new Upload Yours TV show. You can see it at around 2:11 in Clip 2 of 2 by clicking here.


You can see the video mentioned in an article about the show that ran at dose.ca and canada.com and The Ottawa Citizen by clicking here and here and here. The quote is:

With Upload Yours, both established comedians and comedy hopefuls have the opportunity to exhibit their material to a national audience. And because the videos have been chosen from thousands of entries collected over the past several months, for the most part, they’re funnier and of a better quality than some of the sketches you’d see on a regular weekly sketch show. One video, called “The Owl and the Man,” features, well, a man in an oversized owl costume dealing with an intellectually deficient man; another, “An Inconvenient Proposal” is a rap ode to An Inconvenient Truth producer Laurie David.

And TV reviewer Cameron Archer says my video was the best on the show in the review you can read by clicking here. The quote is:

Upload Yours‘ debut features the works of Josh Rachlis, Pot of Coffee, Lars Classington, Jeff D’Silva and Perrodue5. Kelsey Anonsen performs some scats, earning four segments for some reason.

Josh Rachlis’ “An Inconvenient Proposal” is Upload Yours’ best sketch so far. It’s a white boy rap, but Rachlis forms the rap around his hard-on for An Inconvenient Truth producer Laurie David. His Upload Yours clip is well-edited and professional, if a bit obsessive over Larry David’s ex-wife.

Let's think about this. All the best Canadian comedy videos were uploaded to the Comedy Network site. The best of those were chosen to be in the TV show. And the reviewer says mine was the best of the videos on the show. So, I'd say that makes me the funniest person in Canada. And everyone knows that Canada produces the funniest comedians of any country (Jim Carrey, Jay Baruchel, Seth Rogen, all the SCTV members, etc.). So the way I figure it, I'm officially the Funniest Person On Earth®. Confirming what my only blog reader - my mom - has always told me. Strangely, though, I still can't get a girlfriend to save my life. So maybe something's a bit off in my calculations. Or maybe comedians just don't get action. Nuts. I should have become a rock star.

P.S. After I posted this blog post and tweeted it, the Comedy Network retweeted me, as you can see in the pic above. And they quoted my line from the end of the video! Which means they actually watched it! And remembered it! I mean, come ON!!! That's probably the highlight of my life. My sad, sad life.

I'm interviewed about my screenplay for MovieBytes.com

Because my rom-com feature film screenplay "Focus Group" won the Script Showcase 2009 international screenplay contest, the website MovieBytes.com was interested in learning more about me and my writing process. I was only too happy to oblige, in order that all writers be able to learn from my horrible mistakes. I mean, from my incredible skills. You can read the interview here: http://www.moviebytes.com/ws/Interviews.cfm?InterviewID=514&ContestNumber=2348

My MC'ing Night For Nature mentioned in Toronto Star

My MC'ing of the recent "Night For Nature" is mentioned in this eco-riffic article by Ellen Moorhouse from today's Toronto Star about the green-tastic work being done by GreenPower, the environmental group at Michael Power/St. Joseph's High School in Etobicoke. Full disclosure: I might be a bit biased about the GreenPower's enviro-awesomeness, because I'm a big personal fan of the teacher who runs the group, Ms. Jennifer Gee. In fact, we've picked up litter together. For, as today's article mentions, Jenn wrote to me last summer after reading the August article (http://yourhome.ca/homes/green/article/683093--josh-rachlis-inconvenient-habit) that Ellen wrote about my eco pursuits. The subject line of Jenn's email was "Fan mail?" But I choose to disregard the question mark, because I most certainly want fan mail. Especially from cute eco chicks. Anyway, where was I? Oh, right. Today's article. Read it here: http://www.yourhome.ca/homes/green/article/805093--trash-talk-anti-litter-brigade-s-fast-food-harvest.
P.S. Check out that pic. Is there anything hotter than a woman holding a discarded toilet seat? I think not. No, seriously!

Mine was the funniest marriage proposal EVER!!!

I haven't produced anything new lately, so I figure in the spirit of environmentalism I'll "recycle" an older creative product, with the help of some fresh news on the subject from the site RecycledBride.com. This morning, I got a Facebook friend request with this very sweet attached message:

Tracy says, "Josh Rachlis, you rock. That Laurie David proposal was the funniest thing I've seen in ages. I blogged about it, check out my website, blah blah blah http://www.recycledbride.com/blog/ ...but most of all, get in touch if you're ever going to be in LA. I'd love to meet you and introduce you to a fantastic group of people. You are bound for great things! Best - Tracy (tracy@recycledbride.com)."

This makes me happy on a couple of levels. One, I want to visit L.A. before the end of the year, so this means I might actually have something to do while I'm there. And two, if you visit the link to her blog entry, which you can do by clicking here, you'll see that apparently my marriage proposal to environmentalist Laurie David was the funniest marriage proposal EVER!!! However, it was still unsuccessful. So, gentlemen, the lesson is, don't bother being funny with your marriage proposal. Although, I'm not sure what to recommend doing. My serious marriage proposals don't work either. Still, check out this site for "eco-savvy brides" if you're getting married soon. Which you likely will be if you dated me recently. Apparently anyone who dates me these days becomes engaged to someone else within 6 months. Which means that either they decide "I'll never meet someone as great as Josh. So I might as well marry the next guy who comes along." Or they decide "If that's what dating is like, I never want to date again. So I might as well marry the next guy who comes along." I prefer to think it's the former. Regardless, if you wanna get married fast, go on a date with me. Ladies, take a number!

P.S. Oh, and naturally the girl I stayed with when I was in LA last January is now engaged. (In fact, she met the guy while I was staying with her. I've got some serious powers, man!) So if you know of a cheap place to rent in LA, or if I can crash on your LA futon for a bit, lemme know!

Read The Toronto Star article about my eco habit!

On a balmy day a few years ago around Bay Street, I spotted a guy in BMW sitting back and relaxing with the engine running and the windows open. I tossed one of my handmade brochures about the dangers of idling onto his passenger seat. A few blocks later, I heard a menacing voice say: "Hey, Treehugger." Then I felt a hand grab my arm and heard: "If you ever touch my car again, I'll kill you." This shook me up. But I was glad that he had to stop idling in order to come after me. Hopefully he will read this article in the Toronto Star today and feel bad about being mean to me. Or, he'll now know my name and will track me down to finish the job. Hmmm... Okay, never mind. That wasn't me with the idling brochure. Must have been some other devastatingly handsome, hairless fellow. The article is still about me, though. To read it, click here.

Check out me being inteviewed about my green comedy!

Here's an interview I did about my green comedy on the Liquid Lunch show on ThatChannel.com on April 2, 2009. In the schedule listing they referred to me as "Eco comedian Josh Rachlis." That has a nice ring to it.

I talk about my love for Laurie David, how polluting the air can't possibly be a good thing, and why it's not about saving "the environment," it's about saving ourselves.

The real question, though, is why I decided to have them show my topless audition video at the end instead of just screening the original Laurie David web cam proposal. Sometimes I wonder about myself.

You can listen to and download the audio of the interview by clicking here. Or you can watch it below.

Josh interviewed about his eco comedy on Liquid Lunch show

I'm quoted in this article about parents joining facebook!

Esther Kustanowitz, popular Internet blogger/writer, has done a very interesting interview with the creators of a website called Oh Crap. My Parents Joined Facebook. And what's an interesting interview without quoting The Most Interesting Person On Earth? (That's me, in case you were wondering.) As with most topics, I have a different take on things. I actually love that parents are on Facebook. I mean, come on people. If you're lucky, you'll be parents too one day. Will you want your kids devoting a website to making fun of you because you're out there being sociable? Anyway, the whole thing just gets me steamed. So take a read of the article by clicking here and decide for yourself how you feel! :-)

I'm in today's National Post talking about green dating

I'm interviewed in today's National Post about how being an environmentalist can affect one's dating life. Unfortunately, the accompanying photo of me in my green superhero outfit should effectively put an end to my dating life. Although, if you look at the photos of the paper version, you'll see that on the front of the section, my head is actually above the heads of Tina Fey and Oprah. And if that doesn't guarantee action, I don't know what does. Well, okay. I don't know what does. To read the online version, click here.