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| presenter = Gary Whitta
| presenter = Gary Whitta
| starring = Adam Nickerson
| starring = Adam Nickerson
| narrated = Snowbike Mike
| theme_music_composer = Kenny Fong
| theme_music_composer = Kenny Fong
| opentheme = "Animal Talking Theme Music"
| opentheme = "Animal Talking Theme Music"

Revision as of 08:23, 19 November 2020

Animal Talking
with Gary Whitta
Also known asAnimal Talking
Genre
Created by
Written by
  • Gary Whitta
Presented byGary Whitta
StarringAdam Nickerson
Theme music composerKenny Fong
Opening theme"Animal Talking Theme Music"
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes24
Production
Executive producerLeah Whitta
ProducerGary Whitta

&

Adam Nickerson
Production locationAnimal Crossing: New Horizons
EditorAdam Nickerson
Running time120 minutes
Original release
NetworkTwitch
YouTube
ReleaseApril 25, 2020 (2020-04-25) –
present (present)

Animal Talking With Gary Whitta is a web television virtual talk show hosted by Gary Whitta on Twitch. The show is executive-produced by Leah Whitta, and is livestreamed entirely from a talk-show set built in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Animal Talking premiered on April 25, 2020. It features Adam Nickerson as the bandleader.

Background

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Gary Whitta began streaming himself playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons daily a month before Animal Talking began, in the form of Animal Crossing Mornings. The show helped the channel gain a growing audience and identity. During his playthrough, Whitta came up with an idea to create a talk show set that paid homage to his favorite shows of the genre, such as The Tonight Show, The Larry Sanders Show, and Between Two Ferns.[1] A pilot episode was livestreamed in the set on April 25 with his friend and internet personality Naomi Kyle, which was well regarded by viewers. The show would later produce four more shows that week, before settling into a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule, with a permanent schedule at 7PM PT every Wednesday starting from episode 16.

Production

The show is filmed in Animal Crossing: New Horizons on Gary's island of Kawaii. The set was put together with in-game furniture created by or gifted to the Whittas by viewers of the show. The in-game camera is utilized to film the show, although its limitations require the host avatar to move for better angles. Guests appear on the show as Animal Crossing avatars, with the wardrobe supervised by fellow Twitch streamer Kate Stark. On the occasion that a guest does not play Animal Crossing, executive producer and Gary's wife, Leah Whitta would customize her own avatar to match the appearance of the guest and puppeteer them live as they speak.[2] The production and guests speak together through Discord.

Additional staff members include Adam Nickerson, who serves as band leader and edits full episodes into ten minute highlight videos that can be accessed on the show's YouTube channel. The logo was designed by Chandana Ekanayake with Leah Whitta. The theme song was composed by Kenny Fong, and also credits Tom Young, Cameron Rose, Chris Petty, Desmond Splitter, Christian Lucy, and K.K. Slider.[3]

Due to the show's viral success, the show has been approached by potential sponsors, cable television networks, and advertisers. However, Whitta has rejected these opportunities, citing disinterest and stating "As soon as it becomes cynical, monetized, or corporatized, I think the whimsy and authenticity of it will disappear."[4]

Format

The show functions similarly to its real-life counterparts. Each episode starts with an opening sequence featuring Whitta's avatar performing various activities around his island, while Snowbike Mike announces that episode's guests. The theme song plays in the background as Mike introduces Gary Whitta as the host, who greets the audience, converses with Nickerson, and delivers any news about the show.

Following the introduction, main segments include celebrity interviews, live musical performances, and stand-up comedy.[5] While interviews have dived into the life of the guests, much of the conversation revolves around gaming and Animal Crossing.[6] At the end of the show, each guest is invited to step up to a mic to deliver a joke, and the best joke among the guests is determined through chat poll votes from the live audience.

A segment Danny's Diary featuring Danny Trejo first aired its debut episode on 8 June.[7] The first episode follows Trejo's avatar giving Nickerson a tour of his own island.

Episodes

Season 1

List of episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		Original air dateGuest(s)Musical/entertainment guest(s)
11April 25, 2020 (2020-04-25)Naomi KyleN/A
22April 26, 2020 (2020-04-26)Leah Whitta, TanyaN/A
33April 27, 2020 (2020-04-27)Kate StarkN/A
44April 29, 2020 (2020-04-29)Mike Drucker, Mary KishRaquel Lily
55May 1, 2020 (2020-05-01)Felicia Day, Leah WhittaDJ Cupcakes
66May 4, 2020 (2020-05-04)Jordan Mechner, Hugh HoweyN/A
77May 6, 2020 (2020-05-06)iJustine, Mike Krahulik & Jerry Holkins, Joey NoelleN/A
88May 8, 2020 (2020-05-08)Colin Trevorrow, Emily CarmichaelRyan Miller (Guster)
99May 11, 2020 (2020-05-11)Greg Miller, Chuck Wendig, Samantha RuddyN/A
1010May 13, 2020 (2020-05-13)T-Pain, Chastity VicencioVery Handsome Billy
1111May 14, 2020 (2020-05-14)Danny Trejo, Elijah Wood, Greg Grunberg, JessicaN/A
1212May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)Tim Schafer, What's Good GamesN/A
1313May 18, 2020 (2020-05-18)Cliff Bleszinski, Tom Nichols, LDShadowLadyDJ Cupcakes
1414May 20, 2020 (2020-05-20)Duncan Jones, Paul ScheerThe Dapper Rapper
1515May 22, 2020 (2020-05-22)David Mandel, Rebekah ValentineN/A

Season 2

List of episodes
No.
overall		No. in
season		Original air dateGuest(s)Musical/entertainment guest(s)
16–June 7, 2020 (2020-06-07)Noel Clarke, Amy Okuda, Kahlief Adams, Deejay Knight, iamBrandon, Tanya, Riana, Panda Bair, Dripping Honey, and Raquel LilyN/A
Special 6 hour episode in support of the Black Lives Matter movement, and to raise money for Color of Change.
171June 24, 2020 (2020-06-24)Sting, Kevin Smith and Marc BernardinThat Violin Chick
182July 1, 2020 (2020-07-01)Shaggy, Jordan Vogt-Roberts, Jimmy O. Yang and Kiki WolfkillN/A
193July 8, 2020 (2020-07-08)Simu Liu, Shannon WoodwardShawn Wasabi and Sophia Black
204July 15, 2020 (2020-07-15)Josh Gad, Matthew Mercer, Alex WinterCavetown and Tessa Violet
215July 22, 2020 (2020-07-22)Brie Larson, DrLupo, FriskkKenny Fong
226July 29, 2020 (2020-07-29)Susan Orlean, Justin RoilandThe Elwins
237August 5, 2020 (2020-08-05)Selena Gomez, Cory Barlog, Laura Bailey, Ashley Johnson, Shannon WoodwardSelena Gomez and Trevor Daniel
248August 12, 2020 (2020-08-12)Phil Spencer, Lisa Loeb, Dylan SprouseLisa Loeb
259October 24, 2020 (2020-10-24)Shroud, Kate StarkGorillaz

Reception

The show has been well received by viewers. Animal Talking was featured on the Twitch homepage, with its fourth episode reaching over 12,000 viewers and was number 14 on the site's most watched streams that day.[8] Episode 10 pulled in a total of 339,000 individual viewers,[9] while Episode 11 reached 18,000 concurrent viewers, a record for the show.

The Verge proclaimed Animal Talking as "2020's Hottest Late-Night Talk Show". Touching on the uniqueness of the concept, Megan Farokhmanesh highlighted the pros of the show taking place in the video game: "On any other talk show, it would be an agonizing minute and a half of mistakes. Here, it's what makes Animal Talking so special."[10] Screen Rant's Christopher Teuton commented that "while most (...) traditional late-night talk show hosts are currently filming (...) and holding interviews over live chat services like Zoom, it's refreshing and unique to see the same format translated so perfectly here inside of Animal Crossing: New Horizons." He praised Whitta's skill as an interviewer and host, with "his conversations with Hollywood celebrities, musical geniuses, and video game enthusiasts are almost always just as enjoyable as those of his professional late night show counterparts, if not more so."[11]

References

  1. ^ EDT, Phillip Martinez On 5/1/20 at 2:55 PM (2020-05-01). "We speak with Gary Whitta on the creation of 'Animal Talking,' his talk show within 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons'". Newsweek. Retrieved 2020-05-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Desk, News. "Animal Crossing talk show host Gary Whitta gives us a tour | Launcher Live FULL LIVE STREAM 5/6". The Global Herald. Retrieved 2020-05-18. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
  3. ^ Whitta, Gary, Animal Talking Theme Music - YouTube, retrieved 2020-05-18
  4. ^ Forde, Matthew (May 5, 2020). "Interview: Why Rogue One screenwriter Gary Whitta started a talk show in Animal Crossing: New Horizons". Pocketgamer.biz. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  5. ^ Warman, Dylan (2020-04-27). "Gary Whitta Hosts A Talk Show From Within Animal Crossing: New Horizons". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2020-05-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ Warman, Dylan (2020-04-27). "Gary Whitta Hosts A Talk Show From Within Animal Crossing: New Horizons". ScreenRant. Retrieved 2020-05-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Deschamps, Marc (May 19, 2020). "Danny Trejo Joins Animal Crossing Talk Show as a Regular Correspondent". Comicbook.com. Retrieved 2020-05-20.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ Gerblick, Jordan (May 2, 2020). "Screenwriter Gary Whitta talks origins and plans for Animal Crossing: New Horizons talk show". GamesRadar. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  9. ^ "ANIMAL TALKING WITH DANNY TREJO, ELIJAH WOOD, GREG GRUNBERG". Twitch. Retrieved 2020-05-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  10. ^ Farokhmanesh, Megan (May 14, 2020). "Late night's hottest talk show is in Animal Crossing". The Verge. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  11. ^ "Animal Talking Is The Best Video Game Television Combo Ever". ScreenRant. 2020-05-15. Retrieved 2020-05-18.

Further reading

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Animal_Talking_with_Gary_Whitta&oldid=989491136"