Source
r/IAmA•
outofnamedelumes

Malcolm Barrett (w/ Lem & Phil Reunion): AMA

Hey, it's Malcolm Barrett. Aka Verbal. Aka Lem from 'Better Off Ted. Aka that guy from those things. Most recently the video for my new song "Revenge of the Nerds". I'll apparently be answering questions throughout the evening about the video, the cast, acting, music... and when that gets boring my boy Jonathon Slavin (Phil) will join in a video response posted on youtube. So yup, Lem & Phil reunion. If you want us to answer your questions together, address it to both of us in your comment. The music video has been up since last week and the entire cast of Better Off Ted is featured in it. Check it out if ya like.

Going to play LA Noire then bed. Will finish up in the morning around 11 w/ a video chat with very special guest... my boy Johnny Slavin (aka Phil)

Posted Jul 11, 2011, 2:50 AM UTC · edited

7195
hypocrit6247•

Is there any talk of bringing back Better off Ted? I must say it was one of the most clever shows I've been in quite some time.

19
outofnamedelumesOP•

I wish. I always imagine a cartoon starring Lem and Phil drawn in the style of Dexter's Lab. The voices would be played by Eugene Levy and Ghost-Face Killa.

20
hypocrit6247•

That would be one of the most awesome cartoons ever.

8
outofnamedelumesOP•

Tell me about it.

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[deleted]•

[deleted]

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outofnamedelumesOP•

Damnit! I've spelled my name wrong and I can't change it. It should have said Outofnamedeplumes. That's just stupid. The internet is never going to last.

17
stabbyclaus•

IT'S REALLY A SERIES OF TUBES.

5
Leemors_Bed•

Any funny Better Off Ted stories to share? Also, you are hilarious.

9
outofnamedelumesOP•

First of all. You are correct. I am hilarious. Second, my memory sucks but I do remember Andrea farting unabashedly in the middle of a conversation. It was weird 'cause she just kept talking. Also, there was a lot of group sex. It was like the set of Adam West's Batman. Read Burt Ward's book. It's like that.

14
Leemors_Bed•

Thank you for doing an AMA.

6
outofnamedelumesOP•

Thank you for asking a question.

6
theummeower•

Thank you for being for so polite.

5
smartsingh•

pranks on BoT? Craziest thing to happen on set? How was working with Portia?

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outofnamedelumesOP•

We always had an early calltime like at the buttcrack of dawn, like 5 or something. My favorite thing to do was to call Johnny at like 2 or 3 and tell him to go to sleep because we have an early calltime.

14
stabbyclaus•

I'm just gonna leave this here

6
stabbyclaus•

Video is up!

6
Cromar•

You were awesome in your guest spot on Southland. As soon as you appeared on the screen, I yelled out "It's Glasses & Mustache!"

5
outofnamedelumesOP•

Southland was my awesomest acting job ever. Regina King is one of the strongest most underrated actresses ever. Plus she's hot and both 227 and Friday rock. My girlfriend sleeps like that when she gets her did.

5
chrisis123•

First off: Your music is great. Normally I'm not that much into Hip Hop admittedly but the song is catchy (and you're very good), and of course the music video is amazing.

Second: I'm a huge Better Off Ted fan, so of course I was excited by the prospect of you and Jonathan doing an AMA on reddit. Especially as Phil and Lem probably were my favorite on the show. And now I can't think about a good question. Only that I'm still sad Better Off Ted was cancelled. I still cannot understand, why not more people watched the show, it was that amazing.

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outofnamedelumesOP•

First Off: Thank u. The album will be done soon and hopefully I can make another video come soon. This one only was made for the cheap and worked out so lets see...

Second: C'monnnn! This is your big opportunity! Lem and fucking Phil! ...Comedy's answer to 'Another 48 Hrs.' and you got nothing?! You didn't even put it in question form. Then it just devolves... "I still cannot understand, why not more people watched the show," C'mon dude! That's not even proper grammar. I'm telling Jonathan

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chrisis123•

About that grammar thing: I'm sorry, it wasn't even 6am where I'm living while typing that, and English isn't my native language. I consider myself to be quite good at English grammar though, so that's even more embarrassing.

Anyway, you wanted a question, you get one: Why were Lem and Phil so amazing? Yup, that's the question. Happy now? ;)

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

It's ok. I'm eating pizza watching 'Toxic' by Brittany Spears so I'm oretty busy myself. What's your first language? My boy Stabbyclaus's first language is Belgium and he's always talking funny. A boy of mine was from Bosnia and the only weird thing is he never knew cartoons from childhood. I would bring up Fraggle Rock and he would have no clue.

To answer the question (seriously for once), we were awesome because we spent years auditioning for weirdos and so we crossed paths alot and really wanted to work together... by the time we got together we just had a naturally-aligned rhythm.

"Bitches love smiley faces" The Boondocks

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chrisis123•

My first language is German, but I'm not from Germany (Austria to be exact). Also Belgium is not a language, he probably either speaks French or Dutch (or, far less likely, German). Also I love Fraggle Rock, had this in our childhood as well here.

Also, thanks again for doing that AMA (also, I was one of your Twitter followers while you still had less followers than people you were following.). Also I need to see you in that Larry Crowne, just looked at the cast list on imdb, all my favorites are in that movie.

3
ignitionnight•

What is the writing process like for a rapper? Do you match the beat to a few bars, and go from there or do you start at the beat and fit shit in? Also you gonna name drop me in a freestyle?

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outofnamedelumesOP•

Sometimes you have some lines in your head that you're just waiting to use, you're just waiting for the write song. Other times you hear beats that completely dictate the style in which you wanna rhyme. Freestyle hitting twitter during me and Johnny's AMA

4
Leemors_Bed•

The write song? Well done, sir.

2
ElectricInstinct•

You and Phil! Are you guys going to do something science-y? I hope you guys do something science-y! By the way, have you two come to an agreement regarding this:

Phil: Lem, you can't hurt a baby.

Lem: Well, you can hurt them. They're not indestructible.

Phil: I meant it's morally indefensible.

Lem: Well, what if the baby killed a man?

Phil: You and your moral puzzles. I just love 'em.

Also, I didn't realize until long after my second time through Better Off Ted that you also appeared on one of my other favorite shows, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Good job on the whole acting thing!

5
Pwn_Toney•

'...what if the baby killed a man?' is one of the funniest shits I've ever heard in my life. Second only to, '...I don't want want to give her my baby ingredients.' :D

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

Taking a smoke break

4
LNMagic•

Games... music... smoke... it's like you were born to have a reddit cult following. As soon as you hate hipsters, the cycle is complete!

2
Annoyingquestion•

What would you rather listen to five times nonstop Malcom in the middles theme song or the opening chest song from ocarina of time?

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outofnamedelumesOP•

I guess Ocarina of time. Although I'd rather listen to "Instanbul" by They Might be Giants as popularized by the Animaniacs

12
ElectricInstinct•

Ehem. You mean "popularized by Tiny Toons."

1
FallenWyvern•

Oooh, that would almost be embarrassing if you weren't, well y'know, you. It's hard to be embarrassed in front of a bunch of people who adore you and the things you're in.

1
philgordon•

Congrats on all your current success... Glad to see you climbing the ranks! Loved the song, video, ravishing blonde and the Bones tees!
As for my question, you ready to rock the mic at one of these upcoming shows!!!!

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

Yeah, Andrea's pretty hot... and funny. She can't worth a damn but you can't have everything. I'm in NY from the 25th to the 29th opening for Junclassic but I have no idea where. But you tell me when and have some buckets of water ready because shit... will.. be... ON... FIRE!!

3
philgordon•

Haha... word.. CANT.. WAIT. K told me something about the Panda Bar!

2
zatch17•

better off ted was probably the best comedy since arrested development. your rapport with Phil, or John, or whoever was amazing. can't you at least get a spin-off? and if you can get all the actors to do a music video with you, why can't you do a better final episode? I hope all is well, your song is awesome, and I hope that something materializes so we can see the hilarity of Phil & Lem once again.

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

Unfortunately, or fortunately, actors have no say in the fate of television shows. I would love a spin-off. We've talked to the executive producer about the options and he's tried lots. Also, it's hard to pitch a spin-off for a cancelled show. That's usually reserved for... y'know, shows that are on.

4
LNMagic•

One of the most amazing things to me about that show was how quickly the episodes had a sort of groove going on. Everyone knew where they fit in together. When I compare that to a lot of other shows (comedies in particular), it usually takes a season or two before everything fits together really well. I only discovered the show thanks to Hulu about 3 months before it was cancelled. I was really surprised at that decision.

You guys had an awesome team. I'm sorry the show didn't last, but it doesn't have to be a completely sad thing. Again, lots of talent went into the show. My best friend was a location manager for The Good Guys, which was an entirely decent cop comedy, though not as good as yours. Do you have anything else coming up?

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

Hey, I did an episode of The Good Guys! Awesomest time, met @sbookstaver and @drlawyercop there. They're a director and writer. You're gonna see alot from @drlawyercop... Aaron something. They are awesome and I can now I say I've worked with Tom and Colin Hanks.

I got a pretty sizable role playing Craig Robinson's (The Office, Hot Tub Time Machine). It's got Kerry Washington, David Alan Grier, Tyler James Williams... tons of folks. It's called 'We The Peeples' coming our January of next year.

And of course 'Larry Crowne' with Colin's dad is in theaters now!

2
LNMagic•

Thanks! Comedy's hard to pull off - especially slapstick. It's nice to see a little revival. I'll look for We The Peeples.

2
LNMagic•

Can I have your doughnut?

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

No. I'm offended you asked.

5
storm5guy•

Better Off Ted is such an awesome show! Did you guys ad lib much, or was it mostly by the script?

3
outofnamedelumesOP•

There was no ad-libbing whatsoever. So me and Johnny would play with physical shit... So if you watch, most of the physical stuff we'd come up with. Or anything just after dialogue ends... like the walking with the potato scene

7
PlutoISaPlanet•

Verbal, top 5-10 rappers that you enjoy/influenced you/whatevers?

3
rhllor•

Do you like cats?

2
outofnamedelumesOP•

No but they do love me. It's weird.

4
outofnamedelumesOP•

Actually, let me clarify. I like cats but in a reluctant, don't-act-like-you-don't-need-me kind of way... like how I deal with kids.

6
ignitionnight•

Marry, Fuck and Kill, choices are Hillary Clinton, Michelle Bachman, Sarah Palin.

2
outofnamedelumesOP•

Marry - Ms Clinton Fuck - Sarah Palin Kill - Michelle Bachman

10
outofnamedelumesOP•

Disclaimer - Don't actually kill people.

7
ArchGoodwin•

There really wasn't any other acceptable solution.

7
outofnamedelumesOP•

I mean, really.

2
ignitionnight•

yeah, I thought I was clever with the mfk but stumbled with the selection.

3
[deleted]•

Any possibility of a web series? I miss it so much.

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outofnamedelumesOP•

Um.. I don't know. Me and Johnny have talked about doing some sort of vlog. Who knows... I miss it too aidanj2... i miss it, too

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