Jake and Amir

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{{Main|Jake and Amir (web series)}}

Jake and Amir is a web series set in CollegeHumor's office in New York City and later Los Angeles where Jake Hurwitz and Amir Blumenfeld played humorous versions of themselves: Jake is usually depicted as a sensible "straight man" and Amir as his annoying, obsessive, and odd co-worker.{{Cite news |url=https://variety.com/2012/scene/people-news/hurwitz-blumenfeld-college-humor-duo-graduate-to-next-level-1118056720/ |title=Hurwitz & Blumenfeld: College Humor duo graduate to next level |last=Kushigemachi |first=Todd |date=July 24, 2012 |work=Variety |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=October 3, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181003221014/https://variety.com/2012/scene/people-news/hurwitz-blumenfeld-college-humor-duo-graduate-to-next-level-1118056720/ |url-status=live }} Running for over eight years, Jake and Amir was CollegeHumor's longest-running series and has amassed approximately one-billion views as of April 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/jake-and-amirs-decade-of-perfect-timing/|title=Jake and Amir's Decade of Perfect Timing|date=April 26, 2017|work=Vice|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=December 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229220340/https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/53vjez/jake-and-amirs-decade-of-perfect-timing|url-status=live}}

The show was started in 2007 as a way for Jake and Amir to have fun at work. As it grew in popularity, CollegeHumor began paying Jake and Amir to make the videos for their website. Over its eight-year run, the web series featured a number of guests, including actors Thomas Middleditch, Kumail Nanjiani, Ben Schwartz, Rick Fox, and Milana Vayntrub, as well as a cameo by actor Ed Helms as 'Mickey' in one of the final episodes. In 2011, CollegeHumor released Jake and Amir: Fired, a thirty-minute special in which Amir is fired and Jake is promoted.{{cite press release|url=http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/collegehumor-media-presents-jake-and-amir-fired-131583298.html|title=CollegeHumor Media Presents 'Jake and Amir: Fired'|date=October 12, 2011|access-date=December 29, 2018|agency=PR Newswire|medium=Press release|archive-date=December 30, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230030237/https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/collegehumor-media-presents-jake-and-amir-fired-131583298.html|url-status=live}} The special was CollegeHumor's first paid content, and was available for purchase online or as a DVD.{{cite web|url=http://allthingsd.com/20111011/serious-business-collegehumor-tries-selling-web-video/?refcat=media|title=Serious Business? CollegeHumor Tries Selling Web Video.|last=Kafka|first=Peter|date=October 11, 2011|work=All Things Digital|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=September 25, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925052936/http://allthingsd.com/20111011/serious-business-collegehumor-tries-selling-web-video/?refcat=media|url-status=live}}

Jake and Amir ended in February 2015 when CollegeHumor released the series' eight-part finale.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc1v39nlkMU%7cCollegeHumor|title=A Jake and Amir Special Announcement|date=January 27, 2015|via=YouTube|access-date=December 29, 2018}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}} On October 27, 2016, the pair returned to CollegeHumor for a single episode of Jake and Amir, titled Jake and Amir: Donald Trump, to comment on the 2016 United States presidential election.{{Cite news|url=http://whatstrending.com/trending-now/23217-jake-amir-collegehumor-election-2016|title=Jake and Amir Are Back One More Time... to Cover the Election|last=Price|first=Shepard|date=October 28, 2016|work=What's Trending|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=May 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180515060300/http://whatstrending.com/trending-now/23217-jake-amir-collegehumor-election-2016|url-status=live}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.collegehumor.com/video/7041140/jake-and-amir-donald-trump|title=Jake and Amir: Donald Trump — CollegeHumor Video|date=October 27, 2016|website=CollegeHumor|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=December 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229220855/http://www.collegehumor.com/video/7041140/jake-and-amir-donald-trump|url-status=live}}

The pair returned with another video on March 31, 2020 on their HeadGum channel in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic with a skit about Amir's social distancing ideas.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rftyqoYKx1Q|title=Jake and Amir: Social Distance Scroll|date=March 31, 2020 |via=www.youtube.com|access-date=April 8, 2020|archive-date=July 22, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200722102020/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rftyqoYKx1Q|url-status=live}}

In April of 2021, the majority of the videos from the Jake and Amir series were removed from Collegehumor's YouTube channel and transferred to a new channel run by the pair (called "JakeandAmir"), as they had regained the intellectual rights to create new episodes whenever they chose.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshweiss/2021/04/30/comedy-duo-jake-and-amir-grow-media-empire-with-new-dating-app--rights-to-their-hit-web-series/amp/|title=Comedy Duo 'Jake And Amir' Grow Media Empire With New Dating App & The Rights To Their Hit Web Series|date=April 30, 2021|website=Forbes|access-date=July 6, 2021|archive-date=October 23, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023151346/https://www.forbes.com/sites/joshweiss/2021/04/30/comedy-duo-jake-and-amir-grow-media-empire-with-new-dating-app--rights-to-their-hit-web-series/amp/|url-status=live}}

In August of 2021, the first new episode of "Jake and Amir" was released on the duo's YouTube channel.

In December 2013, Deadline reported that Jake and Amir were being brought on by TBS to star in a comedy directed by Ed Helms.{{Cite news |url=https://deadline.com/2013/12/tbs-to-adapt-hit-online-series-jake-amir-as-tv-comedy-with-ed-helms-producing-654387/ |title=TBS To Adapt Hit Online Series 'Jake & Amir' As TV Comedy With Ed Helms Producing |last=Andreeva |first=Nellie |date=December 29, 2013 |website=Deadline Hollywood |access-date=December 19, 2018 |archive-date=December 19, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181219160414/https://deadline.com/2013/12/tbs-to-adapt-hit-online-series-jake-amir-as-tv-comedy-with-ed-helms-producing-654387/ |url-status=live }} When news came in February 2015 of Jake and Amir's departure from CollegeHumor, fans pushed for TBS to pick up the production with the Twitter trending campaign #GreenLightJakeandAmir.{{Cite news |url=http://www.greenlightjakeandamir.com/ |title=Greenlight Jake and Amir |date=January 29, 2015 |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229220517/http://www.greenlightjakeandamir.com/ |url-status=live }} TBS ultimately declined the proposal, but TruTV noticed the social media campaign and ordered a pilot episode. On December 20, 2015, it was announced that TruTV had decided not to pick up the show.{{Cite web |url=https://headgum.com/if-i-were-you/189-silver-lining |title=189: Silver Lining |website=HeadGum |publisher=If I Were You |access-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-date=December 31, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181231092318/https://headgum.com/if-i-were-you/189-silver-lining |url-status=live }}

While TruTV and TBS ultimately did not run their TV series, Jake and Amir were offered the opportunity to return to Vimeo to create an original web series. On April 8, 2016, a new web series titled Lonely and Horny, directed by Jake and written by and starring Jake and Amir, was released on Vimeo.{{cite web |url=https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lonelyandhorny |title=Watch Lonely and Horny Online |date=March 9, 2016 |publisher=Jake and Amir |via=Vimeo |access-date=March 10, 2016 |archive-date=March 11, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160311080341/https://vimeo.com/ondemand/lonelyandhorny |url-status=live }} The on-demand series is about a 30-something-year-old Ruby Jade, played by Amir, who wants to have sex more than anything. His dating-coach, Josh Rice, played by Jake, sets out to help Ruby find love.{{Cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5537304/ |title=Lonely and Horny |publisher=IMDb |access-date=July 21, 2018 |archive-date=February 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180228215850/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5537304/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/11/19/dropout-tv-review/|title=What's Up with Dropout.tv? A Review of CollegeHumor's New Venture|last=Minor|first=Jordan|date=November 14, 2018|website=The Harvard Crimson|language=en|access-date=July 12, 2019|archive-date=April 30, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190430075007/https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/11/19/dropout-tv-review/|url-status=live}}

While Lonely and Horny is intended to be a "completely different universe" than their original Jake and Amir web series, Isabelle Hellyer of Vice writes that Ruby Jade is, "written to be flawed in almost all the same ways as Jake and Amir's Amir." Conversely, Hellyer writes that the straight-man character Josh Rice is "the most multifaceted role they've ever written." The New Yorker's Ian Crouch compares the series with Jake and Amir, writing that many of the jokes and themes from the duo's shorter sketches have been "exported to the longer-form space of 'Lonely and Horny,'" and that, while "frequently very funny, it lacks the comedic density of their best short sketches."{{Cite news |title="Lonely and Horny" and Little Comedy |newspaper=The New Yorker |first=Ian |last=Crouch |date=April 29, 2016 |url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lonely-and-horny-and-little-comedy |access-date=December 31, 2018 |archive-date=January 1, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101002724/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/lonely-and-horny-and-little-comedy |url-status=live }}

On September 26, 2018, CollegeHumor announced the production of a second season of Lonely and Horny as part of their subscription service,{{Citation|last=CollegeHumor|title=How the Internet Is Ruining Comedy|date=September 26, 2018|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNzWb9Lu2Fs|access-date=December 29, 2018|archive-date=November 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181115194957/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNzWb9Lu2Fs|url-status=live}} but in 2019 the agreement between Jake and Amir and CollegeHumor ended and the show is no longer available on Dropout.{{Cite web|url=https://www.reddit.com/r/jakeandamir/comments/dmyq9a/lonely_and_horny_is_no_longer_available_on/|title=r/jakeandamir – Lonely and horny is no longer available on dropout and here is why|website=reddit|date=October 25, 2019 |language=en-US|access-date=October 26, 2019|archive-date=January 10, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200110014136/https://www.reddit.com/r/jakeandamir/comments/dmyq9a/lonely_and_horny_is_no_longer_available_on/|url-status=live}}{{Better source|date=October 2019}}

File:"If I Were You" Live Show at DC Improv 2017.jpg

{{Main|If I Were You (podcast)}}In May 2013, Jake and Amir started the podcast If I Were You as an advice show where they take listener questions and try to answer them in a helpful but funny way.{{Cite web |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-hershon/podcast-reviews-if-i-were_b_7988296.html |title=Podcast Reviews: If I Were You & Twinnovation |last=Hershon |first=Marc |date=August 14, 2015 |website=HuffPost |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=May 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170522181510/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marc-hershon/podcast-reviews-if-i-were_b_7988296.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/03/31/need-expert-advice-dont-ask-jake-and-amir/ |title=Need expert advice? Don't ask Jake and Amir. |last=Tabachnik |first=Sam |date=March 31, 2016 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=December 29, 2018 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230233934/https://www.washingtonpost.com/express/wp/2016/03/31/need-expert-advice-dont-ask-jake-and-amir/ |url-status=live }} Jake said that If I Were You was partially inspired by the NPR show Car Talk, in that their audience listens for the banter between the two hosts, not necessarily the questions themselves.

Averaging 1 million views per month, Amir says that If I Were You's audience is primarily made up of 15- to 34-year-olds. Jake says that they like advising people younger than them, "because we were there, and we came out the other side." More than that, Jake says that he enjoys reaching out to "nerdy" younger fans because they can act as role-models to show that their best days are ahead of them: "We're like a little beacon of hope for losers that are told they're gonna be cool in ten years."

Kayla Culver for The Concordian writes, "the responses Jake and Amir give probably wouldn't qualify as great advice but it's honestly not the worst advice ever given."{{Cite news |url=http://theconcordian.org/2013/09/30/if-i-were-you |title=If I Were You |first=Kayla |last=Culver |date=September 30, 2013 |work=The Concordian |access-date=December 29, 2018 |archive-date=December 30, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181230234022/http://theconcordian.org/2013/09/30/if-i-were-you |url-status=live }} Admitting that they are not experts who should be giving out advice, Amir puts forward that he at least "tends to think of us as expert 20-somethings because we've been doing it for a decade."

In 2018, Jake and Amir began producing a video version of the podcast for their Patreon page supporters.{{Cite web|url=https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/10/15/jake-amir-new-web-series-patreon/|title=Comedy Duo Jake And Amir Are Readying Web Series Return On Patreon|last=Weiss|first=Geoff|date=October 15, 2018|website=tubefilter.com|access-date=January 9, 2019|archive-date=January 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190110021437/https://www.tubefilter.com/2018/10/15/jake-amir-new-web-series-patreon/|url-status=live}}

In 2023, Jake and Amir announced they would be ending the podcast indefinitely. The final episode of If I Were You titled "589: The End Is Here" was released on April 24, 2023.{{cite web|title=If I Were You|url=https://headgum.com/if-i-were-you|publisher=HeadGum|accessdate=April 26, 2023}}

{{Main|HeadGum}}

On August 1, 2015, after leaving CollegeHumor, Jake and Amir founded a podcast network named HeadGum with their friend Marty Michael.{{Cite web |url=https://headgum.com/about |title=About HeadGum |website=headgum.com |access-date=May 3, 2019 |archive-date=April 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190425174719/https://headgum.com/about |url-status=live }} Jake and Amir's podcast, If I Were You served as the network's flagship program.{{cite web |last1=Quah |first1=Nicholas |title=So how in the world do you break into a career in podcasting, anyway? |url=https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/05/so-how-in-the-world-do-you-break-into-a-career-in-podcasting-anyway/ |website=Nieman Lab |access-date=July 30, 2019 |date=May 6, 2017 |archive-date=July 30, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190730200207/https://www.niemanlab.org/2017/05/so-how-in-the-world-do-you-break-into-a-career-in-podcasting-anyway/ |url-status=live }} HeadGum expanded into online video in 2016 when they launched a YouTube channel for comedy videos.{{cite web |title=HeadGum |url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV58y_DbGkuYCNQC2OjJWOw/about |website=YouTube |access-date=July 12, 2019 |language=en |archive-date=October 23, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211023151346/https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCV58y_DbGkuYCNQC2OjJWOw/about |url-status=live }} HeadGum is headquartered in Los Angeles.

Following the conclusion of If I Were You and a brief hiatus, Jake and Amir introduced Segments. Unlike their previous podcast, which focused solely on offering advice to listeners, Segments features a dynamic format with multiple segments per episode. The podcast description reads:{{Cite web |title=Segments |url=https://headgum.com/segments |access-date=2024-12-28 |website=Headgum}}

{{Blockquote|text=Jake and Amir host a constantly changing show that re-invents itself multiple times per episode. Each segment brings a completely new topic for Jake and Amir to discuss, dissect, and explore.}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.jakeandamir.com/ Jake and Amir's official website]
• [http://www.collegehumor.com/jakeandamir Jake and Amir section on CollegeHumor.com]

Category:CollegeHumor

Category:Performing groups established in 2007

Category:American comedy duos

Category:Headgum