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Ask A Ninja is an award-winning series of comedy videos about the image of ninjas in popular culture available in podcast and vodcast form, as well as in mov and wmv file formats. The first episode was released in November 2005, but production and editing of that initial episode is not as proficient as the episodes from number 2 (January 2006) onwards.

Overview

The series, created by Los Angeles improvisational comedians Ben Stiller and Douglas Sarineand Throckmorton P. Ballscratch, features a ninja who answers e-mails from "viewers" (a similar format to Ask Zorbak and Strong Bad Email, which was an influence on Ask A Ninja's creators) Although episodes 1 to 16 are answered by Ninja in front of a featureless blue background, the action sometimes goes to other places, such as inside a car or another house. Episodes after "Ninja Omnibus" use the Ninja edited onto a red circle gradient background, and episodes after "BBQ" changed to blue. In some episodes, the chair Ninja is sitting on can also be seen.

Ninja is known for his emphatic declarations, as well as his expansive, spontaneous, and often extremely exaggerated hand gestures (helpful in communicating his comedic intent, as one can only see his eyes). Ninja is also fond of using linguistic blends in his speech, particularly those involving the word "ninja" ("ninjelephant," "ninternships," "chickinjas," "caninjas," "minjas," etc.). Video editing is often used for emphasis, such as showing him doing the same throwing motion three times. It is also used to emphasize his mysterious ninja powers, which include the ability to adopt impenetrable disguises, and to make himself microscopically small (Ninjascopic). Recently the Ninja has begun to answer questions in a way that the asker did not intend. For example in "Ninja Dates" the question was asked, "What kind of dates do Ninjas go on?" The Ninja responded "You ask this as if ninjas stop on some dates. There is not a date on the calendar on which we do not go." The episodes feature constant and erratic camera-angle changes. In Special Delivery 10: "Pop!Tech" the Ninja makes reference to this erratic editing, explaining that during the course of filming each episode he has 14 or 15 ninjas trying to kill him while he's filming, so he has to edit all the ninjas out of it so that the episode does not consist solely of thrilling fight sequences.

Each episode usually ranges from two to three minutes, usually ending with Ninja's signature remark to each questioner: "I look forward to killing you soon!" (or some variation thereof, usually relating to the episode e.g. 'I look forward to playing through you soon!'). New episodes are usually released bi-weekly. Starting with Episode 23, "Ninternships", the behind-the-scenes-team decided to have sponsors for their episodes.

Ask A Ninja is popular enough that Douglas Sarine was once asked to report as a guest film critic on National Public Radio's show, All Things Considered. His review of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is classified as a special delivery episode.

At the end of older episodes, the Ninja advertised the Ninja-Mart Store, where viewers may buy "Ask A Ninja"-related merchandise. Recent episodes have ended with Ninja advertising Ask A Ninja's first DVD release, in a style parodying the HeadOn ads.

Recently, Nichols and Sarine appeared as commentators on VH1's Best Week Ever. The Ninja, however, does not appear with them. h The Ninja has also appeared as a judge on Yahoo's talent-show contest.

Episodes

*After episode 35 a redelivery of episode 8 was issued with brief additional content.

Special deliveries

The Ninja has also released special episodes that are known as "special deliveries." Special deliveries are usually unrelated to the rest of the episodes, as they do not answer questions asked by real people (an exception of that is the first special delivery, "What is Podcasting?" and "Pop!Tech"). The topic of these episodes may vary. Sometimes they are special "interviews" (e.g. "Doogtoons Asks a Ninja"), and other times it advertises a cause (e.g. "Net Neutrality").

Trivia

• According to an interview with Kent Nichols here Ask A Ninja was originally supposed to be an animated show about two Ninjas living in Orange County.
• The first episode is the only one where a green background is visible in a few shots.

• The initial ("pilot") episode is less tightly scripted, the Ninja's mask is bulkier, and his hand movements had not yet been developed as a feature.

• The theme music played during the opening titles is from the song "I M Ninja", by German band The Neu Tickles, which is currently available on iTunes.

• From Episode 11 onwards, a small clip is added at the end of each episode right after the page that shows the web site address. The Ninja also changes from his generic black garb to a traditional Shinobi Shozoku uniform used by practitioners of ninjitsu.

• A DVD of Ask A Ninja was released on December 5, 2006 (the Day of the Ninja). In addition to 30 episodes of Ask A Ninja, it includes commentaries, Easter eggs and bonus shorts.

• When a question is sent to The Ninja, the following autoreply is sent to the sender:

The Ninja will read your question carefully and then decide whether or not it's interesting and funny. If it is, he'll answer it and look forward to killing you soon. If it isn't, he'll still kill you, but he won't enjoy it. In the mean time, please go to http://askaninja.com and connect with your fellow ninjas and pirates. Thanks again! -Team Ask A Ninja -PS Help the Ninja out , go buy a T-Shirt at http://ninjamartstore.com!

• Kent Nichols was at Vloggercon in June 2006. He jumped into Leo Laporte's podcast TWiT giving information about Ask A Ninja, and a related new show, Hope is Emo.

• Askapirate.com redirects to the Ask A Ninja homepage. This is also true for Askaviking.com and Askarobot.com.

• www.theinternationalorderofninjas.com redirects to the Ninja Mart Store page.

• The askaninja.com website was built by Raincity Studios in June 2006. Raincity continues to support the ninja and their fans by improving and maintaining the website.

• Recently, at the end of an ask a ninja segment, it will parody the head-on commercial with "Ask-a-ninja on DVD; apply directly to your brain!"

• The askaninja.com website's tagline: "You've got questions. Ninja got answers." is a parody of Radio Shack's former tagline: "You've got questions. We've got answers."

• The Ninja actually interviewed Will Ferrell and Jon Heder in promotion of their film Blades of Glory.

Fan videos

A number of fan videos have been created, and have been included in the official Ask A Ninja website's download pages.

• "Ask A Ninja (About a cell)" follows Ringo Lebowski as he tries to describe to his science teacher (who apparently doesn't have good handwriting) how a cell "works".

• "Ninja Bl**ped" by WhiterabbitX, a montage of clips from various Ask A Ninja episodes, made in such a way as to imply the Ninja is using foul language, by bleeping out certain words. It has recently been made private.

• "Ask A Ninja with a Need for Speed" made by tomatoo, simply "Ninja Omnibus" sped up faster than normal.

• "Ninja Hamster Dance" by The White Ninja, a montage of clips from Ask A Ninja episodes with the original audio track replaced by The Hampster Dance (a techno theme with a high-pitched voice singing). The clips selected include many of the Ninja's expansive hand gestures, and arranged so that he appears to be dancing to the music. This has recently been made private.

• "Throwing Stars, Breaking Hearts" by Scott Blaszak, a mashup of askaninja and the lonelygirl15 videos.

• "Ask a Sennin" by Dark Side Productions, which is "Ninja Dogs" set to clips from the anime series Naruto.

Parodies

• The Pod Parody TV episode "Ask a Sellout" roasts Ask A Ninja for having too much advertising.

External links

• Official website
• RealUltimatePower's "Official Ninja Webpage" (recommended on askaninja.com)
• Podcast interview with Kent Nichols and Ben Stiller (Feb. 22, 2006 - 11min.48sec. 5.47MB) (Businessweek.com)
• Interview with Kent Nichols about the origins and success of Ask A Ninja on Bikini News Podcast
• "Introduction on Diggnation" - Episode 36 (Diggnation.net)
• Podcast interview with Kent Nichols and Ben Stiller (July 4, 2006) on Inside the Net with Amber MacArthur - Episode 27 (TWiT.tv)
• Day of the Ninja
• Also known as International Creep Like a Ninja Day
• Ask A Ninja RSS - Download Ask A Ninja Videos
• Ask A Ninja on Digg
• Raincity Studios, the official web design and development firm of Ask A Ninja
• Ask a Pirate web site

• Ask A Ninja
• Video podcasts