Flying High: Doug Benson Loves Woot Monkeys

[RSS FEED]

You might have seen comedian Doug Benson on shows like Last Comic Standing, Comedy Central Presents, or The Benson Interruption. You might have seen him in his docu-comedy film, Super High Me. If you haven't heard of him, his stand-up, or his podcast Doug Loves Movies, you're missing out. Benson's act riffs on pop culture, stoner humor, and his own absurd dark streak to mine some of the funniest, most relatable comedy on the scene today.

And it turns out, he has a soft spot for our lovable flying mascots.

 

Lots of us here at Woot are fans of Doug, but few are more enthusiastic than our own Dave Wilder. Dave brought some Woot monkeys and t-shirts to a Benson show in Dallas last year as a token of appreciation/corporate branding. Naturally, Doug did what anyone would do when a stranger hands you a box full of weird screaming monkeys. He started giving them away.  

"I always kind of assumed it was a huge pile of cocaine backstage."

It became a regular thing at shows and tapings of his podcast: a Woot monkey shot out as a giveaway to the audience. It got to the point where in  one episode of Doug Loves Movies, Benson noted he had no idea why he was doing this, as he wasn't getting any kind of promotional consideration. We couldn't have him getting wise, so once again Dave showed up at a Doug Benson and Graham Elwood show, this time in Austin, to keep them flush with monkeys like any good pusher would. 

"The nice man from Woot said the first one's free."

It turns out the indie comedy crowd isn't quite as hip to us as we'd like; Woot monkeys are often met with slightly-confused interest and questions like, "Wait. This website just sells monkeys? How do they stay in business?" Ha! Silly audience member! That would be a RIDICULOUS business plan! No, we sell monkeys AND refurbished junk! 

"I still don't get how your company exists."

Now that we're getting mentioned almost every night at his shows, we figure it's time to reach out and make the offer: Doug Benson-themed Woot monkeys! We'll sew his face on them and everything. We foresee absolutely no problem getting corporate to greenlight selling monkeys with giant pot leaves on their capes. Now if I could only get Jimmy Pardo to return my calls we could start storming the comedy scene in earnest! 

Six tries and the best shot we had was the logo upside down.

Dave was nice enough to snap a ton of photos of Doug and his fans enjoying some monkey business. You can see more here on his Flickr stream. 

Have you seen a Woot reference on a celebrity in the wild? Pics or it didn't happen! Or just tell us in the comments below.



More...