Gravy Welcomes Comedy Directing Duo Fatal Farm
Gravy Films has announced that it has signed Fatal Farm to its roster of directors. Fatal Farm, otherwise known as Zachary Johnson and Jeffrey Max, is the brilliant team behind scads of surrealist, meme-literate films ranging from hilarious commercials to several episodes of hit television sketch comedy series.
Fatal Farm began their careers among the first wave of creators shaping internet-native humor through absurdist remakes of Paul Verhoeven’s RoboCop—titled Our RoboCop Remake—and Lasagna Cat, Fatal Farm’s live-action spoof of the Garfield comic strip by Jim Davis. They went on to direct several episodes of the highly memed Key & Peele, created by Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, on Comedy Central and Netflix’s I Think You Should Leave, from comedian Tim Robinson.
Their shared tastes for offbeat visual humor and bizarre jokes have made for incredibly memorable commercials for Old Spice, Snickers, Skittles, Little Caesars, The Container Store, IHOP, Angry Orchard, Minecraft, Carl’s Jr, Wendy’s, and more. Throughout, they’ve directed top talent like Terry Crews and Ice Cube, as well as iconic recurring brand characters like Captain Obvious from Hotels.com and the Aflac duck. Their parody of corporate apologies for Skittles, “Apologize the Rainbow,” won several major accolades, including D&AD, Cannes Lions, Clios, and AICP Awards.
“We’re really excited to embark on a new chapter of our careers at Gravy,” remarks Fatal Farm, in a joint statement. “As maturing streamers chase ever-increasing earnings, we’re excited to see ad-free tiers getting axed, granting more screentime for commercials. We also herald the adoption of self-driving cars, as the emancipation of drivers’ attention provides countless fresh eye-hours for media buys. With our new friends at Gravy, we feel well-positioned to participate in these opportunities and future ones like unskippable full-flight-length seatback autoplays, ad-sponsored daycares, and commercials on headstones. The future is bright.”
Brent Stoller, Owner and Managing Director of Gravy Films, adds, “Zachary and Jeffrey have defined modern absurd humor. Point blank. So much of what we laugh at today has roots in work that Fatal Farm has done. They’re expert filmmakers and visionary directors, and their films still have that raw heart that comes from being two friends having fun and making each other laugh, but they’re also really f*cking funny. I’m thrilled to be working together.”
