Rampant, unbleeped expletives. Winners who wondered what was going on. A host who said the gig was good practice for his next job, "hosting the trainwreck awards." And not one streaker, but two.
The 2nd annual Streamy Awards, which took place Sunday night at the Orpheum Theater in downtown Los Angeles, were a wild, rough, disorganized and freewheeling antidote to usual award-show decorum, as befits an awards show devoted to web-only television programming, ranging from professional productions to bargain-basement DIY shows.
"I am so confused about this awards show," said "The Guild" director Sean Becker, who won for Best Directing for a Comedy Web Series.
The three-hour show, which kicked off with a song-and-dance number and also included actress (and Streamy winner) Illeanna Douglas fronting a rock band while wearing a platinum blonde wig (right), gave a couple of its big awards to the absent Zach Galifianakis, who won for Best Male Actor in a Comedy Web Series for "Between Two Ferns," which also won for Best Comedy Web Series. In the one-on-one interview spoof, featured on Funnyordie.com, Galifianakis plays himself as a clueless and not-to-be-bothered host.
Another big winner was "The Bannen Way," on the Sony-owned Crackle site. The drama took home awards for Best Drama Web Series, Best Directing for a Drama Web Series (Jesse Warren) and Best Male Actor in a Drama Web Series (Mark Gantt).
Other acting winners included Felicia Day for "The Guild," Rachael Hip-Flores for "Anyone But Me," "Weird Al" Yankovic for "Know Your Meme" and the ensemble cast of "Easy to Assemble."
With funky audio, moments when the wrong clips were shown, a colorful audience (left) and a variety of other technical problems, the show had a loose, ragged feel. "Last year's show was very serious, and this year we're a lot more playful and uninhibited," saidd Brady Brim-DeForest, chief executive officer of Tubefilter and one of the show's executive producers.
He laughed. "We learned a lot tonight."
The show's host was Paul Scheer, from MTV’s “Human Giant” series, FX’s “The League” and HBO’s “Funny or Die Presents."
