Though we’ve always been a touch put off by the menacing directive implicit to its name, fact is, Funny or Die has an eye for video hilarity. This week, the humor site cast said eye on a trio of Austin filmmakers.

“Modern Man,” from John Merriman, Kerri Lendo, and Picturebox’s David Layton, garnered thousands of hits on Funny or Die within hours of its debut on Funny or Die, trending big enough to be picked up by Huffington Post. To say too much would spoil its charms, but as we’re currently neck-deep in the assemblage of our SXSW Interactive preview, the short’s techno-obsession struck a chord with us for sure.

You can watch the short here on Funny or Die. If you can’t get enough of John Merriman – and seriously, how could you get enough of the most reliably, nuttily entertaining Austin actor working today? – look for him in a new comic short, “J.P.B.F.,” with longtime collaborators Steve Collins and Courtney Davis, in SXSW Film’s Midnight Short Competition.

This article appears in February 10 • 2012.

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A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas, Kimberley has written about film, books, and pop culture for The Austin Chronicle since 2000. She was named Editor of the Chronicle in 2016; she previously served as the paper’s Managing Editor, Screens Editor, Books Editor, and proofreader. Her work has been awarded by the Association of Alternative Newsmedia for excellence in arts criticism, team reporting, and special section (Best of Austin). The Austin Alliance for Women...