Jarrod Alonge is an American comedian, songwriter and music producer. He is best known for his parodies of the artists, sub-genres and stereotypes within alternative music. He has released three independent full-length studio albums, Beating a Dead Horse, Friendville and Awkward & Depressed, all of which reached number one on the BillboardTop Comedy Albums chart. Alonge is the owner and founder of Boketo Media, a digital media and production company which launched in March 2019. He is also the lead songwriter and guitarist of post-hardcore project CrazyEightyEight.
Career
Alonge began posting videos online via YouTube as early as 2009, but did not gain a substantial following until the releases of ' and ' in the summer of 2013. His early video ideas were the result of experiences he had while attending concerts in high school, commenting that the stage voice and persona of metalcore vocalists was "absolutely ridiculous." Since then, he has released sketch videos in collaboration with bands like Issues, Sleeping With Sirens and We Came As Romans. Alonge's sarcastic, satirical and deadpan style of comedy has earned him considerable acclaim. In 2014, he won the Kerrang! Award for Best Comedian. Alonge independently released his debut music comedy album Beating a Dead Horse on May 26, 2015, working closely with ex-Attack Attack! guitarist and producer Johnny Franck. The album features seven different fictitious bands created by Alonge that satirize the tropes of various genres within alternative music, including metalcore, post-hardcore, pop punk, emo, progressive metal, hardcore punk and others. The album was a critical and commercial success, reaching number 1 on the Billboard Top Comedy Albums chart and number 18 on the Top Heatseekers chart. Alonge continued writing comedy music and released the pop punk parody album Friendville on April 1, 2016. Shortly after in June 2016, he released the metalcore parody extended playSpace Zombies EP. Alonge served as the Fearless Records pit reporter for Warped Tour 2015 and 2016, making sketch videos with various bands on the tour including Blessthefall, PVRIS, August Burns Red, The Word Alive, As It Is, The Color Morale, Wage War and Oceans Ate Alaska. In November 2015, Alonge made an appearance on Punk Goes Christmas Deluxe Edition alongside August Burns Red, This Wild Life and Being As An Ocean. In July 2016, Alonge presented the Most Dedicated Fans Award to The Ghost Inside at the 2016 Alternative Press Music Awards in Columbus, Ohio. In May 2017, Alonge unveiled his new project, CrazyEightyEight, a post-hardcore band featuring Lauren Babic of Red Handed Denial as the lead vocalist. The group's debut EP, No Words Spoken, was released on June 2, 2017, followed by their debut albumBurning Alive on December 14, 2018, featuring the addition of Patty Walters of the band As It Is on bass guitar. His third full-length comedy album Awkward & Depressed was released on July 28, 2017 under the moniker of emo band Canadian Softball. In March 2020, Alonge announced that he would be releasing his fourth comedy album The Praxis of Prophylaxis under the moniker of Vermicide Violence, Alonge's fictitious deathcore band. The album will focus on public health topics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, breast cancer, tinnitus and more. The first music video "Coronaviscerated" was released shortly after the announcement and features a guest guitar solo from fellow YouTube musician Jared Dines. The second song from the album, "Asthmatic Asphyxiation", was released on April 10. The album was released on April 17. In March 2019, Alonge announced that his YouTube channel would no longer be solely focused on comedy videos and instead rebrand as Boketo Media, a digital media and production company which works closely with independent artists. Since then he has collaborated with artists like Bilmuri, The Mailboxes, Whale Bones and The Seafloor Cinema.
