Visual Effects Society (VES) announced that actors-comedians Randy and Jason Sklar – The Sklar Brothers – will host the 23rd Annual VES Awards on 11 February at The Beverly Hilton hotel. This marks the duo’s first hosting engagement of the prestigious annual celebration that recognises outstanding visual effects artistry and innovation from around the world.
“No one understands the power of visual effects more than two identical humans. We are honoured to have the opportunity to host the VES Awards. And if Randy isn’t funny, we’ll edit him out in post,” said one half of the VES Awards hosting team The Sklar Brothers.
The Sklar Brothers are a post-modern take on a stand-up comedy duo. The duo can currently be seen in the fourth season of FX’s What We Do in The Shadows playing fictional property brothers Bran and Toby Daltry. The Sklars produced, wrote, and starred in The Nosebleeds, a UFC original series that released this summer on UFC’s Fight Pass. The series is a hilarious deep dive into UFC’s history featuring comedy sketches, field pieces, and in-studio character bits.
The duo hosted and produced History Channel’s United States of America and created and starred in the ESPN cult hit series Cheap Seats, besides being guest hosts on Jeff Ross Presents Roast Battle. Their television credits include Glow, Bajillion Dollar Properties, Maron, Agent Carter, Playing House, Partners, Grey’s Anatomy, Curb Your Enthusiasm, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Entourage, CSI, Law & Order and Comedy Central Presents. They released their special, Hipster Ghosts on Starz. They also recently produced the documentary, Poop Talk. The Sklars have recurred on the TruTV series Those Who Can’t and several episodes of AMC’s hit series Better Call Saul.
The brothers can also be seen in Wild Hogs and The Comebacks, while their internet shows Held Up, Layers and Back on Topps have received critical acclaim. They also recurred as panelists on ESPN’s SportsCenter and E!’s Chelsea Lately. Their podcast View From the Cheap Seats (formerly Sklarbro Country) was nominated for best comedy podcast in 2012 at Comedy Central’s comedy awards and their new podcast Dumb People Town is averaging 75,000 downloads per episode in its first month. They are currently developing the pilot for Dumb People Town, based on the podcast, with Will Arnett’s Electric Avenue and Val Kilmer Ruined Our Lives with Bill Lawrence.
As previously announced, the awards will be presented in 25 categories for outstanding visual effects. Special honourees at the 23rd Annual VES Award include: Golden Globe nominee and Emmy Award-winning actor-producer Hiroyuki Sanada, receiving the VES Award for Creative Excellence; Academy Award-winning director and visual effects supervisor Takashi Yamazaki receiving the VES Visionary Award; and acclaimed virtual reality/immersive technology pioneer Dr. Jacquelyn Ford Morie receiving the VES Georges Méliès Award.