A Human Giant takeover

What does the cast of the hilarious MTV sketch comedy Human Giant have in common with Courtney Love and The Foo Fighters? Well, according to their blog they've all seen Nirvana bassist Kris Noveselic naked, but now they've also been given the honor of having total control over MTV for 24 hours, under the guise of it being a telethon to keep the show on the air. Starting (already) today at Noon (EST,) the comedic forces that brought you "The Illusionators" and "Shutterbugs" have taken over MTV for 24 hours, and they'll have access to (nearly) everything ever aired on MTV, under the guise of it being a telethon to keep the show on the air. According to Human Giant Paul Scheer:

We have full access to the MTV vaults, we can play pretty much anything we want, with the exception of anything Nirvana related (Damn you, Courtney Love). So that means old Remote Control, Singled Out, Beavis and Butthead, Sifl and Ollie and tons more. Plus we’ll be airing a Human Giant Marathon. Every episode from our entire 1st season...

Sifl and Ollie? Beavis and Butthead? Count me in! (Lucky for me, I'm at home sick with a sinus infection - hooray for searing sinus pain! - and truthfully, I have nothing better to do.) If that weren't enough though, there's going to be a ton of great guests. Expected comedian appearances include Arrested Development's Will Arnett, Mr Show and Bob's Bob Odenkirk, Eugene Mirman, Stella's Michael Showalter, SNL's Andy Samberg, Fred Armisen and Bill Hader, and a whole lot more. Bands that are scheduled to appear include The National, Ted Leo (already performed - live video here,) Tapes n' Tapes, The Walkmen, Tegan and Sara, Mastadon and more (Live video of all the performances.)

They have a strong relationship with indie rock (cast member/comedian Aziz Ansari often serves as an opening act for indie bands.) The theme song to the show is performed by (the now defunct) Death From Above 1979 ("Romantic Rights",) they use Pavement's "Perfume-V" to seque sketches and both Ghostface Killah, Ted Leo, Devendra Banhart ("he ripped off my beard!") and Tapes n' Tapes have made appearances on the show. If that doesn't say enough, check out Ansari's playlist he made for MTV's Overdrive, and you get a better idea of what's in store.

Playlist: Songs on Human Giant (sampling)
Playlist: Aziz Ansari's MTV Overdrive playlist

More: Word is unless the Human Giant MTV site gets a million hits, they won't be renewed for a second season. There are some shortcuts, though... fans that show up in Times Square to deliver a pizza will also be delivering 80 hits, and, for the truly ambitious, carving Paul Scheer's gap-toothed face into Mt. Rushmore will make up the entire million. For Rob Huebel's face, though, you only get 750k.

UPDATE: They made their goal, and there was plenty of funny moments, the zaniest of which might have been the hostage situation between John Krasinski (The Office,) and Will Arnett and Michael Cera of Arrested Development (and The Daily Show's Rob Riggle.)

tags: television, comedy, music, soundtrack, mtv, human giant, dfa 1979, pavement, aziz ansari, paul scheer, rob huebel, rhapsody