Aaron Landry

Amber "Glych" Greenlee and Hamil Griffin-Cassidy, originally uploaded by s4xton.

“Philo” is Hamil Griffin-Cassidy’s latest project on MTN. Put simply, it’s a live comic strip. A random viewer calls in to the show and suggests how the comic should start, and then each subsequent caller gets to decide what happens in the next panel.

The common thread to each episode is the reoccurring character Philo, who is named after Philo Farnsworth, who created the first fully working television system. Hamil is joined by Amber “Glych” Greenlee, an artist who tuned in one night, called in, and then was invited to co-host for the next episode. She’s co-hosted since.

Callers range from young children, a guy complimenting the host’s appearance (then hanging up), a clearly baked woman that watched because it happened to be after the show “The Hemp Channel” to a forty-seven year old “ex-drug addict” telling his life story (which includes him apparently getting hit by a MTC bus while the bus driver was on his mobile phone and other implausible adventures). In between, these people and others decide “what Philo does next” while Amber and Hamil illustrate it. A couple strange patterns have developed such as Philo’s tendency to constantly get into fights and the reoccurrence of Philo’s cat to get into the action.

Some callers have claimed that “this is the best show on television.” I’m not sure if I’d go that far but it is certainly something unique for the people of Minneapolis to participate in from their couches. And many times, it’s pretty hilarious.

See my behind the scenes photos and check it out on MTN 16, Mondays from 9:30-10:30pm. I hope to get video of the latest episode online soon.

By the way, does anyone know anything about Kitten TV? I need to catch that show!