Landis moves on to online videos

0 Comments | USA TODAY, October, 2006 | by Janet Kornblum

When Animal House director John Landis directed Michael Jackson's music video Thriller for TV, "everyone was shocked," he says. Now they can be shocked again as Landis makes his debut today on another medium: the Internet. Landis directed six comedy troupes in six short sketches showing on JibJab, the Web site that became a sensation in 2004 with its animated short This Land! featuring caricatures of then-presidential candidates John Kerry and George Bush.

JibJab invited 50 comedy troupes to submit scripts for sketches, and then JibJab's founders, brothers Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, along with Landis, chose the winning six. The teams flew to Los Angeles, and all the sketches were directed and filmed in three days. An Internet audience will select the winner of $10,000 and a...