Ask a Ninja

Hosted by	The Ninja
Genre	Comedy
Original release	November 2005 – present
Website	askaninja.com

Ask A Ninja is a series of comedy videos about the image of ninja in popular culture available in podcast and vodcast form, as well as in mov and WMV file formats. The episodes were released between 2005 and 2011.

In December 2007, television industry trade magazine TelevisionWeek (www.tvweek.com) reported that Ask a Ninja creators Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine made about $100,000 a month in ad revenue and income from merchandising and licensing from the show. In January 2007 Forbes listed The Ninja as one of the top "Fictional Celebrities" on the web.

The series, created by Los Angeles improvisational comedians Kent Nichols and Douglas Sarine, features a ninja who answers e-mails from "viewers" (a similar format to Ask Zorbak and Strong Bad Email, which was an influence on Ask A Ninja's creators according to Kent Nichols). According to an interview,Ask A Ninja was originally supposed to be an animated show about two Ninjas living in Orange County.

The episodes feature constant and erratic camera-angle changes, as well as enthusiastic and wild hand gestures by the Ninja. Each episode usually ranges from four to seven minutes, usually ending with Ninja's signature remark to each questioner: "I look forward to killing you soon!" New episodes had been released bi-weekly during the height of the podcast's popularity. Starting with Episode 23, "Ninternships", the behind-the-scenes-team decided to have sponsors for their episodes.

Although episodes 1 to 16 are answered by Ninja in front of a featureless blue background, the action sometimes goes to other places, such as inside a car or another house. Episodes after the "Ninja Omnibus" episode use the Ninja edited onto a red circle gradient background, and episodes after the "BBQ" episode changed to blue.

The episodes start with the song "I Am Ninja", performed by The Neu Tickles and written by satirist Brently Heilbron.

On October 4, 2010 the web series returned to re-launch as a daily series with new videos each week day. The new lineup will feature an experimental sketch show along with a weekly wrap up show (Ask A Ninja Weekly Wrap) and a showcase of emerging web shows that the Ninja likes. Web series producer Brett Register, creator of The Crew, A Good Knight's Quest and Craig & The Werewolf, was hired on as the new day-to-day producer-director for Ask a Ninja.

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