After a short-lived stint with the Oprah Winfrey Network, Anner is working with Reddit on a participatory comedy-travel show.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gL95aeNjarU
Back in 2010, comedian Zach Anner posted an audition video for Your OWN Show, Oprah Winfrey’s campaign to find the next big TV star. The charming and funny video became a sensation online, and users of the popular social news site Reddit voted en masse to help make it the contest’s winner.
Anner, who was born with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, got his own show, Rollin’ with Zach, in which he got to travel the country, explore new cities, and meet new people. The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and Time wrote about it. John Mayer, a fan of Anner’s, even recorded the show’s theme song.
It was all pretty awesome. Until Rollin’ with Zach was canceled after just six episodes.
Luckily, Anner didn’t slow his roll. He’s back with a new comedy-travel series called Riding Shotgun with Zach Anner, filming now and set to premiere soon on YouTube. This time, Anner’s working directly with his fans on Reddit to make it happen.
Anner and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian developed a plan to use the site to make Riding Shotgun a much more participatory endeavor than other shows. Last month, Reddit users helped Anner select the cities the series will visit. Now Anner’s using his official Subreddit to collect ideas of what to do in each city. He’s even using Reddit to crowdfund gas for the road.
A quip on the Riding Shotgun website sums things up: “Do you have an Internet? Then you can be part of it!” To become a part of the action, check out Anner’s announcement video above, then follow Riding Shotgun online and visit the show’s Subreddit to contribute your ideas.
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