"Charlie the Caterpillar" - Alex Wozencraft (1 of 2)

[barcabanana13]

Alex's pops were definitely amazing and his voices were perfect, but I just don't like the piece.

[elle123w]

@loralunafantasy Yeah good comeback. Too bad i saw the original performance of Charlie the Caterpillar two years prior to Alex ever performing it. I don't think it is coincidence that Alex just 'happened' to deliver an almost exact replica to David's original performance two years after David took it to National's. But thanks for the immature and unintelectual comment.

[ShaylaTerrel]

I know Alex, he's pretty awesome. He helped me with one of my pieces at speech camp in July! :)

[elle123w]

@IsItTheBagel I don't believe it is on youtube. David didn't make it to finals the year he performed this piece, he received 7th place. He is a pretty private and humble person and didn't showcase his talents all the time so I don't know if a recording exists. The only reason I had the pleasure of viewing the original was because I went to school with him and competed against him weekly in H.I. Sorry. I wish I had the video so everyone could see Alex for the fraud that he is.

[loralunafantasy]

@elle123w You suck. wow Alex is a great guy and didn't still anything from anyone moron.

[Cornhusker399]

wow. i just was in a finals round with a dude who did the EXACT cutting/voices/actions. i made it my MISSION to beat him haha.

[debatemaniac92]

awful. The Witches should have won.

[belmstar]

this was just amazing!! best i have ever seen :)

[alese751]

gosh i wish i could do that haha im public adress though

[czvallery]

I think this is really great-but it is weird-the laughter almost sounds canned? I am SURE it is not, and I don't mean to offend anyone!!!!

[MarkCohenFilm]

At a tournament this year a girl did this piece exactly the same. Same cutting, intro, blocking, and attempted the voices. I thought to myself: Really? You're going to copy a piece from youtube that was already copied in this performance??? HAS FORENSICS LOWERED ITSELF THIS MUCH???? C'mon people...

[invrcuss]

@MarkCohenFilm how'd the girl do?

[ahryko]

Hee hee hee. XD

[HavenSays]

It was original, and his cutting/characterization/etc were incredible.

If he had stolen it, he still did a hell of a lot better than that other guy...seeing as he was national champion. Sounds to me like the person who posted this video is a little bitter about not making it....just saying.

But seriously, I witnessed this piece come to life. He originated this performance.

[xmusicfreakk]

@HavenSays ...the person who posted it isn't even the guy who originally performed it.

[elle123w]

@HavenSays

he copied it because he saw David in 2006 nationals sems. Did you ever see David Kozminski perform this piece? If you would have, you would know that he copied it step by step, crappy sound effects and all. I don't think it's merely coincidence that Alex just happened to have all the same exact characters, pops, and sound effects that was done by David just two years earlier. That's absolutely impossible without copying.

[IsItTheBagel]

@elle123w Do you know where I can watch the version done 2 years prior? I can't find it on youtube.

[HavenSays]

As I was a member of the team that Alex Wozencraft was on, I have to say that the accusations that he copied, were FALSE. His team mates worked with him to design the characters in this interp. And how can you say it is the same cutting? It is a CHILDRENS story. Something that short, you don't have much of a choice in the cutting.

And 7th place means this David Kozminski wasn't on stage. It would AMAZE me if Alex could steal that after seeing Kozminski once. Not on a nats tape. DUH.

[chuddlewinks]

Wow the intro was pretty bad... He was still AMAZING

[JimiGoode]

Ok, overlooking the fact that this is a copied piece, I still liked Controlling Interest and The Witches better, and just wondering but was the intro copied too?

[ronnieswango]

@vampdiarys2bloodties mr lonely

[BKLYN396]

...i dont really get why people are dying of laughter

[ohjawillkommen]

@BKLYN396 Maybe the audiences were warmed up after watching all of the pieces before him, including The Witches and Controlling Interest. I get what you're saying. The piece was funny, but the audience laughed heavily at nearly everything he did, even the parts that weren't that funny.

[qwertyqazol]

It was stolen because not only did he use the same cutting, but the same actions, sound effects, and EVERYTHING.

[schmitzzy]

how did he steal it, it is a published work that he too saw potential in and did it himself. according to what the judges said he actually ended up doing it better. i have seen this piece done by a number of people. just because someone does well with a piece doesn't mean it should then be banned from being done does it.

[schmitzzy]

@schmitzzy to add to my previous comment no i did not see the original piece by David Kozminski. if someone would clarify how exactly it was stolen that might clear this confusion up for me

[DaftAndRawr]

Stealing a pieces is a really crappy thing to do....

but i cant judge i guess over all pretty good

[Sunnynotbun]

I loved this script! You did you voices and "pop" perfectly! Bravo and congrats!

[m1stuhjma]

mr. lonely- akon

[paintedbricks]

I don't understand why this won at all. Varun and others were so much better.

[orlmgc4ever]

Is it just me, or do the judges seem to go for the "cutesy" pieces ever since they started adding Stars to the judging panel and such? For instant, this past year: Anna and August. Funny characters, cute piece, but the cutting wasn't very creative and the blocking was elementary and not very clean. How did they beat The Wizard of Hip AND Metamorphasis in the final round is beyond me.

[orlmgc4ever]

@vampdiarys2bloodties I believe that would be "I Believe I Can Fly" from Space Jam.

[NikolasChizek]

but i do agree varun should have won

[NikolasChizek]

it wasn't alex's fault, it was the coach

[cameronman99]

i dont understand why people laugh at his voice at the beggining.

[Okiegirl1231]

I thought Alex was AMAZING! He definitely deserved first. His popping is AMAZING! I don't think you guys understand how much work Alex put into this. All that matters is the judge's opinion, and this time, they favored Alex.

[travinrenee]

im doing this for one of my forensics pieces this year, and this helped me out SOOOOOOOOOO much. thank you!

[orlmgc4ever]

@travinrenee Are you really taking the national champion's characters and tech? The point of interp is not to copy, but to create on your own. If you're considering doing a piece, try doing it differently than when you saw it done before. The WORST thing you can do for yourself is to copy someone else's art.

[travinrenee]

um.. no? i'm in storytelling, anyway. this is one of my stories. mine is completely different. I was doing this piece wayy before i saw it on here. this act. it was cool to see him interpret things differently, mine is way different.

[orlmgc4ever]

@travinrenee aaahhhhh - got it. Sweet. Good luck to ya!

[amarr1]

I'd like to see the other vid.

[HorsePatriot101]

This guy is good, but I still liked Varun's performance MUCH better.

[elle123w]

thanks for giving credit to david in the beginning, but i think this Alex guy deserves nothing but a swift kick to the nuts.

[elle123w]

this guy is a complete fraud.

I went to school with the orignal, a mr. david kozminski. He is probably one of the most amazing people you will ever meet. His creativity in H.I. and genius works in everything he did is so unbelievable and he was still one of the most humble guys i have ever met and probably will ever meet. It's so sad to see this imposter win at a national tournament when he stole all of David's creativity, right down to the lousy knock off sound effects.

[MusicMax1994]

umm, the third place guy was better. Whoever it was that performed Witches. I liked that MUCH better.

[timmyturner493]

It was eh. Nathan Rarick should have beaten him, tho.

[wazmaster5794]

nathan rarick was 2007, this guy was 08

[starrUchiha8]

Alex is an amazing person, he has given me such great advice whenever I ask and really helped me with movements and voices, and to have seen him live not only at speech camp but in top 60 at nationals and to know that that guy helped me take state, I just makes me feel so warm and bubbly..lol Alex is amazing and I totally give him MILLIONS of props for this.

[JMG2468]

I competed in 2006 and saw the original Charlie the Caterpillar several times and the message at the beginning of this piece is completely true. The structure of the piece, the clever narrator, the same force for Charlie, it was exactly set up the same. Ugh, it sickens me, but I just coached a National Finalist in Humorous, so that definitely makes up for seeing poor David cheated out like that.

[starrUchiha8]

Alex is an honest person and NO he didn't copy this, I saw it in top 60 and I'm at speech camp with him right now..he isn't a bad person and he is very humble, he can still hardly believe he won nationals, so meh. He is a good person and your just envious that he's good!!!

[JMG2468]

I'm sure he is a great person and is doing many things that aid the Speech Community. Trust me, I'm not jealous, at all. I'm not criticizing him, but I'm criticizing his poor choice of material selection and how he did it. If you saw David's HI, like I did, you would understand. For Christ's sake, David got 7th place that year in 2006. That's why many people feel this way. Because David was amazing and the evidence of similarities between the two are too incontrovertible.

[elle123w]

I agree with JMG. I went to school with David. I competed against him every weekend up to nationals. His pops were phenominal (way better than Alex's) his voice was always controlled, he always brought this uniqueness about him that was magical to watch. Then at the end of the round he would compliment me too even though we all knew he would take first. The two pieces were the exact same down to the voice. But Dave is the ORIGINAL and he did a hell of a lot better.

[specialkflake]

well, it's just one of those rules of speech that go without saying. the fact that he made it the same as the previous piece is basically "wrong", in a sense. he should have at least made the piece original, not copying.

[Dittami]

This mut've been like as: You had to be there : kind of funny because this pretty much went straight 1's in finals

[nbafreak93]

Gabe Gonzalez is fucking awesome

[stinostarr]

i'm sorry. i don't see how this beat controlling interests or the witches.

[SinnerFlame]

No. You are allowed to do the piece somebody has done in the past as long as the person's not in forensics anymore.

[1994bookworm]

I don't understand how the narrator is funny....

[DonPauliani]

agreed

[starrUchiha8]

it was hilarious, maybe you should grow a sence of humor

[1994bookworm]

Ah, yes, of course. I nearly rolled off my chair laughing at YOUR amazing humor. "Sence"a--I haven't heard one that good in years.....or was that because you fail epically at typing?

And the narrator did nothing except talk. What he said wasn't close to funny at all.

[starrUchiha8]

I guess I just fail at typing, oh well, not like it matters it's not like I'm going to college to learn how to type, no I'm a drama major. I'm top of my class, so yeah I think I know what I'm talking about.

[m1stuhjma]

@1994bookworm the tone of his character is funny...just feel it lol i cant really explain -__-

[souldancer15]

did he really copy like the begining of the video says? if he did then thats super dirty

[idoforensics]

Whether you love or hate this piece, that was probably the funniest narrator in an HI I've ever seen.

And my district tournament is this weekend and he is going to be there judging! I'm excited!

[omgzzomg]

Uh that's pretty much something that was REQUIRED considering 80% of the lines in the cut were the narrator's....

[idoforensics]

That's true, but then again you have to consider that many HI's have a narrator now who has that many lines (usually the narrator is also the main character).  However, it was still on of the funnies narrators I've seen. Either way, I think Gabe (controlling interest) should have won.

[JMG2468]

No, Brett Gray, the new TFA state champion in Humorous has a narrator I believe is funnier than this. He's doing James and the Giant Peach, and his narrator is absolutely ridiculous.

[idoforensics]

Really? Will he be at CFLs or NFLs do you know? I'm interested in seeing this. Either way, Wozencrantz judged me in duo this weekend it was pretty cool. And last year's national champion in O.O. judged me in duo too.

[wemissfredw]

@idoforensics He was my junior staffer at Speech Camp this week! He made my monologue alot better!

[McGuirk1n]

I performed against him at districts. He is amazing. But I also did his ex.... I feel so powerful

[brikien93]

OMG, I got to meet this guy at one of my speech competitions my freshman year =D he was so cool.

[SayThat1MoreAgain]

the monkey voice was definitely the best one

[CaptianCrunch221]

is there any tangible proof that the piece was stolen and/or is a carbon copy. cause we can accuse someone unless thats the case

[PaulMichaelXD]

how did controlling interests / the witches not beat this?

[PrecariousPersonata]

i was able to watch this live at nationals, and it really looks a lot different when you do so.

a special judge (anthony zuiker, writer for CSI) gave a shout out to his piece the day after. he said that right when he got home, he went to the bookstore to buy charlie the caterpillar book to read to his autistic son and ended up crying in the process.

i dunno about you guys, but that was one hella of a piece live.

[McGuirk1n]

It was one hell of a piece in a room with 6 people and it was awesome to shake his hand after hear him say your talented

[uLOVEsyd93]

Wow... This really doesn't deserve 1st Place...

[mrxlafz]

i think he should have done his own piece. he has good voices and pops and stuff, too bad huh?

[austinlyinterpretive]

It's a good performance.

Too bad it's not his own.

[doodlenoodles]

I think The Witches and Controlling Interests should have gotten better scores. This piece isn't very funny. His voices are nice, but someone else should have gotten first.

[DoubleReturns]

I don't understand how this got first. Witches and Controlling were better...

[MiniMills124]

You can hear that laugh (if we are talking about the same one) in The Witches not sure about Controlling Interests though. And that is not why his piece is unethical. It is unethical because took the cut, characters, and tech from another performer, and on top of that didn't have their permission. He stole someone's previous piece.

[xxxLAWRENCExxx]

what is that thing that goes across the background at 4:16-4:19?

[omgzzomg]

Someone's head as they walk by (the stage is elevated.)

[longliverock613]

hahaha i was at this event

[xxxLAWRENCExxx]

why is the beginning so funny? i didn't understand why everyone was laughing from the getgo.

i liked his caterpillar voice, and the narrator. it was good, but until i see the second half, i think gabe gonzelaz was better

[Cornhusker399]

i like the witches a lot

i'm no expert haha but in my opinion i think it should've won out of the 3 hi's ive seen from 2008

[huginxmunin]

i agree. varun should have won hands down.

[mack0987]

I don't know very much about about Wozencraft copying from Kozminski, I will say that Wozencraft wouldn't have gotten past quarter-finals if it weren't for his narrator. I thought his character pops were too sloppy and slow.

[islandg63]

The information at the start of of this video is FALSE. Unethical? This performer made the piece better, performed it greater, and took it further than anyone ever could. This performer is also the 3 or 4 time state champ in his home state, and 4 time nationals qualifier who continues to win in college, and deserves more credit.

[omgzzomg]

"Information is false"

No. It's identical.

"3 or 4 champ blah blah"

He's from Oklahoma. Yeah, I know, one of the most challenging states. Even if he won, doesn't matter. First year at nats, he didnt break. 2nd he quartered and junior he octad.

Home state shit doesnt mean anything.