By Michelle Willard, Post staff writer-July 24, 2007-11:20 AM

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Murfreesboro had an unexpected voice in the CNN/YouTube debate Monday night.

“For the first time in presidential debate history, user-generated video will drive two unprecedented debates,” CNN said in a press release.

YouTube, the video-sharing website, allowed users to upload video questions that the Democratic presidential candidates responded to during Monday night’s debate.

The most surprising voice was from Jackie Broyles and his constant companion, Dunlap, who addressed the candidates from a bunker underneath Jackie’s market in Murfreesboro.

“This here question’s for all you candidates …,” Dunlap said after they introduced themselves. “(Mainstream media) really wants to know if Al Gore’s going to run again.”

“Yes. Well, what we want to know is, does that hurt you-all’s feelings?” Jackie asked.

“I think the people of Tennessee just had their feelings hurt,” U.S. Sen. Joe Biden responded after the laughter and applause died down.

This was just one of the video questions Jackie and Dunlap, and the many other Americans, posted on YouTube. The video can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrPnWoZTjlQ.

Jackie and Dunlap are the stars of the popular video web log, “Red State Update.” And they are the brainchildren of Murfreesboro native, Travis Harmon, and MTSU alumnus, Jonathan Shockley.

And they weren’t trying to poke fun at the South or Southerners. Like all satire, they were trying to point to the bigger picture. CNN used this humorous video to point the debate to serious questions that Gore has raised about global warming.

“We’re not poking fun at home. We love home,” Harmon said. “We’re not trying to be Jon Stewart; we’re just trying to be funny. We don’t have an agenda; we just want to make people laugh.”

Harmon and Shockley started the video web log about a year ago and since have become Internet stars. Some of their posts have gotten as many as a half million hits.

“These are two young men who started on local cable here and are making a dent in the entertainment industry,” former State Sen. Andy Womack said. “It’s exciting to see someone who got their start in Murfreesboro.”

It’s exciting for Travis’s father Bud Harmon.

“I thought it was terrific,” Bud said.

Bud watched their follow-up interview on CNN this morning, where Travis and Jonathan spoke about the Democratic candidates and responded to Biden’s comments with Hair Club for Men jokes.

This is the first major exposure in traditional media for Red State Update. Shawn Hannity and CNN mentioned them before and Newsweek even has a story about them in the July 23 issue.

But, they’ve mostly been featured on many websites including salon.com, Comedy Central, Time and the New York Times, along with video sharing sites like YouTube and IFilm.

With this newfound fame came an opportunity to appear on satellite television. “Red State Update” now appears regularly on DirecTV’s “The Fizz.”

On DirecTV’s “The Fizz,” they rarely do anything political, however it could be described as social commentary.

“There some episodes that aren’t political at all, just funny,” Harmon explained. “I like being on that show on DirecTV… They gave us a chance to be funny.”

Harmon and Shockley use Murfreesboro, and the South in general, as a backdrop for their comedy. They satirize politics, pop culture and all sorts of things in their videos. And some of them aren’t satire at all, they’re just plain funny.

Harmon’s been making people laugh since he was a child, his mother Marty Harmon pointed out, a trait he gets from her.

“Sometimes when he was younger, he would try it out on me and I’d say, ‘This is your momma’,” she said proudly. “He’s always been funny.”

The 37-year-old started acting in high school plays at Riverdale and at the Murfreesboro Little Theater. He acted after graduation in several MTSU drama productions, but never officially enrolled in classes. In the late ‘90s, he performed with the Tennessee Repertory Theater and TPAC in Nashville.

“He’s always had a little acting in him whether it was funny or not,” Marty explained.

“I was very fortunate to be able to act seriously,” he said. But he’s always had comedy on his mind.

“Even while I was doing the Tennessee Rep stuff, I was in a band that was comedy-based,” Harmon explained. The band was Holtzclaw, best known for performances at the Boro Bar and Grill.

Harmon eventually left Murfreesboro and spent several years in Detroit and Chicago as an actor and comedian.

He joined the Second City program in Chicago, the self-described “Ivy League of Comedy.” Second City has produced some of the most notable comedians of the late 20th century, including Mike Myers, Tina Fey, John Candy, Bill Murray, and just about every other cast member of Saturday Night Live and MadTV.

Then in 2000, he partnered with Jonathan Shockley and produced a show for cable access channel 19 that quickly developed a local, cult following. The “Travis and Jonathan Show” was just as quickly cancelled, even with rave reviews from the local media.

The two friends decided to make a move to Los Angeles about five years ago and try to break into showbiz.

“In L. A., we perform out and do other things … We enjoy it more than anything else,” Harmon said. They’ve written plays and sketches for Second City – Los Angeles, El Sid and the Upright Citizens Brigade.

But, so far their most successful venture has been “Red State Update.” The video web log started out as just a name and they developed the characters from there.

“Jonathan came up with the name … and we thought that was very funny,” Harmon said.

The premise of two southern men sitting around and discussing politics and other current events came from a local market in Murfreesboro, where Harmon would go when he was younger and listen to the locals chat.

“In no way are we making fun of the South,” Harmon said. “We have a big fan base from the South. … You have to love something in order the satirize it.”

They rail on everything from the upcoming presidential race to more innocuous topics, like dates that ended up at church.

They discuss politics mostly “because politics are pretty damn funny these days,” Harmon said. But they also talk about pop culture, from Paris Hilton to Harry Potter, and produce country music video spoofs.

“Our main point is to be funny and we let both sides have it,” he continued. “We consider ourselves equal opportunity offenders.”

The recent exposure has also created a following outside of the South.

Harmon said that receiving fan mail from military personnel makes him feel most appreciated. When they can distract soldiers from the realities of war, they know they’ve accomplished their mission.

“When they write us, and seem to enjoy it, that makes us feel good,” Harmon said.

That’s the goal with this duo, to distract audiences from the realities of life and make them laugh.

For more information on Travis Harmon and Jonathan Shockley or to watch “Red State Update,” go to www.redstateupdate.com or www.travisandjonathan.com.