Sometimes, the best way to get through life is to mumble through it. THE MUMBLESTEENS, a comedy web series airing on Blip.tv which has just completed its first season, revolves around a brother and sister duo (Rebecca Zamolo as B, and Chris McEuen as C) who face life’s ordinary (and sometimes not so ordinary) moments with dry, subtle humor, which, according to Zamolo, “allows us to find the humor in those silent, awkward moments.” Since the show debuted on Youtube, and later on Blip.tv, it has racked up over 500,000 views, and production of season two is already underway.
The show grew out of a simple, yet humorous, idea. “In person I often mumble through the day both to people and to myself and thought it would be funny to have a quick paced low volume mumbling brother and sister duo. In all honesty it really was my first shot at writing and creating any sort of scripted show and did a lot better than anticipated,” says Matt Yoakum, who, in addition to serving as the show’s producer and director, also wrote the show’s first episode, which was filmed the next day.
Zamolo wrote the remaining episodes (except for McEuen, who wrote the seventh episode, “The Haircut”). The show’s seven other episodes were produced and filmed in similar fashion, thanks in part to a small crew (McEuen, Zamolo and Yoakum), resulting in virtually no overhead, thus keeping production costs down. “It also helps that we are all neighbors so we are constantly throwing ideas around,” says Zamolo.
Reaction to the show has been overwhelmingly positive as well, primarily because of its unique, sophisticated brand of comedy, humor that is much appreciated by the show’s viewers, says Yoakum. “Of course, the show isn’t necessarily for everyone, but for those that love the deadpan, more sophisticated, dry and non-cheap humor, it really rung a chord with them.”
One of the highlights of the first season was a guest appearance by Grammy nominated R&B singer Brian McKnight, in the show’s fourth episode, “Secret Lover”, where McKnight (as himself) sings a song he wrote for B (who used to date McKnight, much to C’s amazement), while C tries to impress McKnight with a love song of his own. The singer, who first worked with Zamolo on his video for the popular comedy web site FUNNY OR DIE (as well as another sketch she wrote), was approached by the actress to appear in the episode, a production that brought out the best in McKnight, both musically and comedically. “Brian was awesome! Obviously he is extremely talented musically (he recorded his singing part in 1 take) but I don’t think people realize how extremely funny he is. THE MUMBLESTEENS really shows his great comedic timing, and that he doesn’t take himself too seriously.”
THE MUMBLESTEENS has proven to be a learning experience not only for Zamolo and McEuen, but also Yoakum, for this is his first major web series as a producer. “As a filmmaker, I am relatively new to this concept, as of course living in L.A., you definitely need to have a full time job, which usually sucks up all of your time. However, in this spare time, I love taking on projects and and developing ideas to create a finished project that you are proud of. I feel that everyone’s point of view is important and I am fortunate that I am able to portray mine via these videos.”
Zamolo hopes that the show can also find a broader audience beyond the web, as it prepares to film its second season. “Our main goal is to share our show with as many people as possible. i guess having our show picked up by a network wouldn’t be bad either.”
ON THE WEB: www.blip.tv/themumblesteens
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/themumblesteens
The show’s Twitter page will launch when the show’s second season debuts.