“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.†For some, it’s an adage to live by. For Self Conscious Workout creators Rachel Laforest and Greg Stees, it’s anathema – a creative roadblock that they’re dedicated to rising above on their almost masochistic quest to challenge and reinvent themselves. In a digital landscape where truly funny original ideas are difficult to come by–and even harder to manufacture – the prolific team is turning a blind eye to the comfort of sticking with a sure thing, all in service of an art they’re quickly mastering.
How did you each get your start in comedy?
Greg: I went to NYU and started meeting people and making videos as soon as I got there. I also did the UCB thing, so I took sketch writing and improv there a few years ago. Rachel and my first collaboration was on a feature film that I directed called Dragonchaser that we shot in upstate New York in 2012.
Rachel: 2011.
Greg: 2011. I wrote and directed the movie and she acted in it and then, after that, we started collaborating together and making videos for Channel 101 about a sad, depressed robot cop called RobBocop. He’s police officer Rob Bocopski. I actually was feeling kind of depressed at the time. I was making this really depressing series because I had just moved to LA, so it was nice to have an outlet to use that depression on and make light of it.
Rachel: I went to an acting high school in New York and then I started acting in NYU thesis films and that’s how I met Greg. I stayed with that network of funny people and, even though my background was in dramatic acting, I kind of honed in on comedy just by acting in comedic films. I did UCB classes too and just kept up collaboration with Greg and other people. We kind of kicked it into high gear when we moved to LA. We mostly worked on Dragonchaser when we were in New York, which was pretty time consuming. We’ve also done this crazy reality show parody called Buddy Wives. And last Friday we got to work together again on a CollegeHumor original. I got to act in a piece with Emily and Murph, and Greg directed it.
How did the idea for Self Conscious Workout come about?
Rachel: I was just messing around in my basement a few years ago, just coming up with characters, and came up with the character of Shelly. She was just like this self-conscious and weird/out of touch character.
Greg: The original idea was she was trying to shoot some kind of church photo, right?
Rachel: The original idea was that her church wanted to make a directory of all the members and she was having a really hard time doing a good photo shoot. So that’s where Shelley was born.
Greg: And then Rachel put me onto Shawn D’s Insanity workouts. These are workout at home DVDs. We did a couple of them together and the workout instructor personality is really fascinating. It’s so big.
Rachel: So big and so confident. We were trying to find a series that would be a good character study and would feature Greg’s directing and my acting and our writing, so we put Shelley into that world because we thought it was such a misfit to have her be so self conscious and also be a workout DVD instructor.
How did the writing process work? Did you write episodes together?
Rachel: We developed and outlined it together and then Greg did the actual writing of it, putting pen to paper. I did some editing for different drafts but Greg did the physical writing.
Greg: Rachel had a fun character and then we tried to come up with a funny scenario to put the character in. As opposed to doing more episodic, plot-driven things. It was more about exploring what this person would be like and this idea that Shelley forced herself into doing this project. These different projects helped give a feel for this person in little 1-2 minute episodes.
Do you guys think that’s the best way to go about a short form episodic digital series like this? As opposed to one with more of a narrative arc?
Rachel: The goal with this one was to get it really short; to come into it quickly, to have jokes, good guest stars, and get deep into the character without going over 1 or 2 minutes, so this was really the best way to do it.
Greg: Also, we were trying with each episode to not repeat ourselves, so in in this one we did it in the form of a fitness video and were trying to explore different interactions and relationships one character could have to get to know her. Like relationships with her co-workers, her sister, her ex-boyfriend, etc. We’re trying to make them quick and not overstay our welcome, just show the funny part of each episode and then end it.
What’s next for the series?
Rachel: We actually are working on developing a new series. Our plan was always to do 4 episodes of this and then move onto something else. We could always come back to it if we wanted to though. We’re working right now on a project that’s actually the opposite of this, more plot and story arc driven.
Greg: And a little more dramatic, too. We like the Shelley character so much I could see her becoming like a Steve Brule type character with different ways of her popping up. This new project is another way to keep our collaboration going and make it a little more cinematic.
It’s cool to move the goal posts in that way. I think people in the digital space can get used to one form that they do really well and, if it gets a good response, they just keep doing that thing.
Rachel: So far we haven’t repeated any format. We were looking back at our stuff and we’ve been trying a lot so we’re still honing.
Greg: We’ve done a reality show, a 90s TV promos type video, parodies, Channel 101 stuff that’s more story based, and a feature film too. It’s cool to try new stuff.
Rachel: That’s always my first point whenever we’re brainstorming, “What’s the format going to be this time?â€
Do you find that your projects are similar tonally even if they’re different structurally? Or do you find that you’re able to adopt completely different lenses each time?
Rachel: I’ve gotten feedback from people who have noticed little subtle details that carry over in the videos. We have some superfans who will watch and catch these small, subtle details that are in all the videos.
Greg: It’s fun to have something like with Self Conscious where it could’ve easily been a male character who did it, but it was nice to have the opportunity to have a female lead in this kind of a video. She’s not just a classic cute girl sidekick.
Rachel: Something we really like about Broad City is the realness of those girls. They’re allowed to be real and crazy and gross and we try to do that because you don’t really get to see women doing that a lot.
What advice do you have for people looking to break into the web comedy space?
Greg: I think just looking at the resources you have around you. For us, my background is in editing and directing so I feel like I can do that kind of stuff for free. And then, we have a free camera I bought with my buddy almost 8 years ago. So really just trying to use whatever we have around, whatever resources to maximize the look and feel of it instead of just spending a ton of money.
Rachel: Right now, we have the leg a mannequin so we have to use that in a video. Also the push to get stuff done. A lot of people just sit on stuff but we like to just keep moving and pushing ourselves.
Greg: We gave ourselves deadlines to write all of the scripts, we gave ourselves a deadline to shoot all of it over the two days we had, we made up deadlines for when we were going to release it.
Rachel: I think Nike will get mad if we say, “Just Do Itâ€
Greg: I think also you should try to not make it great, just make it. We’ve done 30-minute shoots. I think you need to remember back to when you were kids at a sleepover and you grabbed a camera and just made something. That’s the fun of it.
Here are your three reasons to watch:
1. Rachel Laforest
2. Comedic detail
3. Aesthetic
Episode 1: I Made This Workout Thing
Laforest is a natural character actor. Maybe Kristen Wiig could do Shelley this kind of justice. Maybe.
Episode 2: Stretch or Die
Greg may be driven by a basement sleepover urge to “just make it,†but his attention to performance and visual detail marks a careful distinction between motivation and execution. This guy’s a pro.
Episode 3: She’s Better Than Me
This looks exactly like a 90s workout video. Even with unlimited budget, achieving that subtlety is a feat few creators could accomplish. This project’s decidedly slim resource pool makes Self Conscious’s look and feel all the more impressive.
Luke is a writer/director for CollegeHumor and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours @LKellyClyne.