Lauren RabainoInterviewing the creators of comedy Web sites The Seven Year Plan and Funnyology made it obvious that these guys are utilizing their gifts; they seem to emanate hilarity without intention.
Let’s start with The Seven Year Plan (TSYP), a parody of college life featuring articles, videos, a “Guide to College” and a forum for discussing “mildly humorous nouns,” among other topics. The creator is business alum Noam Bleiweiss, who started the site about a year ago with the help of friends.
Bleiweiss collaborates with a core group of ten contributors to the site, including student writers, a content editor, a grammar editor and a web designer, most of whom are Cal Poly students and alum.
“It’s a lot like the White House,” Bleiweiss explained in an e-mail interview. “If TSYP was America and I was stupid George Dubya, they’d be my group of really intelligent and hardworking advisors.”
Just because it’s a comedy site doesn’t mean there’s no truth to the advice columns. The “Guide To College” section addresses issues such as long distance relationships and living on a budget, as well as some more scandalous topics you can explore yourself.
“With comedy,” Bleiweiss said, “there’s an unclear line between what’s appropriate and what’s not.”
One of the purposes of the site is to create a forum for exploring comedic “gray areas,” to receive feedback and build an intelligent medium for comedy. The point is not to shock or offend, “unless, of course, it’s really, really funny,” Bleiweiss admitted.
The future of TSYP is bright; with steady participation and talented writers the site is pursuing a merchandise section and more high-profile ads for the future. “Ultimately we are trying to make something that people will enjoy, and hopefully someone will want to pay us millions of dollars for it one day,” Bleiweiss said.
If you are interested in posting something witty on TSYP, e-mails can be sent to info@thesevenyearplan.com. “As long as it’s funny and (mostly) tasteful, we always welcome new contributors,” Bleiweiss said.
Moving on to the newer, video-based Funnyology, TSYP’s “sister site” is the brainchild of journalism senior Sean Michetti and marketing senior Jose Molina. It features comedy shorts that are inspired, filmed, edited, acted in and posted by the two creators, who are also members of the on-campus improv comedy group, “Smile and Nod.”
“It started this summer with me and Sean filming every day,” Molina said. “We just needed a creative outlet.” The guys began editing, using the broadcast equipment in the Graphic Arts building studio and creating shorts from the lengthy footage they filmed.
After Molina and Michetti bought the name “funnyology” they spoke to software engineering senior Chris Smeder, who is offering his talents in its design, and the site quickly developed. The logo is a cartoon depiction of Michetti punching Molina in the face, indicative of the commonly featured wrestling scenes in many of the videos.
Mostly improvised, a lot of their movie ideas come from real-life events that strike the guys as amusing. “Recognition,” the video Michetti regards as “the first video I felt really good about,” originated from a parking garage situation when the guys couldn’t get a friend’s attention and resorted to yelling variations of her name. The reenacted scene exacerbates their frustration and adds a few funny twists to the real situation.
Mechanical engineering senior Lee Barats regularly writes articles for TSYP and plans on getting involved with Funnyology as well. “They help me with my comedy writing not only by getting my name out there but just by the practice of writing something, getting feedback and finding out what works in comedy,” said Barats, who is a co-director for Smile and Nod this year.
Although a job writing for Saturday Night Live would be the ultimate achievement, the sites are mainly about doing what the creators love to do.”It feels really good to make people laugh,” Molina explained. “If we can get a job doing what we love, that’s a dream come true.”