The cast of the new Comedy Central show "Secret Girlfriend" want to be your best friends, literally. The show is shot in an unheard of first-person view, and you are the main character.
You party with your bros Sam (Michael Blaiklock) and Phil (Derek Miller), and you try to juggle two equally hot girls, Mandy (Alexis Krause) and Jessica (Sara Fletcher), while simultaneously hiding them from each other.
The Avenue caught up with the cast to chat about the show.
I heard something about this show being previously on the Internet. Was it the same show?
Derek: Well, guys could download these "Secret Girlfriend" clips and kind of get to pretend that, you know, at their leisure that they have their girlfriends in their pocket kind of a thing. It took us a lot of tinkering to bring it to television...to make it an actual narrative story and things like that.
What's been your favorite moment from the show so far?
Mike: For me, it's the variety of things that we got to do. I mean we did ball wars, we got to work in front of the beach, we shot a rap video on a boat. We got to be in an airplane skydiving.
So you actually skydived? It was real?
Derek: No, the plane was on the ground the whole time, but we got to go in a plane… I mean I really enjoyed just being able to go to places.
On the show, you guys are the ultimate bros. Do you have friends like that in real life?
Mike: I think back in my mid-20s I think I definitely had a group that resembled something like Sam and Phil with the same aspiration. But I think they've all kind of grown up now and figured themselves out.
Have either of you ever had girlfriends like Alexis' character?
Derek: I've had a couple of psychos. And I'm sure those types of girls exist out there. But I've had a couple of psychos where you're just like "Ahh. What are you thinking? What's in your head?"
This is a really fast-paced show. Do you think that the show, being so fast-paced, hinders the character development?
Mike: I mean, I think because you have to experience everything in the first person, too, you don't get to experience the characters in their private moments really unless you're spying on them, so it kind of keeps us from being a little more fleshed out than on your average show.
You guys are essentially acting with a cameraman. Now, is it the same cameraman every time?
Derek: That was a thing that I think Ross, our director, really wanted to have. Somebody who was consistent through the whole thing and then we feel comfortable with him being that other character, you know, so, that was by no mistake. Especially 'cause you know it gets sort of intimate with the girls as well, so you need someone who is cool with that.
What's your comedic inspiration for your characters that you play on the show?
Alexis: Of course I couldn't pull anything from my own experience, but I had to incorporate bits and pieces of personality traits from friends that I know.
There's a scene with you playing the guitar nude. Was that a hard scene to film?
Alexis: No it wasn't. First of all, I wasn't actually naked. The guitar was strategically placed. I just wish I knew a little bit more chords to actually play through the song.
Sarah, your character on the show seems to be like every guy's dream girl, you know, fun, into video games, likes to drink beer. Are you really like that?
Sarah: I would say that Jessica is a cooler version of me. [girls laughing] I don't know when the last time I threw a kickball in someone's face. It may have been like second-grade playground action. I would definitely say she's maybe shades of me. But she's way cooler than me.
What's the most challenging thing about filming "Secret Girlfriend?"
Alexis: I would say that fact that we don't have a main character to react off of is the hardest thing about filming the show. We're always taught not to look into the camera when you're acting and, of course, in this instance you always are.
