Two guys from Spokane, Washington rode the Youtube wave to a contract with NBC. Now Barats and Bereta are online celebrities, and quickly making a name for themselves. Luke from Barats and Bereta chatted with us about comedy, NBC, standup, and their now famous Mother’s Day sketch.
All it really took was a few hours on the homepage of YoutTube around Mother’s Day of 2006 and the rest is history (thanks to this video). But it’s no fluke - these guys have talent and have been doing comedy for some time now. Hell, they even won an award for their standup (In 2005 Barats and Bereta won the Brickwall Amateur Comedy Competition with their two-man stand up routine.) The rest of The Barats and Bereta video collection of very low budgets skits is quality, hilarious material - such good quality that NBC took notice and signed them to 1yr contract.
Personally, I’m convinced these guys would have made it without the help of YouTube - but I’m sure they got noticed a lot faster because of the ‘tube factor. Thanks again to Luke for spending some time answering our questions and also check out their On10.net interview.
Name, age, foot size, and the last time you laughed out loud was when and over what?
My name is Luke Barats, I’m 22 years old, and I wear a size eleven. Last night my little brother sent me the tape of his latest stand up routine. He made some wisecrack about Nelly Furtado and I lost it.
When did you first realize you wanted to make people laugh for a living?
Very recently, actually. I kind of alluded to it in the previous question, but I’m not even the funniest member of my family. I guess I’ve always “wanted” to make people laugh for a living the same way I’ve always “wanted” to lounge on a couch and eat grapes for a living– only recently has it struck me as a viable option.
I first came across you guys for your Mother’s Day skit that was on YouTube. To me it was hilarious for many reasons. Beyond being funny because I could relate (I have an older brother) there’s a quality of work you’re producing that’s very professional - the video editing, writing, body language, timing of delivery, etc all make the sketch very funny. How much time and preparation goes into creating a sketch and who plays what roles (writing, editing, etc)?
Thank you– that particular video actually went down a lot differently than the other stuff Joe and I make. It was originally intended to be an actual Mother’s Day gift for my mom. I wrote it while I was home on Spring Break and originally intended to film it with my brother (the same one I keep mentioning) on the crummy little camcorder we have lying around the house. My brother didn’t come home soon enough, though, and I had to head back to school. I had the script lying around and figured it would be a waste not to see it produced, so Joe and I made it for our website. I’m an older brother and Joe’s a younger brother, so it worked out nicely. Like I said, though, this isn’t really representative of how Joe and I typically go about making videos– there’s usually a lot more collaboration on every level. To call one of us THE writer and the other one THE editor would be a bit inaccurate.
How and when did you guys start to really gain exposure - what was the catalyst? and was it all thanks to your YouTube videos? Your own site?
It was thanks to YouTube for putting our Mother’s Day video on their homepage. We had amassed a mildly respectable internet following prior to YouTube through our dinky little personal site, but having that video posted on the front page of YouTube exposed us to people who would have never found us otherwise. We woke up one morning expecting to receive another 200 hits on our site and wound up receiving 40,000.
Who wins in a fight Luke or Joe, and how does the fight play out?
Joe wins, I’m afraid. The fight begins with me throwing a predictable girlish slap with my right hand. Joe counters by backflipping over me and karate chopping my thigh, giving me a killer dead leg. I respond by asking him what the capital of Thailand is while delivering a devastating nut tap as I cry, “Bangkok!” The fight ultimately ends with Joe sawing me in half with his chiseled jaw-line.
Where do you draw your inspiration from?
Often we draw from things that annoy us– brothers, expensive auto insurance rates, confusing policies at our university, suburbia, etc. We always draw from personal experience, though.
You recently inked a deal with NBC - can you discuss how the offer came about, how you were approached, etc? And what type of work you’ll be doing for them. (if you cant answer previous part of this questions, can you just discuss what type of work you’ll be doing for them?)
We’ll be writing a pilot for them, and if we’re fortunate it will get produced. Everything is still very much in the preliminary stages, so the show’s content and our roles will evolve over the next few months.
Do you consider yourself a comedian, an actor, writer? And have you ever done standup?
Joe and I have done stand up– both individually and together (though we were a bit more successful together). Our roots are in theater and improv, and we currently perform together with an improv troupe in Spokane, WA. I guess above all else we consider ourselves comedians because it’s a nice, all-encompassing term. We don’t want to pigeonhole ourselves into specific roles– if I were JUST an actor, delivering lines that someone else had written day in and day out, I couldn’t live with myself. I believe Joe feels the same way in that we view comedy like we view music– we want to be the band that writes and performs its own music as opposed to the diva who is the face of something written and produced by other people behind the scenes.
“You can’t please everybody. Don’t burn bridges. Do what you love and the money will follow.”
What is the last good joke you told or heard?
I saw this one on a Laffy Taffy wrapper, sent in by a seven-year old: Q: Why did the bone cross the road? A: It didn’t. The dog ate it.
Name a few websites you must visit every day?
Of course there’s youtube.com, myspace.com, and facebook.com… we also enjoy joblo.com, I tend to get my news from cnn.com, and we think filmfights.com is a great thing.
Name any online video sites you watch frequently(besides your own - example I make sure to check out askaninja and rocketboom and commandN)
We’ve been fans of The Lonely Island guys (TheLonelyIsland on YouTube) for a few years now. They’ve used the Internet so effectively and maintain such a high production value that we can’t help but be in awe of them and what they’ve accomplished. As far as other YouTube folks are concerned, we make sure we keep up to date with Smosh, LisaNova, digitalfilmmaker, impytherap, among others.
What lessons have you learned both personally and professionally during your video career?
You can’t please everybody. Don’t burn bridges. Do what you love and the money will follow.
Tips for any inspiring comedian/writer/actor?
Trust that there are people out there with your same sensibilities. If you can be honest with yourself and create something that meets your own standards, it’s going to resonate with others.
If you weren’t doing this what would you be doing?
I’d probably be headed off to grad school for one reason or another. Of course, if any grape-eating jobs came along I’d probably accept.
