by Jazmine Daza
Do you ever get glued to your phone watching videos from your Facebook Feed on life hacks, celebrities, trends, events, and even adorable animals? If yes, for comedic relief, you’ve probably come across The Try Guys. If you haven’t, then you can add that to your must-watch list and prepare to be in for a treat!
The Try Guys is an online series that stars four hilarious guys who try random things for their own or others’ curiosity or just for kicks. From wearing women’s underwear, going through a labor pain simulator, becoming naked sushi models, swimming with sharks, to throwing a $300,000 bachelor party, name it, and they’ve probably tried it.
The series is created by an online media company, BuzzFeed, starring Zach Cornfield, Eugene Lee Yang, Ned Fulmer, and Keith Habersberger. Let’s first briefly talk about the four Try Guys and how the online series grew.
First Try Guy is Zach who’s considered to be the shy and socially awkward. Second is Eugene who usually takes things to the next level. There’s Ned, the first married guy in the group, who occasionally mentions or even pulls his wife in the series. And of course there’s Keith who stands out as the tallest and loudest Try Guy and the second married guy in the group. Aside from being the stars, they are the writers, editors, and directors of their own show.
Everything started in 2014 when BuzzFeed released a short video of the four guys trying women’s underwear for the first time. The aim was simply to get a male’s perspective on wearing a bikini or even a thong. With their comedic charisma, the video received millions of views and before they knew it, more people were asking them to try other crazier things. The comedic quartet then accepted the viewers’ requests. With their episodes outshining BuzzFeed’s usual videos, a separate BuzzFeed series, The Try Guys was born.
What’s with the online series that got so much attention and kept people hooked on their adventures on human curiosity? Aside from its impressive production, its success can be attributed to three key ingredients: its randomness, comedic authenticity, and relevant insight.
The realm of human curiosity is boundless and every average day is an opportunity for random explorations. So why not wear women’s underwear or extremely revealing men’s swimsuits, heels, bald heads, and even synthetic pregnant bellies, right? The random nature of their activities ranging from the mundane to the out-of-this-world have automatically set this series apart.
You don’t normally see men do those things. These guys are not afraid to experiment and push their limits. As a result, audiences are left intrigued yet excited to see what comes up their sleeves.
Second ingredient is their comedic authenticity. You know that the video is hardly scripted as the guys have no filter in their reactions especially in the face of unpleasant situations.
Since they’re experimenting with random activities, it’s hard for them to hold onto expectations at any point. An extreme episode of authenticity is the labor pain simulator challenge. There is no faking the agony one goes through when giving birth. That’s why in this episode, there was also no holding back on the screaming and the crying!
Other than the comedy in pain or stress, these guys bring infectious laughter through their honest opinions on the subject matter which leads to the last ingredient, relevant insight. When the activity is over, the Try Guys express their thoughts about the experience.
In an episode, all Try Guys traced their roots from colonial times. At the end of the session, other than the shock about their ancestry, the Try Guys noted that genetics doesn’t ultimately define your identity as there are other crucial factors such as modernization, environmental and economic changes, and our increasingly becoming borderless world that allows us to travel and interact with other cultures. These types of insights really get to the viewers and make them feel like their minutes spent on watching the videos are worth it.
Whether the four guys are trying ballet or spending a day in the wild, it’s no wonder people love to watch their videos. They are always left entertained, and to a certain extent educated in areas and experiences they might have always wondered about but may never be able to try.
May these comedic quartet continue to explore the realm of human curiosity and let viewers join in their adventures.
Originally published in www.comco-hq.com.