Misery and Company

How glamorous would it be to go out for a night in the city drinking cosmos with your closest gal pals; all of you decked out in the latest Minolo Blahnik heels, sporting your Gucci handbag. Not to mention, the hot, single bartender with abs of steel who just invited you to a late-night rooftop party that his model friend is throwing (channeling Sex and the City, for those unaware). How many single women move to the city to fall in love with the man of their dreams? Let's face it, many do. But how many actually meet Mr. Right, without having to go through Mr. Broke, Mr. Unemployed, and Mr. Potentially Gay? Nearly all women.

Misery and Company is a web series dedicated to such a catastrophe that is the love life of an average single woman living in a city filled with false hope and morons (with the exception of the cast‘s token sassy gay man, Adam). Already in the works of its fifth episode, this series is hilarious, which is to be expected of a cast full of Chicago comedians.

The cast: Emily Walker plays Camille, the hopeless dreamer who seeks love anywhere (literally.. anywhere); Jo Feldman plays Ellie, the epitome of Jewish innocence who still hasn't lost her third base virginity; Adam Bindert plays Bill, the narcissistic gay man; and Mallory Eyhorn plays Lexie, the train wreck skank. The series was created by Chelsea Devantez, a comedian taking the plunge into editing and directing, making this her baby. Before I interviewed the cast, I watched their shoot of Episode 5 and I have one word: uncontrollablelaughterandsmiles.

BA: Where did the idea for this series originate?

(They all point to Chelsea)

Chelsea: I went to NYU where a bunch of girls came in trying to be like the women from Sex and the City. The ratio at NYU from girls to straight guys is probably 5:1; so all of these women would end up dating horribly, awful men. Every girl was trying to live the life but failing. So we try to take the loser cliché of guys and put that on girls.

Emily: ….It's basically our stories.

BA: What made "Misery and Company" go from just an idea into a production?

Chelsea: Me and Emily are really close friends and we walk into an iO class and these two [Mallory and Jo] are in there; we all didn't know what to do with each other and we tried to be friends. Then we all realized we need to do something together and decided to do the series.

Emily: It was literally all Chelsea. She was like "Okay, I'm going to go broke, buy a camera and equipment, and we're going to do it."

Jo: We're all talkers and we'll talk about doing it but then Chelsea will be like "And let's actually do it" and by that I mean, "I already wrote it, it's scripted and we're filming tomorrow".

BA: How were the characters developed?

Mallory: They are extravagant versions of us.

Adam: Yeah, like self-esteem pushed way, way far down. It's us at our most desperate moments.

Emily: It's blown-up versions of us where each flaw is magnified.

BA: How much do you characters on the series resemble your real-life personalities.

Mallory: Lexie is me when I was 19. I've kept her quarantined for awhile but she lives inside of me. I'm two tequila shots away from Lexie at all times.

Adam: I think Bill is pretty close to who I actually am. Take away the funny and just keep the sad.

Emily: Camille is me when I actually talk. It's everything about myself that I don't talk to people about. It's also Chelsea; if something bad happens to her in real-life, she just makes it happen to Camille on the series.

Jo: I think I am Ellie. I'm not as square as Ellie but definitely still rooted in religion and innocence. Ellie definitely puts up with more shit though.

Chelsea: These characters are the busted versions of "Sex and the City" characters: Lexie is Samantha, Camille is Carrie, Ellie is Charlotte and Bill is Miranda. (Chelsea to Adam… "You're so Miranda. You even have her hair.")

BA: Chelsea, as a director, what has been your biggest challenge so far?

Chelsea: Episode 1 was scripted and had a shot list which ended up stifling the funny. I consider myself first an editor, then a director, because they all just do their thing and all I have to do is catch it and then make it work.

BA: What is everyone's current relationship status?

(everyone laughs)

All: We're all mostly single but it's ever-changing.

Chelsea: Episode 5 is here because it needs to be.

Emily: In the past month, we have all been wronged, and episode 5 is our revenge on them.

Jo: Any boy that we have a relationship with, knows that their stories will be in this web series.

BA: If you could sleep with anyone in Hollywood, who would it be?

Chelsea: Jason Segel. He's real tall and he's real fun. I wanna have a fun time.

Mallory: Jason Statham. Big, bald, buff and British. I want to climb that tree.

Adam: Neal Patrick Harris. He's like the Nelson Mandela for the gays. Or because of "Inception", Joseph Gordon-Leavitt (everyone sighs as if he took their answer)

Emily: In a fantasy world: Javier Bardem. In a real word: Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Jo: Jon Hamm and Zac Efron are the people that I google shirtless. And Jon Hamm might be Jewish, my mom said she read it somewhere.

(15 minutes later, Jo asks if she can change her answer to Meryl Streep).

And if you just need more of the cast, Chelsea and Emily are a part of a sketch-comedy group Ding!, where they will be competing in a Sketch Cagematch at the iO on September 3rd. Also, Mallory is a part of a two-man improv team called Grassholes and performs in the improv show "Selleck Man: A Homage to 80's Television" at Second City. And if you frequent boats, Jo is going on a tour with Second City and will be back in the winter. You can catch the series on MiseryandCompany.org and/or follow them on Twitter and Facebook.