For University of Wisconsin sophomore Robbie Karver, the idea that anyone, let alone thousands of diehard fans, would want to watch him and his friends messing around with a camera is “very strange.”
Karver and four of his friends were the stars of a reality/ comedy show this summer on the ABC Family network called “The Brendan Leonard Show,” which featured the five men goofing around, discussing such topics as babes and music and issuing “survival tips for teens.”
Created in 19-year-old Brendan Leonard’s basement in the northern suburbs of Chicago, the cult favorite was picked up by ABC Family this past spring after a friend of the family leaked a copy to an ABC executive.
Karver, a real estate and international business major at UW, became involved with the show through his high school friend and fellow cast member, Pat Mohr.
“We all went to high school together in Winnetka,” Karver said, “And when the other guys asked me if I wanted to be on the show, I just decided, ‘Screw it, I’ll mess around and see what happens.'”
Fans say that nonchalant attitude is exactly what makes “Leonard” as fun as it is. Often shot in just one take, the half-hour episodes have featured the boys doing anything from testing the slipperiness of banana peels and playing baseball left-handed to hiding from the janitor after sneaking into their old high school. In one wacky episode, the boys play off the adage “Don’t judge a person until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes” by actually walking a mile in women’s high heels.
Though it may seem that practically anyone could make a tape of themselves doing typical teenage things and put it on the air, the excellent camera work (Leonard’s dad, Mike, is a longtime reporter for NBC’s “Today” show), zany wit and devil-may-care attitude have made the show a hit. In the four years of the show’s existence, the boys have already been picked up by the major network, traveled all over the country from Florida to L.A. and expanded their viewership from “about 10 people in the beginning,” according to Leonard, to more than 240,000 people daily.
The boys have become so popular that they are often recognized on the street and have several websites devoted to them.
Karver said he is not letting the fame get to his head, however.
“Since the show has gotten more popular, I get recognized more and more frequently,” Karver said. “I actually think it’s kind of stupid when people ask for my picture or my autograph because I’m like, ‘They should be asking someone else for their autograph, not me. I’m not important.'”
“The Brendan Leonard Show” is just the latest in a recent wave of teenage-powered shows made quickly and easily for major networks. E! Entertainment Television approved a second season for “The Michael Essany Show,” a late-night talk show hosted by a 20-year old Indiana college student who interviews celebrities in his parents’ living room.
Though “Leonard” will probably end in mid-September when the boys’ contract with ABC runs out, Karver is not worried.
“I’m not much of an actor to begin with,” he said, “and we’re all going to college now, so it will just be too hard. It was definitely a one-time thing.”
