See what Home Improvement's Richard Karn thinks about coronavirus in this new short film
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Ben Berman, director of The Amazing Jonathan Documentary and several episodes of your favorite comedy series, is looking for some advice. He’s feeling washed up, he doesn’t have any ideas, and, like many of us, he’s growing increasingly worried about the current pandemic. Naturally (or not), his first instinct when looking for some guidance is to reach out to celebrities on the Cameo platform, like Home Improvement’s Richard Karn, Jon Lovitz, Mark McGrath, and Lindsay Lohan. The results are on display in his latest short, The Follow-Up, which premiered this week on Vimeo.
For those unfamiliar, Cameo is a service where users can pay artists, social media stars, and random weirdos of varying levels of fame to record personalized video messages for them. These messages can either be pre-written or totally off the cuff. They can also, in McGrath’s case, be used to break up with your long-distance boyfriend.
“I don’t want to use the term ‘washed up,’ but Cameo mainly exists of talent of a certain era,” Berman tells IndieWire in a recent interview about the short. “So for me, Ben, who feels washed up in his career—I mean, sure, I did one doc, I’m proud of it, but it’s what do you got now—for me to feel washed up and to reach out to a Richard Karn, who used to be a big deal on a sitcom, but now who knows what he’s doing, was funny to me.”
Written and recorded completely in quarantine, the short offers a beautiful and hilarious exploration of loneliness in the digital age. It’s also a great example of how to utilize what limited resources you have at your disposal. Berman couldn’t exactly get a crew together or shoot anything on location right now, so the entire film is comprised of video captured on his computer screen.
“I got the sense, especially over the last two days, that both the commercial industry and the TV industry, people, instead of just waiting, it’s become, ‘What can we do now? What can we use now to continue our path forward?’” Berman says. “I would like to think that what The Follow-Up shows is there are ways to tell stories with what we have in front of us.”
You can read his full interview with IndieWire here.
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18 Comments
Richard Karn, silver golem.
What I want to know is what Wilson thinks about all this…
Wilson was smart enough to check out before all this nonsense.
Wilson was a master of social distancing. May we all follow his example.
Ha great point! He was WAY ahead of his time:
It’s not N95 standard, but with a little tighter spacing between pickets, it’s likely pretty effective.
“Tim, I keep telling you, it isn’t a Democrat hoax.”
Now I’m imagining Home Improvement set in modern day from Wilson’s POV. His stupid ass MAGA neighbor keeps trying to tell him how Covid is a hoax and Obama ruined the country while he’s just trying to trim his damn bushes.
“They just want to keep getting MORE POWER!”grunt grunt grunt
Ok. So what does Richard Karn think about it without me having to play some stupid video? Or should you maybe change the headline?
I watched this a couple weeks ago and really enjoyed it; and Richard Karn comes across as a genuinely sweet and caring guy, so I’m not sure what this bait-y headline is going for.
Richard Karn is having a nice mini-renaissance at the moment. He popped up on an episode of Detroiters, he was in Pen15, and according to IMBD he’s landed a couple of sweet Hallmark Christmas movie gigs.
The dude’s 64 and is living well off of Home Improvement royalties. I don’t think he’s stressed one bit about not being more famous.
I’ve long found it weird how we view actors’ careers. For most of us, working a job we like for 8 or 10 years that then pays us enough money to fuck around and do what we want for the rest of our lives would be a freakin’ miracle. But for actors it’s all, “oh, he/she’s all washed up!”
WARNING: SPORTS CONTENT AHEADThis also reminds me of the #1 high school basketball recruit in the country. For the first time, instead of going to play for free while earning millions for his university, (and instead of going overseas), he’s going to work for the NBA’s Development League. He’s going to make $500,000 next year, plus endorsement money, before going on to join the NBA.And some people have a *problem* with this!Even if the kid never plays a game in the NBA, he’s going to have made a million dollars at the age of 18! I’m 41 and I probably haven’t earned a million dollars in my life.
“Meh, shoulda gone to college.” Dude can do college later, AFTER earning millions of dollars before the age of 20.
Or he could… not, you know?I’d have skipped college entirely if someone had offered me a job for $50,000 a year out of high school. And I wouldn’t have regretted it one bit. The entire reason I went to college is so I could get a job that paid me well.
i will not and if you try to force me i will swallow my own tongue
I don’t think so, Tim.*flush*(I may be getting my sitcoms confused)