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MAY 23RD, 2014 A BI-WEEKLY WEBPAPER ISSUE 35

TINY NUTS, BIG DREAMS
Caroline Goldfarb on creating her own web-series and being a funny leading lady / by Faye Orlove

I met Caroline Goldfarb a few months ago when she started working on the social media team at Animation Domination (where i work as an animator). Right away I knew she looked familiar. Turns out I recognized her face from a yearbook photo my little cousin showed me almost 5 years ago while giggling, "This is Caroline, she's so funny that she made me pee my pants in the library. Twice." So that's how I met Caroline. Immediately, I fell in love with her new web series, Tiny Nuts, a show about two post-college girls, their tiny dog, and their big dreams. The 9 episode series finished this week, and I'm pretty bummed there isn't more. But I got to ask Caroline questions about creating her own show, being a funny lady, and her equally awesome talent as a collage artist. Check out Tiny Nuts here, her own personal website here, and definitely follow her on Instagram @officialseanpenn.

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Faye: Hi Caroline! What's your sign?

Caroline: ARIES!!

Aries are totally born leaders! Did you find that your aries tendencies (charisma, energy, courage) helped you direct, write, and star in your own web series?

I like to think that i'm more motivated by fear that i'll die having accomplished absolutely nothing. But being an extremely hilarious, outgoing, almost unfairly sexy aries is also probably part of the equation.

Haha, I have that fear too. There's a Salinger quote that I love, "I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody." I think the drive to "prove" yourself is really powerful. Where do you see your career going? Would you like to do stand-up, be on a sitcom, do you see yourself writing a book?

I've visualized being a comedian basically since I was old enough to visualize. The ideal career would be parlaying the funny into whatever means of monetization I could -- a book or sitcom role would be great, but it's important to manage your expectations. Like I'm okay with the fact that maybe one day I'll be a funny stripper or something. Ideally, I look at the careers of women like Kathy Griffin, Tina Fey, Joan Rivers, Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer -- those ladies are not only my heroes, but they are the model for the kind of career I'd want to have (when I'm feeling particularly delusional).

Those ladies are some of my heroes as well! Lately, there's been a huge insurgence of female-fronted shows on primetime (Inside Amy Schumer, The Mindy Project, Parks and Rec, etc). What do you think the deal is? Are people finally realizing (and feeling less threatened by) how funny women are, or is it just a programming fluke that's going to die out?

It's pretty much scientifically proven that women are insanely superior to men at multi-tasking and staying on top of a million things at once, so it makes sense to me that there are more and more kickass females writing, producing, acting, and getting their work out into the world. And sure, people are definitely less threatened by funny women, but even more importantly, it's getting more and more obvious that a lot of female-fronted shows are the funniest shows on TV, so as long as women keep being the superior gender, it's a trend that's not going to die out. I also happen to believe that women are objectively funnier than men, but that's just me.

What aspect of creating Tiny Nuts did you enjoy most? What was the hardest? How many people helped create each episode?

It sounds weird, but the hardest part was also the most enjoyable: post production. We were really passionate about making Tiny Nuts as professional as we possibly could with no budget at all. Working on editing, dealing with sound, making title cards, even doing reshoots, that was all stuff that was new to me. So many people helped make each episode: we had amazing co-producers that helped us keep things organized. We had our parents who supported us and bought the crew lunch. We had 2 camera guys, multiple editors, an on-set sound guy and a post sound guy, and someone who gave us his music to use. And we had a bunch of our talented friends guest star! And a lot of those people are our great friends who helped us for either no money or very little money, which made this whole project possible, because again, I had no money.

Are your parents supportive of your comedy career aspirations or do they think you're actually studying to be a lawyer or something?

My rents are pretty supportive, but it took them a long time to come to terms with my desired career, and it took them even longer to admit that I'm funny. I know for a fact that my mom is still holding out hope I'll marry rich.

Tiny Nuts is definitely infused with rad feminist values (ie: making out on a first date). How important are your values when pursuing different projects? Do you find a lot of hurdles being a woman in the comedy world?

I just happen to think situational comedy about being a girl today is really funny, so that's pretty much all I want to make jokes about or write about. As a hairy feminist jew monster, I have a vested interest in making sure none of my subject positions are at risk of being ignored in mainstream culture. Shows like Broad City are so refreshing because it's not about skinny blonde girls trying to get back at a man (ahem *The Other Woman* ahem), but it's about weird girls smoking weed, trying to get money, holding down jobs, and the rewarding nature of close female friendships- - stuff that's real to me, and I think real to a lot of other people. The problem is that we need about A BILLION more things like Broad City that take the reality of being a woman in 2014 and make that reality hilarious. I don't care if people don't like it, but I look, talk, act, and go about my life in a hairy jew feminist way, and THAT'S WHAT'S UP.

What about comedy do you think makes it a great medium for empowering women/projecting your values?

Because it's comedy! People like to laugh! It's the sneakiest way to push your radical agenda on the public, because you're doing it in the most positive, joyful way.

What are some shows you're watching now? Any that are particularly well done? Or any shows that you think are totally missing the mark?

The best shows on TV right now are Broad City and RuPaul's Drag Race, no question there. I listen to Howard Stern and watch Wendy Williams every day. But I mostly just re-watch old episodes of 30 Rock, Seinfeld, and Sex and the City. I tried to watch Veep and Silicon Valley, but they haven't really been doing it for me.

Tiny Nuts definitely has Broad City vibes. How was working with a close friend on such a big project? Are you more Ilana or Abbi?

Since Taylor and I were roommates during production, we would literally write whenever we were chilling at home together. So that was super great. And we filmed most of it in our apartment. So it's really special to look at the footage and reminisce about living there, hanging out with Nut, and being unemployed. I love both Ilana and Abbi but -- Ilana Glazer is LIT-ER-ALLY one of my heroes. I can't get enough of her. Ilana for fucking life.

But Abbi is the artist and you are a super amazing collage master! What interests you about collaging? How did you get started?

I literally started doing collages on my iPhone using janky Japanese apps. And then I got a job where the work computer had Photoshop, so I started using that. And then the rest is collage history! I love collages because I'm a crazy pop culture nerd with years and years of celebrity knowledge and appreciation. Nothing makes me happier than celebs, foods, sparkles, and the 90's. So I like to use the medium of *~collage~* to express myself! People really like them too, because they're easy to consume and you don't have to think too hard when you look at them!

Do you have a favorite collage I can include?

I'll give you a couple options and you can pick!





Okay, last question! What's the funniest thing you can think of right now!?!?!

The phrase "blasting a hot fart."

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