Issue link: http://tcnj.uberflip.com/i/1448769
24 The College of New Jersey Magazine things are going to get made and things can derail at any time. We were just fortunate for it to come out right around this time, because with George Floyd and so many other murders, our story just resonated. But we couldn't have predicted that. Kenny: I like to say we're comedians. So we have great timing. TM: Let's talk about your comedy. Before Judas, you were primarily comedians. And it was something you discovered and decided to pursue right before you were each set to graduate from law school. Kenny: I didn't really connect with law intellectually. I couldn't fathom doing it for another 30 years. I was at NYU and I was right across the street from the Comedy Cellar. And I would go there to work through some of my issues that I was having with law school. And I fell in love with comedy and entertainment and I thought, "I could see myself doing this." Keith: He convinced me somehow, he just called me one day. I was at Duke. Kenny: I said, "One day, we're going to get nominated for an Oscar." That was my pitch. Keith: I thought he was crazy at the time, but I didn't really have the passion for law either. TM: Would your friends say you had a reputation for being funny? Kenny and Keith: No! Keith: Our humor is very witty at times, which means we're not like … Kenny: … We're not like laugh-out- loud funny. We were never class clowns. Keith: We were very academic. We wanted to be professors. TM: We hear Jimmy Fallon helped you get your start. Kenny: We love Jimmy. He gave us our big break in 2012. Keith: We auditioned to do stand-up on The Tonight Show, and we didn't think we were going to get it 'cause we only had five minutes of material. Kenny: We literally had five minutes. I was like, "If you guys don't like this, we can't give you any more." Somehow we got it, and Jimmy has been really supportive since. TM: How does where you come from play out in your work? Keith: We grew up in Newark, New Jersey, and people see it as a negative place, but people were always laughing, always joking around. Even in the most tragic circumstances, you need jokes to sort of get through it. Comedy plays a large role in dealing with tragedy, so they're intimately connected. TM: You talk a lot about having a tough childhood. What aspects of that do you think have contributed to your success? Kenny: It's just grit and grind. Our mom worked three jobs. She was a single mom. She instilled in us the principle of being a hard worker and never letting disadvantages take you out of that mindset. Keith: We had a ton of support from aunts too. All of our aunts protected us and taught us values. Not just about work, but just trying to be decent human beings. And I think that has helped too. People tend to like us for whatever reason. Kenny: Some people [laughs]. Keith: We're writing a movie right now that's about Newark and our relationship with our father. We're working with producer Judd Apatow and he pushed us to probe that. We didn't want to talk about those feelings when we first started making films. Kenny: It was difficult to wade into that heavy, emotional stuff: The idea of not having your father around and growing up as men in a place that was very tough. It was hard to mine for humor, but Judd pushed us to go there. Keith: We just finished the script, and hopefully it will come out in 2023. TM: You are also working on a remake of Revenge of the Nerds, right? Kenny: We just finished that script. "It was a unique experience to get to be in their presence. As someone from Newark, I was proud. especially in the arts." — Saneitta Wicks '22 REPRESENTATION MATTERS,