Three UCLA students create their own comedy group, AskUCLA
By Cristina Chang
Nov. 1, 2010 2:12 a.m.
Correction: The original version of this article published Nov. 1 contained an error. Members of AskUCLA post videos on Tumblr and Facebook. AskUCLA.com does not exist.
The question: what to buy someone for a four-year anniversary?
In an AskUCLA video response, Miranda Freeman quotes the lyrics to a song for anniversary gift ideas, from doves to hens, before realizing she had been reciting the 12 Days of Christmas.
Sydney Van Horn, sensing an imminent marriage proposal in the questioner’s future, recommends a $15,000 gift card to Zales.
Despite their official-sounding title, AskUCLA is a comedy group featuring three UCLA students who post answers to student questions on Facebook and Tumblr.
Freeman, a third-year linguistic and English student, came up with the idea last spring during a long drive back to UCLA. She had been watching the online comedy sketch show, “This College Life,” and thought about filming her own videos as an activity outside of actual studying.
After the commute back, she urged her friends Van Horn, a third-year communications studies student, and Jessica McCoy, a third-year anthropology student, to join. Soon they were soliciting questions from friends and posting answers on their Tumblr.
Since its inception, AskUCLA has been producing videos roughly once every two weeks, totalling more than 15 videos over the past five months.
“Mostly, we get questions on stuff specific to UCLA or college living, especially in the dorms,” Freeman said.
The site receives about three to seven questions a week, but the group only has time to answer about 10 percent of them. Freeman added that questions tend not to be too serious, though, and often deal with roommates and dating.
In high school, Freeman was part of a competitive improvisation team which she said helps her think of comments on the spot.
“Improv gets you the funniest answer, when you’re raw and honest,” she said.
After receiving a question, Freeman will give Van Horn and McCoy a few days to think about an answer before filming their online responses. During filming, the responder will say whatever they want, while the other two gives her tips and commentary on what was funny and what was not. After they post a video, they tag the person who asked it.
Additionally, each of the AskUCLA students portray a character role that may not reflect who really they are, Van Horn said. For instance, Freeman plays the geeky, Star Wars fan, Van Horn depicts the anal-retentive perfectionist, and McCoy portrays the girl who does not pay much attention to work or school.
Freeman said that while the fan base for AskUCLA is small, people still watch their videos regularly and are very supportive. She added that fans on Facebook could include people from former teammates on her improv team to “a random person from Oregon.”
The videos have also given the students attention they did not anticipate. While Freeman was rushing a sorority this quarter, two girls recognized her as “that girl online.” Van Horn was waiting outside Sproul Hall one day when a student she had never met said he recognized her from the videos.
Some of their biggest fans are their own parents. Freeman’s dad, from whom she said she gets her sense of humor, posts the most comments on their Facebook page.
“(The videos are) family-appropriate; we don’t answer things PG-13,” Freeman said.
When he first saw the videos on his Facebook news feed, fifth-year cognitive science student Thach Nguyen said he thought it was dorky. But now he tells his friends about it and visits the page once in a while to look for new videos.
“They talked about college things that were relevant to us but had a humorous spin on it, which was really cool,” Nguyen said.
Nguyen’s favorite video was the one where the AskUCLA actors recounted how they found their majors using unorthodox ways, such as choosing from the top of the alphabet.
“It’s fun because we can laugh about it and have a good time,” Van Horn said. “Hopefully people know this is just for fun and just enjoy it as well.”
