Friday, July 26, 2019

Try Guys: Legends of the Internet [SPOILERS]

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I love watching the Try Guys on YouTube. I watched them when they were still with Buzzfeed, and love them even more now that they're on their own. So when I learned that they were going on tour, I pretty much immediately bought tickets to see them in D.C. at the Warner Theatre.

But I didn't know what to expect from their show. Yes, they're funny, but they're not stand-up comedians. And they certainly have a variety of content on their digital channels, but how would that translate live? I didn't know what I was in for: I just wanted to be entertained. AND I WAS.

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The four guys came out in all their glittery, colorful glory and sang a sort of mash-up about different online videos that went viral. Not only are the Try Guys themselves "legends of the internet," but so are these people (and many others):






If you had seen the videos before, this part of the show was hilarious. If you hadn't, it probably didn't make much sense. But seeing as these videos have gone viral (i.e. millions of people have watched them), it kind of felt like an inside joke that (almost) everyone was in on.

After the intro, the Try Guys introduced themselves, and each was a different "Legend." Keith Habersberger was the "Legend of Food," Ned Fulmer the "Legend of Love," Zach Kornfeld the "Legend of Fun," and Eugene Lee Yang was the "Legend of Gay." All of us familiar with the Try Guys knew these titles were perfect for each of them.

Keith Habersberger: Legend of Food

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Keith went first. He told the story about how almost 10 years ago, when he was living in Chicago, he invited Tim Meadows out for pizza. But he did so in hundreds of Facebook posts to a fan page, and he turned those posts into their own web page, which in turn went viral on Reddit. Keith even made a music video called, "Bitch, Let Me Buy You Pizza." We got to see him perform the song live, but you can see the original here:


After that, Keith shared fried chicken with the whole audience, since fried chicken is what he's known for (he's made many videos about it, including a whole season of Chicken Watch). He and Zach threw Church's chicken tenders into the audience, and then encouraged the people who caught them to break them into tiny pieces and share with everyone else. I thought this was very cute and funny, but I also wasn't disappointed that I didn't get a piece of chicken that multiple strangers may have touched.
Ned Fulmer: Legend of Love

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With Ned always gushing about his wife Ariel and their son Wes, of course he's the legend of love. His segment started with him asking us to turn to the person next to us and say, "I love you." (My boyfriend and I are not there yet.) AWKWARD.

Then he invited an audience member up to the stage to play "F***, Kill, or Marry" with the three other Try Guys. The other guys were hidden behind a curtain, and they each had microphones to disguise their voices. Zach and Eugene had really deep voices that sounded pretty sexy. But Keith's microphone made him sound like the original Alvin and the Chipmunks characters. His voice was SO high and the mic was SO loud that not only could you not understand a word he said, but our ears were practically bleeding. That was definitely the most obnoxious part of the show. But anyway, the guest asked them different questions (mostly consisting of "What's your favorite BLANK?"), and the guys gave funny answers. In the end she stabbed Keith.

The next bit that Ned did, which I think made me laugh the hardest, was when he invited four daughters and their fathers to the stage. The dads had to "prove their love" to their daughters in a dance-off. One dad clearly didn't want to go on stage in the first place, so when the dance off was announced, I was cringing for him; if you don't want to stand in front of 1,600 people, you certainly don't want to dance in front of them! Ned showed the dads a few moves, like the Dab, the Floss, and the Nae Nae. Then all of the fathers had to dance to the Old Town Road song that is everywhere right now. One dad knew all the moves and was familiar with the song, so I was glad he won the contest. I was dying laughing during this entire part of the show.

Zach Kornfeld: The Legend of Fun

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Zach began his part of the show like a TED Talk, discussing the hardships he has faced in his life and giving the advice that, as often as we can, we should try to have fun. This was kind of the downer portion of the show, but it made sense that Zach would take this opportunity to share his life story.

His segment was probably my least favorite. He wrote a fan fiction piece to follow up the video they had created about it. He asked the audience for a theme to be the innuendo for the piece, and I'm pretty sure he picked "ping pong" not because someone from the audience suggested it, but because they had already planned to do that (lame). And then he did a karaoke piece, but the audience voted for a Hannah Montana song, which I didn't know. But the rest of the (very young) crowd was super into it, so I did enjoy all of their energy.

Eugene Lee Yang: The Legend of Gay

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Eugene only recently came out as gay, and he did so in the most amazing way with his own music video:

His entire piece was him dancing and lip-syncing to the songs of amazing LGBT icons, all while looking fabulous, of course. This mash up included songs by Cyndi Lauper, Ariana Grande, Madonna, George Michael, Liza Minnelli, Whitney Houston, and so, so many more. He's an amazing dancer, and all the songs were so iconic. This was really beautiful, as were his words about staying true to yourself and your identity, whatever makes you you. And he included audience members to join him and dance and sing on stage, which was so much fun and wonderfully spirited. I loved how supportive and progressive the crowd was, and it gave me hope for the future regarding civil rights for ALL of us.

Like I said, I didn't know what to expect from this show. But it was better than I ever could have imagined! If the Try Guys are coming to a city near you, buy tickets now!

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