Interview: Random at best pokes fun at video games

A lot of folks these days poke fun at the expense of video games — Mega 64 obviously leading the charge — but a new troupe has stepped up to make their mark, parodying the popular Dead Island ad where everything runs backwards.  But this time there's eggs, a crossbow…and a vibrator?

We sat down with the troupe, Random At Best, to get their take on the video, as well as what's next…

First off, how did Random At Best get started? Did someone lose a bet or…?

The group began in 2010 after Pat discovered Mark, then known as Roscoe, on the floor of a 7-11 bathroom and saw all the potential he needed. He contacted his friends Madison and Ezio whom he previously met at an intervention for Jon, who was addicted to filming unsuspecting people through their windows. The group was ready to take on the Youtube world after they made a series of rings forged from a dumpster that was struck by lightning that once combined, formed Random at Best.

What's the goal of Random At Best besides entertaining us like silly? Or is that the goal?

We’ve tried discussing what our goal is and never really come through with an actual answer.  it really comes down to just making films because it’s fun and we all love it and want to see where it takes us.

Are you looking to do video game parodies primarily, or looking into other subjects as well?

Not at all actually. We just make short films out of whatever amuses us. We were huge fans of the Dead Island trailer (not so much the game) and it really inspired the look and feel of the video we recently made. I think it’s very likely that we will end up making a short film or two about video games though. We also plan to parody the entire library of the Commodore 64.

I had a chance to check out your latest video, a parody of Dead Island, with everything running backwards. How'd that come about?

Since we’re releasing our new videos in the spring, we wanted to make something interesting to tell people that we’re still out there and making content – and what’s better than glorious slow-motion shots of someone getting killed with an arrow, chased by a dildo and rocketed into a plate full of nachos?

Who probably got injured the most on-set? The guy that got slapped or the one pelted with eggs? Or maybe even the one who took the arrow to the back?

That’s actually a hard question. Mark and Ezio take beatings so regularly during writing sessions. Jon almost broke his back during “An Oreo Moment” carrying the Red Epic up and down a hill for 10 hours. Mark had to choke Ezio out in “The Membership” for 7 takes.  We had one take with the egg throwing where Pat pelted Ezio with 3 or 4 eggs that didn’t break.  At the end of the take we thought he was “playing up” the pain really well.

We took a look at your Facebook page…and we still can't explain the photo where everyone is dressed up in drag. Care to fill us in?

It might’ve been from our video The PreDrink or the sequel that’s coming out soon… or it could’ve just been a regular Wednesday night for us.

Introduce us to each of your members of Random At Best, as if we were meeting your kooky family for the first time. You can go favorite first if you wish.

Hi I’m Pat, the serious one.

Hi I’m Mark, the bitchy one.

Hi I’m Ezio, ladies man.

Hi I’m Jon, the fashionable one.

Hi I’m Madison, the girl.

How long does it take to put a webisode together?

It really depends but an average one takes about a month. Someone comes up with the idea, we argue about it, start writing a few versions of the script while disagreeing with each other the entire time, once that’s done we go out and find everything we need for the production. From there we pick the coldest day possible to actually shoot and go a minimum of 8 hours over schedule. The editing process can take anywhere from a day to 6 months. We argue a bit more and then we’re on to the next one!

We understand you made an appearance on the Nat and Marie show? How'd that go?

It was a lot of fun. You can see the video here: http://dai.ly/XDCVyA

We talked about all the important things like our work with the illuminati, the pope, and for some reason Mark kept getting boners.

Do you guys do a lot of gaming at all? Or is it about chasing each other around with vibrators?

Both. Pat and Mark used to play a lot of Madden together. Pat personally has an unhealthy addiction to Battlefield 3 and EA Skate. We’re really looking forward to the release of The Last of Us (please be good), GTA5, and Bioshock. For the record, the greatest game of all time is No Luca No and if you don’t have it on your Xbox right now you’re blowing it.  For one year straight all Mark and Jon played every single day was Street Fighter IV (they lost a lot of friends).

What's next for Random At Best? Garage sales? Touring show? More eggs? (Sorry, egg throwing is awesome.)

We’re going to be putting out a lot of videos in the springtime that we’re really excited about. People can go to our channel and subscribe “for free” to see the upcoming stuff and also some of our older videos like The Douche, FriendZone, and a World War 2 themed Oreo commercial called An Oreo Moment.

Apart from video stuff we’ll be starting a side company that makes monocles for cats; they come in all different colors and patterns like camo and John Cena all over print. Pre-order yours at your local Home Depot.