‘The Set’ with Theo Von
If you’re part of generation MTV, then you remember Theo Von as a 19 year old kid on MTV’s Road Rules. He’s all grown up now, and Von parlayed his time on Road Rules into a tremendously successful career which includes a busy stand up calendar, a viral website: cranktexts.com that has over 10 million page views, he’s been “In Bed with Joan Rivers”, and he hosts not one, but two popular shows. Von currently hosts TBS’s hit prank game show “Deal With It” already in its second season (executive produced by comedy icon Howie Mandel), and he also hosts “Prime Time in No Time” every night, which is reportedly “the most watched show in the history of the internet”. Von has big plans for the future, which we found out when we had a chance to interview him for this week’s edition of “The Set.”
The IBang: You are doing so great. Second season of “Deal With It”, which is a prank game show. Tell us a little bit about it.
Theo Von: Well it’s a hidden camera. People go to restaurants all the time so we find a way to get one of them away from the table that they’re at, and we get an earpiece in their ear. And then we start telling them things to do. And the more they do, the more money they make. If the friend they’re with realizes they’re on a game show, then the show is over. So, they have to be crazy, but they have to be smart. And they can win some money.
The IBang: It’s intense to watch it. You can’t believe people are going to do these things, but they’ve got you, and another celebrity encouraging them on.
Theo Von: Yeah, it definitely helps to have a celebrity there, because maybe they want to impress the celebrity. But there are also a lot of times where people bail out, you know? Where they’re like, nope, I can’t do it. I can’t put them through this. We never know. That’s the best part about it for us. We can only plan so much, and we have no idea.
The IBang: This seems perfect for you because you got a lot of attention with your text pranks that you started doing, and that was something you thought of on your own.
Theo Von: Yeah I was doing that on my own. That was one of the reasons that Howie and his co-execs hired me, because they enjoyed the fact that I was doing that, and its just funny how it all works out.
The IBang: Can you remember the first time you played a prank on someone? What’s the youngest prank you ever remember playing.
Theo Von: I used to do the whole, ‘let’s tie something to the door and have something fall on someone’ that was always fun. I’m still pranking people. I have a date tonight with a girl who I told I was an orphan and I have to find a way out of it somehow.
The IBang: How do you decide when to let her in on that?
Theo Von: You know that’s a great question and it’s one I’ve asked myself a lot this morning. When do you break it down to somebody, that I’m not an orphan. I feel lonely sometimes, but I’m not an orphan. Maybe emotionally I’m an orphan.
The IBang: Back in 2006, you were fairly new to performing comedy and ended up on Last Comic Standing. What was that like?
Theo Von: It was tough because I had only been doing comedy about two years. I was nervous, I’d never really been around a lot of these other comics. And “Last Comic Standing” was very hot and new then, and everybody was kind of in to it. So it was an adventure, man. It was scary. And I’d come off of reality tv and was doing comedy so it was quite a transition. And no one really knew that I was a comedian yet. And it’s something you can’t just ‘be’. I don’t think you ever fully become one, you just continue to blossom. There was a lot of work that had to be put in, but that was really scary, dude.
The IBang: You are also currently on the “most watched show in the history of the internet” Prime Time in No Time. Is that overwhelming?
Theo Von: It’s a little scary sometimes just to think of how many people will see your mug every day. Definitely gives you a reason to brush your teeth, I’ll say that.
The IBang: Which is crazier, the pranking or the reality world that you follow?
Theo Von: That’s a great question. I would say the reality world is crazier, with all this real housewives and the ridiculous people out there these days. The swamp people and– it’s cool to see all the different flavors of life getting turned out. They’re kind of fabricated it seems like, but it’s still fun to watch. Honey Boo Boo is one of my favorites, I love Honey Boo Boo. I love Wife Swap. I love watching Andy Cohen, so I’m in it. I guess part of me will always be a little bit of a housewife.
The IBang: Is it the housewives who give you the most material?
Theo Von: I mean look, those bitches need to get it together to be honest with you. And people can be like, ‘oh well you’re generalizing’ well that’s fine. Because yeah, they need to get it together, but while they haven’t gotten it together, I’ll tune in.
The IBang: While you’ve got all of this going on with the internet and with television, do you still love stand up?
Theo Von: Oh, that’s tough. I do, it’s hard though. You never have a lot of free time. You’re always packing or unpacking and sifting through a pile of mail and bullshit, and you don’t know where you’re going to eat, or what you’re going to eat. It’s hectic man, it’s hectic.
The IBang: Is there someone out there whose career you admire?
Theo Von: There was an old comedian out of Mississippi named Jerry Clower. And if you look him up online he’s got some great old videos and just an interesting dude and i’ve always enjoyed the kind of stuff he talked about and his stories. His career wasn’t all that big overall but in that region it was really big. I’ve already been so blessed and overwhelmed by the career I’ve had so far, I can’t imagine it could get much better, but I hope it does.
The IBang: You also have some other big projects in the works. You have an animated show that you’re working on. Is that something you can talk about?
Theo Von: It’s a concept based on this neighborhood I grew up in. I grew up in a neighborhood that a lot of low income, really white trash people. So I come from that environment and that’s what this is about. It’s about that world. It’s called McGee Street. Sometimes I miss it man, sometimes I really miss it. It feels so far away, but then it feels so in my bones all the time too, you know?
Keep Up with Theo Vonn:
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Watch “Deal With It” on Wednesdays at 10:30 et on TBS.
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Watch “Prime Time in No Time” on Yahoo.com every night.
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Visit CrankTexts.com to follow Von’s prank texts daily.
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Keep Up With Theo’s Schedule at TheoVon.com.
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