Everyone is addicted to something. I thought I could deny this in my own life so when I stated this to my husband and he said, "You're addicted to things," I looked at him askance and pondered for a second. He looked at me and said, "How hard is it for you to eat a meal without meat in it and when was the last time you passed a shoe store without buying a pair of shoes?" I gasped in horror...I do indeed have addictions!
The whole premise for Macio TV's "Confessions of an Addicted Mind" is just that. People confide their addictions to Macio and he in turn gives the audience his comedic rendition of that addiction. Everything from a woman who is addicted to public peeing to a small person addicted to tall women. What's great about Macio's show is that he is utilizing mediums such as You Tube to broadcast his one man show. It's a true DIY story and he's making waves on the whole internet television frontier. With his producer wife, Gina, Macio is taking the reins of DIY television and bringing it to a whole new generation of audience. And I'll tell ya this...if Macio is addicted to anything it should be his beautiful and sweet wife! This husband/wife duo is onto making a cult hit and I'm looking forward to learning more of people's crazy addictions.
Who
is Macio? How did comedy become a part of your life?
"Macio is the visionary lunatic who comes home at 2 in the morning with these crazy ideas..." Is this true? How does the creative process work for you?
The process of creating material comes from my everyday life-now with my 3 three children (who I believe are plotting my death). Never allow your kids to out number you. Just take my advice. You can hold one and keep an eye on another-but that third one is lying in the bushes out there somewhere just waiting…Oh sorry, I just remember to jot stuff down with the sharpened pencil they were gonna use on me.
What's the wildest thing you've come up with?
The wildest thing I've ever come up with was to do an explorative of
human evolution. Why do humans take so long to develop from birth to adulthood.
I wanna do a "what if humans give birth in the wild like the animals
of Africa-and how we'd react if right after giving birth a fucking cheetah
was laying for your ass in the bush" scenario. In 2006, a baby could
outrun a horse.
How did MacioTV start?
Maciotv started when I got frustrated with Managers and Agents throwing me (a black male) up against any wall to see what sticks-so I decided to dust off a camera and show them what kinds of things I'd like to do. Luckily, one day after visiting my cousin's home in Long Island during his drug counseling duties-I got the idea to do a show about people with addictions. No one was doing anything that morbid.---as a comedy. Hearing people performing sexual acts for drugs wasn't particularly humorous to me at first. Then my mind drifted-and I envisioned myself being that person and the thought of what I would've done in that situation. It turned out that I would've done everything except perform fellatio. So I decided that re-enacting the stories the way I envisioned it was the was to go and it's been a great insight. People from around the world send me stories on tape of there weird addictions and we storyboard my twisted vision-raise some funds and shoot it. The show is totally funded by myself by selling T-shirts from the show.
How
do you feel about all this technology creating a whole new venue for people
who are virtually unknown? Do you think it's just hype or do you feel
there is a lot of creativity and credibility to using this medium?
Another reason I decided to produce this show exclusively for the internet is to explore all the marketing advantages the internet can provide. After we shot the show we didn't have a website or the money to have one built in order to promote the show-so my wife bought a few magazines and literally built ours day by day from the articles she read. She learned about viral marketing and how to track traffic to our site. We posted the first episode which was a 2-3 minute clip. It was somehow on YOUTUBE fifteen minutes later. People who viewed it on YOUTUBE commented-liked it and requested more. I said: “Damn! We've got to do this!” So I decided to pump the site (Maciotv.com) by appearing on local radio shows like Opie and Anthony, The Wendy Williams Experience. And once again Bam!! Just appearing on these shows resulted in instant hits to the site-15,0000 in one half day. So the use of the internet as a medium to market and promote your product can be a wise decision if you're willing to put in the work. Since June 2006 we've had almost 1.6 million viewers and corporate sponsorship is becoming a reality. Big brands love easy access to their consumers.
What's
the last thing you laughed at?
The last thing I laughed at was (and I'll apologize to my friend in advance) a couple I've known for over twenty years. Not really good close friends, but people I see from time to time. I recently ran into them at one of my shows at the Borgota in Atlantic City and they were dressed to nines-only thing----she only had one leg! I didn't know she lost a leg in a car accident a year and a half earlier. What I laughed at was the fact she had on designer boots or should I say “A boot” that costs thousands. I laughed on the inside because there is no way I'm buying my wife a pair of designer boots and she can only wear ONE. Some luxuries you've got to learn to live without when you lose a body part. That's like me going blind and telling my wife to get me a giant plasma screen tv for my birthday when a radio will do. ( not a joke-true story)
What's
the craziest thing someone has been addicted to on your show and how did
the whole concept for "Confessions" begin?
The craziest story so far has been Jim Norton's (Opie & Anthony/Lucky Louie) story of once being addicted to hookers. He tells a tale of having sex with a transvestite and not knowing it was a transvestite. Hmmmmmm? The story was so nasty, I didn't think it was funny at first, cause I was feeling sorry for him. But Jim is a better man than me for talking about it on camera, so we are now storyboarding the re-enactment to his Tranny adventure.
Macio leaves a note:
By the way, if there are creative minds out there who feel they can create
and write funny re-enactments-they should also hit us up on
MACIOTV.COM. We are open to all twisted minds such as myself. The success
of the show is directly related to the funding of the show. It's not that
expensive to produce and my experience as a creative in the advertising
business producing television commercials keeps the production running
smoothly. Energy drink companies have expressed interest in sponsoring
the show, but like most-they don't know how to monetize their contribution.
I say, just give me some fu@%ing money and keep these people on the internet
happy! There-- I said it.
Favorite childhood memory.
My favorite childhood (19) memory. Being introduced to Eddie Murphy and his Brother Charlie at the Paradise Garage dance club in NYC. I accidentally bumped into Eddie as I was leaving the dance floor high on cannabis. I didn't know it was Eddie, so I blurted out “move Muthafuka! I'm hungry” Charlie looked at me and smiled like he was gonna fuck me up. But instead said: “Funny Motherfucker”. Eddie leaned toward me, shook my hand and said “Go eat”. It felt like I had just met God.
To watch MacioTV click HERE. You
can also visit Macio's Myspace
and give him your support...go on...buy a shirt!