Shows
Comedy writers and best friends. (Not related.)
Article courtesy Unblock the Music.
New York chaos lead Bob and Tobly McSmith (share) not only a small city apartment but to a “blood brothers” friendship and a slew of hit parody musicals. While “Un-Block the Music” always wandered (and continues to wander) around the New York theater district just as a past time, often I saw ads for The Office! A Musical Parody. Then, my PR friend Dan DeMello (DDPR) sent me a press invitation Friends! A Musical Parody and I realized there are a slew of musical parodies written by this team! In fact, to date, they have written nine with no end in sight. Lucky for me, I was able to have an hilarious talk with these not so traditional musical theater writers.
First off, Tobly and Bob are not related by birth, but they moved to New York around the same time. Bob said, “I always wanted to be an actor. I studied it in college, but I wasn’t very good at it. But, Tobly and I became obsessed with Comedy Central and Saturday Night Live. It became our safe place, and we found this mutual bond over comedy.”
Both McSmiths had New York “survival” jobs and started creating comedy and playing music on the side in bars and smaller theaters. “We didn’t have much in terms of musical background but have figured it out over the last 15 years,” with their first parody being Bayside! The Musical! (Saved By The Bell Musical).
Why did they write Friends!? “Even though it is not really based in reality, people relate to the show,” Bob said. “One of the great things about comedy is that it is a conversation,” said Tobly. “I am transgender and there are a lot of cringy jokes in the shows in light of 2021. But it is important to celebrate how much we have progressed.” If you are uncomfortable with these topics, it is time to understand why.Tobly says in this time of change, things are very scrutinized so you do have to be conscious of what you write. Spoken as a true writer, he is also the author of two Young Adult novels, Stay Gold and Act Cool. Both follow coming of age transgender boys dealing with relationships and chasing their dreams.
As a journalist and writer, I have been around creators my whole life, and since starting “Un-Block The Music” I have been most fascinated with how artists create! No two stories are alike. How do Bob and Tobly come up with their ideas? “Basically Tobly and I sit in a room and try to make each other laugh. If we don’t laugh, then we don’t put it on the page. We have different senses of humors!,” Bob said.