Very Mary-Kate
Encyclopedia
Very Mary-Kate is a web series
written by Elaine Carroll and directed by Sam Reich. The series consists of 45 episodes, as of January 20, 2011, of approximately 90 seconds each, featuring writer and comedienne Elaine Carroll as Mary-Kate Olsen
. The series was originally produced out-of-pocket, but was picked up for its second season by CollegeHumor
allowing Carroll to “pay for lunch for people.”
The series premiered January 10, 2010 on Vimeo
. The most recent episode was released on January 20, 2011. A third season debuted December 1st, 2011 on CollegeHumor
and VeryMaryKate.com. During the break before the third season the official website contained a note titled "Break" containing the comment "i’ll probably be back pretty soon. in the meantime, whenever you feel cold, hungry, tired, rich, or famous, think of me."
According to an interview with The @rcade, Carroll originally
used an impression of the Olsen twins during an audition for Saturday Night Live
. Carroll
indicates that, "It went over really well," but "obviously I didn't get on the show." She continued
to do the impression, and decided to expand it into a series to put on the internet.
In other interviews, Carroll states that she had been doing the Olsen twin impression for about two years before making a short video called “The Olsen Twin Minute” that “featured Mary-Kate and Ashley in a talk show.” The experience led Carroll to realize she wanted to do more with the twin impression and “started trying to visualize what life is like for them. They’re rich and famous, but also kind of mysterious and private, which leaves a ton of room for the imagination.” Taking facts she already knew, such as Olsen’s use of a bodyguard and taking classes at NYU, Carroll crafted a web series that “started filling in the blanks.”
Utilizing various social media
tools, “Very Mary-Kate” has maintained a steady internet presence since its inception. The web series
has a Facebook page, with information and videos, as well as a Facebook
application that users can allow to post videos and information about the show on their personal profiles. VMK characters can also be found tweeting regularly on Twitter
. The @VeryMaryKate Twitter account has been running since April 2009 and “provides no shortage of great one-liners and increases the show’s social networking component.” The show also maintains a YouTube profile, but all videos and information premiere first on CollegeHumor
, along with site exclusives and videos that cannot be shown on YouTube
.
. Carroll’s portrayal of Olsen takes several well-known facts of Mary-Kate Olsen
’s life (such as attending NYU and picking up occasional acting jobs) and “expands on them, creating a character who’s a weak-yet-demanding kitten obsessed with calories, abusing her bodyguard and getting her hands on the good drugs.” The series follows the adventures of Carroll’s Mary-Kate Olsen
including daily routines, classes at NYU, religious experiences, major life decisions (moving out from an apartment shared with twin sister Ashley Olsen
, deciding to have a baby, and more) and general troublesome situations in which Mary-Kate seems to find herself (for instance, Trip to Las Vegas: Parts 1-4).She even keeps the same facial expression from the first video to the last one. Most of the time she doesn't even move her head while she whines.
as of April 2011, along with over 36,000 channel subscribers. The series has also amassed a following
on Facebook, with over 16,000 "likes." The @VeryMaryKate Twitter
account has just over 21,000 followers as
of April 2011. Very Mary-Kate has
inspired a variety of fan tributes, including Halloween
costumes and a variety of images portraying fans posing
in the limp-wristed, hunched posture of Carroll's Mary-Kate Olsen
, making the signature
facial expression, posted to the Very Mary-Kate Facebook
page.
The @rcade states that, "Elaine has brought one of the funniest and best web-series to the
internet. Her performance as the rich teen princess and her rich teen princess twin sister is
flawless, (flawless in the sense that we've never met the Olsen twins but we've always
assumed that they acted just as Elaine portrays them). Less than two minutes in length, each
episode is guaranteed to have you laughing within the first 12 seconds (how exact!) and
you will no doubt be hooked as we were and will certainly need to check out more of her
stuff."
Liz Shannon Miller of GigaOM
writes, "Suffice it to say that the Valley-girl-transplanted-
to-SoHo portrayal is thus incredibly harsh, but unless you’re actually Mary-Kate Olsen
, I
defy you not to laugh. Production values are low and the sound quality is less than impressive,
but the informal nature of the videos work, and the tightly-paced episodes fit a whole lot of
painfully funny jokes into just one minute. The exchanges between her and her bodyguard
are especially funny thanks to his defeated nature — the pair make for a truly engaging odd
couple."
Web series
A web series is a series of episodes released on the Internet or also by mobile or cellular phone, and part of the newly emerging medium called web television. A single instance of a web series program is called an episode .While the popularity of web series is continuing to rise, the concept...
written by Elaine Carroll and directed by Sam Reich. The series consists of 45 episodes, as of January 20, 2011, of approximately 90 seconds each, featuring writer and comedienne Elaine Carroll as Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
. The series was originally produced out-of-pocket, but was picked up for its second season by CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor is a comedy website owned by InterActiveCorp and based in New York City. The site features daily original comedy videos and articles created by its in-house writing and production team, in addition to user-submitted videos, pictures, articles and links. In early 2009, CollegeHumor's...
allowing Carroll to “pay for lunch for people.”
The series premiered January 10, 2010 on Vimeo
Vimeo
Vimeo is a video-sharing website on which users can upload, share, and view videos. It was founded by Zach Klein and Jake Lodwick in November 2004...
. The most recent episode was released on January 20, 2011. A third season debuted December 1st, 2011 on CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor is a comedy website owned by InterActiveCorp and based in New York City. The site features daily original comedy videos and articles created by its in-house writing and production team, in addition to user-submitted videos, pictures, articles and links. In early 2009, CollegeHumor's...
and VeryMaryKate.com. During the break before the third season the official website contained a note titled "Break" containing the comment "i’ll probably be back pretty soon. in the meantime, whenever you feel cold, hungry, tired, rich, or famous, think of me."
According to an interview with The @rcade, Carroll originally
used an impression of the Olsen twins during an audition for Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
. Carroll
indicates that, "It went over really well," but "obviously I didn't get on the show." She continued
to do the impression, and decided to expand it into a series to put on the internet.
In other interviews, Carroll states that she had been doing the Olsen twin impression for about two years before making a short video called “The Olsen Twin Minute” that “featured Mary-Kate and Ashley in a talk show.” The experience led Carroll to realize she wanted to do more with the twin impression and “started trying to visualize what life is like for them. They’re rich and famous, but also kind of mysterious and private, which leaves a ton of room for the imagination.” Taking facts she already knew, such as Olsen’s use of a bodyguard and taking classes at NYU, Carroll crafted a web series that “started filling in the blanks.”
Utilizing various social media
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
tools, “Very Mary-Kate” has maintained a steady internet presence since its inception. The web series
Web series
A web series is a series of episodes released on the Internet or also by mobile or cellular phone, and part of the newly emerging medium called web television. A single instance of a web series program is called an episode .While the popularity of web series is continuing to rise, the concept...
has a Facebook page, with information and videos, as well as a Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
application that users can allow to post videos and information about the show on their personal profiles. VMK characters can also be found tweeting regularly on Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. The @VeryMaryKate Twitter account has been running since April 2009 and “provides no shortage of great one-liners and increases the show’s social networking component.” The show also maintains a YouTube profile, but all videos and information premiere first on CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor
CollegeHumor is a comedy website owned by InterActiveCorp and based in New York City. The site features daily original comedy videos and articles created by its in-house writing and production team, in addition to user-submitted videos, pictures, articles and links. In early 2009, CollegeHumor's...
, along with site exclusives and videos that cannot be shown on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
.
Plot
“Very Mary-Kate” is the “unofficial biography of everyone’s favorite Olsen twin,” Mary-Kate OlsenMary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
. Carroll’s portrayal of Olsen takes several well-known facts of Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
’s life (such as attending NYU and picking up occasional acting jobs) and “expands on them, creating a character who’s a weak-yet-demanding kitten obsessed with calories, abusing her bodyguard and getting her hands on the good drugs.” The series follows the adventures of Carroll’s Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
including daily routines, classes at NYU, religious experiences, major life decisions (moving out from an apartment shared with twin sister Ashley Olsen
Ashley Olsen
Ashley Fuller Olsen is an American actress, fashion designer, producer, and author. She co-founded luxury fashion brand The Row and the more affordable line Olsenboye with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen and started her own fashion company called Elizabeth and James...
, deciding to have a baby, and more) and general troublesome situations in which Mary-Kate seems to find herself (for instance, Trip to Las Vegas: Parts 1-4).She even keeps the same facial expression from the first video to the last one. Most of the time she doesn't even move her head while she whines.
Main characters
- Mary-Kate OlsenMary-Kate OlsenMary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
– one-half of the famous Olsen twin duo who has a Bodyguard-turned-personal-assistant-and-caretaker, occasionally takes classes at NYU; is obsessed with calories and loves prescription medication cocktails (heavy on the prescription). Currently Mary-Kate splits her time between New York CityNew York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los AngelesLos ÁngelesLos Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, but may not be exactly sure where she is most of the time. - Ashley OlsenAshley OlsenAshley Fuller Olsen is an American actress, fashion designer, producer, and author. She co-founded luxury fashion brand The Row and the more affordable line Olsenboye with her twin sister Mary-Kate Olsen and started her own fashion company called Elizabeth and James...
– Mary-Kate’s twin sister; similar in mind and body to Mary-Kate and the source of an off-and-on sibling rivalry (especially when it comes to Bodyguard) - Bodyguard – Mary-Kate’s bodyguard who becomes more like a personal assistant/caretaker/nanny, who is supposed to be available at any and all times; he works for Ashley when MK fires him before re-hiring him
- Phil Lansford aka "Fat Professor" – Professor of HistoryHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
at NYU; hobbies include mapmaking and bicycling. He has an average BMI, and has participated in a half-marathon in 2009. - Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
– actor; begins as Mary-Kate’s acting coach, but begins appearing at her apartment unannounced and making perverse phone calls to Mary-Kate - Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
– director, actor, screenwriter, author, playwright; the twins’ godfather and butt of "old" jokes
Cast
- Elaine Carroll – Mary-Kate and Ashley OlsenMary-Kate and Ashley OlsenMary-Kate Olsen and Ashley Fuller Olsen are American actresses and entrepreneurs.Both have appeared in television and films since infancy. Since then, they have continued their celebrity through numerous television programs, films, interviews, as well as commercial endorsements...
- Luke Sholl - Bodyguard
- Will Hines – Fat Professor
- Josh Ruben – Philip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour HoffmanPhilip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
- Amir Blumenfeld – Woody AllenWoody AllenWoody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
Reception & Reviews
Very Mary-Kate currently has over 3,800,000 upload views on YouTubeYouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
as of April 2011, along with over 36,000 channel subscribers. The series has also amassed a following
on Facebook, with over 16,000 "likes." The @VeryMaryKate Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
account has just over 21,000 followers as
of April 2011. Very Mary-Kate has
inspired a variety of fan tributes, including Halloween
Halloween
Hallowe'en , also known as Halloween or All Hallows' Eve, is a yearly holiday observed around the world on October 31, the night before All Saints' Day...
costumes and a variety of images portraying fans posing
in the limp-wristed, hunched posture of Carroll's Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
, making the signature
facial expression, posted to the Very Mary-Kate Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page.
The @rcade states that, "Elaine has brought one of the funniest and best web-series to the
internet. Her performance as the rich teen princess and her rich teen princess twin sister is
flawless, (flawless in the sense that we've never met the Olsen twins but we've always
assumed that they acted just as Elaine portrays them). Less than two minutes in length, each
episode is guaranteed to have you laughing within the first 12 seconds (how exact!) and
you will no doubt be hooked as we were and will certainly need to check out more of her
stuff."
Liz Shannon Miller of GigaOM
GigaOM
GigaOM is a Web 2.0 blog started by Om Malik and published by Giga Omni Media, Inc. in San Francisco, California. According to the company website it has a monthly global audience of 500,000. It is among the top 50 blogs worldwide by Technorati Rank, and is listed on CNet's Blog 100 list...
writes, "Suffice it to say that the Valley-girl-transplanted-
to-SoHo portrayal is thus incredibly harsh, but unless you’re actually Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen
Mary-Kate Olsen is an American actress, producer, author and fashion designer. She made her career debut in 1987 alongside her twin sister Ashley Olsen in the television series Full House...
, I
defy you not to laugh. Production values are low and the sound quality is less than impressive,
but the informal nature of the videos work, and the tightly-paced episodes fit a whole lot of
painfully funny jokes into just one minute. The exchanges between her and her bodyguard
are especially funny thanks to his defeated nature — the pair make for a truly engaging odd
couple."
External links
- Very Mary-Kate - official site
- Very Mary-Kate on CollegeHumorCollegeHumorCollegeHumor is a comedy website owned by InterActiveCorp and based in New York City. The site features daily original comedy videos and articles created by its in-house writing and production team, in addition to user-submitted videos, pictures, articles and links. In early 2009, CollegeHumor's...
- Very Mary-Kate on YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....