How to become famous by acting awkward

Picture it: losing your swimming trunks on a crowded beach, or going to a wedding without being invited. Sounds awkward, right? Tim Senders and Daan Boom act out these type of scenes in their television programme called Streetlab.

Tuesday during the OWee College Tour in Theater De Veste, the Delft freshmen could ask Senders and Boom anything they wanted. But first, Senders and Boom told them how they managed to get on television. It soon turned out that it would have been surprising if they did not. “We often did nothing but filming at school,” Boom told presenter Luuk Dresen. “Even our assignments.”

Senders wanted to work in a circus but instead went to the Theatre Academy after secondary school. Boom auditioned for the Academy three times but was rejected and kept on filming. And then came Boom’s first tip for the new students: hold on to what you really want to do. At last he was asked by Hans Liberg to play in his show, as a sidekick. “That was my study.”

‘Remember that everybody is searching’

When Senders, Boom and their friends Jasper Demollin and Stijn van Vliet finished their studies, they didn’t know what to do next. There was the second tip for the freshmen: trust yourself. “If you doubt whether this is the right course for you, remember that everybody is searching,” said Boom. “It is good to trust yourself. If your course is not what you expected, just choose another.”

The four friends made some humorous videos that went viral on Facebook and they are now known for Streetlab, a programme about awkward situations on the street. It was nominated for the Gouden Televizier-Ring, the audience award for the best programme on Dutch television. They also make Streetlab niet te geloven in which they present incredible stories and the audience says if they are true or not.

The first episode was about lip fillers. “We thought that nobody would believe we would fill our lips with three times the normal amount of fillers,” Boom said, “but we did. We came in with bags over our heads. Luckily we sold this pilot but I was on television with a duck face.” Quite awkward, isn’t it?

But what was their most awkward experience in making Streetlab? According to Boom it was the episode about trying to get what you want by crying. “Really painful,” answered Boom. “I had to cry to get a girl’s mobile number.  And we had to cry to get ice-cream without paying.” And you know what? “It worked.” And no, this was not another tip.