DC ExtraTime: Catching Up with... Theo Von

From during The Challenge Invasion, post updated to include video not included in original post

BY DC CUEVA                      

■ @DC408DXTR  @ IG/YT/SC/TB

Last week on Challenge ExtraTime, we caught up with a Real World original in Syrus Yarbrough - the series' first ladies man who, twenty years after doing RW Boston, remains a proud representative of the RW/Challenge franchise to the many people he's met over the years - both on five Challenges and in the streets from Santa Monica Pier to Spring Break in South Padre, TX. Well, as Shane and Darrell appear on our screens now once again for this Challenge, it brings us to their original show and what was, for a time, the third jewel of the MTV Trifecta - Road Rules.
   Seventeen years ago - and right as reality TV was starting to grab everyone's attention outside MTV land thanks to the enormously successful first season of Survivor, Road Rules went big time for its ninth season on the Maximum Velocity Tour. That season saw the show return to the U.S. after trips overseas, and saw that cast encounter a man by the name of "Roadmaster," who gave them clues on their weekly missions. It saw them - among others - tackle their Winter Olympic dreams, became fugitives on the run, partied in New Orleans, synchro swam with Playboy playmates, rode in planes and monster trucks, sea dove in Key West, went underwater with sharks, faced Team Real World New Orleans in South Africa and boy band O-Town in SoCal, spent 48 hours alone in the wilderness, and finally got married in Las Vegas, earning them the handsome reward.
   The show itself was also shortlisted for the first-ever Emmy nominations for Outstanding Reality Program, and of course other reality competition shows including The Challenge, Are You The One? and Stranded with a Million Dollars, among others, have followed the path set by Road Rules. And the cast of Season 9 comprised of rugby player James, business major Kathryn (not the Kathryn of the current AYTO season), ladies man Laterrian, snowboarder Holly, tap dancer Msadda, and our latest "Catching Up with..." subject.

When we first met Theo Von on that RV back in the summer of 2000, he was a 17 year-old from just north of New Orleans and who had the actual longer name of Theodor Capitani von Kurnatowski on his birth certificate...makes you glad he shortened his name to just two syllables to make it easier for everyone to pronounce his name instead of voicing that mouthful. His original MTV.com bio went something like this...

"This 19-year-old guy is a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll. He is studying at the University of Louisiana and dreams of being a children's author/magazine editor. Raised in Louisiana all his life, Theo is an adorable southerner who speaks his own language, "Theoisms." Theo has the curiosity and imagination of a two-year-old with the cunning of a natural instigator. He loves to make people laugh or make them irritated. He says he hates to be alone. Theo is a self-professed slob. His roommates call him "the dirty bird." He has a girlfriend, Mandy, who he has been seeing for a few months. He cares about her, but it does not seem to be serious right now. "If I'm wise, I'll make things work. But knowing me, I'll find a way to completely screw it up." Mr. Charming will be pursued on this road trip, no doubt."

Theo would go on to do four Challenges: partnering with Holly on the first Battle of the Seasons a year later, then notching two wins with Team Road Rules on The Gauntlet and with the Guys' team on Battle of the Sexes II, and most recently partnering with Chanda on Fresh Meat, losing in elimination to eventual runners-up Kenny and Tina.

It was after that stay in Australia that an opportunity came calling for Theo to shift gears from competition to comedy, appearing later that year in 2006 on the fourth season of NBC's Last Comic Standing. In his initial interview, he came to that summer comedy showcase to reintroduce himself as a guy who could make everyone laugh along with being a reality TV pioneer: "I was on Road Rules years ago. I feel like a lot of times people don’t take me seriously as a comedian because I’ve been on television before. Let’s put it up on the stage, let’s see what’s going on."
   With a joke making reference to Britney Spears' one-time husband Kevin Federline advancing him past the show's first round, that night at the comedy club opened many doors for Theo. In 2008, Comedy Central casted him, as well as fellow LCS alum Amy Schumer and many others for Reality Bites Back, hosted by Michael Ian Black. Then after two other shows, the next year Theo helped to create the art of "crank texting," where a user would send a text message to random phone numbers on the hope that they can incite conversations, which after launching a blog devoted to crank texting caught the attention of CollegeHumor and was picked up as a column on that site later on.
   Those folks at Yahoo! would then come calling by taking over one of the web's most-watched daily shows, "Primetime in No Time," offering recaps of the previous night's TV shows, followed by a half-hour stand-up special on Comedy Central and his first film, InAPPropiate Comedy in spring 2013. And that summer came his most-notable gig: hosting TBS' hidden camera show Deal With It, which aired for three seasons and was executive produced by Howie Mandel. And last year, Theo had his first hour-long comedy special when Theo Von: No Offense premiered on that binge-worthy platform of Netflix.
   Along with appearing on a few late night talk shows, two years ago Theo added the title of "podcast host" to his resume when he joined with filmmaker & journalist Matthew Cole Weiss to co-host "Allegedly," which sees the guys talk to high-profile celebrities and share their stories of making it in Hollywood. Christina Milian, David Spade, Mandel, Jamie Kennedy, Spice Girl Mel B, Kato Kaelin, Dr. Drew, Teen Mom's Farrah Abraham, Bravo's Andy Cohen and, as we mentioned in the past, The Miz, among others, have all talked to Theo and Matt. And the Allegedly podcast remains one of the industry's highest-rated celebrity podcasts.

We have discussed a few times here before of the hilarity and humor of comedy being prevalent in the Trifecta, from Are You The One? Original JJ to hilarious videos by a few others. In this day & age when anything that takes place in Washington, on the Oscars stage or viral videos become fodder for jokes by comedians, late night hosts and podcasts, in his post-MTV phase, Theo Von has surely chosen the right occupation in making us laugh.

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