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Cruising across America in their purple bus fondly named Penelope, the boys of MTV’s “The Buried Life” have one mission: to accomplish 100 items on their ever-evolving list of what they want do before they die.
For every item crossed off, Jonnie Penn, Duncan Penn, Dave Lingwood and Ben Nemtin will help a stranger achieve the No. 1 dream on his or her list.
This had led to episodes featuring the boys doing everything from partying at the Playboy mansion to ballin’ with Obama to enabling a Hurricane Katrina victim to visit her mother’s grave for the first time since her death in the aftermath of the storm.
The Clarion had a chance to interview the boys of the show.
Why is the show called “The Buried Life?”
Penn: The name comes from a poem written in 1852 by a poet named Matthew Arnold. It articulated for us, the feeling of being lost, feeling disillusioned with the world, feeling like there’s a lot of crap around and we wanted to get through it. We thought, ‘What do you want to do before you die?’ Because death would be a good tool to cut through the bull****.
It wasn’t just that question we were asking each other. It was ‘What do we want to do before we die?’ especially as a generation. The millennials are finally reaching adulthood and I’m just curious what we’re going to take on – what is going to be our issue, what is going to define us, what is our legacy going to be, what is the cumulative sum of all that you want to do before you die?
Given everything that’s happened, would you accept the title of being called a celebrity?
Penn: I can tell you honestly, this isn’t about the four of us this is so much bigger than the four of us. Someone told us early on that you guys aren’t the message – you guys are the messenger. I think that’s what we’ve tried to stick to.
The support that this gets isn’t anything that the four of us have done special; we’re just the hosts of the whole conversation. We want this to be something that everybody can own.
I guess it’s just weird to think of celebrity culture. We’re flattered and honored to be a part of it and yes, it’s been a lot of fun.
But having fans is weird. At the same time, we’re not afraid of it because we just want to be known for something we’re proud of.
The general tone of the show seems to be a lot more socially conscious than a lot of the programming on MTV. It’s definitely not on the same plane as “Jersey Shore” or “The Real World,” but do you guys think that’s a direction that MTV might follow if your show is more successful?
Penn: I wouldn’t be surprised if there are more shows like this in the future because I think it’s a pillar of being young today.
Every one of my friends now, everybody seems to be doing something real positive in a different capacity – or not everybody, but a lot of them.
Snookie [of “Jersey Shore”] loves to tweet about how hot you guys are. What’s it like to have the fantasy of the young 20-somethings in America chasing after you guys in Twitter?
Lingwood: Is Snookie the fantasy of young 20-somethings in America? Wow. I’m just kidding. I love Snookie, she’s fricking awesome. It’s nice to see she supports us. We know the cast on the “Jersey Shore” and they’re actually really cool. They’re a lot more well-rounded as people than you see on TV and they are really kind of down to earth and cool.
Penn: Dave had an ‘ab off’ with The Situation and got smoked.
Lingwood: Whatever.
Any final words for your college audience to hear?
Lingwood: Just ask yourself the question ‘What do you want to do before you die?’ And take the steps. Don’t wait. Life is long.
If you think about all the sunrises and sunsets that you’ve seen, that’s a lot of days. But the thing is, you never know what’s going to happen and you need to take advantage of what you have in front of you. You can’t take it for granted.
If you’re not happy with what you’re doing, make a change. Don’t be afraid of doing something different and changing in order to make yourself happy.
Look at what you want to do, not what you’re supposed to be doing or what your friends are doing.
