Originally published in BU Today on May 28, 2020. By Amy Laskowski
Julian Shapiro-Barnum’s life in quarantine is the stuff of a sitcom: a son (him in this case) forced by COVID-19 to return home from studying abroad in Madrid, a friend unable to fly home and needing a place to stay, two somewhat cantankerous dads (one recovering from coronavirus), all living together in an 1,100-square-foot apartment in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood.
Struck by the humor in all this, Shapiro-Barnum (CFA’21) has turned it into a seven-episode talk show and sitcom called The Social Distance, written and directed by him. (The format of the first four episodes is a talk show, the last few are scripted comedies, a shift he says just happened organically.)
Shapiro-Barnum stars in the show, along with family members and friends, including his BU roommate, theater major Quentin Nguyen-Duy (CFA’20). The show is filled with topical jokes about coronavirus, social distancing, and Shapiro-Barnum’s stress dealing with his actors. Fans of quirky comedy will appreciate its 30 Rock and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt vibes (there are puppets! and songs!).
The first episode was released March 21, and the seventh and final episode is slated for release next Wednesday, June 3. Between YouTube and Instagram, each has garnered about 1,500 views, and the show begins airing virtually on the off-off-Broadway theater The Tank website in June, Shapiro-Barnum says.
“The show has been a departure from reality and a coping mechanism, given me something to do, a way to understand things through comedy, which is how I feel I deal with a lot of stuff,” Shapiro-Barnum says. “My life started to feel like a sitcom, all these ridiculous things were happening, we were all trapped together, and the stuff that was happening in the house was either too sensitive or didn’t translate, but I wanted to use that energy and vibe.”