Noam Ash, Austin Bening Talk ‘My Gay Roommate’ and Homo-Hetero Power Couples

Noam Ash, Austin Bening Talk ‘My Gay Roommate’ and Homo-Hetero Power Couples 2017 images

A friend of MTTG at Entertainment Weekly turned us on to the YouTube web series My Gay Roommate starring Noam Ash and Austin Bening back in 2013, and it turned out to be a very funny and fun interview.

Like his onscreen character, Ash was the more talkative of the duo, but Bening got some talk time in. I was impressed with how persistent they were in promoting their show and just having so much passion for it, so it came as no surprise when Ash informed me last year that they had been featured in Vanity Fair.

Three seasons later and over 6 million YouTube views, a half-hour TV version of My Gay is slated to debut in 2018 with the pilot already shot. Ash and Bening are a great inspiration for those out there trying to break into the entertainment industry and just not giving up no matter how much the odds are against you. It’s not easy to get in, so we’re happy to see these guys getting to the next level.

Here’s the interview we did with them shortly after they began the first season of My Gay Roommate before Hollywood came calling. You can check the entire series here on their channel.

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Noam Ash and Austin Bening have been able to use their college roommate stories to create the popular web series My Gay Roommate. If you ever had a straight roommate in college you will easily relate to the show as it follows the unique relationship between a straight boy from Ohio and his very gay roommate through all their experiences and sometimes over the top situations. I immediately took to their show since I was thrown together in my college with a straight roommate, and we hit it off and have been best friends ever since.

Even if you didn’t have a straight roommate, you’ll still find this show hilarious as it covers everything from the guys losing their virginity to cleanliness and a very funny Valentine’s Day episode.

The guys have loosely based the show on their own friendship and college experiences. When you watch the series, you can see why it acquired a cult following plus some very vocal fans that keep up with the duo on Twitter.

We’ll let the guys tell you more about them and their show as only they can. If you’ve not seen My Gay Roommate before, after this interview, you’ll be ready too!

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How did you guys meet? 

Noam: I came to Austin in a dream. As I descended from the clouds, I declared to him that fate had brought us together, and that our roommateship would lead us to become Hollywood’s premier homo-hetero power couple. Before being rainbow-beamed to my home planet, I whispered that we would own a two-winged mansion connected by a bridge over a pool.

Austin: There’s also the part where Noam found me on the Facebook group to find freshman roommates and then called me every day for a week until I agreed to room with him.

Noam: Austi doesn’t always know what’s best for him. We’ve been roommates ever since.

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What inspired the idea for your My Gay Roommate series? 

It’s all based on our own friendship/college stories. Even at a liberal place like Tufts, people found our relationship odd.  Some thought Austin was secretly gay, or that Noam had this insatiable crush on him.  But in reality, we were just two best friends. Not a lot of media explores the Gay-Straight dynamic in a way that describes us, so we thought we’d add our own voice. It was also a way for us to document our time at college. My Gay Roommate is the ‘greatest hits’ of our freshman year told in 20 minutes.

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Were you guys surprised at the response to the show?

Very. #MGR is a college webseries that we made in a dorm with our friends. We hoped it would find an audience, but we never thought it would catch on like it did. But the Internet can be a wonderful place. We love the tweets, blog posts, likes, comments, everything. It makes our day!!

You had a successful on Kickstarter for your music video for the series. Do you think you’ll try Kickstarter again for more episodes?  

Yes yes! We have a lot of great new stuff planned for the near future, so be on the look out, sports fans! We’re also in the market for generous sugar daddies with yachts. You can only do so much with unemployment and student loans. We were humbled by the enthusiastic response and generosity of our viewers. Thank you all!

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What was your favorite episode to make? (Everyone here personally loved the Good Will Hunting sequence) 

Noam:  Well I really liked filming the Valentine’s Day episode because of the awesome handshake choreography and my little naked photoshoot. It was precious.

Austin: The scale of Hard Candy was pretty awesome, but you can’t beat the black turtleneck D’angelo montage.

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Are you planning a second season of My Gay Roommate and what can we expect? We don’t want to give too much away, but you can definitely be sure that the journey is far from over. Our content is basically a dramatic interpretation of our own lives. In that way, #MGR and #NDR (Nick’s Daily Routine) are character driven shows. We go where they go and vice versa.

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Have you had any interest from Logo as this fits perfectly into their web series? 

Funny you should say that!  WE think it’s perfect too!  You hear that LOGO??? Answer our emails, dammit.  :)

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Will you guys go beyond an internet series and try an indie film?

Maybe! We’re both intrigued by the idea of a feature, but we’re definitely not through with the YouTubes yet.

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If you did go the indie film route, what actors/actresses would you cast just so you could sleep with them? 

Noam:  Well.  I would have to say NPH and Hugh Jackman, those sexy beasts! They can play my hot gay uncles.  Also I’ve been a total creep and tweeting at Davey Wavey for months now, but he won’t respond.  So to heal my broken heart, I’ll let him play a lover if he asks nicely enough :P  Maybe Ian McKellen can be my sexy Grandpa.

Austin: Mia Sara circa 1984 as a thrill seeking young teen or a dream sequence featuring Emily Ratajkowski in an ice cream bubble bath.

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So with your new fan Accidental Bear on Twitter (@AxxidentalSite), what can be expected when he comes to NYC to find you?

Oh he is a precious one, isn’t he?  He seems to like taking baths in his videos, so maybe we can engage in some water sports. Thoughts?

You can check out the entire series on their YouTube Channel.