I told you I’d answer show-related questions here, so let’s start with this one:

Shawn Says:
August 30th, 2007 at 3:20 am

Shane — huge fan of the show, and your blog. Quick question, though. . . how did the idea for “Rob and Big” come about?

Great question. Since the origin of this show has become the stuff of fairytale and legend, let me do my best to explain how it all came to be (based on what I know)….

Back in 2003, DC Shoes released a skate movie called “The DC Video.” One of the bits in the wildly popular DVD was that Rob Dyrdek was getting hassled so much by security guards, that it forced him to hire his own security guard. Initially, it was a joke segment for the video. The very first person Rob brought in to interview for the role was Christopher “Big Black” Boykin. They filmed the segments for the movie, but the two actually did hit it off immediately and became close friends. Coincidentally, they both moved to Los Angeles and decided to room together.

Shortly after that, Ruben Fleischer was hired to direct and shoot Rob and Big Black competing in the underground road race known as The Gumball Rally. While shooting, Ruben quickly recognized the genuine buddy chemistry and the non-stop comedy that seemed to follow the two friends. He brought the idea of featuring the two of them in some kind of TV show to Jackass Executive Producer and co-creator, Jeff Tremaine. Jeff knew Rob from his days covering skating while he was an editor of the now defunct Big Brother magazine, and agreed that the unique dynamic of two unlikely best friends might make for a good comedic reality show. The four of them brought it to MTV and MTV agreed. Within a few weeks, they were shooting the pilot.

After the pilot was shot, I was brought on to help shape the story and also to help establish the format and style of the series. Since my background was on other comedic MTV shows like Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica and Rich Girls, my natural inclination was to focus the show primarily on the two guys. We chopped out most of the smaller characters and really made it about Rob and Big Black, and the simple fact that they are best friends. Rather than convolute it with confusing devices or too much imposed structure, we just let the two guys live and mined the comedy in the edit bay. “Newlyweds with two dudes,” was kind of my angle on it. It evolved from there.

Of all the shows I’ve worked on, this one is by far the most fun. Rob and Big Black are exactly as funny as they seem on camera, and that makes all of our jobs easier as we get into the edit bays. It’s a rarity to find such consistent lightning in a bottle, and in our case, the lightning never stops. We put the cameras on them and they bring the comedy. As a TV producer, it’s really the best you can hope for out of your cast. The fact that both Rob and BB are extremely hands on and vocal throughout the entire process is yet another asset. These aren’t just funny guys, they’re also extremely savvy and smart guys.

So that’s the story, to the best of my knowledge, on how this series came to be. It’s all been kind of a blur, to be honest.

And to think, the whole thing started off as a joke for a skateboard video. Kind of fitting, really.