Meet Dave Reynolds of Robot Teammate and Charney Comedy in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Dave Reynolds.

So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
Growing up in New Hampshire, I was a big fish in a small pond, a tuna eagerly awaiting its formal entrance into the ocean of the real world. For a while there I thought that being an English major was the right move, applying and then being accepted into Ithaca College for that very reason. I read my books and wrote my essays, but what was bringing me the most happiness was working on the tv shows on ICTV (Ithaca College Television). And who was I kidding, I loved making stuff. Books were great and all, but there was nothing as exhilarating as being on set with a bunch of people who you loved and trusted. The next semester I changed my major and became part of the Park School of Communications, where I continued to hone my craft as far as I could take it. Then the inevitable move to Los Angeles and I was off to work right away. Any gig I could grab, I snatched like a kid under a newly bursted piñata. I worked a handful of odd jobs on a handful of productions. I moved thousands of water bottles for “The Voice, I was the prop master for an adult film called “Vampire Boys 2: The Next Blood” and was asked by Disney to kindly pack my things and go after my sweaty panic attacks weren’t helping “Big Hero Six” get finished any faster. (I WAS NOT FIRED, DISNEY MADE THAT CLEAR). And just like the sot after English major, all the jobs and gigs only added to my need to create my own work. Robot Teammate and Charney Comedy both started at the same time, and both kicked me in the proverbial butt in to proverbial gear. The goal became simple: Make all of it, all the time.

Robot Teammate started as a tiny musical improv team and has evolved into an award winning theater company. In fact, our latest original show “Pockets” won best musical and best world premiere at this year’s “Hollywood Fringe Festival” and were lucky enough to be asked to take our “British-ish” show to the SOHO Playhouse in New York City this December. Always creating and always performing, Robot has written four live musical, we won for the improv cage match “The Cherry Crush”, for 86 weeks at the now closed IO West, and we’ve taught numerous workshops to businesses and comedy lovers alike. We still perform musical improv, usually at “The Impro Theater” in Los Feliz or “Mi’s Westside Comedy Theater” in Santa Monica, and always take the audience for a truly bizarre and wild ride. An audience member described us as “a fairy tale on acid”, which I must say is my favorite compliment to date.

On the other side of the road I have Charney Comedy, my sketch crew! Charney is composed of three college buddies and myself, and so far we have produced over 40 sketches and a couple of shorts. One short in particular, “Apocalypse Town”. Which is right now making the film festival rounds, was shot of the universal backlot in the Back to the Future town hall. After winning a competition at universal itself we were given the opportunity to shot on this massive set, and we used every nook and crany when we did, bringing in 25 actors, a dance number and of course the ole common zombi attack. Charney has been a source to not only test our comedy idea but to fail too. Some sketches don’t work, and other soar, but to have the freedom to try what you want with fear of failure is true creativity.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
There have been plenty of ups and downs in the chase for a future in the biz. The struggle is real for sure, but how could it not be. We are literally trying to get to a point where people will pay us to make our dreams come true. If it was easy to do, everyone would be doing it. Robot has had members leave, Charney has had sketches released with no views whatsoever, but whatever to all that. The sting of those tiny losses can only hinder your perseverance for so long, and if there is anything I try to do most it’s trying to do the most I can do. That’s why I freelance most the time, to be able to make things work when they have to fit, even if that puzzle is a tough to maneuver, you just gotta make it work because if you don’t you give up.

Please tell us about Robot Teammate and Charney Comedy.
Robot Teammate was once a humble Improv Troupe, trying to make people laugh on any night we could get a slot. Flash forward to today and we are a legitimate theater troupe known for our silly musicals that perform to sold out crowds. Our main goal has always been to entertain, and for people to really forget about their day and have fun with us. All of our shows are weird. Our first three “Timeheart”, “Thug Tunnel” and ‘Turbulence”, or as we all them, The T Trilogy, were all genre bending tales, taking troupes and cliches from classics and embracing them. I would not say parody, because I feel that implies that Robot is making fun of those things. What’d I’d say is we hug those tropes close, and try and absorb why people care about them so much and why they work in the first place. Robot has the unique ability to make something outrageous and silly, such as a space race between earth and mars, and make it have actual emotional stakes. The best parts in our shows aren’t usually the huge laughs, but the small tear filled moments where the theater get silence. The audience sometimes can’t believe they are actually sad at a show that is also so nutty.

One of my proudest moments came this year during our production of Pockets and really sums up what I love about Robot. After one of our shows I felt a tug on my sleeve. A nine years old girl was asking to talk to me. Well, not to me per say, but Rob Cryer the Town Cryer, one of the characters I played in the show. As I kneeled down, she told me how much she loved the show but that she felt sad for a lot of it, she was worried about my character, who recently had his bell stolen from him. She was deeply concerned for me and my bell, and when I asked if she wanted to ring the bell herself, she jumped at the chance. She rang the bell with pride, looking at her parents with a “See! I can do it to” gleam in her eye. That’s the point of doing all this, and what I think Robot does best. We make people believe in the story we well tell, but also that they could tell their own stories one day too.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
None of this could have happened without my teammates. Robot Teammate is Kat Primeau, Chris Bramante, Molly Dworsky and Branson NeJame, with myself included. Without these incredibly talented, gifted humans Robot Teammate would be nothing, and I’m proud to share the stage with them. Every show. I couldn’t ask for better friends and a group I’d feel more comfortable with going forward with this crazy dream of ours.

And my Charn boys, all of whom I love, Miles Crosman, Danny Gendron and Sean Brogan, are my comedy life raft. They save me every time I work with them, embracing me and writing things for me that I’d never imagine. Charney pushes each member to very intense lengths, and the fruits of our labors show that. But for me, Charney has been about figuring out who I am as a filmmaker and a collaborator, no matter the position. We switch it around a lot in Charney, and I’ve learned more from those buddies by being on set with them then anyone could teach.

I’ve never been a big fan of individual sports, I’ve always been part of a team, and these are both teams I’d sign right back up for instantly.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robotteammate.com/
• Email: robotteammate@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robot_teammate/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robotteammate/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/RobotTeammate

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