Vancouver-made Will Power web series finds comedy in brotherhood

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      Comedians have always shown that it’s possible to find humour in death, and the new web series Will Power is no exception.

      The five-episode collection of scenes explores the relationship between two brothers, Marc and Andre, as they sit with their lawyer discussing what will become of their late father’s estate.

      Will Power was written and co-directed by Vancouver comedian and UBC creative-writing instructor Charles Demers, who was contacted by fellow comedian and co-star Sean Cullen regarding doing a piece where the two were brothers due to their strong physical resemblance.

      “I had it stowed away in my head that I should write something where we are brothers, and Sean Devlin, from Shit Harper Did, was giving a guest lecture at my class out in UBC and he was talking about voyeurism as a quality in Internet videos,” Demers told the Georgia Straight by phone.

      “So all of a sudden it all just kind of clicked in, that what could be more voyeuristic than watching these two brothers dealing with the aftermath of their father’s death, to be going through his will?”

      Demers was also dealing with the illness of his own father, who had a low-grade lymphoma that suddenly became more aggressive, while writing the piece, and he found it to be a largely cathartic experience for him.

      “I wanted to write something where the audience was going to get to watch these two brothers at this really dark moment in their lives and a time for their humanity to shine through, and when it fails to do that, I feel that that’s funny,” Demers said.

      When the writing was finished, Demers and Ryan Beil, co-director and co-star, arranged for Cullen to fly out to take part in the web series. The trio raised $2,000 at a show one night, enough to cover the production costs for the series.

      The group is hoping to get together for more adventures in the future. For now, however, it is enough for Demers to just have people watch the series and respond to it as a standalone thing.

      “If the series just kind of lives as its own thing,” Demers said, “then that would be good enough for us as long as people get to see it.”

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