“We are living in a world where we need more stupid”: Boman Martinez-Reid on his new series, Made for TV

Early in the pandemic, Boman Martinez-Reid went from TMU student to TikTok sensation. As Bomanizer, the 26-year-old content creator delighted millions with quick parodies of Kardashian-inspired reality TV tropes and, as a result, got signed to Creative Artists, the same agency as Beyoncé. Now, on his series Made for TV (streaming on Crave), he’s making the transition to a (slightly) bigger screen and longer format, sending up the most audacious character of all: himself.

Millions of people know you from your TikTok account. How did the shift to TV come about? Having my own show has always been my dream. When I was growing up, my mom put on what she called the Anna Martinez Variety Show every Christmas. It was basically my cousin and me doing SNL skits. Before the pandemic, I was in school for television and broadcasting. I started a YouTube series called “Reid It And Weep,” which was like a parody of The Real Housewives, but nobody watched it. Then I launched my TikTok, which finally got some traction. In 2021, when Crave came to me and said they wanted to do something for TV, I pounced.

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And you said, “How about a reality show about reality shows?" Is that a pretty good description of Made for TV? Yes, except that it is actually a scripted series where we do a lot of improv. The idea is that I am this person who is trying to find his perfect reality format. Each episode, I try out something different: news and sports broadcasting, a cooking competition, etc., each with a different celebrity guide.

Your character on the show is—How shall I put this?—a bit of a narcissistic nitwit. To what extent is that you? Ha! I’m playing a heightened version of myself and embodying this almost blind sense of confidence that I sometimes wish I had. When we were coming up with the concept for the show, I was like, Oh, sure, I can cook, I can do drag, no problem!

Spoiler alert: your omelette-making skills leave something to be desired. It is one thing to make an omelette but another thing to make an omelette under a time limit with Lynn Crawford yelling at you. There’s an episode where I compete in a drag reality competition. I was like, Pfft, I grew up dancing to Britney Spears. I watch Drag Race and I rip those queens to filth when they can’t create a couture gown in two hours. This will be easy. Turns out it was not. And I performed in front of my parents, which brought up a lot of emotions. The episode ended up being a lot more touching than I expected.

And yet, you have described the show as, “in the best way possible, really, really stupid.” Is there a difference between funny stupid and just plain stupid? I think maybe I use the word stupid a little too loosely, but I think of it as a compliment. When we would come up with an idea for the show, we would often be like, “Oh my god, that is so stupid.” I think we are living in a world where we need more stupid.

Um—Did you see the US presidential debate? Okay, we definitely need other things too: accuracy, competence. We need to be able to take things seriously, but we also need to laugh. I think my whole perspective on comedy is that life is stupid sometimes. But maybe I’m using that word a little too much.

Maybe we need a drinking-game penalty. I know! I guess it’s about pointing out ridiculousness where we see it. That was where everything started for me with my TikTok content—realizing how absurd the editing was in reality TV. Nobody has an argument with a friend and then pauses to stare at them for three minutes, but that’s how they make it look.

Have the Kardashians or the housewives seen your videos? I can’t say for sure, but I have it on good authority that they have. I’ve met some of their employees at parties.

Do you think they’re in on the joke? I think that, with reality TV, things are very real and serious to them in the moment. They are truly defending their honour or whatever. It’s only when you watch it back that the humour comes through. I think the best humour is when people aren’t aware that they’re being funny. In the Made for TV premiere, you went looking for love on a reality show. Can you imagine actually finding love that way? It’s hard for me to understand how that could work. I’m in a relationship, and the level of communication and listening and understanding that goes into it is huge, so it’s hard to believe that is going to happen in front of a camera. I’ll watch a whole season of a Netflix dating show and then at the end it’s like, none of these couples are still together. A lot of people just go on those series to find an audience and then take that audience elsewhere—usually social media.

A lot of social media stars have attempted to transition into mainstream media, and it often doesn’t work out so well. A TV show is a team effort. So many people have worked hard to make Made for TV happen, and for all of us, I really hope it goes well. But I don’t want to buy into this idea that this is my one and only chance. I also have a new song coming out and a music video. I’m still creating content on TikTok, so it’s not like I’m transitioning away from anything. At the same time, I am really proud of what we have created, and I think people are going to love it and laugh along.

And probably not learn anything about how to make an omelette. Ha—maybe not.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.