7/28/2019 "Catfish" Interview for Nylon Guys by Drew Tewksbury

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Suddenly, a cappuccinomachine squeals like a babypiglet for a moment then fallsquiet. The table-sidler speaks.

Hi, I dont want to bother youor anything, she says with thatubiquitous Valley Girl-meets-Minneapolis cadence. My nameis Lexy, I just want to say I loveyour show. I think youre doinga really great thing. Josephand Schulman put down theirTechnicolor beverages andengage the nervous fan, gra-

Allegations of Catfish crewery persist, but Schulman that their casting departmespecifically tasked with finthe most complicated, divauthentic stories. Adds JoThe truth is, no one reallyhow the episodes are gointurn out. There is no script

The pairs own relationseasier to diagnose. Its a mance, Schulman says ofback-and-forth bickering asibling-like chemistry. Neva wild child, Joseph says. got in a lot of trouble. His had a couple of interventioSchulman jokingly retorts,

miracle Im not in prison. Jquips back: You had a lottherapy. He doesnt judge right away because hes bgiven second chances; onthat, hes been catfished.

Schulman is quick to poout that it can happen to aonehimself, former Notrefootball player Manti Teo, growing number of subjectheir showbut he and Josinsist the modern technolomakes deception so simplalso a key component in bus closer together. No mater who were meeting or wsocio-economic class theyor where theyre from, eve

consumes Facebook, Instaand the Internet in the samsays Joseph. So, whereasparents were separated byraphy and class, this geneis unified by the fact that tall share the Internet, and gives us all this amazing cground to relate to one ano

ciously thank her for watching,then look back at each other,seemingly surprised at the fifteenseconds of fame.

The duo have known eachother since they were teenag-ers; Joseph is a childhood friendof Schulmans brother Rel, whoco-directed (with Henry Joost)the 2010 hit documentary thatmemorably followed Schulman ashe discovered himself the targetof an elaborate online ruse, whenthe sexy young woman he wasFacebook-flirting with turned out

to be a middle-aged housewife.A reality-show spinoffone thatsees Joseph and Schulmanbringing Internet paramours faceto face for sometimes dramaticrevelations of false advertisingwas perhaps an inevitability, but,as the show kicks off a secondseason this month, not even theycould have predicted the wealthof online capers to investigate.Weve showed the beacon,the lighthouse is sounding, andnow all the people are descend-ing on the show, said Joseph.

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