Page 30 - Aruba Today
P. 30
A30
PEOPLE & ARTSWednesday 20 January 2016
New darkly comic Web series takes on bulimia, body shame
LEANNE ITALIE year relationship with the addict, and I noticed that you know, I tend to find a binge and purge, stealing
Associated Press eating disorder, is different. there weren’t that many lot of comedy in the hard- chocolate laxative, par-
NEW YORK (AP) — It takes a It’s her first series, and it’s stories that really spoke to est, most tragic moments,” tying, showing a younger
special kind of filmmaker to taking her to Sundance af- the truth of my experience, she said. “Going back from Vine star how it’s done on
make bulimia funny. Jessie ter she raised about $12,000 of what it was really like to when I was a little kid, I one’s knees, face in a toilet
Kahnweiler is that person. on Kickstarter to help pay have an eating disorder would really use humor as bowl.
Before hooking up with Jill for it. That’s after chatting and also be this strong, a way to cope and handle A salami Jessie stuffs down
Soloway and her Wifey. up Soloway as a partner feminist, crazy, loud, Jewish and interact, and make her dress in an early epi-
TV for the new Web series, and tracking down Illeana chick,” the 30-year-old At- meaning of my life.” sode is pulled out in the
“The Skinny,” the Los An- Douglas to join her as a lanta native said. “I started Hence, the Jessie of “The bathroom of a party after
geles comedian kept busy producer and the mother shopping it around to Hol- Skinny” bumbles her way her better-looking friend
making shorts that have to her feminist wannabe lywood and everyone was through a breakup after catches the attention of a
landed her all over the In- YouTube star. like, eating disorders aren’t collecting her live-in boy- dude. She’s then discov-
ternet. But this project, in- “I’m a broke indie filmmak- sexy and nobody wants to friend from rehab, only to ered by said dude, Stuart,
spired by her more than 10- er ... and I’m an avid TV watch that.” have him move in with her played by Ryan Pinkston,
Jessie Kahnweiler, star of the web series “The Skinny,” poses in New York. The Los Angeles co-
median has made shorts that have landed her all over the Internet. But her current project, “The
Skinny,” was inspired by her more than 10-year relationship with bulimia.
(Scott Gries/Invision/AP)
After friends and family mom. The story is often told who becomes her hyper-
came through on Kickstart- through the adventures active manager as she
er, she shipped off a spec she has on the streets of Los continues to go about her
pilot to Soloway, who got Angeles making YouTube work — getting discovered
her together with Refin- videos, and through the with her “female branded
ery29.com, where the first trips she takes to the bath- content.”
six 10-minute episodes will room to purge after eating Kahnweiler not only stars,
debut Jan. 27. binges. she wrote, directed and
So how does a broke indie The first off-the-rails, binge- helps produce. And “The
filmmaker meet the likes of and-purge cycle has her Skinny” comes after a co-
Soloway? stuffing cake down her medic short film she cre-
“I’ve known Jill for a few throat from a black plastic ated and stars in based on
years. I’m really good at garbage bag as she cleans her experience as a rape
stalking people. You can up from an impromptu wel- victim. In “Meet My Rapist,”
ask all my ex-boyfriends. So come home party for her she runs into her rapist at a
I stalked Jill on Facebook boyfriend, Cole, played by farmer’s market and takes
and I sent her a short film Spencer Hill. He walks in on him around, showing him
that I made,” Kahnweiler her right after the big flush the effect he had on her
said. “Jill really gave me as she sits euphoric on the life.
permission to give myself tile, rattling on about bad “For me, comedy is really
permission. She taught me sushi to hide the obvious. about authenticity,” Kahn-
how to trust my own voice “You’re stillll doing this,” he weiler said. “Jill was really
and trust my intuition.” says. helpful in helping me not
Clearly, Kahnweiler knows “No, I have food poison- use ‘The Skinny’ as therapy,
there’s nothing funny about ing,” she responds weakly, so while it’s a really personal
having an eating disorder. head downcast. story ... it’s not a documen-
“Having an eating disorder Clingy, needy, co-depen- tary. It’s not just for people
is awful and horrifying ... but dent — the Jessie in this who have an eating disor-
for me, my experience as a comedy is dark. Trigger af- der, just for women, just for
person, a woman, an artist, ter trigger has her on the young Jewish girls.q
