day in the pants

a day in her pants: the posh deluxe interview with mandy jeronimus

pantsers and pantsoritas, today i am pleased to present to you an interview with the fabulous mandy jeronimus!

in her typical fashion, mandy was totally in character when this picture was taken, but let me assure you that she is pretty much the exact opposite of margo tennenbaum. first of all, she’s not adopted. second of all, she has all of her fingers. third, and most importantly, she’s FAR from melancholy. in fact, mandy is one of the most upbeat and wisecracking people i’ve ever had to fortune to come across, and i can tell you from personal experience that a mere five minutes in her presence will leave you in a good mood (and almost always laughing).

i met mandy a couple of years ago through meredith, and given my high esteem for the latter lady, i knew right away that mandy and i would be friends. not only does she make me laugh, but she’s also just as nerdy as i am when it comes to stuff like buffy and mcgosling (for the uninformed, that’s rachel mcadams and ryan gosling, the greatest couple to ever exist). since meeting mandy, my day to day existence has been improved dramatically by her constant stream of emails containing everything from updates about “dollhouse” (forecast: bad) to pictures of her insanely adorable nephew to hilarious commentary on, well, pretty much anything!

in fact, i should just quite writing and move on to the interview so that you can experience mandy’s engaging humor and sassy charm for yrself!

oh, but one more thing: i know this might be hard to believe, given the amount of cute kid pictures displayed on this blog, but i’m pretty sure that mandy wins in the kindergarten portrait department. when you see it, you’ll believe it.

mandy! maybe it’s cos you’re a film geek, or maybe i’m just in a tv-sploitation mood, but i’ve decided to structure this interview, e! hollywood style. so let’s start with “mandy: the beginning.” tell me about yr family, where you were born, etc.

Okay, I was born in St. Louis Park, Minnesota in 1977. My parents actually weren’t supposed to be able to have kids, so they’d already adopted my older sister, Mia. Then, I “surprised” them, and I guess after they figured out that they could have kids after all, they had my little sister. St. Louis Park is/was a really Jewish part of the Minneapolis suburbs. (My mom’s Jewish, and my dad is Lutheran. We grew up knowing about both.) Pretty quickly, we moved a little further north to Champlin. Then, after my little sister Sarah was born, we got a bigger house in Dayton, where I lived from four on through high school. My dad is from Minnesota, but my mom was an army brat, and is from all over. They actually met because my dad was on leave in Las Vegas, and went to some show, where he got seated next to my mom’s parents. They thought he was a nice boy, so they set him up with my mom. She actually thought he was kind of full of himself, but having the priorities of an early twenties girl, thought he was cute and liked his car (he drove a corvette), so she continued seeing him, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Mandy: My family when I was in second grade. My dad used to cut my bangs. Not his calling…

tell me more about “mandy: the early years.” what were you like as a kid? what did you do for fun?

I was quite the indoor kid. I had lots of eye problems (lazy eye, near-sighted, you name it), so I was at the eye doctor a lot, getting eye patches, new glasses, stuff like that. So, running around outside never really appealed to me. It’s kind of hard to ride your bike with one eye covered. Try it! I had surgery twice to correct it, so you can’t really tell now unless you look closely. I also grew up two houses away from my best friend (still to this day!) Amy, and we played together 6-7 days a week! Among our favorite activities: watching anything to do with Pee-Wee Herman, making movies with our dads’ video cameras (Hello, foreshadowing!), and we were particularly into playing Barbies, but really elaborate dramatic “horror movie” productions. I still remember that there was one Barbie whose head had come off, and we had to jam it all the way down onto the neck to make it stay on after that, so we dubbed her “Evil Barbie”, and she was always shoving the other barbies out of the big windows of their dream house, and pushing their corvettes off of Amy’s bed. We finally started scaring our little sisters, so our moms made us stop.

Mandy: Me just a few days before my second eye surgery. Direly needed, obviously.

you grew up with snow, which is a v. foreign concept to me. what was THAT like? are you pro-snow or anti-snow?

I’m pro-snow when looking at it, but quite anti-snow actually living in it. As soon as I would get one chunk of snow under my mitten, I’d cry and go inside. (Again, an indoor kid.) There were also many Halloween costumes that were ruined by having to put a snowsuit on underneath it. It also made for some scary early driving years! I always like freaking out my Texas friends by telling them stories about weird cold weather games we’d play, like the Snow Fist game. That’s when you grab a fistful of snow in your bare hand, and hold it in there as long as you can. Whoever can hold it the longest, wins! (You Texans can try this game with an ice cube.) I also have fond memories of things like the time my dad packed down the snow in the backyard, washed it down with the hose, and made us a skating rink, and when he built us an igloo out of the snow in the frontyard. (With TONS left over, by the way!)

SEE? I TOLD YOU!! CUTEST PICTURE EVER! little mandy, i want to put you in my pocket and take you home with me!

let’s move on to “mandy: growing pains.” how was yr high school experience? what sorts of things did you do?

High school was pretty decent. I wasn’t POPULAR, but I wasn’t unpopular, either. By high school, I was definitely already into film, and was lucky enough to be attending an arts magnet high school, so I got to do a lot of photography and video editing classes. I was also interested in writing, so I had my after school Writer’s Group meetings. I was also on the yearbook staff, and in these two groups, I met the three friends from high school that I still keep in contact with: Sara, Sarah, and Kate. At the time, I wanted to be a Disney animator, so I spent a lot of my after school time drawing Disney characters from all of their movies, and was also obsessed with the new Mickey Mouse Club. Somewhere at my parents’ house is a box of VHS tapes of EVERY episode, except for one. That one torments me… I wasn’t gay yet (or at least, not aware of it!), but I didn’t really date boys either. I was pretty married to movies, and just liked hanging out with my friends!

Mandy: My tenth grade portrait. You can’t see it, but my braces matched the Santa Fe pattern in that shirt.

what inspired you to move across the country to go to UT? similarly, when did yr passion for film/media arise?

Well, I was 90% sure that I wanted to study film, but Minnesota doesn’t really have any film schools, so I knew I’d have to go out of state. My parents struck a deal with me that If I stayed in state for my first two years, I could go anywhere I wanted after that, debt free, on their dime. So, I majored in theater at the University of Minnesota for those two years. Around halfway through year two, I started deciding what I wanted to do. My cousin came up for Christmas, and was telling me all about how much he loved going to UT. (I had gone to visit him there when I was in high school, and remembered it being really fun.) I read a bunch about their film school, and it sounded up my alley, so I applied. It took a really long time to hear, and I got two letters from them saying “You’ve made the cut, but there’s still too many applicants, so we have to cut again. Standby…” Finally, at the beginning of July, I found out that I got in, and moved six weeks later!

I’ve loved tv and movies since I can remember. Taking me to the movies was my parents’ go to “bribe” to get me to do something without a fuss. I love telling stories, and have always been fascinated by the fact that even though everyone KNOWS that it’s fake and just acting, we will still sit on the edge of our seats, scared that something terrible will happen to them. It’s this common experience that we can bond with a stranger over. “Did you see that episode of Buffy?” “Yes! Oh my GOD! I was freaking out!” I think there’s something really special about that.

buffy nerds unite! meredith as evil willow, sarah as tank girl (it was an apocalypse party) and mandy as one of the fearsome gentlemen.

was it difficult to transition from minnesota to austin? did you experience any kind of culture shock?

It was definitely difficult at first. I’m not very outgoing, and actually quite shy when first meeting people, so moving across the country where I only knew my cousin was definitely hard. Good move on my parents’ part making me stay close to home for the first two years. I don’t think I’d have been brave enough to do it at eighteen! I had never been in such hot weather, either! It was probably a good thing that I moved down here in August, because I got through the hottest part right away, and got used to Texas. I’ve been here eleven years now, so I’d call it a success!

let’s explore “mandy: the college years.” what did you enjoy about UT?

UT was great, because it was so big. That meant that you could just get lost in the shuffle if you wanted to be anonymous, but you could also find your little niches, and carve out an identity there. Mine was definitely at film school, and I spent nearly all of my time there, just sucking up as much knowledge as I could, and helping anyone who wanted it with their own projects. I ended up tutoring other kids there for my “college job”. It’s also where I came out, and met my first girlfriend. I also spent tons of time at my co-op, which was where I found my best friends from college. (See next question for more!)

in my previous interview with matt s., he talked about the joys of living in a co-op. you guys met each other at taos, correct? tell me about yr own co-op experience. also, what was college matt like? what about college meredith and college erin? (this is the “behind the music” portion of the interview).

Okay, let’s do this chronologically. I met Erin first. She came to Taos when I’d lived there for a year. We bonded at orientation, because she liked the salmon colored Hush Puppies I was wearing (Hello, late 90s fashion!). We became good friends after bonding over our love of tv, and particularly over Buffy! She was pretty similar to how she is now, but perhaps a little more prone to receiving eviction notices. (Sorry, Erin!) She was kind of famous for it around Taos, actually! I will also say of her that she has impeccable taste in tv. She will never steer you wrong.

I met Matt next, both through our mutual Taos friend Fritz, and moreso when he started dating Erin. We were buddies right off. We spent lots of college playing Tetris, listening to records, and abusing our powers as officers at Taos by cooking food once the kitchen had closed! I joke with Meredith that he is how I know I’m gay, because if I wasn’t, I’d have tried to steal him from her years ago! I was there when he decided to build his TOTALLY awesome bar! He mentioned that he was going to build a bar over Christmas break, and I was all “Mmm, that’s nice.” I figured it’d just be a wooden box type bar. That was the last time I ever doubted his DIY skills! I came back, and he’d added all of this awesome detailing on it, and was converting a dorm fridge into a kegerator! Matt’s claim to fame at Taos was as the record holder for most noses broken during Taos baseball games!

erin, mandy, mereditha and matt dressed as twin peak characters. what a bunch of co-op crazies!

I then met Mere through Matt, because at this point, they had started dating. Officially, we met at a party he threw, and we have been best friends ever since! Meredith was the same cheerful, optimistic girl that she is now. She and I threw joint birthday parties every year up until last year, and the funnest part was always planning our theme together! (We both love theme costume parties.) Our favorite regular thing to do together was to go to Copper Tank for their dollar pint Mondays. I have many fond memories of hanging out with them at Copper Tank, and actually drive by where it used to be every morning on my way to work!

moving on to “mandy: in real life.” what did you do after graduation?

I took a break one semester before the end, and moved to L.A. to take a fellowship at CBS on a soap opera there. I really liked doing that a lot, but I wanted to get my diploma (I was too close not to!), and told myself that I’d go back out there “just as soon as I’m done with school”. Well, I went back, and upon graduating, was asked to help teach a class at UT. I was also doing well editing project freelance for UT faculty and other folks around town. Plus, my friends were all there, and my film “connections” (i.e., people who could help me make my own movies for cheap/free) were all in Austin, so I stuck around “just a little longer”. I ended up taking a job at Apple Computer to make ends meet once public arts funding (thanks for ANOTHER great move, W!) dried up and professors had no grants, and a few years ago, finally got back to making a paycheck with my film degree by taking a job at a post-production house.

now you work for a film editing company that has a really silly name. tell me about what you do!

Silly name, indeed! I work for charlieuniformtango (CUT in military speak. Get it?), and am an assistant editor here. We mostly do commercials, and some music videos. Basically, my job is to bring all of the footage for the editors and organize it so that they can find their way through all of it. I’m also on hand while they’re working in case they need me to build them any graphics, or to make quicktimes or dvds for clients to see the cuts they’ve made. Once the project is done being edited, I’m in charge of making sure all of the right film is colored, and that the online/special effects people know what to do to it. A good comparison would be, if editors were surgeons, and they asked for the scalpel, I’d be that other guy that picks up the scalpel and hands it to them. I like what I do. I get to monkey on computers a lot, learn how to be a better editor from the editor I assist, and have access to an entire facility so I can edit my own stuff during the off time! It is a LOT of hours and that makes it hard for me to make any plans in advance, but they treat us well, so I can’t really complain too much!

i would be remiss if i didn’t mention yr four legged friend, rupert. i love rupert! i pretty much already know the answer to this question BUT, for the benefit of pants world, tell me why he’s so amazing.

He’s just naturally a sweet, smart dog. I totally lucked out. I actually got him from a breeder who had set up a truck full of dogs at a hot dog stand, which is a funny gimmick, considering they were dachshunds! I have had lots of people tell me that while they aren’t normally dog people, they love Rupert! He’s really into people as opposed to other animals. There’s nothing he likes more than when I have people over for a party. He’s an excellent mingler. He also loves wearing outfits, and will often bring me a selection from the little bin of clothes that he has. He’s not really a “sit” and “roll over” kind of dog, though. His tricks are a little more, uh, specialized. For example, he does a trick I taught him called “‘Nam flashback”. I clap my hands loudly and yell “Boom!” He then yelps until I pat him and tell him “Charlie’s gone.” He will also run to the door and bark if you yell “Come in!”, even if no one has knocked. He’s totally the most fun dog ever, and I’m not just saying that because he’s mine!

mandy failed to mention that rupert is also a computer whiz!

and of course, i MUST ask you about “mandy: in a family way,” which is really just a scandalous way of saying that you’re an aunt now (i told you, this is the e! hollywood version). can you please tell me about yr adorable nephew and share a picture or two? i need my squee fix!

Dude, I TOTALLY thought I was going to be cooler than liking a boring old baby. But, I am DEFINITELY not! He’s just the cutest dude ever. He’s super sweet, and never cries! He’s definitely got a Jeronimus face. Red-haired, and totally cute! His name is Dean. My dad’s named Don, and my brother-in-law’s dad is named Dan, so they kind of riffed off of both, and came up with Dean! It’s totally impossible not to squee whenever you are hanging out with him! Everybody fights over getting to hold him and play with him, too. My mom was complaining to me a couple of days ago about how my dad won’t let her play with Dean as much as he gets to! I constantly keep pictures of him in my iPhone, and videos as well!

the incredibly cute dean, doing what he does best: basking in the glow of adoration (from grandpa).

it hurts me to say this, but you’re an even bigger buffy fan than i am (in fact, dear readers, mandy made me my v. own buffy trivial pursuit game!). tell me about yr love/hate affair with joss whedon and yr favorite character on the show.

Oh, Joss. If Joss and I were in a relationship on facebook, it would definitely be “it’s complicated”. I love the multi-faceted and elaborate worlds and people that he creates. He can hide such intelligence in something as seemingly silly as a monster that makes people sing. He actually killed my favorite character, Tara. I know how controversial she is to have as a favorite, but I just love where they took her character. She was so small, meek, and shy when she first came on, and by the end, she was this strong and powerful wiccan who had found her family and place in the world! An excellent metaphor for all of us, I think… I love the whole Buffyverse, though. It is also one of my surefire ways to decide that somebody is worth being buddies with. I did indeed make a full on Buffy edition of Trivial Pursuit for Miss Pants! I photoshopped a regular card, put Buffy questions on it (even in the same font!), and then took a regular board and photoshopped a new face for it, with buffy squares on the board! It was fun to do, almost as much so as it is to play! I also (nerd alert!) went to a Buffy posting board party once with Erin, in L.A. You know I’m a film nerd when I barely noticed that I was standing next to some of the stars, but got totally nauseous when I met the writers. My fave is Jane Espenson, and I was TOTALLY starstruck! I also got to meet Joss himself, and it felt similar to what I imagine meeting God himself is like…

what is yr secret power?

I can find the funny in any situation. Quite handy in the event of a bummer!

do you sleep in jimjams? what kind?

I’m a big fan of jammies! I used to have TONS of different ones. Nowadays, though, I usually sleep in jammy pants and a tank top. I’m quite thermal when I sleep, so I can’t bundle up too much.

what is yr #1 favorite food?

Sausage! I live, live, live for Wurstfest! Any kind of sausage, really. Breakfast sausage, smoked sausage, bratwurst. You name it!

mandy and meredith, champions of wurstfest.

what is yr top restaurant recommendation in austin? what’s the best thing on the menu?

I’ve become obsessed with Woodland. It’s not too expensive, and close to where I live. Great drinks, too! I recommend getting a La Boheme, which is champagne and elderflower liquor. Then, the Arugula and Fennel salad, and pretty much any of their soups! Their brunch is also excellent. I always leave stuffed!

tell me about yr top area of expertise.

Film and tv trivia for sure. Specifically, recalling the theme song to any and all televisions shows EVER.

what was yr favorite item of clothing as a child?

I had a striped velour shirt that I LOVED. When I had my first eye surgery, I made my mom let me wear my “stripey shirt”.

what was yr favorite toy as a child? (the moody bonus question)

I collected Star Wars figures, so I’ll say all of them, collectively. Either that, or I had a mini drum set with Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem on it.

mandy with her new favorite toy.

what do you plan on doing when you’re 80?

I’m trying to talk Meredith into a Golden Girls type scenario, where we all live together, and do funny old lady things. You’re totes invited, by the way! I call being the “Sophia”, though.

if you could assemble yr own ocean’s 11, who would you pick and why?

Well, as per most people, Matt makes my list. He can make us gadgets to get the jewels/money/fine home furnishings we are interesting in heisting. Both Meredith and Posh herself will be on hand for planner pantsing, because while I love having plans, I’m bad at actually making them. My friend Ashley would be in charge of making us a good mix to listen to in the getaway car. She’s also quite feisty, so she could break out some kung fu moves if need be. My friend Hilary will be the muscle for sure. She’s 5′2″, and not even 100 pounds, but it’s 100 pounds of sheer feisty! Henri would be in there because he can pretty much talk anybody into anything. Erin would be the getaway car driver. She’s been my getaway car driver since college, so why mess with success? My friend Erica would be there for sure. She has excellent charm abilities, but can totally kung fu her way out of situations, too. I need a computer genius still, so I pick my friend Lars for that. He’s very computery (that’s a technical term). My friend Amy is a good photographer, so she’d be in charge of surveillance. And, finally, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, for her kung fu skills.

mandy and lars, caught in the act of making super secret oceans 11 plans.

what is yr best karaoke song?

I like doing “Fancy” by Reba McEntire, and “A Little Respect” by Erasure. Both bring down the house.

do people ever tell you that you look like someone famous? who?

I used to get Anne Heche a lot, back when she still had a career. I hated that, though. Who wants to look like somebody found barefoot in Fresno, looking for her spaceship?

tell me something scandalous!

Last time I went to IKEA, I wasn’t wearing underwear.

well mandy, this interview managed to exceed my already high expectations for “laughter per line.” plus i learned some new things that confirm what i already know: you’re awesome! thanks for letting me share yr excellence with pants world!

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