Stephanie O'Keeffe interview
We talk to Girls Go Trolling creator and star Stephanie O'Keeffe...
Hi Steph. What's your background?
I have always enjoyed performing in comedy improv groups, and my favourite comedy to watch is news satire. So in 2013 I created and performed my own online series where I played news reporter Stephanie Trolls. And this online series helped me get my first TV role, as one of Dom Joly's team of four pranksters in Fool Britannia on ITV.
And then, in 2014, Metro commissioned me to make a series of comedy videos where I reported at London events as Stephanie Trolls. These were seen by the team making the Sky1 TV show Whatsup who then asked me to cover events humorously for them.
And the next step is Girls Go Trolling. What can we expect from the show?
You can expect four talented funny women fearlessly pulling off sketches, pranks and deadpan lines with real people. And what's great is all four of us add something very different in our reporter portrayals and deliveries, therefore catering for varied comedy tastes.
How was this project developed?
When my comedy reports for Metro and Sky1 went well, it gave me the confidence to push harder at trying to make a trolling series for a broadcaster with a group of actresses and female comedians playing reporters with me.
I had tried the year before to an extent, but I hadn't found the right troll team. But that night, after I'd filmed my first comedy video with Narin Oz and Verona Rose, I remember feeling totally confident broadcasters would take notice.
In all, it took around two years and many relentless emails and YouTube taster videos. Now this show is up on All 4, I'm back at the relentless emails with other ideas.
How did you build up the team of trolls?
I knew one of the trolls, Narin Oz, who I had worked with before. She brought me Verona Rose, our third troll, and we made a series of spoof videos together that I showed Gogglebox Entertainment. They agreed to produce the series, and brought in Annie Mcgrath as our fourth troll when I pitched them Narin and Verona.
How much of the trolling is pre-planned before you turn the camera on, and how much is improvised as you go?
All four of us funny ladies wrote gags before we headed to the events we trolled, and at times dry lines were found easier to execute than improvised pieces during our quick filming slots. But a lot was still improvised, as you adapt to the event you are trolling there and then.
For one of our trolls, Narin, her magic comes from the reaction of her marks on the day because she feeds off them excellently through her clown training.
In the series we obviously only see the edited highlights. Are there times it didn't work out?
Oh yes, we all had ones where the marks wouldn't play along. And because my troll character's pretty risky to say the least, and we had very limited time slots to film at every event, some of my bits that I wish were in the final edit aren't, because the mark that signed the waiver form then changed their mind after the filming.
Do you let those you're talking to know that it is was a prank after?
Preferably I like to stay in character as the jokes on me and they will have had fun laughing at my character. But sometimes the marks can look relieved for me when they hear it's a prank, otherwise they would have worried for my sanity!
You must have such strong nerves to pull off some of these stunts...
I really don't get nervous doing these stunts. Even at my first ever event that I trolled in 2013 I just loved the thrill of it! It appeals to my inner playfulness that I can get away with behaving like this under the guise of my character.
Talking of confidence, do you have any tips for how people can be more confident in their lives?
Don't care about how you seem to people, just be you, and watch people react to that and then smile and decide how to move forward by how they are reacting, either taking a step forward or a step back. Or, be a little bit too much like me... and always take a step forward anyway!
Across the series, do you have any particular favourite scenes?
A few! I love when Annie gives the microphone to her mark and walks off! I love when Narin tumbles in killer heels on the catwalk and when Verona raps with an orchestra! And I love how genuinely shocked my mark is when my materialistic character is dumped wearing her very expensive wedding dress.
Do you think Girls Go Trolling is ideal as an online show in its bitesized chunks, or could the format be adapted to fit a longer TV slot?
Well obviously I'd love this to be a TV show and think this online series has proven it could be. And I think we all want to see more funny women on the telly.
What is next for you Stephanie?
I've got a few TV ideas I'm pushing for, mostly comedy, but one is more entertainment. And in my spare time I'm writing a sitcom that is a bit like Plebs, but it has a female led cast and set in a different century.
The six episodes of 'Girls Go Trolling' can be watched on All 4