Comedian Vic Michaelis on their internet talk show, working with Emilia Clarke — and launching an MLM

Vic Michaelis may be a beloved improv comedian who has racked up millions of views across YouTube and TikTok. And the Canadian-raised actor may be about to transition to more mainstream fame off the back of a new espionage thriller.

But they haven’t ruled out a pivot to a multi-level marketing scheme.

Such a turn would only add to a delightfully chaotic career trajectory. Michaelis launched a third season of the web series Very Important People late last year, to the rabid delight of Dropout.tv’s fans. Michaelis is a central member of the Dropout studio and streaming service cast, who plays a neurotic, perpetually-near-tears “Host Vic” version of themselves, wrangling costumed comedians through chaotic improvised interviews.

And after starring in the Kickstarter-funded comedy flick D(e)ad, they’ve made a leap to prime time: appearing as type-A office manager and embassy wife Cheryl, alongside Game of Thrones’ Emilia Clarke and The White Lotus’s Haley Lu Richardson, in the new series Ponies. That Peacock show follows two women roped into espionage after their CIA husbands’ mysterious deaths. 

But it’s a tricky business to jumping from internet to TV notoriety. We caught up to Michaelis to talk about branching out from do-it-yourself productions to traditional content — and their masterplan to sell earthquake preparedness kits. 

WATCH | Vic Michaelis leaps to prime time with Ponies on Peacock:

Vic Michaelis on branching out from Dropout with latest Peacock show

Famed YouTube comedian Vic Michaelis talks with CBC’s Jackson Weaver about expanding their career from the internet to traditional media, and their YouTube show Very Important People’s new season.

We’ve talked before, and going back to that interview, you described how you really wanted to act in a disaster film, specifically Twisters. Which I assumed was a bit, but I’ve seen in other interviews you’re doubling down on this. This is a real yearning.

Vic Michaelis: I can’t express enough how little of a bit this is. I want to be in a disaster movie so bad it’s not even funny. I have seen the posters for 9-1-1: Nashville when there’s a guy dangling off a building as not one, but two tornadoes close in. I was like, “That should be me. How do I make that me?” So if you’ve got any tips, let me know, people. Because I think it’s that people keep going, “Oh, hahaha, that’s funny.” And I’m like, “Hahaha. No, I’m serious.”

You’re not quite in the disaster world yet, but it does feel Ponies is a step in that direction. Was that what drew you to the project?

I mean, on the page, it was so vivid and funny and it was like one of the best scripts I’ve read in a long time. It’s one thing when the story’s great, and it’s another thing getting the script and it being vivid strictly on the page. Not only were the jokes and writing really tight, but even the stage direction was funny. I think one of the first episodes where there’s male nudity, and it’s like “We’re seeing full frontal male nudity.” This is a premium show, this is a prestige drama. But it was like, “Oh, yeah, that’s so funny.”

This series also does really flip gender stereotypes on its head. At the same time, your character is very classically feminine. Was that something that you were experimenting with?

Totally. It was so fun. My favourite type of character to play is a character who thinks they’re really high status but isn’t. Or wants to be really high status and isn’t. I think there is so much comedy in that space in between those two things, you know what I mean? 

WATCH | Very Important People Season 3 trailer:

I feel like I see certain parallels between Cheryl and Host Vic, the fictional Vic Michaelis of VIP. Was there any kind of feeding off there?

I totally agree. And I think it’s part of what really drew me to Cheryl is I was like, “Oh, I see you. I know you.” But with Host Vic, I think Host Vic wants success so badly and thinks they are a serious journalist, but is missing some of the competence and skill and talent. Whereas Cheryl has those things, but it’s circumstantial reasons why she can’t rise above her station. It’s the time period. It’s the fact that the people around her don’t see her value in the same way. 

Whereas with Host Vic, they think they’re there, but they just simply don’t have that skill set. In no world was Host Vic ever going to be an MSNBC reporter, whereas Cheryl, in another world, would be a CEO of a major company or would be a senator in her own right. It is such a fun well to draw from. This is gonna sound maybe mean, but it’s a fun character thing because it’s something that’s so far from me as a personality: to be mean and make it everybody else’s problem. 

Speaking about arriving, making it — this is not your first role at all. But this is Emilia Clarke, Haley Lu Richardson. This is Peacock. High drama, high stakes. Was this something that made you think, ‘Wow, this is really happening’? 

This is the biggest show I’ve ever worked on. That’s not offending me in the slightest. That is just a fact that is true. It’s my first time being a series regular on a show like this. I felt the weight of it. Me and specifically my dad who’s been with me the entire time that I’ve been doing this — it’s something that we’ve been working for for a long time. He got to come to the premiere with me, and my husband got to come too. To be able to share that experience with the two of them — who have been so unbelievably and unwaveringly supportive, even as I’m doing improv shows for five people. It really isn’t lost on me what a massive opportunity this has been. 

The process of actually filming it — you get nervous. You’re flying over there and you’re getting picked up by one of those cars that has water bottles in the front seat for you. And then you go like, “Oh, can I have this water?” And they’re like “They’re for you. That’s why they’re there.” 

And then you get on set and you meet everybody. Emilia [Clarke] and Haley [Lu Richardson] are truly so kind and so nice. It’s a thing in film and TV where they say your stars set the tone for the whole set and the whole show. And it couldn’t have been a better situation.

You do have a level of fame that might not necessarily be in the same kind of sphere as Emilia Clarke. But you are quite famous for a certain group of people. Do you get that sensation, or is that still very odd? 

It’s really interesting because the way in which I’ve come up, the way in which people know me often is via online. In the same way that you follow your friends and you’re seeing people’s vacations and dogs and happy birthday posts, you’re also seeing clips of Dropout. And so I get to fall in as a regular part of people’s lives. And that is truly a privilege. It’s very, very special. I’m also very fortunate I get to know a lot of people. I get to meet people out and about after shows and I get to chat with people. So my relationship to the Dropout fandom and people that have seen clips of things is a little bit different, I think, than other people’s experiences with [fame]. 

But I am really grateful — a lot of the Dropout fans I’ve met are awesome, incredible and have their own taste in comedy. There’s nothing better that I get to hear than people being like, “I just got enough Dropout clips fed to me that I didn’t know what it was, and I was really confused at first, but then it grew on me and now I’m taking improv classes.” I’m like, “That rocks. That’s so fun. It’s one step closer to my dream of starting an MLM.”

The ultimate dream: an MLM disaster movie. 

This, this is the future. All of this is a huge ploy to sell earthquake preparedness kits.

Nicholas Podany appears as Ray, and Vic Michaelis as Cheryl in Ponies. (Katalin Vermes/Peacock)

Its been a huge year, from VIP, to Ponies, D(e)ad and even D20, the new Dropout Dungeons & Dragons series. How busy have you been in the last little while?

It’s been super busy. It’s been really fun. I am currently working on a video game that’s going to be coming out this year — I’m playing Roona in Star Wars: Zero Company, which the trailer’s out and that’ll be out this year. It’s been busy in the most beautiful, wonderful way. I am going to be travelling for like a week coming up here and I’m looking forward to doing absolutely nothing.

Is there a future of Vic Michaelis making something in Canada; a Canadian show or something that you really want to be on up here?

So yes, constantly. Anytime I think about doing anything, it’s like, “How do I make something where I can move and live in Toronto?” Listen, I’ll take anywhere, honestly, but I would love to be back in Toronto. Toronto is the best, is my favourite city in the world. I love it there. I’m really sorry.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.