'The Office Movers’ Jermaine & Trevaunn Richards on Comedic Process and On-Set Improv
The brampton-born brothers reflect on their youtube roots, comedic process and the new season of their hit series
Brothers Jermaine and Trevaunn Richards (more commonly known as Jae and Trey) carved out a niche for themselves in the world of online comedy from the early 2010’s and onward. Through different series of sketches, the brothers honed their astute comedic sensibilities, riffing on common sorts of interactions across the Greater Toronto Area, adding their own comedic flair and establishing a unique brand of comedy that earned them success and longevity online. The Richards’ work ethic cannot go understated, as they were often the sole creative forces in their comedy; writing, directing, acting, editing and distributing their work themselves. Many years later, along comes The Office Movers, the duo’s foray into serialized television, a half-hour comedy series inspired by their own experiences working for their father’s moving company, where they play fictional brothers Everett and Eric Saunders. Everett and Eric lead the Shazam Office Movers through a series of comedic setbacks and escapades on their ultimate journey to make a sustainable living out of their father’s legacy. Season One premiered in late 2024 on Canadian streamer Crave, to much success and critical acclaim, resulting in a second season this November, and a early renewal for a third season. Jae and Trey Richards sat down with FilmSpeak for an in-depth interview, where the duo discussed their approach to comedy, regional specificity, creating narrative momentum, and all things Office Movers.
Check out the full interview below, or continuing scrolling for the remainder of the article.
Jae discussed their approach to translating their brand of comedic storytelling to serialized television and how Season One experiences helped to refine Season Two in this regard. “Season One was just a huge lesson in communication, and learning how to explain our vision clearly, and it was a great thing to develop. It gave us a chance to test our vision with a crowd of people, whether it’s just a funny idea or a certain image of the world we’re trying to build. Season One was a nice way to learn what actually translated, and what sorta didn’t, and so Season Two was another opportunity to revisit that and make it even more clear.” Trey further echoed this, stating “Youtube was sort of our boot camp, just short of sharpening all swords, from editing, writing, acting, and putting the vision together.
As previously mentioned, the Richards brothers tapped into the culture of the GTA as a basis for a lot of their comedy sketches, and this is no different in The Office Movers. The two further spoke about the balance between regionally-specific humour and general accessibility with the show’s comedy. Jae explained his perspective, “It’s like a test. You know, you grow up here, being here, you understand the the cultural contexts of what makes these random moments so funny. You know you understand just as a human that something’s funny, but now you have to explain why this is funny, and you know, if you can communicate it well enough, they’ll get a laugh too, and we want to be able to bring people who are outside of this region, into this world, and again, it was just another lesson in terms of communication. Again, really getting the premise across, in terms of who this person [may be], getting their background across, what it means to be Trinidadian, what it means to be Jamaican, and then to fuse these things together. We got the front row seat at this, with our dad’s moving company, seeing people of different backgrounds, different ages, coming together, and we’re just like, ‘Yo, this is the funniest thing in the world,’ so that was a huge inspiration as to why we want to bring people into this world using comedy.”
Trey briefly teased what new sorts of comedic escapades and pairings fans of the series can expect in Season Two. “Exploring the unknown is always fun. You’re introducing new characters and familiar faces that people may already know online. You already know the main guys, and now we’re introducing new ones. What is Ricky’s (Lucas Lopez) dynamic going to be alone with an Everett, or an Eric, you never know. I think just introducing these new characters, it’s already funny, because you can see new ways of how they would mix when they’re with someone else. There’s a lot. There’s a lot to unpack. It was just fun with all the actors on set, you forget that you’re even there… it just felt like we were at school, in the lunch room, talking crazy.”