Senior Quinn Marcus is originally from Atlanta, GA.
When senior Quinn Marcus went to the New England Food Festival, she had one goal: to make people laugh. With a microphone in hand and a series of questions, Marcus did just that.
But it wasn’t until she asked various strangers to be her roommate as part of her interview show, that Quinn began to gain a national audience.
Marcus, a comedy-writing and performance IDIP major, now has her own 90-second program on MTVu titled “Quinnterviews,” where she wanders the streets to interview people on a variety of subjects.
“We take the arch of normal college student milestones,” said Marcus. She said these milestones include looking for a roommate, move-in days, and making friends.
Marcus — who is originally from Atlanta, GA — began “Quinnterviews” in high school, where she and her friends posted the videos to YouTube. Some of them reached over 1,000 views. As view totals soared last year, Marcus said she decided to contact MTVu.
Jake Urbanski, MTV senior publicist, said MTVu was originally a College Television Network and was taken over by MTV in January 2004. Since then MTVu, a 24-hour college network, has reached 750 campuses across the country with nine million viewers.
Marcus is currently the executive producer of Emerson’s annual award show the EVVY Awards, host of Closing Time Live on the Emerson Channel, and a member of This is Pathetic, an improv comedy troupe.
Marcus said she, along with her friend Drew Van Steenbergen — who graduated from the Emerson in 2011— immediately got to work on the upcoming presentation.
“Drew and I pitched it, and [MTVu] picked it up,” she said.
Marcus said MTVu called her shortly after the pitch, and told her to make another video for the second round of interviews. MTVu then came to Boston to meet with her, and the Internet show was a go. Marcus hired friends from Emerson as a shooters and personal assistants.
Marcus said that while she has enjoyed the experience so far, she has found all the attention to be very surreal. She said she recently created a Twitter account, where fans from surrounding colleges have reached out to her to congratulate her. Additionally, Marcus has been interviewed by Teen Vogue and USA Today College. Marcus said that, while it was exciting, she prefers to be the interviewer.
“When the microphone and camera are on, I go into this mode… I have a shield, then I’ll go up to anybody and say anything,” she said.
Justin Cordua, freshman and newest member of This is Pathetic, said he needs to work hard in the troupe in order to keep up with Marcus. Cordua, a writing, literature and publishing major, said that improv is perfect for Marcus and she cannot go wrong with it.
“We don’t see a lot of insane talent on one show anymore,” said Cordu. “Quinn is talent; she can carry a show.”
Portions of "Quinnterviews" are used in the video with the permission of Marcus.