It’s a pretty brazen move to conduct an entire interview in a star-spangled Speedo.
But for first-year undeclared student Zach Fox, being brazen is what got him his own television pilot based on his life.
Other than a few perplexed stares on campus, the Speedo-clad Fox seemed like a typical student at UCLA, with a slice of Sbarro’s pizza in one hand and an iPhone in the other.
However, few would guess that Fox lives somewhat of a double life. Since starting school, Fox has been splitting his time between classes and working on the pilot for his own show on Disney XD, tentatively called, “Untitled Zach Fox Project.” Along with filming the pilot, Fox was chosen to host a Disney XD prank show, “Just Kidding,” premiering next month.
Growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Fox started performing in television and comedy as a way to find relief from his parent’s separation, using it as an opportunity to turn pain into humor.
“I had one of those crazy, dysfunctional divorce households, those “˜everyone hates each other’ type of situations, like a lot of other comedians. I was like, “˜All right, I can laugh about it or I can cry in my room.’ I took the laugh route,” Fox said.
Although he has been writing his own material and stand-up routines since the age of 12, it was in high school that Fox got his own local television show broadcast in his school district.
Through trial and error during that show, Fox decided to use the then-burgeoning medium of YouTube to create “˜man on the street’ style comedy videos, in hopes that he would be able to reach out to a broader audience.
Fox’s social studies teacher at Conestoga High School, Michael Palmatier, said he saw the progression of Fox’s comedy and was not surprised at the outcome.
“As a freshman, Zach made an impression on the first day because he’s not afraid of speaking his mind, and at first, I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a good thing,” Palmatier said. “I knew him at his most outrageous as a little freshman, and I think his comedy has gotten better and better through his optimism and his ability to not be afraid of interacting with others.”
From canoodling with people on the Jersey Shore boardwalk in his signature patriotic speedo, to celebrating Christmas in Israel by dressing up as Santa Claus and interviewing locals, Fox’s sassy and pointed humor is evident in his videos. It was these videos that would eventually attract the attention of higher-ups in Hollywood.
After winning five out of six categories in a competition for the International Modeling and Talent Association in New York, Zach flew out to Los Angeles to take meetings with agencies and managers, a trip that was supposed to last three days. Fox ended up staying for a month this summer.
“I walk into an agency on a Friday afternoon and there’s a long conference table, like out of a movie, and four agents sitting on each side and one agent at the end, who ends up being my agent. I walk in and everybody turns their chairs and looks at me,” Fox said. “It was like silence for five seconds and my agent said, “˜So we see you’ve decided to wear pants today.'”
It might have been the predilection for pantslessness that had several networks vying for Fox to work with them after his agency sent around his YouTube videos to gage interest, prolonging Fox’s stay in Los Angeles. In the end, Disney was interested in developing a half-hour single-camera comedy, based on Fox’s life in high school hosting his own school-wide television show, for its channel geared toward an older teenage demographic, Disney XD
“I’ve been doing this business for 23 years and I would say this is one of the quickest deals I’ve ever been involved with,” said Justine Hunt, Fox’s manager at Hines and Hunt Entertainment. “We realized that the best way to utilize his talent was to develop something that was geared toward his comedy.”
Fox worked on the pilot with executive producer David Nickoll, who had worked on some of the television shows that Fox said he grew up watching, such as “Saturday Night Live” and “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.”
“I was impressed by his absolute fearlessness. He reminds me of Sacha Baron Cohen in his ability to go out into public spaces and have no filter or insecurity,” Nickoll said. “He seems to want this. And you always want that in a performer.”
Fox said his prank show would be similar to the MTV show “Punk’d,” in which kids play unsuspecting jokes on adults.
“I’d be like Ashton Kutcher, but more adorable,” Fox said.
While Fox waits to see if his television pilot will be picked up for a series order, he said he hopes to take comedy classes at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre or The Groundlings Theatre in order to spruce up his stand-up skills. His career goal is to ultimately be on “Saturday Night Live.”
Fox said that for now he doesn’t know where the trajectory of his life will go, and tries not to plan too far ahead for his future. True to his audacious personality, Fox said he doesn’t want to rely on a backup plan in place of his goals.
“You can’t have a backup plan for your dream,” Fox said. “It is the people that are crazy enough to believe that they can achieve something that actually do. I genuinely believe I will be famous one day. And I genuinely believe that it will happen soon.”
Email Jue at tjue@media.ucla.edu.
Zach Fox est même connu en France. Que dire de plus? C’est déjà une star!!