Every Thursday, a different SeamlessWeb customer tells us all about how he or she orders from the site. This week is special, as we have the first of two brothers from the same mother. His name is Eric, his brother is Jeff, and they run ItsTheReal.com, a hip-hop sketch comedy site with some pretty famous fans. Nick Cannon, anyone?
Name: Eric Rosenthal
Age: 28
Occupation: Hip-Hop Sketch Comedian (Ed: This is actually the second most common occupation of SeamlessWeb customers.)
How and When Did You Discover SeamlessWeb? I’m only friends with smart people, and smart people are the ones who use SeamlessWeb. So when I found out in early 2008 that using SeamlessWeb was the thing to do, I, as an aspiring smart person, wanted in…and my friend Shin started working there, which helped too.
Where Do You Use SW? I use SeamlessWeb in my home AND my office! I mean, my home is my office, but there really is a difference, if not in the aesthetics, then at least in my head. For example, when we had an intern working for us, he technically worked from the kitchen table, which we called his office. Then, at lunch time, we’d make him order us food from SeamlessWeb and banish him to the hallway to eat his bag lunch.
Favorite Kind of Food: I love Italian food, Chinese food, and Soul food.
Least Favorite Kind of Food: I don’t like Sloppy Joes, coconut, sourdough bread, curry, pickles, or olives. So please don’t send any complimentary samples of anything like that my way. Thanks.
Favorite Place(s) to Order From on SW? Malaysia Grill on the Upper West Side.
Least Favorite Thing About Calling Restaurants? Let’s just say that the customer service is better on my computer.
Closest Previous Brush with Internet Fame? You mean besides when I look in a mirror? Just kidding – it’s when I see my face on the computer screen. No, actually, my brother Jeff and I are established enough in our niche that we semi-regularly get recognized when we walk around the streets of New York (e.g. at a hole-in-the wall restaurant; the 59th street train station; near Whole Foods on the LES). The craziest scenario though was walking on a random street in Los Angeles this summer – I know, walking in LA! – when a car pulled a U-turn and sidled up right next to me and Jeff. We were deathly afraid – of being asked for directions – but as it turned out, this guy was a big fan of ours and just wanted to talk about his favorite episodes of the show! (Ed: You forgot about your previous feature on the SeamlessWeb blog.)
Favorite Celebrity Chef? I’d have to say Rocco DiSpirito, who I met at a friend’s party. He was super-nice, interested in this hip-hop sketch comedy racket I have going on, and had a very engaging personality. I also met Tom Colicchio at a book signing, but he wasn’t nearly as friendly. He signed the book and immediately dismissed me. No attempt at conversation, no fist-bump, no quip about the fake Padma from Top Chef Masters. Nothing. I suppose it might have had something to do with the hundreds of people waiting for autographs behind me, but whatever. I hold grudges like a Sicilian, Tom. Team Rocco!
Favorite Cartoon Growing Up? Any of the Disney afternoon shows, which included Duck Tales, TaleSpin, and Darkwing Duck. There’s something about talking, crime-solving, adventure-seeking animals that inspired and thrilled me…and has made subsquent trip to the zoo very, very disappointing. (Ed: And another thing, why was it always ducks?)
What Superpower Do You Wish You Had? The ability to converse with animals? Or perhaps to make time stop, to preserve the moment.
In the Past Year, What’s the Latest You’ve Stayed Up and Why? Hmmm…there have been plenty of Sunday nights over the last year where I’ve stayed up till 4 or 5 AM to finish editing a video for our website, ItsTheReal.com, as we adhere to a Monday morning deadline each week. But if there’s one all-nighter that stands out above the rest, it would be when Jeff and I put together a series of videos, auditioning to be writers for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards. Since the VMAs were coming back to NYC, we wanted to do something very New York-centric, and thus decided to document ourselves as street performers: a subway band called The Third Rail (cause you can’t touch us). We set up at the end of a platform in a quiet subway station at 11 PM. Jeff sang songs like “Blame It On The Train.” I played drums made from Home Depot buckets. We dressed in rags and I wore a two-week-old beard.
(Ed: I’mma let you finish, but it’s probably for the better that you didn’t make it, because Kanye-gate was the greatest VMAs moment of all-time.)
Everything was going smoothly until about 2 AM when six cops showed up to ask what exactly we were doing. Granted, I did look more suspicious than usual, but really, what kind of terrorist plays bucket drums? Envisioning the phone call to my parents from a jail cell, I briefly considered telling the officers that we were film students, or local kids, or denying that we were even there, but I decided to tell the truth: we run a Hip-Hop Sketch Comedy website, and this was our big break for MTV and we’d be done in less than 30 minutes, and I think the NYPD are way cooler than any fireman could ever be! The cops looked us up and down, added a long pause for dramatic effect, and then let us continue…but not without first asking how we made money on our site, and how much the camera cost. I kept all smart-alecky comments to myself. After we finished filming, I stayed up till about noon to finish editing the videos. Unfortunately in the end, the VMA producers passed, and all I ended up with was a good story and a rough shave the next day.
Plans for Tonight? Most Thursday nights for me are dedicated to NBC. Even though we DVR The Office, 30 Rock, and Parks and Recreation, I still feel the pull to watch these previously-filmed episodes as they’re aired. I know, color me risky!
Next week we’ll see Eric’s brother Jeff and you can decide which Rosenthal is your favorite. Want to be a future Webber of the week? E-mail us at myseamlessweb@seamlessweb.com.