The Buried Life began not some much as a TV series idea, but a question between friends.
“We just wondered — what do we want to do before we die? And we just set out to do it,” says Duncan Penn, who, along with brother Jonnie and friends Ben Nemtin and Dave Lingwood, serve as hosts and wish-fulfillers on The Buried Life.
“Having our own TV show was actually No. 53 on our list,” says Penn.
Maybe it wasn’t top priority, but the result is an MTV series best described as The Bucket List meets Punk’d. It’s fun. It’s delinquent, yet occasionally moving as well.
“What we never expected was how the question of what you want to do before you die would resonate with people,” says Lingwood.
“We had so many people help us, it seemed a natural that we’d try to help some of them.”
The Buried Life follows the four Canadian college guys as they travel the countryside in a bus, fulfilling selfish dreams like attending a Playboy Mansion party, or asking Megan Fox out on a date.
But they also spend some of their time realizing the dreams of folks they meet on the road, like helping an under-privileged classroom get a new computer and hooking up a street artist with the son he hasn’t seen in years.
“You think about that guy and his son. He’d been thinking about making that call for 17 years. And we helped make it happen,” says Penn.
Still, The Buried Life ain’t all touchy-feely. The boys’ antics do occasionally run afoul of the law — such as when they attempt to tell a joke on late night television, or when they give a toast at a stranger’s wedding.
“Some are easier than others to cross off. Some you struggle with. You just never know,” says Penn.
The foursome has — to date — crossed about 70 different items off their wish list, though they’re always coming up with more. One longtime goal, however, remains elusive.
“Going into space,” says Lingwood. “But who knows?”
The Buried Life premieres Monday night on MTV.
