For the Nicolosi-Murray family, it all started with those photo-calendars that you send family and friends for the Holiday Season -- the ones with cute pictures mainly of the kids, and maybe even of the dog.
Now, Mom Alexia Murray, Dad Nick Nicolosi, their two kids and their dog are the stars of a one-of-a-kind webcom (web comedy).
This is how it happened: The photos that made up the calendars that this Rome-based Italo-American family used to make were so quirky and funny (Alexia and Nick often found themselves fielding questions like, "How do you manage to put wigs on your kids?" and, "Does the dog always keep still?") that people suggested they make a video out of them.
"That's how the docu-sitcom project was born, showing the backstage for the calendar production," say Alexia and NIck. "Unpredictable and paradoxical situations came up, in which our family comes up against unusual people -- some friendly, some less so. It's all rounded off with a comicality that is all our own. And the result is fun and laughs for young and old."
It's called "2 Kids and a Dog," and it can be watched on Youtube . For all of 2011, the family will be publishing a weekly video online, and one can even subscribe to receive it via email.
"Nick and I were two author-actors out of work, but with a family and lots of ideas," continues Alexia. "So, without thinking about it too much, we decided to self-produce ourselves."
Nick adds, "It wasn't easy. On the contrary, our patience was put to the test on many an occasion, if you take in account that our kids were involved -- Luce, who's 6 years old. and Liam, who's three years old. They were often restless, gobsmacked and, as if that were not enough, our greying mongrel Amleto was involved, too."
It's a completely original piece of comedy that this very original couple says is without precedent in Italy.
Dad concludes, "It taught me a lot about being a father and a husband -- and, above all, about which cupboard to hide in when the situation gets out of hand!"
Meanwhile, mom confirms that this adventure of theirs aims to be "a reaction to the current crisis in the world of showbiz; it's our reaction to the fear of inertia, an inability to wait helplessly for our line of work to start seeing better days."
