(Continued...)

SET PIECE Relations on the U.S.-Mexico border get heated when there's an immigration spike

How did it come to you to be the curator of this stuff? Are you qualified to select these films?
I'm certainly not. [Laughs.] I have no film background at all. I lack a lot of pedigree. I'm sure there are a million more people who have a greater knowledge of what's out there than me. But maybe that's a benefit, too.

Do you think your gut instinct can translate into a cohesive product and reach an audience?
It has so far. We're doing phenomenally well. Surprisingly well. It's a huge experiment—we had no idea if anyone cared or would buy a bunch of short films when they can watch them on YouTube. But more people like to watch films than read books, that's just a sad fact. So, I'd imagine we'd have lots of opportunities. There's a big niche to fill between the ultra lo-fi passion, on the one hand, and having to wait three years to go through a development process for your one little half hour, on the other. Between the extremes, a bunch of people with talent and cameras and ideas are making things. The model for distribution is something that is still being worked out for everyone. We're playing around with ideas for a TV show or making a lot of these things downloadable.

RADAR: What about the predator ants?
BRENT HOFF: They have the fastest predatory strike of any animal! There's no animal that moves that fast!Before Wholphin, you were actually in development at VH1. What did you learn from that experience?
On Best Week Ever, at the beginning, we had a lot of freedom to do things not so dissimilar to things I do on Wholphin—somewhat quirkier items. There were pieces on scientists who were going crazy about the Mars Lander, for instance. We'd do a piece like that, but quickly we found that the more we did celebrity segments, the higher the ratings were. So under the ratings-are-king economic model that television must follow, shows are going to, by necessity, end up catering to the lowest common denominator. That doesn't mean serving the entire market.

Isn't that letting the media off the hook a little bit by saying it's the market's fault?
Yeah, well, you try. We tried. I tried. Some of the stuff that I would make there would rate okay, but stuff that was really, really offensive and demeaning in some way would rate phenomenally. I'm not trying to completely let them off the hook, but there is a misconception that people don't try. There are a lot of people trying to make very good television. One of the stumbling blocks is, you know, a lot of people don't want to watch it.

Is it a relief to not have focus groups?
Well, I have a really pure focus group, which is, are we selling enough to keep us going? And just barely on our third issue, we're already doing well, surpassing what we thought. There are a lot of people who like the strange stuff. Not that we're that strange, really.

ANT BULLIES Wholphin's foray into National Geographic turf

What about the predator ants?
They have the fastest predatory strike of any animal! It's a world-record holding thing! There's no animal that moves that fast! No matter who you are, just to know the fastest motion an animal makes on the earth is kind of an interesting thing. I didn't say it was useful. [Laughs.]

It looks kinda fake.
People think everything we do is fake!

McSweeney's does have a history of skirting a line between very complicated put-ons and reality. How do you deal with that?
I try and try and try to say as often and loudly as possible that everything we do is real. We don't have computer graphics. It's a little bit of a cross to bear. And it's unfortunate, because I don't think I would enjoy the pieces so much if I thought it was just someone fiddling around with knobs.

Do you find people bring their expectations or assumptions about McSweeney's when they come to Wholphin? There's a perception that McSweeney's is sort of precious.
So far, I doubt enough people know who we are for that to be a problem. And we're pretty separate. Wholphin is me and my assistant editor, Emily [Doe], and whoever else we can get to help us edit things. If there's a bleed-off from the fact that we're published from McSweeney's, there's just as many people who'll make the assumption the opposite way, that we're especially genius. As much as I resemble it or mesh with that McSweeney's ideal, it's purely incidental.

But we should point out we're doing this interview on unicorns on a cloud, for an audience of sasquatches.
Yeah, yeah. Totally.