Renton-born comedian Monica Nevi released her documentary series “80 for 80” on Amazon Prime today, Friday, Aug. 3. The shows feature interviews with Seattlelites over the age of 80.
No sugarcoating or predictability comes with interviewing older King County residents, Nevi said, but it was fun.
“They say whatever they want, and that’s why we like this older demographic of people,” Nevi said with a laugh. “I learned a lot.”
The five episode mini-series is comprised of short videos where Nevi interviews King County residents about their life.
The subjects in each episode come from a wide range of backgrounds. One episode a long-time married couple talk about relationships, in another episode with a mother of 12, parenting is the subject matter. In the first episode, which premiered at Carco Theatre in November 2017, a King County man talks about the “old Seattle days.”
The episodes will be available to stream on Amazon Prime or for purchase for non-Prime members.
Nevi also plans to release a Kickstarter to help fund season two, where these interviews will be conducted in another city.
Levi said the kickstarter will not only be a place for people to donate, but for people to choose the next city they film. She said then the seasons will compare what kind of advice Seattlelites over 80 have to give to other major cities.
The series features intense, ESPN’s 30 for 30 style, that Nevi said will continue in to other seasons.
“It adds a little humor to the whole thing overall,” Levi said. “They’re funny enough and the conversations are great, but then having that kind of intensity into it makes it even more fun.”
Since this is Nevi’s first time making a documentary it’s been a lot of learning, but she enjoys telling real stories, and making this series helped her narrow her interests in creative projects for her future.
“The people I worked with just taught me so much. The director Richard Kilpatrick, and my editor Ruben Rodriguez, already knew what they were doing a little bit, and really guided me through this process. So I was lucky to have them with me,” Nevi said.
Nevi, who has toured nationally and been featured in Seattle-based television programs as well as Fox’s “Laughs,” is touring around the country when she’s not putting the final details on this series.
She said while she’s technically living in Los Angeles right now, she said the constant traveling makes it feel like she’s not living anywhere right now.
“I’ve been kinda all over the place, then the last few weeks I’ve been up in the Pacific Northwest which is nice,” Nevi said.
Nevi graduated from Hazen High School in 2008 and went on to attend Seattle University. An injury cut her basketball career short, but she found joy in 2011 with stand-up comedy.
Nevi also co-hosts “HugLife podcast,” where her and co-host Mike Coletta “try to turn bad things into good things,” according to the website.
Nevi said watching your audience react to a screen instead of from the stage was new for her, moving from stand-up to filmmaking. But it was exciting, and has her ready to take these episodes to the streaming screen.
