Words by

Melanie Franz

Ragnhildur Magnúsdóttir Thordarson tells us more about her web comedy sketch

This past fall Icelander Ragnhildur Magnúsdóttir Thordarson, who goes by Ragga, and her brother, Peter Gutter, an Oakland based musician and sketch actor, launched their debut project, “Carlos & Brandi” under their production crew, Icelandic Poniez. This first sketch featured on the American comedy site Funny or Die, where it attracted more than 8,000 hits, and they are now busy with ‘Carlos & Brandi 2’ in the editing room and 6 more sketches in the works.

We got in touch with Ragga and she tells us more about their reality TV-inspired sketch featuring Carlos and Brandi, an Icelandic-American couple, two hopeful victims of today’s me-generation who are trying to make their dreams come true on reality TV. “They want to be happy and think that blowing up on reality TV will make their dreams come true,” she says. “They are the poster children for today’s technologically savvy ‘me-so-famous’ generation and we can all relate to them to some extent, I think.”

Brandi makes drinking beer while doing yoga look easy while Carlos juggles his various love affairs. “They fight about who the dog loves more or who gets more attention and they go to therapy and perform the dysfunctional love dance for days on end. It’s a never-ending carousel of trying to climb the ladder to fame and fortune and then the hangover that ensues when they sit up with themselves, their overinflated egos and insecurities at night. It’s just an extreme commentary on the modern me-generation I suppose. And it’s all happening sort of live, on TV, on the blogs—a live train wreck!” Ragga explains.

Ragga, who is working toward her Masters of Fine Arts in producing at the New York Film Academy (NYFA) at the Los Angeles Campus, does the writing and producing of the sketches. She tells me that she has a pretty ‘off-beat‘ and dark sense of humour, and describes herself as a hyperactive multi-tasker with a preference for writing and producing. But she is also unafraid of playing Brandi in the sketches. “It is what adds some of the Icelandic intensity,” she says. “I can’t imagine that I would offend anyone if I made the statement that we are extremists in Iceland. It’s the beauty and the burden of us. I play with that a little. At the end of the day I’d rather be an intense Icelander than not. It’s what I love about my culture. It also makes things, and myself a little zany at times. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

While Icelandic Poniez is diligently writing scripts, Ragga says they are on the lookout for collaborators and of course, more funding. Ultimately, she hopes that the web-sketch project will turn into a foundation for a production team, and perhaps if you relate to Brandi and your name is Whiskey, you can get your part in one of the sketches. 

Carlos & Brandi – watch more funny videos