by Google
He was an inventor, but he never found himself in the correctional facility. From dancing to stand-up to a successful YouTube channel – Zitron has come a long way. How did he get into humor, why did he choose FTVŠ instead of an art school, and how did his nickname come about? In the interview, he also reveals the behind-the-scenes of the Roasted series and his biggest stand-up fail.
What were you like as a child?
I was told that I was very lively, but I wasn't a bad guy. Even if I did something naughty, it was within the bounds of the law, I did stupid things, but it never ended up with the police. I was never in the correctional facility! Wow! With the group I was running with, that's success, haha.
What kind of family do you come from?
I don't like to say it like that, but I come from an artistic family. My grandfather was a director, actor and dancer, and both parents are former bowmen. My father is also an academic sculptor who has created huge international works to this day. So I was always drawn from dance to breakdance, and now there's stand-up.
What did you want to be as a child? Were you always drawn to dance or comedy?
I wanted to do something on TV, I remember that from a young age. When I was seven, they put me in folk dances because of my parents, and I didn't shy away from it. There was a great group there, but as I got older and saw that my classmates were going to football, hockey, boxing and various other matches and I was dancing there in that costume… well. But I really liked the attention, even when we were performing, I liked being the center of attention. I also got it from my father, who was a great entertainer when it came to family celebrations and knew how to naturally attract that attention. I really liked it, so yes, I wanted to be an entertainer from a young age.
So why did you go to study at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts if you wanted to be an entertainer?
It was purely out of calculation, because at that time I started doing breakdancing and we had a lot of performances. I wanted to spend as little time at university as possible learning and studying so that I could devote my free time to dancing. Some of my friends, who also danced, but went to other universities, studied seven books and I went to school with a swimming cap and swimsuit. I swam and then I went dancing. It was great, during the week I had football, volleyball, some theory and didactics of sports, you learn that and then I danced and rode around Slovakia with Laci Strike.
Can you tell me more about performing with Laci?
We traveled all over Slovakia, we also had some performances in the Czech Republic. We performed at huge shows, we also had TV shoots, with Dara, Rytmus and some artists, we had our own dance game at the Slovak National Theatre. There was a lot of it, but it gives you discipline, but also a lot of injuries. My body is ruined from it now, so I smoothly transitioned from breakdancing to yoga, haha.
I'll give you probably the most classic question, how did the nickname Zitron come about?
The nickname Zitron came about during these dance beginnings. Everyone always asks with great joy, what a funny story it will be and it's the biggest embarrassment. It came about because I went to training and I brought a lemon drink...that was all.
And how did you get into humor and stand-up?
As I mentioned, I've always liked humor and jokes. In the past, jokes were told so much that a group of people would get together and tell jokes and I had a lot of fun. We had parties where we would tell these jokes for hours and someone would always come up with something new and we would argue about who could tell it better. They were classic jokes - blondes, police officers, animals, sexual jokes, black humor, etc.
I really liked it when someone laughed at my joke. I knew that stand-up existed in America, but I didn't know that it worked here on the scale it did. There were already Silné reči and Temné kecy and I knew that aha, these are some Slovak comedians and then I figured out that I could apply there. It got me going, and my wife got me going too, so I wrote to Jan Gordulič on Open mike, which is basically a kind of break in a normal stand-up performance, when unknown comedians can try it out. So I tried it and the first two and a half minutes were silent. In the end I got three rounds of applause with laughter and that got me so excited that I got off the stage and gave Jan a tongue-lashing, haha. And now I'm a comedy nerd.
What fuck-up stuck in your memory?
There are so many of those fuck-ups that I can't even remember them anymore and I'm pushing it away. But what is a fuck-up? In our country, it's when people don't laugh, you have a bad performance and it doesn't go well. Everyone has their own story about how someone got offended, shouted or how the ladies stood up and left.
But I've ruined a few performances, especially one for a cosmetics company. It was my fault because I didn't read the email to see who it was for. I told a Covid joke about pensioners and I didn't know that they were healthcare workers who work with those pensioners and put them together. So half of the performance was great, fantastic, and after that joke, there was zero energy, even.
And when you read the email that you're going to perform for, how do you choose topics?
When I know that I have a performance at Beánia for students, I know that I can go there with material about the cannibal Jeffrey Dahmer, who inspired me to eat better, you know. When I go to a company for architects who are in the age group of 40 and older, I know that I won't go there with this material, but I will go with material about my daughter, my wife, about what an idiot I am, because I studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts and I make fun of myself more or less. I adapt it to that style.
You have a successful series of videos on YouTube called Roasted, where you roast horror movies. Have you always liked horror movies or where did you get your inspiration?
The inspiration came long before I started doing it. I've basically been drawn to horror movies since I was a kid, because when I was little, it was forbidden. I still remember my mom catching me and my cousin watching Alien 4. Then, when I was about 12-13, I was able to watch some scarier or more mysterious movie myself. The first horror movie that really affected me was The Circle, I was hooked.
When I found out that horror movies have a meaning, I started watching analyses of them. I watched a guy who has been making videos on YouTube for a while now, called FoundFlix, and he breaks down every scene and tells you the hidden meanings. I found it incredibly interesting, but since horror movies are often stupid, don't make sense, and have logical holes, he asked me for a joke. So I thought I could write and do that, also in a minimalist way.
When Covid came, it was great, I didn't have any shows and I had time to sit down and write it. I recorded the first episode, sent it to Kuba Gulík and Martin Hatal, and they told me that yes, technically it's amateur, but that the jokes are good. So I put it on YouTube and it took off.
People often ask you when the next Roasted will be. Why don't you release it so often anymore?
It takes a really long time, I'm an extreme pedant and I can play with one sentence for two hours, which I might even throw out when editing. But when the Covid situation started to ease, performances, corporate events, I don't know what else, and I was just stressed out, so I stopped it, took a break, and when it comes, it comes.
And how is the creation of Roasted going, do you take notes while watching the film?
When I go to watch a specific film on Roasted, for example Scream, we sit down with Saška, because she's super funny and she comes up with a lot of the jokes. We watch a film that's an hour and a half long, for three hours, because we stop it, write it down, and laugh. So yes, I take notes when I go to make a new episode, but when I just go to watch a movie, I don't, I want to enjoy it.
What do you enjoy most about it?
Writing a script is fulfilling and fun for me and it's different from stand-up. Writing a script for stand-up is so much freer, you tell stories from your life, but with a roast you have a template, the movie, but you have to think about what to say where and play with it.
Will there be another Roasted?
There will definitely be another Roasted.
