The 5 Questions We Ask Everyone: The Boys of The Buried Life

MTV’s “The Buried Life” has us all hooked for more reasons than one.  The boys are cute, funny, and actually doing something good for society.  Their love for life and adventure is contagious and each episode leaves us inspired, wondering what sorts of things we can accomplish before we die.

By CC Staff

So we got to thinking, who are these boys? How did this all come to be? And do any of them have “date the editor of CollegeCandy” on their list? We sat down with them to find out! Sadly, that list of 100 things didn’t mention this editor once.

5 Questions We Ask Everyone

1. What is your most hysterical or ridiculous college memory?
Duncan: We had a party that turned into a pretty severe food battle. It kept escalating until the fire marshal arrived because we had completely flooded the downstairs apartment. They condemned the place. It was bad.

2. What are five things you can’t live without?
Duncan:  Oxygen, sandwiches, the 80′s and Penelope [the bus].

Uh, that’s only four.
Dave: Yeah and “back to the future” 1 & 2

3. What’s your motto/advice you live by?
Dave: Don’t be afraid of dying, be afraid of living a half-lived life.
Duncan: Just do it.

4. What is your favorite song to belt out at the bar/in the car/for karaoke?

Dave: “Hypnotize” by Biggie, or “No Diggity” by Blackstreet.

5. Ten years from now you will be….

Duncan: Running a very successful business
Dave:  Big and fat
Duncan: (laughter) No, in ten years, Dave

5 7 Questions Just for the boys
(There are so many things we want to know!)

1. How did this idea come to be?
Duncan: Like many people, we were struggling with what we wanted to do with our lives.  Coming out of high school we saw one friend start a successful clothing line and other friends doing nothing.  I remember going up to Ben in a bar and saying something like, “Do you ever feel like you want more from life?” And straight away he said, “I know exactly what you mean.” We all got together and came up with the question: “What do you want to do before we die?” The list came from the answers to that question.

Dave: The name “The Buried Life” actually comes from a poem Jonnie was studying in college by the same name.  It was written 150 years ago by Matthew Arnold and spoke to many of the same things we were feeling.  It talks about how everyday things like life, work, and other responsibilities bury you from living the life you want to live and that everyone has this desire to live their buried life.

2. What’s your favorite thing you’ve done so far on his list?
Duncan: Riding a bull or delivering a baby. Both were big tests in different ways.

Dave:  I’d have to say sneaking into the Playboy mansion in a giant cake.  Jonnie and I were dressed as oompa loompas and were stuck inside the cake for 6 hours before we broke out and hit the party. It’s the story I want to tell the grandkids.

3. Part of the show is not only fulfilling your own dreams but helping others do the same. What is your favorite thing you did for someone else?

Duncan: For me it was meeting a man in Dallas named Sam Fuller.  He was an artist who hadn’t seen his son in 17 years, since his son was 2.  After about a month of searching we were able to track down his son and eventually reunite them.  It’s been amazing to watch them become first friends and now family.

4. Who are the most interesting people you’ve met on this journey (both famous and not famous)?

Dave:  Meeting Tight Eyez was amazing.  He’s the founder of Krump dancing, an aggressive form of freestyle dance that was started in Los Angeles.  I’d seen his videos online and never thought we’d meet him and have him teach us how to Krump.  He and his crew got us ready for the Krump competition in Compton.  That was unreal.

Duncan: Jann Wenner, founder of Rolling Stone magazine. It was cool to argue about life and our generation with someone who’s been documenting youth and culture for the last 40 years.

5. What is the overall message you’re hoping to send by doing this show?
Duncan: To slow down for a second and honestly ask yourself: “What’s important to me?”

6. What advice do you have for people who want to cross some things off their “bucket list”?
Dave: Work with your friends because you’ll have a more fun and they’ll hold you accountable.

7. So now that you’ve pretty much completed everything you want to do in life, what’s next for you?
Dave: We’re just getting started.  There’s lots more stuff to do.