Jeff Rubin thanks his extracurricular experiences at Penn State for his current success as the managing editor of CollegeHumor.com and a star of an upcoming MTV show.
"I'm writing a lot of material and I'm a member of the main cast," Rubin, Class of 2004, said about the upcoming The CollegeHumor Show, based off the Web site. "On the show you'll see that all the characters are very silly versions of our own selves."
Rubin said he plays a more nerdy, soft-spoken version of himself and said co-worker Amir Bulmenfeld of jakeandamir.com "is on all the time; it's hard to draw a line where he ends and his character begins."
Hired by the company soon after he graduated, Rubin started by hosting the video game talk show now known as Bleep Bloop.
Rubin, who majored in advertising at Penn State, said his tenure as the head writer for Phroth, the campus humor magazine, was more helpful than any class in preparing him for his current position.
He said keeping up a steady writing schedue for the publication helped him develop his skills at writing humor and being adaptable.
"My responsibilities are always changing," he said. "In addition to taking care of day-to-day operations and overseeing the staff, I write for our Hardly Working skits and for a long time I did all the captions in the photo section."
The show, premiering at 9:30 Sunday night, will feature both skits and running stories taking place in the CollegeHumor office. Rubin said most of the shooting takes place in a working office, and many people in background shots will be doing their actual jobs.
"It is anything but a reality show," he said. "We show up early and shoot the show, and then have to stay late and finish our regular jobs."
Rubin also hosts the College Humor Live show in New York, which features many of the characters that can be seen on the Web site and will be featured in the show.
Penn State itself has a large presence on the CollegeHumor Web site, with many students submitting photos, videos and comments.
Annie Havern (junior-English) submitted an article for one of her English courses.
"I chose CollegeHumor because it's geared towards a younger audience," she said, adding she watches and reads many of the videos on the main page, including Jake and Amir.
Tim Bober (freshman-biology), who said he would watch the show when it premieres Sunday, said he uses the site in a different way.
"I go there a lot and check random links and videos," he said. "I like how diverse their content is."
Rubin said Penn State is one of the top schools when it comes to submissions.
"I swell with pride whenever I see a picture of a kid vomiting coming in from Penn State," he said. "I'm glad to see there's still debauchery."
