-[Romina] When someone says
they are taking a fun look
at the building blocks
of our political system
you're probably
picturing at best
an animated Bill singing
a catchy tune on the steps
of our Capitol
and at worst an out of touch
man explainer,
but not Nando Vila.
When he says he is taking
a fun and entertaining dive
into our political system,
he means this.
Fusion's new political sketch
comedy show Happy Ending
is an explainer series
that breaks down
how America works by breaking
into themed storylines.
Because who wouldn't want
to learn how capitalism works
from a film noir
detective hunt.
-[Nando] Institutional racism
capital, climate change capital,
gender inequality capital,
this thing went straight
to the top.
So Happy Ending is a show
that tries to explain
sort of the basic issues
that affect all our lives
in a silly and fun way.
-[Romina] Where did
the idea come from?
-[Nando]
I actually got inspired
when I watched the movie,
The Big Short,
because you could know nothing
about the financial crisis
and then you watch
that movie
and then you have a pretty good
idea of the financial crisis.
So, I thought about doing
something like that,
that used entertainment
to explain complex issues
that really affect us.
-[Romina] Why are
these solutions coming
from Happy Ending
and not the people in power?
-[Nando] Well,
because the people in power
are doing very well right now.
They're not worried.
They're richer than ever.
They're more powerful than ever.
Their Happy Ending
is the current status
that we're living in.
It's the rest of us,
the normal people,
that are really suffering.
-[woman] But that's no
big deal, right?
-[Nando] This show is to try
to make the 'happy ending'
extend to regular people.
-[Romina] The show also digs
in to health care,
the gig economy and like we are
seeing today, democracy.
-[woman] I should have
just as much control
and say as you guys.
America is supposed
to be a democracy.
-[man] Oh, America was never
intended to be a democracy.
-[Romina] Who are you each
playing in today's episode?
-[Rachel LaForest] So, I'm Julia
whose apartment this is
and I'm kind of the normal one
I would say
and I'm surrounded by jerks.
-[Evan Watkins] Yeah,
her roommates are James Madison
and me, Thomas Jefferson,
been on the nickel,
maybe you've seen it.
And like the way we run
the apartment is
very nondemocratic and doesn't
really help the little person,
which is sort of a reflection
of how our country is.
Yeah.
-[Rachel] Yeah.
-[Romina] So, when writing
this episode
and other episodes,
what comes first,
the idea or the theme?
-[Rachel] The idea
that it is about comes first.
So, climate change
or democracy or taxes
and then, I mean, in the room
it's kind of like bopping
around brainstorming.
Sometimes I do handstands.
-[Evan] It's really
like us fighting
for all these joke lines
and then they like...
-[Rachael] We actually
have to tell them something.
-[Evan] No, we don't.
-[Chris Kasick]
We are experimenting
with sort of a format here,
where we have these sketches,
absurd and ridiculous sketches
and then we're adding layers
on top of it
that are documentary,
educational,
informational and...
We haven't seen anything really
like that,
that bridges this gap.
-[Zac Rigg] The news is terrible
about teaching people
about what our politics
is about
and there is no real place
to go to get that anymore.
And so, we thought if we just
did it like it was super simpler
explainer stuff
that people in Europe
sort of understand,
like as a core idea
within a society
then it might be useful
to an American audience.
-[Romina] But besides explaining
why our system functions
as it does,
Happy Ending tries to give us,
well, a happy ending,
By proposing a solution
for the future,
some are more probable
than others,
but a nation can dream,
can't it?
