Pop Culturalist Chats with Betch’s Monica Sherer and Madeline Whitby

Maddy Whitby and Monica Sherer a.k.a. MadMoni are a dynamic comedic duo who are making betch happen. Their widely successful sketch comedy show for go90 and AwesomenessTV is in its sixth season. Yes, you read that correctly—sixth season—and, it’ll have you bursting out in laughter. The pair not only created the series, but they also write and star in it. Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to chat with the pair about how hard work made Betch what it is today, their favorite sketch, and who’s #1 on their guest bucket list.

PC: How did the two of you come up with the concept for Betch?
MadMoni: At the time, making one-off sketches and music-parodies was all we knew, and they always say to “write what you know.” So when Awesomeness presented us with the opportunity to pitch a real show of our own, our immediate inclination was to make a sketch-comedy show that WE would want to watch. We obviously loved SNL, Key and Peele, Inside Amy Schumer, The Kroll Show, etc., but we hadn’t seen anything geared specifically toward young women, so that quickly became the goal with Betch.

Originally, we were going to call the show “BOSS” (don’t make fun of us! It was a very trendy word at the time; thank you Fifth Harmony)—but, on the day of the pitch, Maddy wore a custom bracelet reading “BETCH” that her sister Audrey Whitby (who also stars on the show) had made for her. In the middle of the pitch, Brian Robbins (founder and former CEO of Awesomeness) stopped us mid-sentence and said, “Guys. Look at your bracelet. The show should obviously be called Betch. It rhymes with sketch. DUH.” He was so right. And alas, Betch was born.

PC: What is the creative process like when you’re working on a new sketch?
MadMoni: Sketch ideas come from everywhere. We pull from every corner of our real, millennial struggles—dating, friendships, working out, partying, coffee, laundry, periods, douchebags—the usual. We wrote a sketch for season six called “Identity Theft PSA” which is 100% based on the very true story of Monica getting her identity stolen via an old friend on Facebook Messenger. Our forever-goal with Betch is to hear “OMG THIS IS SO ME” from our audience. #relatable

PC: The sixth season just hit go90. How has it evolved/changed throughout the years?
MadMoni: We always say that the come-up has been real with Betch. In season one, we were shooting sketches with a three-person crew at locations we could get for free—aka only in Maddy’s house. We turned that house into so many different places—a four-year-old’s bedroom, a spa, a bunker, Ariana Grande’s home, etc. Monica and I would do all of the writing, production, design, wardrobe, and even craft-services (we know our way around a Trader Joe’s). Now, we work with that original three-person crew, give or take 50 more. We’re an incredibly tight-knit family that has grown together, and it’s been so much fun to watch. Betch will forever be our baby, and we’re so lucky to have a cast and crew who are just as passionate about the show as we are.

PC: If you had to pick your favorite sketch, what would it be and why?
MadMoni: Oh my gosh! That’s such a hard one. Every season, we’re like, this is our favorite. One of our all-time faves is definitely the duck face sketch. We loved working with Liza. She’s so freaking funny and it’s a classic. Our first viral sketch was “The Perfect Gram” where Jimmy Tatro is taking a picture of coffee and suddenly there’s a whole film crew helping him take the perfect Instagram photo. That was our biggest success to date.

PC: There have been tons of great guest hosts. Is there anyone left on your list that you’d like to appear on the show?
MadMoni: This is kind of a joke because we know he’s the busiest man on the planet but Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It’s been our dream since season one to have him on Betch. Our first episode ever sees Monica’s character making out with a cardboard cutout of The Rock. And we tweeted that clip and said “This week’s episode of Betch will eff-ing rock your world” and he responded with “I’ve been known to be a good kisser even in cardboard form.” Best press we could have asked for. Ever since then, he’s been at the top of our literal dream board. We’ve actually had multiple conversations with his people and he’s very interested because he wants to connect with his teen girl audience too.

PC: The show covers a lot of topics. Is there one left that you’d love to do?
MadMoni: That’s a good one! Hmm…we talk about boobs, butts, periods, dating, a lot of genitals. Wow! We go political in our references. We haven’t hit it directly on the head yet so we’d love to do something like that. We also have never talked about marijuana. We love the work that Miley Cyrus is doing for normalizing weed and some of the benefits of it as long as you use it responsibly. Talking about how we feel about weed honestly and through a comedic lens would be amazing.

PC: With this being a female-driven show, who were some of the women who impacted your careers?
MadMoni: Let’s go down this list. There are so many inspiring women to look up to right now. We’re lucky to be in this space right now because it’s so inspiring. The obvious ones are Tina and Amy, they’re the OG female duo. We’re obsessed with Tiffany Haddish, Abbi Jacobson, Ilana Glazer, Michelle Obama (she’s a queen), Beyoncé, Maya Rudolph, Molly Shannon, and all of the ladies on SNL.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
MadMoni: We both love Nashville. It was on NBC and it went to CMT and we went with it! Oh and Riverdale!

Maddy: Also, I love Naked and Afraid. I don’t know why I love it so much but I find it so fascinating that people would choose to spend 21 days naked.

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
MadMoni: Our joint guilty pleasure movie is I Love You, Man. When we used to live together, it was in our DVD player for about three years. We watched it about once a week. It’s no longer a playable disc. [laughs] We also did that with Step Brothers.

PC: Favorite book?
Monica: Watership Down, Tom Sawyer, and fairy tales.

Maddy: The Harry Potter series! I listened to it on audiobook. We live in L.A. and it takes about an hour to get anywhere. I’ve listened to all seven books multiple times.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
MadMoni: Every year for Maddy’s birthday, we go to New York and watch all the shows on Broadway. It’s right before the Tony Awards and I think we’ll both say right now, Dear Evan Hansen. We got to see it with Ben Platt and we think it’s one of the best performances we’ve ever seen. It was incredible. I feel bad for people who didn’t get to see it with him in it. We were full faced balling by song two.

PC: Favorite social media platform?
MadMoni: Instagram

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Maddy: Kacey Musgraves is my favorite artist. I’ve never been a fangirl for music but I would go very far to be her friend. I think she’s incredible.

Monica: My boyfriend would not be surprised but he’s on my playlist. His name is Koda. He’s on all of our Spotify playlists.

PC: Hidden talent?
Monica: I can walk on my hands for days.

Maddy: I can stick my tongue up my nose.

Make sure to check out Betch on go90 and follow Maddy (Twitter, Instagram) and Monica (Twitter, Instagram).