Now available on Tubi, the unique new horror film ‘This is Our Home’ tells the story of a young couple who get the surprise of their lives when a young boy turns up at the front door claiming to be their son. Star and producer Jeff Ayars- of the comedy outfit ‘Cannibal Milkshake’ – gave us the 411 on the project.
Sketch performer. Comic. Director. Actor. What do you prefer to be known as, Jeff?
You know, I never have a great answer to this–”creator” makes a lot of sense, but doesn’t really fly in Film world. I love performing and directing pretty equally, I get a lot of satisfaction in the end-to-end creative process.
Tell us about the origins of Cannibal Milkshake.
Standup comic Dan Rosen and I met in the Fine Art program at Cornell University and bonded over movies and dumb jokes. Never thought to make anything when we were neighbors, but we graduated, started “Cannibal Milkshake” in my parent’s kitchen, and have been at it for six years.
And how easy was it to get Funny or Die, and these other entities, on your radar? How does that work?
It’s been incremental progress each time. We had a pretty crazy experience with our first Oscars parody, Canadian Sniper. I remember desperately sending it to every family member, friend, and remotely-relevant media outlet–feeling nauseous from the hours of laptop screen and overheated keyboard. Then views came in waves. We were happy when we had a few thousand, stunned with a hundred thousand, and then something shifted thanks to what we called “Canadian Reddit,” and we had over a million. After self-producing a few more movie parodies, we got Comedy Central on board as a partner last year for our Star is Born parody. 
I have to ask, Bradley Cooper – how hard is it to nail that impression? He’s not someone a lot of folks can do. What’s the trick there?
In my first go-round as Canadian Bradley it was really all about the beard because the voice was just a Fargo-Canada horror show. For A Star Is Born, I was mimicking that voice from the moment of the first teaser trailer. I used to do Sam Elliot in The Big Lebowski and Thank You for Smoking…As it turns out, that was the ASIB jumping off point too. But there was a lot more that went into the Jackson Maine voice (real and parody). I linger on words with gravelly, dramatic pauses; my eyes defocus in a weird way, I get a tick in my face, my neck tweaks a little… It’s a strange kind of chemistry change that I’m proud of–going deep into the entire physical presence of someone. Especially my Christopher Walken.
I will say that doing the (more) normal “director Bradley Cooper” voice was more challenging. Since we both grew up around Philly, I initially found it hard to latch onto anything particular in his accent…But there are patterns, an energy, a bit of a well-articulated mania in interviews…which I relate to! I guess I aspire to be the love child of my two April 29th birthday brothers, Jerry Seinfeld and Daniel Day Lewis.
Were you doing an impression of anyone in This is Our Home?
Besides our director Omri, you mean? Ha. No, Cory wasn’t really anyone in particular vocally, but rather a collective set of behaviors I’ve observed in various people. Aside from that, I just wanted him to feel real. 
In all seriousness, Cory is an interesting guy. What makes him tick?
I think Cory is, at his core, driven by fear. Fear of being vulnerable, fear of commitment, fear of being a father, and fear of everything The Boy brings into their house the moment he arrives—that’s the moment it becomes a horror film for Cory.
How would you describe his journey over the course of the movie?
Cory’s arc is tricky without spoiling too much…but I would say over the course of the film, his inner life is forcefully cleaved open. The scene where the drama comes to a head, so to speak, is the attic set piece at the end. A weight is lifted as Cory is finally truthful, and at last, Reina sees inside his head.
What’s harder? The serious work or the comic work?
I don’t really approach the genres differently. Improvisation was immensely useful for our horror film, and dramatic range has served our comedy. My goal is always to exist as the most natural, realistic version of the person I’m portraying. I want the script, conceit, and framing to do the genre work. If you look at a lot of our biggest comedy videos, I’m often performing drama in a comedic situation…and typically suffering in some way. Particularly in our Revenant parody, where I’m naked in the snow, buried with dirt, and munching on a raw fish from a creek. Going to the lengths Leo did, that exposed the humor. Unlike my horror character Cory, I’m all about the commitment.
Did you look for light moments in This is Our Home, to ‘do your thing’?
I did. I think there’s a lot of humor to be found in Cory’s needling of Reina, his nagging about her house…and his failed attempts to diffuse tense situations.
What’s ahead?
Dan and I are releasing weekly internet videos, hosting a monthly live comedy show in New York, writing a two-man play, and pitching a TV show concept.
I’m also developing and shopping a romantic-comedy feature with This Is Our Home executive producer Inga Vainshtien (producer of Hardcore Henry). It’s a genre we’re both obsessed with, and one of the male leads is what I’d call an ADHD, comedic Cory. It would be a lot of fun.
Lastly, there’s my opus, Gold Boy, a mental-health-romantic-comedy inspired by my experiences at Cornell University. I’d of course like to play myself, but the way this industry goes, I’m going to start picking out cardigans to play the Professor.