Boman Martinez-Reid on Jan. 9, 2024.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Boman Martinez-Reid began his ascent to TikTok fame during the pandemic, when his short parodies of hit reality TV shows such as The Real Housewives and Vanderpump Rules charmed thousands of fans on the popular app. Since then, the 25-year-old Toronto native has amassed an audience of more than 2.1 million followers on the platform, under the handle Bomanizer.
Those parodies have garnered him more than 70 million likes, a TikTok campaign splashed on billboards across Canada and red-carpet appearances at the 2022 Oscars, Instagram’s 2022 Met Gala after-party and the 2023 Venice Film Festival. He also made Variety’s 2023 Young Hollywood Impact Report, alongside Lily Rose-Depp, Ice Spice and Jenna Ortega.
Now, the content creator is set to star in the new Crave Original comedy series Made for TV with Boman-Martinez Reid, a blend of sitcom, mockumentary and reality show. The Globe spoke with Martinez-Reid about the series.
Martinez-Reid has amassed an audience of 2.1 million followers doing parodies of hit reality TV shows under the Tik Tok handle Bomanizer.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
How does it feel to have your own show?
I think I was scared to start filming this show because it is my dream. When I was in high school, I was sitting around with my family and we were all talking about what our dreams were, what we were all going to do when we grew up. My sister and brother have always been more practical than me, but I remember, even from that age, I was like, one day I really want to have my own show.
You’re building a career out of your funny videos, but it’s also very clear that there is a lot of work that goes into them. Is it important to you that you also have fun with what you’re doing?
It can be hard to find that balance. I think it translates through the screen when we’re enjoying ourselves. My content is for me, first and foremost. Because if it doesn’t make me laugh, if there’s no point, I scroll through. This sounds so conceited, of course, but I scroll for my own content when I feel sad, because I’m watching me and my friends.
Your mom, sister Alyssa and best friend Eden are regular features on your TikTok, and they will also be on the show. How does it feel to be here, with them?
It’s surreal to be working on and producing this show surrounded by the women I love. I always say to Eden and Alyssa that we’re so lucky that we get to come together and create these little memories. I’m constantly getting the privilege of creating moments with them that we all think are so silly and so funny. And I think that my audience sees that too.
What should people expect with the show?
I think it’s the first of its kind in a big way. This show is about me trying out different reality TV genres. It will feature celebrities and it’s vibrant. It is really, really – and I mean this in the best way possible – stupid. But in a way that I feel like we need right now.
You executive produce the show, in addition to starring in it.
It is a lot of work. It’s exactly what I wanted to do. That’s [what] I went to school for: radio and television arts at Toronto Metropolitan University. I am doing exactly what I wanted to do when I went to school, which is very full circle in a big way.
What has been the biggest milestone in your career since your TikTok posts started going viral?
There have been a lot. TikTok Canada asked me to be in a campaign, maybe about four months into me making videos. I got to see myself on a billboard at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto. I was on Ellen, I’ve been on Drag Race and to the Oscars.
Yonge-Dundas square isn’t too far from your former university.
To be able to walk downtown with my friends, and look at my face on a billboard in a square that we walked by daily to get to class was surreal. I also graduated in 2020, so I never got the chance to walk down a stage at a ceremony. I think they had a ceremony later on for anyone that graduated during the lockdowns through the pandemic, but by that time I was already building a career. I remember I tweeted a photo of my diploma and it got 30,000 likes.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
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