We’ve been swooning over Sarah Haskins since she declared yogurt the "official food of women" last year in her weekly marketing-to-chicks sendup, Target Women. A year after its inception as part of the excellent Current TV’s infoMania, the spoofy segment has become a viral Internet hit — and has helped its leading lady sell what sounds suspiciously like a funny, smart teen-girl comedy script, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Mean Girls. (And speaking of smart girls and funny ladies, another don’t-miss: Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls at the Party web segments celebrating cool young things, like the awesome teen group Care Bears on Fire.) Here, Haskins chats with us about stupid husbands, girly movies, and VH1′s Tough Love (which she pokes fun at in her most recent segment, embedded below).
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What inspired you to start taking down female-targeted media?
SARAH HASKINS: The yogurt piece was first. So it was a happy accident. It was sort of one of those moments where I was watching TV and I saw these yogurt commercials, and I was like, These do suck. And then once we did that, I was like, We might have something here.
Having skewered Lifetime, Barbie, the Oscars, and skin care, among other things, is it possible you’ll ever run out of things to make fun of on a weekly basis?
I worry. And then something will pop up that blows my mind.
Anything you won’t make fun of?
We’re making fun of Tough Love this week, the VH1 show. [Sample line: "It is a truth universally acknowledged that the worst thing a woman can be is single. 'Worse than leprosy?' you might ask. Yes. Because lepers get to live in a colony and single women live alone."] And I kinda like the guy, but we’re still gonna make fun of it. One [segment] that didn’t work out because we just didn’t have time to get together all the representative media is stupid husbands. I think we need a few more commercials, and then we can do doofy husbands.
What’s your favorite Target Women?
That’s tough. I tend to like the Carl’s Jr. thing, doing the car thing. [She writhes around a car, Paris Hilton-style.] It’s all about: What can we do that’s really stupid?
And now such daring feats have gotten you enough attention to sell a script.
I’m supposed to technically say it’s been "optioned." It’s called Book Smart. I wrote it with my writing partner Emily Halpern, who’s written for The Unit and Private Practice.I know her from college. It’s about two girls who have been perfecttheir whole life and they decide senior year they’re going to devotetheir perfection to the getting of boyfriends. We wanted to do a femaletake on a typical teen movie. I think just complexity of character is alittle bit lacking [in many female-focused films], and I think you’realso missing a broader spectrum of women. There are all these beautifulladies who can’t get a boyfriend, and it’s like, Really?
Any plans for anything else? A sitcom, perhaps?
Actually, Target Women re-envisioned as a sitcom could be pretty funny. It would be like According to Jim but with me as Jim.
Thanks for this great interview with Sarah! she really knows how to bring the snark in her hilariously insightful sketches. <3
PLEASE give her a sitcom!!
Sarah Haskins is awesome. Looking forward to seeing the movie…and the sitcome (hint, hint, networks!).
I would love to see Sarah Haskins as a regular correspondent on The Daily Show. She’d be genius there. I have laughed long and hard at most of her Target Women features.
I wish “Target: Women” was weekly! It’s on Infomania every *2 weeks* though.
I hadnt heard of this but I have watched 8 episodes back to back now, these are hilarious!
Sarah is one of a kind. Those spots are brilliant and she has such a great delivery. I would love to see a “doofy husbands” Target Women. I think it was the cleaning show, with the guy effing up the blender? Cracks me up every time.
Yes, sitcom please. And Daily Show. Yes.
Please, Sarah as Jim would be 10x better than that show has ever been.
The entire infomania cast is really stepping up their gear. I wish they could get onto a more watched channel (they do love to make fun how no one watches them on TV, but instead online)
I think that she should be allowed to speak more.
Brett Erlich gets to do “movies thing with girlface lady” show, the viral videos film school show, and the politics news thing, he did, when there was elections for president and stuff. And he’s even on Target Women sometimes!
Sarah Haskins can say things that are funny in other contexts. Probably. She plays a cell phone sometimes. That’s kinda good, I think.
But MORE SARAH, is the mesage you should take away from this.
I’m late to this party and I’ve brought four friends. Sarah Haskins totally rocks.