Move over Hop, another furry British export is coming to town and he’s already canoodled with a supermodel, starred in his own reality show and is on his way to being a published author. This disarmingly fluffy city dweller is a mysterious mammal of few words with a strong streak of hopeful tenacity, self-destructive mischief and a heaping spoonful of cuteness. He is a British bundle of cheeky, squeezable softness and one new reality star the ladies will swoon over and Hollywood will want to cash in on.

His name is Bear. Misery Bear and he’ll take his martinis, or any alcohol for that matter, however he can get them when life gets him down.  I recently sat down with the bear and his more loquacious and far less sulky writer pals, Chris Hayward and Nat Saunders, to discuss life, love, supermodels, books and the misery that perseveres through it all. The bear was being a bit of a diva, preferring to flirt with my companion or sit in awkward silence, so the conversation was decidedly with Hayward and Saunders.

 

For the few deprived souls who don’t know, Misery Bear is a wildly popular UK based series of short web episodes. It is featured on the BBC Comedy website, www.miserybear.com and YouTube. The series stars a cuddly bear, living a miserable existence (thus aptly named Misery Bear) and has reached audiences across the globe. All manner of unfortunate occurrences befall the bear as he tries to go about his empty life in search of friendship and fulfillment which perennially elude him.

Twelve years ago the cool, sexy, dynamic writing duo, Hayward and Saunders, were having their own Misery Bear moments which unknowingly would spark a successful series and the discovery of a moody bear who would be a lifelong friend and constant pain in the butt. They were two dreamers at a life-draining day job writing skits to escape the monotony.

Hayward is keen to note the irony of their success. “Me and Nat started writing about twelve years ago and we’ve been trying to be writers and performers, and the one thing that takes off requires no writing and doesn’t have our faces in it. So, what does that say? We shouldn’t write and we shouldn’t act.”

Some might disagree with his conclusion, since recently Saunders and Hayward were on the writing team of a sitcom named “Trollied,” which was picked up by Sky Channel in the UK. Also, they continue to successfully write a variety of comedic skits for the BBC.

Before the sitcom and the bear, the future didn’t seem as bright. “We were board with our day jobs at the time and pretty miserable with the stuff that we were regularly having to do, which was just tedious publishing stuff. So, we basically thought that we would create this character that we could live through,” Saunders explains.

Of course, they didn’t need to create a character because as they went out to scout talent for a new bear-centric project they wanted to develop, they discovered the bear who would become Misery Bear.

Saunders recalls, “We were out looking for teddy bears anyway and then we saw this little guy in a thrift store … and he looked really sad just sat on the shelf on his own. He just looked very miserable.”

In those days he was known as the bear. The title Misery Bear and the reality show were yet to come but Hayward and Saunders were taken with the bear’s melancholy little face and decided to befriend him and film his daily debacles and unrealized attempts at finding happiness. The bear begrudgingly obliged, allowing Hayward and Saunders to post his lonely misadventures on You Tube under the pseudonym Bored Bear, but the bear had yet to find his audience.

“We made this little video of him having a really boring day at work in his office. The video was quite boring and it wasn’t very well made. You’ve never seen it. It got taken off YouTube years ago,” Saunders recalls.

“When these producers saw [the video], they saw the potential in it and at that time we weren’t very good at making videos,” he continues.

In the vain of many budding pop star biographies, a producer named Jon Petrie from Roughcut productions caught the bear’s videos on YouTube and instantly realized his star potential. This eventually led to Hayward, Saunders and the bear being commissioned to make videos for the BBC and living the dream.

Thus began a long friendship and lucrative professional partnership. Petrie helped set in motion a new exceedingly boring office job for the bear, which became the subject of Misery Bear’s first fabled reality show episode on BBC Comedy.

The bear was also in need of more professional attire in the form of a single black necktie, which just happens to accentuate his piercing black eyes.

“He’s a very smart, well-presented young bear and he likes to look his best on a daily basis, so he wears a tie,” explains Saunders.

Fawning over the bear, Hayward adds, “He’s quite stylish, actually. He’s minimalist but stylish.”

As far as the bear’s aversion to wearing bottoms, Saunders says, “We haven’t had any complaints from parents saying that he’s this obscene nude bear who just wears a tie.”

“Europeans, we’re just more free and easy,” declares Hayward.

Then, like most great film legends, a stage name had to be invented. Just as Marilyn Monroe had to shed Norma Jeane, thus the bear had to find his name mojo.

As Saunders remembers it, “We realized we were missing a trick there because Bored Bear isn’t a pun. Where as grizz-e-l-y sounds like Mis-er-y, so we got Misery Bear and it was a bit like grizzly bear.”

Hayward dubiously interjects, “No, I don’t think that’s quite true, but we’ll go with it.”

Saunders insists, “I think Misery sounds like grizzly … if you said it slightly wrong you’d get away with it in a battle rap. And also, he is miserable, so that kind of worked for us. So now he’s called Misery Bear.”  A star is born.

When probed about how Misery Bear is dealing with all his newfound success, Hayward had some complaints. “Well, he always rebels. He doesn’t actually care. That’s the problem.”

Saunders goes on to say, “[The bear] is really annoyed that Chris and I are getting money for things he’s attached to,” with Hayward concluding, “I mean, we’ll give him a bit but we won’t give him that much. He doesn’t like the work he’s being put through. All the photo shoots and video shoots.”

As with any rising success in entertainment, a messy high-profile love affair usually follows and Misery Bear sure has a knack for getting himself into a bind. An obsessive and passionate cat and mouse game between the bear and supermodel Kate Moss was widely reported in the British press.

The affair was documented in a Misery Bear episode for Comic Relief when the bear decides he should give back by raising money for charity. He hops on his environmentally friendly ride, a huge red bouncy ball with horns, and goes door to door unsuccessfully trying to get donations for Comic Relief. One fateful bounce leads him to Ms. Moss’ door. It’s fair to say their passionate entanglements didn’t end well and the bear remained in recovery for several months.

When asked, the bear had no comment regarding the affair, doggedly sticking to stoic silence. Hayward and Saunders would only mention how fun it was to hang out with Moss and that she was a laugh. I leave it to the fans to read between the lines.

Since Misery Bear does have an eye for the ladies and has had his share of heartbreak, the obvious question loads of adoring fans want answered had to be asked. Does he prefer females of the human or bear persuasion?

Hayward replies, “I think he’s a modern bear,” and Saunders succinctly adds, “I think he basically swings both ways.”

Although not a very flattering portrayal of Misery Bear, Hayward says, “I think whoever gives him attention he’ll go for them.” The bear had no defense as he was in the midst of a peek-a-boo flirt game with my companion Bashful.

Tempestuous love affairs and heartache seem to be Misery Bear’s specialty, so when a publisher from Hodder got in touch to ask if he was interested in writing a book, he jumped (or more accurately squeaked) at the idea.

Saunders tells us about the topics the bear covers in his first book. “So, his first book will be his guide to love and heartache and sadness. So, it’s coming along rather well. It turns out he’s not a bad poet. His diary entries are quite heartbreaking and there’s like some drink recipes in there.” The book is aptly titled “Misery Bear’s Guide to Love and Heartache” and should be out by Christmas.

Misery Bear has the looks, the women, a hit series, international acclaim and a book deal. What could possibly be next for this unfortunate bear who seems to have found his fortune?

“We keep having meetings with people, like TV companies and we’ve had a lot of interest from some film companies from the states as well,” Saunders replies. “This interview now, I think in his mind, this is him making it big to his big trip to LA to start going around the studios.”

“He’s got some film ideas,” Hayward adds.

“Misery Bear is totally looking forward to coming to America.”

“He cannot wait for his first ‘Entourage’ pool party.”