Bronx native creates The Honeyzoomers
BY JASON COHEN
With a writer from Manhattan, actors
from Brooklyn and the Bronx and a
composer from New Jersey, four people
created a show during COVID-19 about
the pandemic.
Filmed entirely remotely, the popular
web series called “The Honeyzoomers”
launched in May and has produced
39 episodes. Inspired by “The Honeymooners,”
Joyce Randolph herself, who
starred as Trixie, gave it her blessing.
“I think this milestone of 39 as a big
deal for us,” said editor and lead actress
Joli Tribuzio.
Tribuzio, 40, who grew up in Belmont,
but now resides in Brooklyn, has
been involved with theater her entire
life. She credits a lot of her success to
her parents, Bobby and Judie Tribuzio.
Bobby is the drummer in the Earls, a
Bronx born DooWop group, which is on
the Bronx Walk of Fame by Yankee Stadium.
Judie was a writer and poet and the
two of them passed the love for creativity
and performing onto their daughter.
“Her story telling ability certainly
helped build my need to do that as well
and my love for the art,” she said about
her mom.
When the coronavirus arrived
Broadway shuttered and many were
out of work. However, Tribuzio did not
let that deter her. Along with Charles
Messina, the writer and creator, actor
Johnny Tammaro and producers Jill
Menza and Jeremy Long, they have kept
busy during the pandemic.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER, F 14 EB. 19-25, 2021
According to Tribuzio, it was a bit
scary at fi rst seeing the havoc COVID-19
caused and so many people out of work,
but they put their heads together and
came up with this successful show.
“It was sort of born out of necessity,”
Tribuzio explained. “We can’t do anything
like we were working on.”
For the series, the actors shoot their
footage in their apartments and then
Tribuzio edits it together making it look
as if they are in the same room. Each episode
ranges between seven to 20 minutes
and they release one a week.
“Honeyzoomers” features sister and
brother Deb and Ant Bizzaro, a teacher
and a former bus driver, who are “temporarily”
living together in Ant’s apartment
in Greenwich Village because
of Deb’s separation from her philandering
husband. With nowhere to go
she moved in with her older sibling,
who lived alone, never married. She
planned on moving out after getting
herself on her feet.
Then the pandemic struck. Stay
at home orders were issued in New
York City and throughout much of the
country. Deb and Ant were stuck together
indefi nitely. Opposite personalities,
their time together in quarantine
is spent bickering, dealing with
Ant’s severe health anxieties, Debbie’s
wounded ego from her break-up and reconnecting
over personal and familial
issues.
“It’s a very real representation of
what we’re going through,” Tribuzio
explained.
Tribuzio recalled when she had fi rst
thought of the idea for the “Honeyzoomers”
last year, she never imagined it
would garner this much attention. She
noted the goal was to create authentic
characters people could relate to.
“We started doing it so early that
it’s interesting to see the progression,”
Tribuzio explained. “We were hoping it
was something that would bring people
together.”
To view the show, go to https://www.
youtube.com/channel/UClh0DE-NIYz2XQOv0JaKYvQ
Editor and lead actress Joli Tribuzio of “The Honeyzoomers.”
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