Chapter Text
It starts on normal in-universe cameras from here. Opening on a Bunch Of Friends live stream. The 4 of them are set in the camera frame in the garage watching a subscriber ticker on another computer window get closer to 1 Million.
COY
Guys I’m gonna order us a pizza.
WILL
Can we ask the pizza driver to subscribe so we can get closer to the number?
COY
Yeah If they don’t subscribe then we take away their tip.
WILL
What if they’re already subscribed?
COY
I… Then nothing.
WILL
So no tip?
COY
No I’ll still give them a tip. Let’s edit this part out.
ANTHONY
We’re on a live stream.
COY
Yeah… That’s the joke.
HANBON and WILL(sarcastically)
Oohhhhhhh.
ANTHONY
Oh my god it just jumped a bunch! We need 3 more!
COY
Please beautiful beautiful viewers. Please subscribe. We literally can’t leave until this hits the million.
HANBON
I’m actually wearing handcuffs right now.
ANTHONY
We know!
HANBON
Yeah for anyone just getting here I lost a bet. I wear handcuffs until we hit a million subscribers. Please free me.
ANTHONY (whispering to WILL)
We can guilt trip them with Hanbon.
WILL (loudly)
We need to free Hanbon. Just press the button.
COY(in an annoying voice)
For every subscriber this video gets, I will do 1 push-up or something. Guys I can’t do pushups.
Everyone starts laughing. Then the ticker crosses to 1 million. They all start cheering really loudly and jumping about.
WILL
Oh my god! (Right as Hanbon falls out of her chair.)
ANTHONY
Thank you Bunch of Freind- I mean-viewers. Thank you viewers for giving Bunch of Freinds a-
HANBON (getting to close to the camera and yelling)
-A bunch of million subscribers!
The video suddenly goes to a montage showcasing various different moments that came before and after the stream as the “I’ve Had The Time Of My Life” main chorus song starts playing. Moments like everyone rollerblading, blowing up elephant toothpaste, Hanbon chasing a dog in a park, Coy sitting in a tree. The 4 dressed as clowns in a subway. And many other garage shots. Finally concluding with the 4 of them dressed nicely walking out onto the set of the Jimmy Fallon show to its iconic music and audience applause.
JIMMY
Bunch of Friends sit down sit down!
WILL
Guys do you think we’re famous now?
JIMMY (as the audience laughs)
Your at the top Will!
ANTHONY
Actually though thank you Mr Fallon for letting us in here.
JIMMY
Hey, you're the top brass on the internet right now. A Million subscribers just last month. That’s…
HANBON
It’s crazy. We’re so thankful.
WILL
You know when you do this sort of stuff. It’s not about the… the people number. It’s about the amount of people who really want to know about us.
ANTHONY
He means it’s less important to us you know getting millions of subscribers. We want to actually make people watch us and then ask themselves how they can enjoy real life with their friends.
COY (holding up a finger)
It’s actually about the friends we made along the way.
ANTHONY
Coy we are on national television if you f-… if you mess this up-
HANBON
Oh! You were about to do a no no.
COY
Yeah Anthony. National television.
JIMMY
Aowh man. Your at risk.
COY
But like really. Our channel we want to be different from the others.
HANBON
Were the sitcom of the internet.
WILL
It’s Art, and life.
JIMMY
I don’t want your moment that you’re riding to end. I mean it’s a somber note but when does this channel end?
Anthony gasps a little. Coy closes his eyes in a way that shows he’s stressed a little. There’s silence for a couple seconds.
WILL
We have had so much fun… There is something though.
Sudden black screen. Open up on a Penguinz0 Youtube video, normal framing of him at the desk.
PENGUINZ0
Guys I’m not gonna lie some crazy sh*t has just gone down. So you probably know about the-
Jump to a video essay from Lessons in Meme Culture
LIMC
-YouTube Channel Bunch of Friends, a comedy vlog series that places four regularly appearing content creators into strange situations every week. The Channel recently hit 1 million subscribers but several months later-
Switch to a YouTube stream of I Do Know Nothing sitting as usual masked in front of his computer.
IDKN
-They ended the channel because this guy… Will Mahoney got married, and 5 years ago they proclaimed that the channel would end when one of them gets married. And everyone is freaking out because-
Switch to a stream from Ludwig
LUDWIG
They were getting so popular. I’m really suprised.
Switch to handheld video footage showing Will at his wedding, the kiss, the party with the friends after. And then it goes to them all on the couch filming their final video.
COY
-but hey, we know how much you guys love us.
WILL
The channel will stay up forever. Nothing's getting deleted There’s no way we would take that from yall.
HANBON
If there’s one thing we hoped you took away from
This, it’s that anything is possible and everything is better when you're together.
COY
Do dumb things, fun things. Commit to the bit.
It suddenly becomes apparent that a cinematic cam is zooming out from being positioned in what is now clear as being a video on a laptop in an office space. The audio of that video now sounds like it’s coming from an external source according to the POV of the camera.
WILL
That’s how we live through you guys.
ANTHONY
And as always!
ALL
Thanks for watching Bunch Of Friends!
The Laptop screen goes dark. The words “10 years later” appear in the cinematic camera. The shot changes to looking at the teen who sits at the desk looking at the computer. The camera looks around at their bedroom. A ceramic snail sits on a desk. Several Bunch Of Friends posters hang on the wall. Drawn artwork, and a bright colorful calendar that is themed of them also hangs on the other wall. The teen looks at a wall clock and, surprised, gets up and runs out of the bedroom.