Jordan Schulkin ’06 was featured last weekend on two episodes of the MTV show, “Yo Momma.” Hosted by Wilmer Valderramma, former cast member of “That 70’s Show,” the show travels through different areas of New York, and it features battles involving heated exchanges of “yo momma” jokes, with participants competing for money and the title of “best trashtalker.”

Schulkin heard about the contest through a posting on Craigslist asking for audience members. He then went to the website and filled out an application to be a competitor, and he was contacted to go and try out.

“I just kind of did it on a lark…it seemed a good way to pass my time…between Wesleyan and the real world,” Schulkin said. “Also the premise is just so ridiculous.”

Schulkin was first featured representing Morris Park on the “Morris Park vs. Throgs Neck” episode. He advanced onto the next show to compete against three other “trash-talkers” for the title of “King of the Bronx,” which he narrowly lost. According to Schulkin, the atmosphere was also fairly heated, which matched the shaky, headache-inducing camera work.

“I mean, it’s kind of an ‘8 Mile’ sort of thing: there were a lot of people around, it was one-on-one – that was a lot of fun,” he said. “They don’t stop you to get different angles because they have like 8 different cameras.”

The filming was done in an outdoor playground in the Bronx for the first episode and an abandoned warehouse on the piers of Brooklyn for the second. The lively crowd that surrounded them included some people brought by the opponents themselves.

“My posse was based on who I wanted to come; I brought my mom the first day,” Schulkin said. “As things progressed, I decided not to bring [her]…she turned out to be kind of a liability.”

Although contestants were only supposed to bring seven guests, Schulkin said the number wasn’t really monitored.

“The guy I lost to had like 15 people there; they were threatening me,” he explained. “They were giving me the ”L sign“ on their foreheads, but doing it backwards because they were stupid. They were also threatening the jury, I heard.”

Extensive amounts of footage were also edited out of the final episodes. Schulkin said he performed at least three or four times the amount of jokes than were aired.

He gave the example of what was depicted as his final “knock-out” joke in the first episode, in which he taunted, “Unlike Rosa Parks, yo momma loves it in the back of the bus.”

According to Schulkin, the joke was actually one of his first. He said that despite talks with them on the phone assuring him otherwise, the producers ultimately decided his real final joke, which eliminated his competitor “Nore,” was too raunchy.

“I had a big walnut and nutcracker from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I was trying to open the walnut and I said, ‘Hey Nore, could you help me out? I heard your mom is the best at busting nuts.”

He said there were also a surprising amount of restrictions on what types of jokes the contestants could make. Competitors, for instance, weren’t allowed to make jokes involving ejaculation, masturbation, or oral sex.

“I think they got the spirit of it…what they ended up doing was choosing my broader jokes, the less pop-cultural ones,” he said. “They didn’t take any of the more raw ones.”

He also felt misrepresented by much of the editing, especially in the “Best of the Bronx” episode.

“I got busted so bad…they ended up stringing together [my] three worst jokes of that section. They didn’t fall as flat as they were represented.”

He also referenced the second episode, in which the show depicted him losing to his opponent “Boomshard” in the final round by a vote of 3 to 1. According to Schulkin, the judges actually came to a tie, which was broken by Valderramma. Schulkin, who was the only white competitor, said he had no idea why he lost, although some of his friends thought it might be “reverse racism.” Schulkin himself was just upset over his opponent’s lack of humor.

“I was really distraught because it was really embarrassing to lose that that guy…the dinosaur joke was stupid,” Schulkin said, referencing Boomshard’s joke, “yo momma’s so old, she rides a dinosaur.”

At Wesleyan, Schulkin wrote a weekly column in the Argus called “Film Serious” and was also a member of the standup comedy group Punchline. He is currently doing some stand-up comedy work in New York, in addition to some film editing for a band with Atlantic Records.

Schulkin says he is also looking for a “real job” in film or television. Although he is not sure if his career on “Yo Momma” will be a jumping-off point, it has made him into somewhat of a celebrity.

“I’m trying to figure out if I want to use [my experience]…I’m not sure if it’s the type of thing that’s a springboard or not. On MySpace I’ve gotten a lot of feedback from people,” he said. “I [also] got recognized in the city a few times.”

According to Schulkin, he and his mother will appear as judges on one more episode called “Best of New York” later in the season. The two episodes that already aired can be seen in reruns on MTV or can be purchased on iTunes in the MTV section under the titles “Morris Park Vs. Throgs Neck” and “Best of the Bronx.”