The creator of the viral TikTok show Boy Room reveals how she came up with the idea, the universal red flags we should all watch out for in boys’ bedrooms and what the series has taught her about gender
You know that meme of Max and Roxanne from The Goofy Movie, where Max enters Roxanne’s dirty room and asks, “Damn bitch, you live like this?” Comedian Rachel Coster personifies that meme through her viral TikTok show Boy Room.
Coster is the host and creator of Boy Room, a TikTok series produced by Gymnasium that delves into the mysterious and often disturbing world of boy rooms in New York City. The latest episode features a 32-year-old man who won’t reveal his name but asks to be called ‘Middle Part’. His room is bright blue, stinks of cigarettes and has no windows or ventilation. Coster remarks that it looks like “the basement of a suburban child whose mom is extremely lenient”. But what he lacks in room ventilation, he more than makes up for in emotional maturity, as he shows off his copy of bell hook’s All About Love on his bedside table under his ashtray. A red flag or a green flag? That’s up to you to decide.
We spoke to Coster about how she came up with the idea for Boy Room, the craziest room she’s ever seen, and what this show has taught her about boys.
How did you develop the concept for Boy Room?
Rachel Coster: I was trying to get a job at Adam Faze’s new company, Gymnasium, this winter because I have a background in film production and have been out of work because of the strikes. I am also a complete liability behind the espresso machine, and the coffee drinkers at Bed Stuy deserve better. We had a meeting, and I don’t think he wanted to hire me, but he told me to send over any ideas I have for the company, so I sent over a list of four and one of them was Boy Room. I think I got the idea from my friend Alex, who has a messy room, and I was begging him to let me come clean it up.
How do you pick the rooms you investigate?
Rachel Coster: At first, we texted our friends, begging them to let us come to their room with a small camera crew, and people were like, ‘Hell no.’ But now they are reaching out to the Gymnasium Instagram account, and the PA Max Sundue is fielding requests. This is the most challenging job because it’s so hard to tell what a good room will be just from pictures. Then he usually sends options to the director, sexydamion, who is completely awesome, and Adam.
Having explored numerous boy rooms in your lifetime, what’s one universal red flag we should all watch out for?
Rachel Coster: Obviously, trust your gut, but also, the scariest thing for me is no fitted sheet around the mattress. I think that’s just such a bare minimum thing.
@boy.room Jack, 25, Little Italy, NY Welcome to Boy Room, the show where we investigate boys rooms. On today’s episode, @Rachel Coster hops over to Little Italy where she meets @Jack Reichert, where the only thing he has going for him is that he’s tall. a @Gymnasium series #apartmenttour #nyc #messy #boys #boyroom #funny #hoarders #newyork #dirty #gymnasium ♬ original sound - Boy Room
What’s the craziest room you’ve ever seen?
Rachel Coster: One time I stayed in a really evil guy’s room while he was out of town. I wasn’t friends with him, but I was friends with his roommate, and his room felt like it was doing psychological warfare on me. He had a massive war painting over his bed, a huge box of magnum condoms on the bedside table, windows blocked out with pyjama pants that he hung up, and a bunch of graffiti tags all over. I kept finding used whippet canisters in the bed – just a totally evil space. I had a friend come hang out, and he wouldn’t set foot in the room. It felt so haunted.
Each episode goes viral on TikTok. What do you think is the main appeal of the series?
Rachel Coster: I think it’s just so fun to see how people live. It’s the same reason we love famous people’s Architectural Digest’s. Usually, when we see inside people’s homes, it’s rich people and celebrities, which is obviously cool, but I think this is such a breath of, I guess stale air.
The boys we’ve interviewed have all been awesome and generous in letting us into their spaces. Everyone is so different and has different standards and desires for their rooms. I also think there’s a little bit of schadenfreude for some of the people in the comment section because they say stuff like, ‘Thank god my room isn’t like that.’
Do you think boys are the only ones who can have a ‘boy room’?
Rachel Coster: No I think this, with all things gender, is totally fluid. Anyone can be a little messy and nasty. It supersedes gender and age.
What has it taught you about boys? Or gender more broadly?
Rachel Coster: I could write a thesis on this if I were smarter. One big takeaway is that the pressure that I and so many girls I know feel to make our spaces nice, whether it’s for people we are dating or for our roommates, is so much stronger than for boys, if they feel it at all. I think girls police each other more about their bedrooms than boys police each other. Because girls are taught to value the home more their whole lives, there is more checking on each other to ensure everyone stays in line, if that makes sense. For example, when boys go to each other’s rooms, I don’t think there’s as much language for that kind of thing. But most guys say stuff like, “Oh yeah, girls always say that’s weird when they come over,” or “My girlfriend hates my room”, etc. I also think so much marketing towards women is telling them not to be gross or weird or messy and selling them $300 bedding from TikTok.
Has the show taught you anything about yourself?
Rachel Coster: Mostly that sometimes ideas seem dumb, but when you work on them with an amazing team, they can be awesome. From a creativity standpoint, it’s always worth trying stuff. I have also learned, along with the rest of the crew, that we need to eat lunch when shooting multiple rooms to keep the vibes electric.
I know that you’re a comedian. Besides being the host and creator of Boy Room, what else do you have going on that you’d like the Dazed readers to know about?
Rachel Coster: I am working on a bunch of projects right now that will be awesome eventually but will take some time, so it’s worth following my amazing Instagram so you can see them when they come out. Also, if you live in NYC and aren’t a huge coward, I have an amazing monthly show at 8am. I also perform a bunch, and I am always on line-ups with such incredibly funny, awesome, less-known comics that are doing exciting new stuff, and it’s worth checking out something fresh and epic.