HBOs Succession is about many things: power, privilege, family, kinky May/December relationships, metaphorically laden bed-shitting. But a parody thats currently going viral on Twitter elegantly boils down the Shakespearean comedy-drama to one simple premise: at the end of the day, everyone just wants a taste of Daddys M&Ms.
In the clip which has garnered more than 7,700 retweets as of publication Los Angeles-based stock trader Ben Cahn reimagines the ruthlessly ambitious Roy family members, who constantly clamor for their distant tycoon fathers affections. Instead of money or acceptance, theyre all vying for a taste of his yummy chocolatey treats.
Featuring the shows trademark dramatic camerawork and surging orchestral music, the clip expertly nails all of the Roy childrens affectations: Kendalls baritone obsequiousness, Romans squirrelly nature, Shivs constant lip-pursing (see it once and you cant unsee it ever again). Cahns pitch-perfect rendering of Marcia, Logans soft-spoken yet ruthlessly aggressive French wife, is also spot-on.
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Succession but everyone wants some of Logan's M&Ms pic.twitter.com/pTxIyXWen4
my ass is haunted (@Buncahn) October 13, 2019
Cahn, who is a full-time stock trader in Los Angeles, said he got the idea to do the video after walking around my apartment trying to make myself laugh by impersonating Kendall (Jeremy Strong), the spiritually broken eldest failson of Waystar Royco CEO Logan Roy (Brian Cox).
He started seguing into Shivs bumbling fianc Tom (Matthew MacFayden), then sent the resulting impressions via voice memo to his friend to see if they were any good.
To come up with the premise of the sketch, I was thinking, OK, what could they be doing? Obviously they want something from Logan,' he says. So I decided to break it down in the most childish way possible, because they behave like children sometimes, and whats more childish than wanting candy from your dad?
After enlisting his friend Shane McAvoy to help write and shoot the video, and heading to the L.A.-based hat store Lids to procure the Daddys #1 Candy Baby hat featured in the ending, Cahn shot and edited the clip on Friday, making sure to keep it within Twitters two minute, 21 second time limit for videos. He made sure he waited until the season finale on Sunday to post it, then didnt check his notifications for a few hours until he finally looked at his phone and freaked out because I saw Mike Birbiglia retweeted me.
Cahn celebrated his viral success in true Successionfan fashion: by going to a finale watch party and cheering on (spoiler forthcoming) Kendall as he foiled his fathers plan to throw him under the bus by exposing him on live TV. We all cheered Kendall. We were very proud of our #1 boy, he says.
He sums up the appeal of the show thusly: Its family drama and for those of us who have shitty family members theres a lot to identify with: the gaslighting parent, the manipulative siblings, he says. We can identify with each character in our own fucked-up ways whether youre Daddys #1 Candy Baby or not.