San Francisco on Shaky Ground

Meet Chad, founder of Sleeparound. What a jerk!

He launched an Airbnb app that enables people to rent tents on the sidewalk for $800 a month. “A good deal,” he tells a prospective renter. This is San Francisco, where even the wealthy are poor.

Like most startup execs living the dream, an Alexa-style virtual assistant, Mother.ly, services Chad’s entire life. It wakes him, dresses him, and feeds him really awful food. He berates her for it. and we see a disgruntled human behind the voice. He may have found flexible work in this on-demand economy, but at what price?

Welcome to the twisted reality of Shaky Ground, a new YouTube show that takes a hilarious look at the life and times of people trying to make it in San Francisco. The humor cuts deep from former San Francisco mayoral candidate, Stuart Schuffman, also known as Broke-Ass Stuart. In Shaky Ground, he introduces us to compelling archetypes like Chad, the tech founder who finds a way to profit from the homeless, and a nomadic dom and crypto-anarchist who must face-off to win a Craiglist flat. Billionaires, plus robots, plus the staggering number of destitute at their doorsteps. What could possibly go wrong?

Schuffman, a co-creator of Shaky Ground, told me that their intent is to create impactful programming that is also humorous and will grow their YouTube community. Currently they have over 100,000 followers across social media channels. Later they’ll consider pitching Netflix, HBO, Hulu and Amazon Prime.

He’s been writing about how to live cheaply since 2003 when he graduated UC Santa Cruz. He’s since authored several best-selling books, been a Lonely Planet contributor, and hosts a popular website, BrokeAssStuart.com,which he supports with Patreon and the sales of Beer, Wine, Coffee and Co-Working passports that provide a number of drinks or workspaces for a reduced fee.

In 2011, he had his television debut on IFC with the travel series, Young, Broke and Beautiful. In 2014, Schuffman returned to video to produce the YouTube series, The Kind of Late Show with Broke-Ass Stuart.

The Broke-Ass Stuart following includes many prominent San Francisco entrepreneurs, including Doug Dalton, founder of FutureBars, Christian Routzen, co-founder of clothing designer, San Franpsycho, and standup comic Leiroy Abueg, all who attended the premiere at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco last week.

I asked Schuffman whether later episodes will address the unique dating scene in San Francisco, a city known for polyamory and molly-infused partying.

“Yes!” he replied emphatically. “That’s coming and we’re looking for contributions of all kind, sponsorships, crew and talent.”

Good to know. I’d like to play the tech reporter.

The show debuts this morning on the Shaky Grounds YouTube channel.