The Identicals web series: Most offensive question you could ask a twin

Identical twins are all over pop culture.

Identical twins are asked a lot of dumb questions.

"Can you hear each other's thoughts?"

"What's it like being a twin?"

"If your twin is in pain on the other side of the world, can you feel their pain?"

Equals.

For Australians Mark and Brett Nichols, twins and the stars and creators of web series The Identical, they've been asked a lot of these stupid questions, something they've mined in their comedy.

But, according to them, the most offensive question you could ask an identical twin is: "Have you ever slept with the same girl?"

"We've always thought that's like rape, you know what I mean?" Brett told news.com.au. "Because one twin has been given consent and one hasn't. And people ask that without thinking, like as if that's something they might do."

Identical twin humour runs through the Nichols' work, and why not? People are endlessly fascinated by the idea of one embryo splitting into two in the womb, resulting in two people who started off as one.

Maybe that's why identical twins have been all over our screens — the quirky swapping in The Parent Trap, the cheeky Weasleys from Harry Potter, the darker twist of The Prestige and the freaky hand-holding sisters in The Shining.

Identical twins are all over pop culture.

The Identical , a satirical three-part web series, was born from the Sydney brothers' short film Identical which was a finalist in Tropfest in 2016, as well as an earlier short, Washed Up, short-listed for Tropfest in 2014.

The series is about a pair of horny and clueless middle-aged twins who still live with their mother. They dress the same, share a room with two single beds and ride a tandem bicycle.

"A lot of stuff with identical twins that dress the same and finish off each other's sentences, and you see them on YouTube clips, is it's very cutesy and fun," Mark said. "Well, we both thought that what if it was more like an identical odd couple where they're competitive and they're their own worst enemies.

"They both want to have relationships and sex but they scare women off because they can't live without each other."

In the first episode, one twin starts to feel pain the other one feels, but not the other way around, which leads to some petty hijinks. It's those dumb questions that they're always asked that started this whole thing off.

"It's where we started off, writing down eight questions we're always asked. Then we thought, maybe each one of those could be an episode," Mark said.

Yep, adults dressed alike is definitely A-OK.

Due to budgets, they ended up with three episodes at roughly 12 minutes each.

Asked if the proliferation of distribution platforms like YouTube, Netflix and social media have made it easier for filmmakers, opened up opportunities, the Nichols are circumspect.

"I think in theory is has," Mark said. "But it's proving to be harder than it seems. We worked on a feature film for seven years, a surf comedy, and we took that overseas to the Cannes market, trying to get it off the ground. The internet wasn't really an option in those days.

"But there's a double-edged sword that everyone is doing it, now we're getting buried in it. I think in its infancy, if you jumped on it straight away and made it your thing, you could've really done something. Now there's so much content it's hard to be noticed.

Do you think a tandem bike requires special skills?

The brothers said that when it comes to filmmaking, they'll always work together, but it won't always be about twins.

"I think people will always be interested in twins," Brett said. "But what we've realised is the twin thing only goes so far. Once you start the episode, you realise it has nothing to with twins, it's just about brothers being competitive and being jealous.

"The notion of a comedy about twins draws people in, but I think it has the potential to appeal to other people as well, anyone with siblings or like irreverent humour."