CNN
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Their commentary is breathtaking. literally.
Australian twin brothers Archie and Miles Shepherd have become internet stars of high energy and comedic nuanced interpretations of some of the sport’s most dramatic moments. But if they were in the bedroom filming their material, like Arsenal’s victory at Real Madrid in the Champions League, you hear very little.
“I feel it’s a whisper,” Archie said in an interview with CNN Sports. The original commentary’s lip sync pointed out that they only mime the words. “It’s a soft cry. If I were screaming, I wouldn’t have a voice!”
As the duo is known, the shipmates began almost by chance. The same 23-year-old twin worked together as salesmen at Timberyard in 2021, with Miles listening to Ashes Cricket on the radio. When Australian bowler Mitchell Stark insisted on an English wicket on the first ball of the match, the commentator’s infectious enthusiasm prompted him to film a reenactment of his own phone.
“It was Covid, so I was bored,” he recalled.
They spent the rest of the summer producing more cricket content, honing their craft as a double act, building dedicated supporters.
Sometimes their material is flagged for copyright infringement, but it benefited them when the International Cricket Council targeted one of the early World Cup clips.
“10 hours later, it was defeated and our account was banned,” Miles said. “I reached out to the ICC. ‘Why are you banning this? People love this!” So they got our account back and actually worked with us on video and it became an absolute banana. ”
Sports is not just a broadcast product, but this action has been repackaged across a variety of media platforms, finding new audiences in faraway places.
Golf and Formula One have been enjoyed in unpredictable markets thanks to the range of “full swing” and “drive to surviving” on Netflix. Shipmates were able to take advantage of this new trend covering everything from soccer to basketball, mountain biking and darts.
Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s spoofing are quarreling over who the better golfer was recorded pregnant while the CNN president’s debate is still ongoing and released soon after. It was seen about 20 million times. Sports are not off the table. Shepmate says that sperm lace could even be in the pipeline soon.
Sitting side by side, wearing broadcast headsets, they dress according to the sports they cover, self-righteous, knowing their gaze and accused look. In the crescendo of each play they present, the scenes often descend into chaos. When filming Manchester United’s dramatic late winner in Harry Maguire’s Europa League, Archie rocked the camera for a dramatic effect as Miles threw a chair across the room and knocked over the wall. “The landlord wasn’t happy.”
When Darts commentator Wayne Muldle gasped, “I can’t speak, I can’t speak,” the shipmate’s interpretation of the moment began to retreat in a state of medical distress.
The brothers often switch positions to comment boxes that pretend, making it impossible to tell which is which, and sometimes they quickly get out of the shot, change their appearance and even re-emerge as the third character just a few seconds later. They are skilled at repackaging the energy and joy of sports with a humorous twist, and their repertoire has found a global audience, quitting the wood yard and being able to focus full time on Shepmate’s media brands.
Initially, each filming was labor intensive. Miles said he spent hours trying to memorize every line – “nightmare.” Now they use delivery times using a series of commas and dots to write down the lines on the screen.
“It doesn’t matter how good our expressions and how good the comedy is,” Miles explained. “If lip syncing isn’t good, people aren’t going to see it.”
He has become an expert in imitating Spanish and Arabic commentary, but admits that he has no idea what they are saying.
“Most of the clips you can nail in four or five shots have the ball,” Archie says.
Their fans argue that the labor of love is worth it, and so far they say the commentators they’ve covered have approved their work, but in 2024 they were accused of a serious invasion of privacy when they filmed George Russell, a urinary Mercedes F1 driver.
“It was a huge moment for us,” Miles explained. “It felt like we were on the top of the world. I think we probably went a little further than ourselves. We made a mistake. We apologized to George.
Archie and Miles grew up together, they still live together, and now they are embarking on a dream career that they could never imagine when they were making videos together as children. Miles admits they suffer from fraudster syndrome.
“Do we deserve this?” he asked. “In many cases, we are worried that it will be taken away from us.”
“We tried to become professional athletes and we failed,” Archie added.
They found their calling in ways they could never imagine.