"I'm the ice cream man, but I'm a woman,” local stand up Maggie Faris tells us when asked what her new job title is. “So, I don't know. But I like saying ‘ice cream man.’"
Last time Racket spoke with Faris, she was moving to new digs and had just sold her giant backyard shoe to Minneapolis vintage shop Audrey Rose. Now, in addition to prepping for her annual Pride-themed comedy show at Sisyphus, she's got a new side gig selling ice cream via tricycle.
Things kicked off last weekend. During Grand Old Day, Faris and her partner, Pascha Dunbar, packed their rides with treats, straightened their bright-red bowties, and took the maiden voyage of their newest venture, Extreme Ice Cream.
“I’ve been dreaming of this since I was in high school,” says Faris, still basking in the frosty glow. “I drove a Blue Bell truck for a summer and absolutely loved it, but I was always too busy to go back to it. Ever since, I’ve dreamed about having my own truck, with soft serve and malts and fun cones and stuff like that. But it’s like $50, $60, $70 grand to get a truck. So I figured I’d start with two bicycles and work my way up.”
With a comedy career spanning over 20 years, including annual New Year's Eve bashes and a Pride show that has been going for nearly a decade, Faris may be just as business savvy as she is funny. Her stand up events always feature a fun theme or cute gimmick to help draw people in. So when the time came for her to start slinging ice cream, Faris wasn’t about to take a subtle approach.
“There’s a company in Portland called Icicle Tricycles that makes push carts and ice cream bikes,” she explains. “I debated getting electric bikes and building a cooler on the back, but finally decided I like the look of these bikes better, so I did that.”
With their new the custom bikes, Faris and Dunbar peddle (and uh, pedal) a variety of nostalgic treats, including ice cream sandwiches and malt cups, all while wearing classic '50s-inspired ice cream man uniforms.
“People love the look!” says Faris, laughing. “They go crazy for it. We heard a lot of, ‘Oh! I love the bowtie!’ and ‘Oh! I love your look!’ A lot of our business model was just coming up with the right look. That was really important.”
While the duo stuck to the Grand area of St. Paul their opening weekend, they have plans to tackle farmers’ markets, festivals, and fairs throughout the cities this summer, including St. Paul Pride in downtown this Saturday and Chalk Fest in Maple Grove this Sunday.
“We’re trying to figure out a tracking app, but for now it’s just trial and error,” she says.
While she doesn’t want to get too far ahead of herself, Faris says she’s already receiving inquiries about private parties, and she hopes to bring Extreme Ice Cream to weddings before the summer is through.
As for the name itself, long-time Maggie Faris superfans know the “extreme” moniker has been her calling card for many years, including all of her social media as well as her website. But for those who don’t know her from the stage, Faris has come up with a much more succinct explanation for customers.
“I get asked that all the time, and I never know what to say because I don’t want to tell the whole damn story about how I’m a comedian and it’s part of my branding and blah, blah, blah,” she says. “So instead, I just say, ‘Why is it extreme? Because I do this! RAWR!’ It’s so stupid.”
Honestly? That explanation rules, as does everything else about Faris’s new traveling treat train.
