Ryan Bernard Answers All Your Burning Buried by the Bernards Questions

Author:
Rose Maura Lorre
Feb 16, 2021

Talk about dying laughing! Despite taking on such somber subjects as death and grief, Netflix’s latest hit reality series has viewers in stitches. Buried by the Bernards, which debuted Feb. 12 on the streaming platform, tells the unbelievable-but-true story of a Memphis family patriarch named Ryan Bernard who runs his namesake R. Bernard Funeral Services with more than a little help (or, what sometimes looks like no help at all) from his wacky family, including his mom Debbie, uncle Kevin and daughters Raegan and Deja.

Whether you’ve already binged all eight episodes or you’ve just managed to sample a snippet of the series so far, you’ve probably got one question on your mind: Is Buried by the Bernards real? It's so brilliantly funny, and the family members seem like such true comedic artistes, that we understand why you're wondering that. Ryan shared some inside intel with Parade.com and insists that, despite all the hilarious hijinks, there was no pretending for the cameras.

“If the cameras weren’t there, it would be much worse,” he says. “My mom and my uncle, I mean, oh my goodness, the disagreements and arguments we have.”

However, Bernard does admit that making it through a typical workday requires a lot more effort when your life also becomes fodder for footage. “The schedule was hectic. It was like having a second job,” he says. “We don’t open business hours until 9 a.m., but we would have to be on set at 6 a.m. getting makeup, wardrobe…It was just a lot of work.” He also revealed that on shooting days, he and his relatives often had to change their outfits “three or four times” for the sake of making reality-TV magic. “In one day, they may have it look like it’s been a week,” he explains. “So we’ll shoot a scene and that may be like a Monday and we’ll come back that same day but it’ll be ‘Thursday,’ you know?”

Even before Netflix came knocking, the Bernards already knew a thing or two about brushes with fame. The family did a great job building buzz around their business—which, amazingly, has been around for less than four years—which is why you may have previously seen them on a 2017 episode of The Steve Harvey Show, discussing their funeral home’s drive-through viewing window. Or, you may have caught their viral commercial that stars uncle Kevin popping out of a casket.

Bernard says it was at The Steve Harvey Show where showbiz types first started telling him his family should have their own show, but they were hesitant. “We just, you know, laughed it off,” he recalls. “Most reality shows are based around drama and fighting, you know? And we didn’t want any of that stuff around us.” When Netflix finally came knocking, though, he adds, “They told us they were going to make it into a comedy and make it into a funny thing. Then we were all on board. Because that’s us every day.”

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Season 1 was filmed last year before the coronavirus pandemic took hold, and Bernard says he never saw a single preview or frame of footage from then until the show’s streaming premiere—in part because “I’m my own worst critic and I didn’t want to see myself on the TV.” Last week, though, he gathered a few close friends and family (including other employees who aren’t members of the Bernard family, like sweet-natured assistant Tavion Robinson) for a viewing party at the office. What they saw was just as surprising to him as it was to much of America. “There was so much I forgot,” he says. “I had friends calling me, asking me about stuff, making jokes. I’m like, what are they talking about? And then when I got to the episode and saw what they were talking about, oh, I just hit the floor laughing.”

While Buried by the Bernards is clearly a comedy, the show makes room for some surprisingly sweet moments. About halfway through the season, Bernard insists on going fishing with older daughter Deja, who’s in her mid-twenties, where they talk honestly about the fact that he never knew she existed until she was a teenager. “I wasn’t worried about it turning out bad,” he says now about that unexpectedly open scene. “I was nervous, but I was real and speaking from my heart, you know?” He adds with a laugh, “I’m always nervous when I’m talking to my daughters.” He also praises Deja, who was pregnant with her second child for most of the season, and younger daughter Raegan, who have an obviously close bond, as being “so beautiful and so intelligent. I’m just so proud of them both and the women they are becoming.”

And what about a Season 2? While there’s no official word from Netflix about a renewal, Bernard says he and his family are currently just enjoying the outpouring of enthusiasm for the show—and weathering their newfound fame. “Tavion said he went and bought himself a new telephone because he had to change his number,” Bernard reveals. “And my uncle Kevin, he’s around here talking about how he’s got to get his entourage together now. He’s got to have someone pick his suits up from the cleaners.” Can we apply for the job?

Next, take a look at the 100 best shows on Netflix.