Director Margaux Susi’s The Sperm Bank is a comedic short based on the true story of writer and star Rob Scerbo. He went through a fight with stage-4 testicular cancer. But, before starting treatment, Rob’s doctor (Parvesh Cheena) advises him to get a healthy sperm sample set aside for when he’s ready to have children in the future.
The Sperm Bank documents Rob’s journey to get that sperm sample with the help of his emotional support buddies Andy (Jeremy Culhane) and Dave (Aman Adumer). The snag comes from Rob having problems getting in the right frame of mind to obtain said sample. This is made worse due the clinic’s porn is not helping.
“…Rob’s journey to get that sperm sample with the help of his emotional support buddies…”
Directed by Margaux Susi, the short film moves us effortlessly from a late-night comedy sketch about “tugging one out” in unconformable and public ways. The jokes come easy, starting with Nurse Kirby (Sophia Ali), who’s seen and experienced everything, to the hot women living in Rob’s mind. But the film immediately grounds us when Rob is immediately pulled into the reality of his cancer diagnosis and the long road ahead treatment-wise.
What The Sperm Bank shows is that when bad things happen in life, the best thing to do is find the comedy to turn it around. As they say, laughter is the best medicine.
