Best known for their MTV show “The Buried Life,” Ben, Duncan, Dave and Jonnie are four Canadian boys who live their days conquering their list of things to do before they die. For everything they do on their list, they help a stranger cross something off theirs. Intelligent and handsome, these gentlemen are now inspiring young people across the nation to follow their dreams.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Dave and Jonnie, before their presentation at the Illini Union on April 13th. They filled me in on how their journey got started, what’s in store for them next, as well as some interesting facts about themselves.

Daily Illini: How did the idea for your list come about?

Dave: We were all going through a similar feeling of frustration. We didn’t have a clear vision of what we were doing. We all got on the phone and just started talking about it. We wanted a project to put our energy into and we brainstormed and came up with the idea of making a film and going after a list of 100 things to do before we died.

DI: What made you guys want to do a TV show? How did that opportunity present itself?

Jonnie: We thought we should fight fire with fire and get in the belly of the beast and MTV seemed like the perfect place for that. We are all executive producers of the show and we make. It’s like our baby.

DI: What made you guys want to start traveling and begin speaking to youth?

Dave: It kind of all comes back to how it started. We saw people going through the same feeling we were going through. Now that we have been doing this project for five years, [we] feel that we have a little bit of knowledge on that feeling. It’s really cool to talk to people at the same age about what they want to do and maybe why they’re not going after what they want to do.

DI: Can you tell me a little bit about the presentation?

Jonnie: We have always been big believers in not preaching because we don’t know what other people are going through. But we like to tell stories and at the end we share lessons. The best part is opening the floor to everybody and letting them share what they want to do before they die.

DI: How is the list coming along?

Jonnie: Well we’ve done 80 out of 100…

Dave: 84! It’s not about crossing off a list of 100, it’s about going after what you’re passionate about.

DI: What is one item on the list you each were most excited to cross off?

Jonnie: Number 95 playing ball with Obama. It was a huge, huge day. It was a testament to what we set out to prove. It took two years but crossing that off was such a powerful feeling that you can do anything that you set your mind to.

Dave: Just to add on to that, getting a TV show was in the same kind of realm. All our friends, when we told them, [were] like “aw man that’s impossible.” So getting the TV show was another one of those kind of epic things. In the lesser vibe, crashing the Playboy mansion was just so cool because it was actually like Mission Impossible.

DI: What is one item on your list that you are most eager to do next?

Jonnie: I want to go to space. The technology is finally getting there. It’s been on the list since the start but it hasn’t been technologically feasible. But now were in two years reach of being able to do it.

Dave: We’re talking to a NASA counselor right now.

DI: How has this list changed your lives?

Jonnie: I think when we started this it was just a feeling [that we] can do anything but we didn’t have any proof of that. It’s the same as anything in life, you work at something slowly and you build confidence. I think now the four of us will never ever look at the world the same way. We’ve kind of burnt into ourselves that anything is possible. That belief isn’t going anywhere.

DI: What’s next in store for you guys?

Jonnie: We are going to keep speaking at different colleges because that’s what we really enjoy doing and in the summer we will start filming again for the next iteration of the show. Then back to schools in the fall for a little bit then maybe take off to space.

DI: Now for the more fun questions, what is your favorite MTV show beside The Buried Life?

Jonnie: Jackass

Dave: I don’t even own a TV. I actually love America’s Best Dance Crew.

DI: What is each of your ideal vacation spots?

Jonnie: We went to Jamaica a couple years ago and we went to the hills and found this tiny little hut. I want to fall in love with a girl and take her there.

Dave: Maui, I absolutely fell in love with Maui. It’s the ideal [place] for me because I can never get bored.

Jonnie: It’s hard to see much of Dave when he’s in Maui.

DI: What is each of your favorite pizza topping(s)?

Jonnie: Ham and pineapple.

Dave: (Struggling) It depends if we talk about tomato based, ranch based, or barbeque based because really each one of those deserves a different…I can’t pick a favorite out of all of those. I’ll just give you a simple answer in the name of time. One pizza I’ve been making a lot is actually ranch based sauce, mozzarella cheese, chicken, bacon and tomatoes. It’s very nice.