Dropout’s show that’s been running for three seasons as this point, Very Important People, is such a genius idea. The basic concept is that the host, Vic Michaelis(they/them), interviews a comedian who has been given a makeover into some kind of character or creature. The person getting the makeover has no say in or idea what they’re going to become. They then have to come up with a character based on their makeover. Here are a few examples:
Anna Garcia as Princess Emily
Ify Nwadiwe as Denzel
It’s a fascinating show. The skill of their improvisation is so impressive. Vic is no slouch either, they’re playing the straight man with barely controlled madness. They fully give in to whatever the character on the other side of the couch is giving them. There’s a nimbleness to them. They help weave together their interaction into a story that can end with Vic getting punched in the face or quitting the show and taking a demon home. as a roommate/child.
However, they finally went too far. The makeup department brought this hell into my good Christian eyes:
Ollie and Archimedes played by Jacob Wysocki and Brennan Lee Mulligan. Even when they appeared Vic was visibly shook. I will never watch this episode and if you want to get me to confess secrets I’ve never had, you just need to put me in a chair and force me to watch it. Anyway, here’s the first episode that’s free on Youtube if you want to check it out before you subscribe to Dropout.
There are a great number of game shows that exist in the world that I would not want to be on. Jeopardy and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? are two where I don’t need to embarrass myself on a national level. I have a podcast for that. Wheel of Fortune, that’s a solid maybe.
Game Changer is a definitive no. Sam Reich, son of former labor secretary and current administration shit talker, Robert Reich, puts his comedians through their paces and through challenges that border on psychological torture. Don’t believe me? Watch any of the Sam Says episodes.
The face of a man who put his dad’s penis on his game show
The whole point of Game Changer is that the contestants don’t know the rules. They have to figure out what the game is as they go along. The first episode shows the three contestants dealing with a lie detector being asked questions about themselves. It turns out it’s their three partners off camera operating it. Another episode has them answering simple questions but they have to find a working to buzz in. They acquire these by doing things such as throwing balls at a buzzer on a wall, calling a pizza place to deliver one or find the book one is hidden inside.
There’s a similar show to this that has set rules from the U.K called, Taskmaster. The setup is simple Greg Davies and his assistant, little Alex Horne(6’2) challenge five comedians over ten weeks to a series of challenges. These range from doing such things as not doing the thing, getting five grapes out of a mountain of flour while wearing flippers and spilling as little flour as possible, trying to figure out what bin Alex Horne is hidden in and a number of other ones. You can find all the episodes on YouTube. Any season is well worth a watch.
I’m not the first person to point out the similarities between these shows. It’s the reason that when people talk about an American version of Taskmaster, they want Sam Reich and Dropout in charge of it. But the main one for me, is the endless playfulness of both shows.
Game Changer can sometimes have some great prizes, such as trips or money but usually the prize is another joke for the audience and contestants. The buzzer episode’s prize was a bug zapper. Those that win Taskmaster get this haunting faux golden bust of Greg Davies.
See you in my nightmares, gold head.
Because of that the contestants are just trying their best to have fun and enjoy themselves. Laughter ratios competence on a scale of 5:1. This is why you hire professionals rather than any person off the street. This brings something else to the table, camaraderie. On Game Changer especially, the groups have been working together for years. Now their personalities take center stage. A lot has been made of annoying and trying to trigger the higher competitive and competent Brennan Lee Mulligan.
I know that you can’t take everything at face value. I know they’re doing it for profit. But the joyfulness is just such a thing that you can’t help but feel it.
I think it speaks to how important it is to keep playing. To keep yourself going and having fun. Not just in a you never know when your day will be your last but it’s good for your heart.
I think it’s good for the soul to do something, that you find funny. Not for anyone else and nothing that would hurt or inconvenience anyone else but just because you think it’s funny. Make up a funny voice that’s only for you plants. Give your cats nicknames that are longer than the introduction of the king of Westeros.
Find people that you love and engage them in play. It could be anything and you would find yourself freed in a way that you don’t know how.
I do this every Thursday night with my friends around the table during DND. For all those that thought it was satanic in the 70s and such, well it’s made of three things: improv, funny voices and maths. I think in the last few years those nights are the ones where I have laughed the longest and hardest. Being in the middle of a big bad’s speech when someone makes a fart noise.
When my father passed away on a Sunday I was left with four long days to grieve. When we got to the virtual table that Thursday, I told the group I didn’t want to talk about it, I didn’t want anyone asking how I felt, I just wanted to play.
And for the first time in those 96 hours, I felt free. I felt light again. The pain was lost in stupid jokes and stories.
We dismiss play because we only think of it as something for children and children waste time because they’re allowed to waste time. The fact of the matter is that play is good no matter the age. It’s not a waste of time because if it gives you all the joy that it’s meant to, isn’t that worth it in the end?
Oh and one final note, I want to love the inclusion of both shows. They don’t discriminate by age, sex, race or sexuality. It furthers the joy of the show.
Franklin Cota, an author and podcaster 