Hey Riddle Riddle - Patreon Preview #288: Chatterbox 22

Episode Date: September 13, 2024

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Okay, this is a question. This is from the Goddy. Goddy asks, do you have any go to strategies for when you have to carry a conversation? Improv people seem the best at coming up with something from nothing, which is a little aside for that. What about you guys? Do you have any go to strategies for when you carry out a conversation? This, by the way, reminds me, I don't know if you've seen it, it was making around a little while ago, the video of JD Vance at the donut shop. Oh my God, JPC, I thought of you immediately.

I was like, this is so, this feels like a JPC character in such a major way. It's unwatchable, it's too much. Someone told JD Vance, they're like, the only question you can ever have for an employee at a place is how long they've worked there. And when they respond, just say good. Good, good.

Good. The funniest is when the woman's like, I don't want to be on camera. And he's like, okay, yeah, she don't want to be on camera. So we'll cut you out of that. And then he's like, I'm JD Vance, I'm running for vice president. And she goes, okay.

Okay. And then they go, what do you want?. And then they go, what do you want? He goes, they go, what do you want? And he goes, whatever makes sense. He says, whatever makes sense when he's ordering fucking donuts. Fucking moron. What do you want for donuts?

Whatever makes sense. Whatever makes sense. Well, they're donuts, so. He's like a lizard person. He is not, there's no real human in that skin suit. I'm so sorry. I went and picked up donuts the other day, about once a month with some other Chicago improv people

and then some just people that we know not from improv. We do this Magic the Gathering cube that Mike Brunley puts together, and I always bring donuts to it. And I was picking up donuts from a donut shop, and I never pick them. I just say like give me the dozen or two dozen whatever assortment. And they have special instructions and I took all the will that I had in me not to put whatever makes sense in the special instructions.

They would have laughed. Whatever makes sense. I don't know if you I don't know maybe if you work in a donut shop you like whatever makes sense. But that is that's an all-timer to me. I would say go-to strategies for carrying a conversation is ask people questions about themselves and then don't get flustered when you get one-word responses. You can always just keep asking questions.

But I think it's infinitely easier to learn something about another person than it is to share details from your own life that they didn't ask about or whatever. Yeah. I have the exact same. Oh, please. Yeah, mine's the same.

It's just like, be curious about the person that's in front of you and try to move slowly in the conversation. Like, I feel like I start to panic if I'm like, feel like I'm in a race or I'm trying quickly to make the conversation pleasant. Like I think you can slow down. Yeah.

Mine is very much under that umbrella, but maybe more specifically, I like to say like, what's something recent, what's something you consumed recently that you're like really into or really excited about? So like, is there anything you're watching that you're really into or what's like an exciting thing you did in the last week or something so I feel like the recency of

that question will allow them to be like oh I'm currently excited with I'm currently obsessed with like this show or reading this book or I just went to this place versus I know sometimes if I'm at if I'm like where are you from and they're like oh I'm from like West Virginia. And then it's like, what, is West Virginia known for like a certain food? And they're like, I haven't been there in like 20 years. Like it starts to be them grasping in the reaches

of their memory of like, I don't really know. So I think the recency of like current times, what are you excited about is helpful for both parties. My go to follow up when you ask someone, where are you from? They're like, what are you excited about is helpful for both parties. My go-to follow-up when you ask someone, where are you from? They're like, where are you from? And they say West Virginia. You go, oh, West Virginia, a lot of pedophiles.

Pfft. Is that true? And this is why we can't let JBC loose. Ottawa, huh? A lot of pedophiles. Ha ha ha. That's so funny. Okay, this one, this one from Cat Whisperer.

Cat Whisperer asks, when you improvise on the podcast, are you doing object work physically that nobody can see or are you always seated in your home recording setups and you don't move around at all during the scenes? I think we all do a little bit of object work. I think even more so than object work is like communication, like just gesturing communication where it's like someone will hold up a hand to be like I have something or let's stop or we're sweeping this. Like we'll sort of indicate that with our hands. I think it would be very funny to see one of you stand up. Like you're doing a character

and you just have to like you have to get up and like move around. I think it would be very funny to see one of you stand up. Like you're doing a character, you just have to like, you have to get up and like move around. I think we're all pretty much always seated. I don't think we ever like go vertical. Yeah, when we used to record in person, I would say our object work was more, and it would happen more often, just cause you're in the same space as the person.

Now, every time I gesticulate or do object work, I knock my mic over. And Aaron, we cut this out, but I think you said, narc your mind over. Yeah, I heard that. It's a real Stapes situation. I know, my hands started sweating out.

Narc to Harold Angels. I got a question about Stapes. And of course, I don't think we're good at like catching something by like the moment, even though I think when we recorded that tapes thing, I think we had maybe like a week or two that we could have. If we had just made a t-shirt that just said tapes on it,

that would have sold well, right? I think that that would have sold well. No one wants that. But no one would want it, right? Could you imagine someone wearing a shirt that just said, tapes like a block stamp that just said, tapes on it? Casey, you would not sold well. No one wants that. Yes. But no one would want it, right? Could you imagine someone wearing a shirt that just said, Stapes, like a block stamp that just said, Stapes on it? Casey, you would not buy it.

You're lying. No, I'd ask you guys to buy it for me. What if we made hats that said, Make America Stapes again? Okay, definitely not. Definitely, you would not buy that. I thought this was a safe brainstorm, but I guess. What about the font? What about the make America greater get font

that just says whatever makes sense? Okay, I would buy that. Okay, we did get 700 comments-ish on the Stapes video and Anthony Burch texted me Stapes out of nowhere and I went, oh my God. Stapes. Stapes and I was like, oh God. I can't just, I can't just Stapes. Stapes. And I was like, oh god.

I can't just tape. Dr. Jack Bout Panalone asks, can you indulge us with a peek behind the curtain? How does a recording session day actually look? What is the schedule? Pre-recording talk, mid-recording cuts, tech setup, resets between episodes, and all that jazz. I don't necessarily know that there's too much interesting

in there. I will say, if a recording session lasts for like four hours, we're probably recording for like a good three and a half of it. And we're not really cutting much out. We very rarely cut stuff out of this show. I think it's worth saying pre-recording talk can get you pregnant. And it does get us pregnant. Yeah. So this is how it usually goes.

Everyone sort of shuffles over to their computer about four minutes before we start. They make a little sound test that we put in our drop box to send to Casey to make sure that our audio sounds good. One of us, me, we'll usually have an internet problem, some sort of tech problem that we have to work through. And then we really only chat for maybe three or four minutes before we start recording.

We record on our ZenCaster as a backup and we record locally on our own computers. I use Audition. One of, Adelaide, you use Audacity, right? Yep. I use Audition. And JPC uses Audition. And our pre-recording conversation usually stops when someone says, save that for the episode or I want to talk about this on the episode. Yes, and then we go to time.gov

and we all clap at the same second mark. So it makes Casey's job easier for us to sync. And then we get some room tone. And then we do a clap sync between the two of us to make Casey's job even easier. And then there's this moment where this like silence hangs in the air and we either go like, what are we doing over the picture on today?

And JBC will be like, we're a bunch of little goats and we're very hungry, we're hungry goats. Just try to be a hungry goat, I guess. And we go, okay, great. Or someone will go, do you have any idea for the opening? And then there'll be a long pause and then someone will go, yeah. Maybe the best part, maybe what we could do one day

is we could release a super cut of us saying, does anyone have something for the opening? The 15 second pause, and then someone being like, hey, the Cookie Monster's here. This is my favorite. My favorite is when someone will say, does anybody have something for the opening? There's a five to 10 second pause,

and then someone goes, I got something. And then, and 100% I'm including myself in this. And then they go, I got something and then, and a hundred percent I'm including myself in this. And then they go, I got something. And then there's a bit of a pause and then they go, hey guys, what's going on? Yep, yep. That's my favorite. It's not good.

It's, and then we usually never, unless there's like a tech issue or a doorbell rings or whatever, we'd never usually stop during a recording. On breaks, when we used to have like a break in the episode when we recorded in person, everyone would go use the bathroom and like grab a snack. And now we just-

Not everyone would use the bathroom, Erin. I would use the bathroom. And I would grab a snack. Yeah, and then Erin comes back and we're like, what were you doing? And Erin's like, we were on a break. Yes. But now we usually just go like, we were on a break. Yes. But now we usually just go, we're going on a break.

And then JPC will go, everyone good? And we go, yep. And we keep recording. We'll take one big sip of water. Yes. We will take five to 10 minutes between episodes now, or people can get up, stretch their legs, pee, refill their water cups.

Sometimes we'll run. Go upstairs, see if Mar, pee, refill their water cups. Um, sometimes we'll run... Go upstairs, see if Mariah needs me. She does not. Still doesn't. Still good. Still good on you. Still good. 1, 2, 3, 4, Hey Riddle Riddle's Clue Crew!

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