Hey Riddle Riddle - Patreon Preview #283: High Stakes/Low Stakes

Episode Date: August 9, 2024

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You guys, I've invented a new game that's going to sweep the world of improv. I think that this is going to be huge. This is a improv version of kind of truth or dare, but it's nothing like that at all. Am I selling this well? $250 and I own 99% of it. Deal. Make it one ripe banana and it's yours for 100%. Okay, so this game is called High Stakes, Low Stakes.

Do you like the title? High Stakes, Low Stakes, sure. Terrible way to kill a vampire, low stakes. Exactly. I have 30 options. Bachelorette. The movie was called Bachelorette. No, it was called the Lizzie McGuire movie.

I have 30 options of high stakes moments for scene ideas. And I have 30 options of low stakes moments, mundane interactions that you would have. Stapes. Stapes. She said stapes. Low stakes moments. His name, I said stapes. So in improv. Can said, Stapes. Hello, Stapes moments. His name is Stapes.

So in improv... Can we get a Stapes go to the comments? I will not survive today if this is the attitude. Stapes, Casey says Stapes first. No, we actually are not... Anybody who says first in the Patreon comments, you're not first. Casey said Stapes way before you said Stapes. way more. You said, Stapes. Ah. Ah. Let this be our most common in Patreon posts. Please everyone say Stapes on this.

If more than six of you comment Stapes on this Patreon post, I'm going to delete the episode. It's gonna be way more than six. No, it's not going to be. No one, no one. Let's go, let's try to go for no one. No one say Stapes.

Okay. So, in improv. I'm no one. No one say Stapes. Okay, so in improv. I'm gonna go out there and say Stapes. I'll pay $5 to say Stapes on this post. You know, I was gonna say more about this, but I simply don't have the will to do this anymore. I invested, I wanna know what I bought. So 30 high-stakes scene situations. Yes, and then there's an option of a list

of 30 low stakes scene situations. Now I'm not saying these low stakes scenes can't become high stakes and vice versa, but these are the jumping off points. Okay. Do you have by chance examples for each? Yes, so I don't want to burn through any. Gotcha, okay.

But high stakes would be like. So you don't have examples. Gotcha, okay. So, like, but high stakes would be like... So you don't have examples? Yeah, but, uh, the high stakes moments, you guys are gonna get comments like, they're drive Aaron insane. Are you ready for those kind of comments? I don't care. What am I doing?

Not you. Addle, it's never you. It is never you, Addle. It's often Addle. By the way, it's often Addle. Have I ever asked you to rap for Daddy? Have I ever asked you to rap for Daddy? Have I ever asked you to rap for Daddy? Yes.

No, I haven't. Yeah, I think I've said that. You definitely have. Someone find the clip of that and send it to JPC. Okay. The last episode actually. Okay, perfect, thank you, Casey. You asked me in the last episode.

Excellent, okay. But an example of a high stakes moment is something that is in like the end of a movie, like the last quarter of a movie where it's the big event that is happening. That is a high stakes, high emotional cinematic moment. A low stakes moment is something that would happen to us like today.

While we're just moving to the world slice of life. I've had a lot of different teachers who have different philosophies about what makes for a better scene, but we're gonna turn this into a game and we're gonna see which we prefer as a group. Some rules of this game, we're gonna go back and forth. You guys are gonna decide

if you wanna do low stakes or high stakes, but you can't pick one for more than two in a row. You can do low stakes, low stakes, but you can't do low stakes for the whole episode or whatever. As an individual or as a payer? As an individual. So we could have four high stakes in a row?

Yes, if you wanted. And we do. Erin, do you have an opinion on this? You said you've had improv teachers that have, I guess, advocated for one over the other. I don't think I've I guess, advocated for one over the other. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone advocating for one over the other. Well, I've, in terms, I'm thinking about like level.

Especially saying like one makes a better scene. I'm like, well, no. Well, I'm thinking, no. But in level three, I remember this at I.O., which was the scene work level, this coming up in conversation. And my school of thought about it is a good show will probably have a mix of both. And it's really fun when you sort of,

these end up flipping the script a little bit when a low stakes moment starts to feel like emotional high stakes and vice versa. Gotcha. Something that's big starts to feel mundane. So that's what I'm playing with here. Cool. Is the volumes and the levels of this.

Is this interesting? This is we're 10 minutes in and it took 10 minutes. I would think oftentimes I would instruct people, especially at the beginning of their improv journey, to avoid high stakes situations. Because I feel like those are way too, they can become way too plotty. And I would say that improv lives or dies off

of you thinking that you have to solve a thing. If you go into a scene, you're like, we have to fix this problem. I'm like, well, you just invented the problem. The problem is nothing. It doesn't have to be. You made it a weird thing. And I don't want to watch someone try to solve a problem. I want to watch someone, like, form a scene,

build a relationship, find a game. Yes. And real quick, we just, we legally can't say you made it weird. Is there another way you can phrase that, JP? Yeah, Mark Maron. He'll be pissed on behalf of people. A few, yeah. Maron and Pete Pete are close and he doesn't like that. Yeah, okay, so I won't say that. Let's say, in a scene you wanna be asking three questions.

No, you want to be helping Colin O'Brien find a friend. Okay, hold on. What are we doing? Okay, so if you can Google like 30-sided die, so you can roll Who would like to go first? I'll go first at all. Fantastic. Would you like a low-stakes scene or a high-stakes scene? I think let's start with a low stakes great

Let me know we roll put in this thing here. No, no, no. That's 35-sided die. Yes, 25. OK. I got 27. 27. And Aaron, is it too much to ask when you do these that you call them out like someone calling a roulette wheel and saying like,

27 low! Fuck, I'm ruined. Oh, Erin, are you going to be in these scenes? Yes, I can be. For this first one, I'll have it be the two of you. Okay. Okay. 27, you said?

Mm-hmm. It is a taxi driver and a passenger just making small talk. Okay. Um, Miner's Deli, I think, is on 37th. So do you want me to take the expressway or, um, take, uh, 92? Uh, you don't have to do anything. I'll drive. You just sit in the back and... Okay.

Yeah. Is this your first time in a taxi? Should I? I'll take my hands off the wheel. Do you want me to get in the back? Yeah. Yeah, you have to get in too. Because you just grab the wheel through the window. I'm sorry. The way you're dressed, I thought you were commandeering this car. I thought you were an FBI agent.

You ran over here. I thought, yeah. I am the drive. I am the captain now kind of situation. Yeah, and I know. I've had that happen a couple of times. They always reimburse you for the car. So it's fine But um, no if you just yeah if you're just a normal passenger in a taxi

Yeah, you just get into the back and then you tell me where you want to go. This is awesome This episode is sponsored by better help Well guys I heard back I didn't make that acapella group that I auditioned for Oh Erin no I didn't make that acapella group that I auditioned for. Oh, Erin, no. Oh, Erin, no. Okay, what'd I do that? Cliff notes? Erin.

You didn't make cliff notes? I didn't make cliff notes. And I sang so good. I am so sorry that happened to you or whatever it is that you were referencing from before. Is there any amount of money that I could give you to not have to deal with this or? No, I just- I'm sorry, I don't know how to say it. Well, the good news is I have better help.

It's online therapy that's designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to my schedule. So I can find something else that makes me happy to fill my time, to fill my cup. Erin, that is fantastic news. I know online therapy is great for me. I love it because I don't have to sit in a waiting room. I don't have to go anywhere. I can just kind of like directly interface

with my therapist. It's a really great way for me to explore the issues that I have going on. Yeah, I think it's good for all of us because you can just fill out a brief question in air, or sing it, I guess, to get matched with a licensed therapist and switch therapist at any time for no additional charge. Now, Erin, is what you're doing there, is that acapella? Um, I thought it might be. Erin, is what you're doing there, is that acapella?

I thought it might be. I thought acapella was like, it was supposed to sound like really good. Anyways, I really, really love my therapist. I use BetterHelp and that kind of therapy works great for my brain. So never skip a therapy day with BetterHelp. Visit BetterHelp.com slash Riddle today to get 10% off your first month that's betterhelp.com slash riddle to get 10% off your first month. Do you guys think Cathy does acapella?

Acapella. Aaron you should put that in your act. Better help. Better help. Better help, better help, better help, better help. First time to New York, I'm so, basically all I know is, oh, is it Midnight Cowboy? What's the one where Hoffman slams the roof of the car and he goes, I'm walking here,

which was improvised, which is so incredible. The scent of a woman? Could be. Which one's Hoffman? Does he, first name? Dustin Hoffman. I know, I know. What's that? Which one's Hoffman? Is it first name? Dustin Hoffman. What's that? Dustin.

I know Dennis Hopper. Meet the Fockers, um... Oh, yeah, Meet the Fockers. Yes, yes. Oh, he's the dad. In Tootsie, yep. Okay. Yeah, so yeah, in the back.

Go ahead and... Sure. Where are you from? Um, I am from a little town called Tacoma, Washington. Go ahead and... Sure. Where are you from? Um, I am from a little town called Tacoma, Washington. Tacoma, Washington, huh? C-Tac. I would never know small town.

I would never know small town from looking at you. You look really... I would say that you're wearing a very expensive suit. Oh, um, well, I wouldn't call it a suit. These are pressed jeans. This is a Bryant. That's denim? Yeah, it's sort of, in Washington we have...

May I? Oh, yeah, let me... Let me get my belt in here. Yeah, thank you. Do you want to try these on? What are you? Are you like a 32? Yeah, yeah, exactly. Okay. It's the most common jean size.

Holy god almighty. Right? This is the most comfortable pair of pants I think I've ever worn in my life. And they'll be more comfortable once you wear them just on top of your skin versus on top of your other pair of pants? Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

Trust me. Trust me. I'm a pants salesman. The name's Robert. Are you your are you born and bred? New York you from Brooklyn, yes, Brooklyn. I'm from Brooklyn born and bred God these are these are so comfortable. These are crazy comfortable right elastic band Pre I don't even want to ask but what does the pair of these run? 114.99 so 115 but we don't like to say 115 is 114 99

$1,500 115 dollars It's a dollar. It's a dollar and then 14 cents and then 99 Of a sentence micro cents micro cents Holy God. Yeah, pants are cheap in Washington Holy God. Yeah, pants are cheap in Washington, except for Seattle. You know, it's kind of bought up all the property. What is Hell's Kitchen like?

What is Hell's Kitchen? That's Daredevil's domain we don't talk about. We do not go there. I won't drive there. He's real. Okay, he's real. Oh, yeah. Yeah, so New York's the only one where they're all real.

Oh, I auto-corrected to Hell's real. What did you say? Sorry, what did you say? New York's the only one where they're all real. Like metropolis is whatever, like for super, that's not a real city. Yeah, that's a description of a city. A city can be a metropolis.

We cut to me getting a text. What? I knew it. Scene. Yeah. Yeah. Someone just sitting, rocking back and forth in a chair by the window,

waiting to hear if hell's real or not. How's other people? Huh? Oh yeah, I, amen. Yeah. On this show, I think, at least. Wait a minute.

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