Sorry, Tim, just catching up to the thread. Thank you for your kind offer.
My son Winston was wondering how you decide which character delivers a given line.
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Great question, Winston! Let me back up a little bit in the process to give you some context.
So when we’re pitching riffs for the script, we’re just trying to get the funniest riffs possible. A common misconception new writers have is that they think they need to pitch for specific characters. They’ll often say, “I think it would be funny here if Crow said…” or “What if Tom went…” Which, during the pitching step of writing, really isn’t that helpful and mostly just slows the process down. We’re just looking for the best jokes.
(Which isn’t to say that thinking about the characters isn’t helpful to the writing process - quite the opposite! Often when I’m feeling blocked on a particular section of the movie, it’s very helpful to think, “What would Tom say about this?” or “How would Crow react here?” But if that leads to some riffs, I keep their origin to myself.)
Then once the riff script is written, produced and polished, hopefully we’ve got a whole bunch of funny riffs! And then it goes to a specific step in the process called Line Assign, which is exactly like it sounds. It’s when we assign who says what line.
And then we keep a few things in mind - first of all, we try to keep things roughly even between the three riffers. (Crow is a real diva and counts his lines to make sure he doesn’t get fewer than anyone else. And don’t short him…or else.) Then we see what character best fits a particular line. Is it punchy and kind of sarcastic? That’s probably a Crow line. Is it smooth and musical, or maybe a little erudite and intellectual? That’s probably Tom! (And of course, they can always play against type - Tom can be a little catty sometimes and Crow can make a smart reference too! It’s fun to mix it up!) Often times, it’s as simple as saying the riff out loud - I find that doing so reveals what voice it’s meant to be said in.
We also think about the performer who’s going to say it. Hampton/Baron and Nate/Conor each have their strengths, so you think about who’s really going to knock it out of the park. And sometimes you get to set and are surprised! We try to stay flexible and swap lines if, for example, it’s discovered that Hampton actually has the superior Morgan Freeman impression.
And then sometimes it’s just a toss-up! That’s when you look to see whose turn it is to do a riff and give it to them.
Hope that answered your question! Thanks for being a MSTie and look forward to Season 13! It’s going to be a good one, I think. And come out to the live tour if you can! That’s what I’m doing next and I’m really excited about it.
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I wasn’t part of this, but just from having to set up a small stream for a live bingo charity event, I fully feel and understand the pain of trying to make everything work as it should. So many little things to be mindful of that you don’t even think about until you’re steeped in it. Hats off to everyone for their efforts!
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It was fine and expectable with streams.
People asking for shout outs in the q an a section less than great.
It’s a behind the scenes peek people not and episode or a live show.
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Thanks, Tim! I read your reply to Winston, his brother, and his sisters and they were thrilled to hear how this is done—-especially how Crow gets so many sarcastic lines. Winston was delighted that his question was a good one.
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My pleasure!
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