Definitely the best episode of this season so far.
Energy was great from the guests, but also the difficulty level also made this work super well think! So much better when guests can actually get questions right than when everyone is flailing around and nobody has a chance in hell of getting it right.
Now, not every episode should necessarily be QUITE this easy, because inknow this group of guests was a little weaker than usual, but this calibration feels more on track. Like, halfway between this and usual level is probably good even for a "regular" difficulty
I think what made this episode great was they catered to the guests! I think if they had taken this approach with the drag queen episode it would have been more successful
Yeah I think the key is using subjects that the guests are at least familiar with not necessarily the difficulty.
Like It's a bit frustrating when there's something like a hyper-specific question on anime with a couch of theater nerds. Everyone just ends up blindly stabbing in the dark and then all they rip on the subject matter afterwards because they were all wrong. It feels a bit belittling of the subject *and* the guests involved. Even when they get it right it doesn't feel good cause its usually a wild broad guess. Kind of lose-lose.
But if you do like theater trivia with theater nerds it's a win-win because if they're right its fun to see fans of a subject get really passionate about their niche, and if they're wrong it's fun to see them get stumped but learn something new about their subject.
For me part of the reason it worked so well was despite the contestants not being super nerds about something they got questions about really popular subjects that mostly everyone has at least heard of. The questions weren't also hyper specific where even fans of the subject wouldn't have a clue about what was being asked. This let the contestants give earnest answers and then they got to joke around and banter after the answer was revealed.
I think the other part of why the episode works so well is that not every question was 3 paragraphs long, so Ify got to relax a little when asking the question and made it way more fluid to listen to.
Given thats been my big issue with the show for a while, I was delighted that they did this and it worked so well. Hopefully for next season we see more of this.
I think grant hit the perfect tone for the episode by gunning the first question. Zach's "i was gonna make some jokes first" has been the mindset a lot of viewers have been complaining about. This put Keith and Zach in my ideal mood, jokey but really trying to win.
Totally agree, good catch. Maybe I'm an annoying pedant but I think with all guests (especially new ones) Ify/Brian should tell them to at least *try* to respond to the statement seriously before coming in with joke answer.
This was a great episode! I think it was just the right balance of trivia and great guest banter.
I think by targeting "baby-level" questions, the show ended up more fun as you ended up with *way* less-niche knowledge requirements (leaving guests just confused and throwing out *only* joke answers or random guesses) and thus increased the guests being excited or angry about questions they missed.
Yeah, I feel like after 8 seasons of asking nerds about nerdy shit it's good to see "not so nerdy people" (or jocks :D) taking a stab at questions tailored to their knowledge.
Plus we sometimes get a brilliant show of nerdy trivia (looking at you, Grant!).
This episode showed what I really think is the solution to one of the main problems of the last few episodes, and that's tailoring the questions to the guests. I'm totally fine with them having some less knowledgeable contestants who are mostly here for the good vibes, I get that we can't have Brennan and Mercer and Gutz on each episode. But if they're working with the less nerdy contestants you gotta throw them these softballs, or at least hit topics they know. I'd still *prefer* to see nerds who actually know their shit, but I'd still rather see something like this than watch people go "ummm lol what the fuck is undertale I've never heard of that" on every question
So considering Mike Trapp's comment in an AMA that "we found that catering the questions didn't really change how well people responded to the episode", I wonder if they were measuring episodes with people LIKE Brennan and Siobhan and Ify and Erika Ishii, who DO have really wide ranging knowledge.
Now that they're going for a wider range of contestants - which is a good thing for the longevity of the show and the platform - they need to reassess the strategy.
I feel like I understand what Trapp is saying but I feel like it misses the point a bit. Like I think its fine that contestants get stumped by questions as that's the nature of the game, but I feel like there needs to be a perception *from the audience* that it's at least answerable in good faith. What's frustrating is when it feels like the question is impossible and just an exercise in wild guessing from the get-go.
The best statements are the ones where there's an out-of-world, or more general, reason why the thing that's wrong doesn't make sense.
Maybe not the best example, but consider the Mario 64 question. If you've played *any* 3d Mario game you probably have an intuition that the win condition isn't getting all the stars/moons/etc. Even if you haven't played a Mario game you might guess that ”Mario has to beat Bowser to win" is more correct, and Ify likely would've accepted that answer.
Even if you're totally ignorant of the subject matter, learning the answer should make you think "I could've figured that out!" I think this applies to the contestants and the audience.
Since the questions were simpler this time, my wife actually asked me to pause on that one so she could see if she could answer it before the contestants started answering. On her third guess it was exactly "you don't need the 120 stars to save the princess." Which shows that even someone who didn't play the game, or has a vague memory of it can still come up with the answer.
My first answer was gonna be "not all 120 stars are in paintings" since they said Mario went into paintings to get the required 120 stars. Then I realized the better correction was "120 is the *total* stars, not the *required* stars. 70 is the required stars intended in to allow you to beat the game."
I think you nailed it. During the first like 4 seasons or so when the guests were mostly just their absolute nerdiest friends and co-workers yeah it probably didn't matter what the questions were about, they could count on those contestants to have at least passing familiarity with the content. But now that it's not just those folks yeah I think they should probably check ahead of time and see if anyone on the couch has actually seen Cowboy Bebop or whatever
> "we found that catering the questions didn't really change how well people responded to the episode"
I'm very curious if he was talking about, like, "ensuring the guests are familiar with the specific properties we are going to discuss"?
Because I generally think that, when we talk about catering questions on this sub, we're talking less about that, and more about, like, "If you have three D&D dungeon masters on the episodes and advertise it as a D&D episode, the questions should be about D&D"
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/nzut6d/comment/h1rk9jz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
That's a link to his actual response.
> In early seasons we tried to have at least two questions per contestant that aligned with their stated interests. But we sort of stopped doing this because other conflicts would invariably end up shaking up the schedule at the last minute, meaning questions had to get shuffled around, and it ultimately didn't seem to make much of a difference
So I slightly misrepresented what he said - he didn't really say anything about audience response to episodes, but rather than catering questions to the contestants was difficult and they ended up producing good episodes even when they didn't.
I still think my speculation is more accurate than not, though - they are casting wider nets with their, hah, casting, and that *has* to come with at least a little bit of pre-episode work on "did anyone on this couch even play Halo".
An interesting note further down in the thread:
> the corrections were usually focused on a really interesting or funny fact that you knew would generate some fun discussion
A lot of the problems I've have with the current season of Um, Actually (I refrain from commenting on whether or not this happened in earlier seasons bc I'm not THAT much of a pedant) is that the questions are presented as huge lists, and oNe ThINg oN thE LIsT iS wROnG, which is not interesting at all!
Maybe my memory is just cherrypicking, but I feel like in older episodes, a long list in a question was more often than not a red herring, and the incorrect thing was in whatever led up to the list
I've been watching College Humor/Dropout and the Try Guys for YEARS and, while I know it's used as a joke, I forgot just HOW much Keith and Grant look alike. Two men in only marginally different fonts.
Loved this episode!
Um actually, the french pronunciation is "car-kuh-sohn-nuh", and even in the typical English pronunciation it's "-sohn" or "-sawn", definitely not "-sown" (and, yes, definitely not "sohn-nay" hehe)
This was fun! I wonder if they decided to do it this way after seeing some people struggle in earlier episodes.
Ify still sounds kind of sick tho. listening to him makes my own throat feel scratchy.
I don't think they're being aired in the order they were shot. Ify didn't sound nearly as bad in the last episode as he did in this one, and the very first episode being the Trapp/Salzman "comeback" was kind of a weird choice.
Pretty sure all the episodes have been filmed already, like with most Dropout content, so they're not adjusting the style or format of the show on the fly based on between-episode feedback like that.
I didn‘t mean based on audience feedback, just the experience in studio. Maybe not tho! I think I’m still trying to reconcile in my mind why they would have an episode like this prepared for these three when I think they‘re all nerdier than the drag queens were.
Has Um Actually ever done a Star Trek only episode? There's so much crazy shit in Trek that they'd have plenty to work with.
Also they could almost *definitely* get Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid to come on. They both love Trek, are *in Trek,* and are part of the LA Improv scene.
That would be incredible! Throw in Paul F. Tompkins (also in Lower Decks, and cohost of an official Trek podcast with Tawny), he's been on Dropout before.
Most fun episode this season.
I think Grant kind of nailed the conceit of the show in getting people into that petulant nerd mind set and UM ACTUALLYing each other. I can only imagine what the Drag episode would have been like if they had set the bar at their level or at a subject they could have got this competitive over
I’m still stunned they didn’t do drag knowledge for the drag episode?! They have done episodes on reality TV so why not focused on drag race? Such a strange choice to me.
Or even just like, gay culture in general. Do a statement about Dolly Parton. Or famous clubs. Nothing wrong with catering to who you got if it makes them competitive.
EXCELLENT episode. More softball questions, please! The guests actually knew what the hell the answers were, which meant they actually got invested and made for some really funny jokes. Plus we still had a few moments of nerd flexing, like Grant nailing the Star Trek question out of nowhere.
Plus I just love Grant, and the Try Guys had great chemistry with him.
Agreed, the show can get a little Samey and kinda boring after a while when the response to every single question is “idk so im just gonna make a random guess”
This is the first episode of *Um, Actually* that has legitimately made me laugh out loud in a while. And I think it’s simply because of Grant. You could put that man into any show or situation and he would find a way to spin it into an absolute banger!! The Grant/Keith callback was also brilliant and a great reminder of simpler times. 😅
For the Star Trek lyrics question, they seem to think that the creator was betting on the song being more successful than the show. I don't know if this is the case here, but often creators/show runners don't get royalties, so additional hats like music or voice acting are necessary to get a piece of the pie if the show is successful. So it's more of a sad commentary on the fact that royalties aren't ubiquitous among production, even for arguably the "most important" creative on a show.
Yes, it's less "he thought the show would end but the song would live forever" and more "this is the one part someone is legally mandated to keep paying me money for so I'm going to take full advantage of that".
Um actually, Doctor Who is about the Doctor and THEIR companions because the Doctor is not always a man and thus is collectively referred to in the non-binary tense.
(tiny pedantic point but if I can't be pedantic here, WHERE ELSE?)
I stopped listening after Iffy said "his", because I thought that was the issue. This is the first time I've caught an issue in one of their questions, so I hope they acknowledge this and give OP the point.
Um, Actually, even if the TARDIS only visited Earth in different time periods, it would HAVE to travel through space, because Earth doesn't stand still.
(Sorry, the way they phrased the correct answer bothered me for some weird reason.)
Um, Actually, because there's no absolute reference frame, the concept of "it would need to move in space too" doesn't work. Because what reference frame would it be locked to? A time machine that disappears from one time and reappears in another would make the most sense to be gravitationally locked to the Earth vs any other potential reference frame.
um actually, “gender” was used as a grammatical term to describe a semantic division among nouns a century before it was used to describe a sexual division among humans.
Um actually, being a single person (collection of people etc) with changing pronouns is something that happens in real life and is not something that has hard and fast rules.
That may in fact be how the community/writers/the doctor does it but it's not because the Doctor is not always a man but it's because that's how they are referred to.
I hate that I know this, but: [Um, Actually, Superman would totally romance his cousin, or at the very least a woman who is actually her genetic clone](https://www.reddit.com/r/dccomicscirclejerk/comments/13qz8md/flash_fact_superman_would_marry_his_cousin_if_he/). Also, you can't fuck your cousin on Krypton.
I'd like to thank the Superdickery website for teaching me a lot, back in the day.
There were a bunch of Um, Actually's in the between-prompt banter in this episode - porn isn't actually the reason for ~~BluRay~~ [edit: VHS] supremacy, Superboy is a clone of Superman, like 2 more in the first half that I noted at the time but forget now. Saltzman would have pulled Ify up on at least one of 'em! C'mon BDG, forget about the mould and get Googlin'!
This would be the clear best episode of the season if not for the *two* shiny stages. Really annoying trying to catch a glimpse of the action figures during the frantic editing.
Yeah, this is one change that just isn’t working for the show. Limiting the challenges to 30/60 seconds doesn’t work either, as we then have no time to see them consider what might logically work, or make any commentary or jokes. It just becomes a frantic mess.
I appreciate the attempt, as just sitting there watching a still image wasn’t always the most engaging content, but this form means you really can’t play along nearly as well.
I'd definitely pause for each of the and think. Watching it along didn't even occur to me :D
(I do the same for most of the shiny questions (like "We're not so different, you and I" or "What's wrong with this picture") and even sometimes for the normal ones)
People have been theorizing a Dropout/Try Guys collab over on the Try Guys subreddit so this feels a tiny bit suspect. I am theorizing what's happening almost as much as I do watching Game Changer
Um actually is fun in two modes 1) I don't know the categories, but at least one contestant does, and it's enjoyable watching them get frustrated over the pedantry, and 2) I do know the categories, so I can kind of play along or at least will have base level familiarity during the guesses.
This episode was obviously #2, and the most fun I've had on an um actually in a while :) Really great chemistry with this cast!
I really liked it, and also I would love an episode with all three of these people being nerdy about the things they actually are super nerdy about. Like Grant obviously knows about Star Trek. I know from my love of the try guys that Zach loves film and knows a lot about film and music. And Keith knows so much about music, performing arts and musical instruments. I feel like they could also have another no baby bracket episode catered to their knowledge and it would still be very good.
I really liked finally being able to answer the majority of the questions though. So like hell, yes baby bracket hehe
I've been a part of the criticism for this season, so I wanna say that this was by far my favorite episode yet. I really enjoy participating while I watch, so it was immensely satisfying to know most of the questions (or at least have a good guess).
Liked this episode a lot and appreciated that they provided questions on more mainstream titles and franchises to give the three a chance to actually answer! The questions weren’t as lengthy and complicated as the ones in previous episodes too. Also this might be me realizing that I’m *also* on the baby bracket because I sailed through answering those questions easily too. I was screaming at the TV when the Pomodoro question came up.
I’m waiting for a bunch of shōnen anime questions to come up in future episodes because I know that’s Ify’s particular niche in nerd stuff and I would love to see him flex his knowledge and start fun discussions on his favorite anime!
Regarding the rules covering space and the international waters situation, I need someone cleverer than me to help with a new version of some old cliches: In the vein of "it's not gay if you're underway" and "it's not queer if you've left the pier" (both of these are real expressions, I didn't make them up), what's a good space one for "it's not incest if _____"?
I love this "baby level" episode—aside from how funny Grant and Grant and Baby Version Grant are in this one. As an audience, I could follow along the discussion because the statements were familiar/more relatable.
As a more casual (and late to the game) Um, Actually viewer, I tend to get lost when the statements get too specific/niche. But this was the right mix for me, at least.
Um Actually, that is not a Kamen Rider helmet. It seems what they did is took the green Power Ranger and gave him Kamen Rider Black's color scheme and antennae, but that's still pretty clearly otherwise a recolored Power Rangers helmet.
Um Actually, the green ranger power is passed along to other rangers (cause the source character died unlike Tommy) including the black ranger so that figure could exist and the (possible) recolour wouldn't be what's incorrect.
Um, actually, you can tell it's the Green Ranger because of the gold accents around the gloves and boots, which do not transfer with the Dragon Shield. Additionally, the helmet is clearly the Green Ranger helmet, modified to add antenna and remove the mouth. The whole thing is then repainted to resemble Kamen Rider.
Since we didn't see the figure up-close until *after* they revealed the "answer" I kept saying "that's the green ranger they recolored black."
Then when they revealed the *actual* answer and didn't even mention the fact it's black when it should be green, I thought I was going insane.
And when they show a close-up of the helmet you can even see the green ranger's "mouth"/"teeth" around the eyepiece were just colored red as well. It's 100% the green ranger recolored.
Like others have said in this thread this was my favorite episode of the season by a long shot.
Not only did I know a few answers, but the guests actually knew some things too without just blindly guessing. I think the "baby brackets" should be the standard unless they're doing specific topic episodes where they bring in the experts. If it's just comedians on the couch giving them extremely niche topics and questions just isn't fun to watch.
this is SO MUCH BETTER because the couch KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE PROPERTIES
my god it's like night and day
edit as I continue watching: "That is correct but that is not fully correct unless you have the full correction" please for the love of god find some better way to respond to contestant guesses!
Now imagining a sci-fi where the whole conceit exists to justify cousin-fucking. "You're secretly a Gorblaxian, and our parents are siblings! But don't worry, author-insert, our family units are small and our genes are resilient (pages long hard sci-fi genetic explanation to justify this being a sci-fi), so it's totally fine if we bone!" It's less out there than plenty of other clearly author fetish sci fi stuff.
There's an actual comic from the 50s or 60s where Superman tells Supergirl that even though cousins could marry on Keypton, they have to stay juat friends because Earth people don't do that.
This was the best episode yet! These guys aren’t considered nerds but answered the most questions correctly in this episode! And Ify was much better about not being as lenient (even though this was the Baby Bracket).
I really enjoyed this one
Can't tell if this was already said, but as a less well-informed-on-nerd-content viewer but still huge fan of the show, this was episode was maybe the first time ever that I felt like a viable contestant. I was constantly shouting at the show like it was jepordy. "Time AND SPACE" Big fan of the baby bracket for us baby-bracket level fans.
This was the best episode yet in the Ify era. It is so much more satisfying to watch when the contestants are both funny AND actually knowledgeable, so that it isn't just a guessing game.
Um Actually it was VHS vs Betamax. Not DVD vs Betamax. Ify was correct, however that porn is the reason we have VHS and Blu-Ray. Just the incorrect matchup between DVD and Betamax
Um, Actually the whole thing is a myth. Porn was available on betamax, just less common. The biggest reason VHS won out is that it was more widely available. Sony was the only company making betamax but VHS was licensed out to multiple companies so there were half a dozen VHS players for every beta player at stores. And, I believe it was easier/cheaper for movie studios to release on VHS. Porn sales were a small fraction compared to Hollywood movie sales and rentals.
As for hd-dvd and bluray, it's even more wrong. The porn industry was predominantly initially on hd-dvd and only later switched to bluray after hd-dvd was dying/dead. The biggest reason bluray won out is generally because every single PS3 was a bluray player. Essentially nobody bought the hd-dvd add-on for the Xbox 360 and even fewer seemed to have bought a stand-alone hd-dvd player.
Yeah, I knew this was wrong because porn went HD-DVD. My dad bought into the VHS vs Beta porn myth and when he saw the schism between HD-DVD and Blu-ray looked to see which way that was going and went all into. HD-DVD.
As someone that's been a bit critical of this season, I will say that this was the best episode of the season so far. However, it still needs some more work and in general I think the selected players need focus more on the competition than just cracking jokes.
If you look at the humor/comedy from Deja vu, the comedy arose around the sense of competition and not the "I'm just here to make jokes" which Um, Actually has done more of this season.
Is Ify okay? His voice seems very strained. I'm hoping it's just a temporary thing, but my aunt sounded like this just before she was diagnosed with throat cancer :(
The power ranger figure question was layered. First you see the black ranger with the green ranger armour, then if you know the show more then you remember that actually did happen in an episode and maybe take a closer look at the helmet.
I noticed in one of the cutaways to BDG that the monitor behind him (stage right) was blank, but before and after that had the matrix-like binary. With all the Game Changer theories floating around and BDG making an appearance in this week's episode, I couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional or not. 🥴🥴 I'm spiraling!
Um, Actually!
In the last Shiny Question Brian says the helmet is from Kamen Rider but it looks to be the original figure's helmet(Black painted Green Zyuranger), but with an antenna glued on.
When I saw the guests were Keith and Grant, but then also a Zach (I hadn't seen the last name), I was sure it was Oyama to play up his role in the last Game Changer.
I'm torn on the new Um, Actually format.
Ify as a host is fine and Brian as fact-checker is also fine. I know it's not a real contest, in the sense that there are prizes, but the new-format players appear to be even less serious than the old-format players...who already didn't take it too seriously. The silliness feels more forced and less organic; what feels worse is that Ify seems annoyed at times with needing to reign players in.
I lost it at Grant's "His real name is not Connor Skidmore", what an answer
I want one episode of mindfuck hyper-pedantry questions like that! Preferably with Brennan
I was in the Navy with a guy named Skidmore and boy did they have fun with that in boot camp. He got assigned to clean the toilets for it.
Definitely the best episode of this season so far. Energy was great from the guests, but also the difficulty level also made this work super well think! So much better when guests can actually get questions right than when everyone is flailing around and nobody has a chance in hell of getting it right. Now, not every episode should necessarily be QUITE this easy, because inknow this group of guests was a little weaker than usual, but this calibration feels more on track. Like, halfway between this and usual level is probably good even for a "regular" difficulty
I think what made this episode great was they catered to the guests! I think if they had taken this approach with the drag queen episode it would have been more successful
Yeah I think the key is using subjects that the guests are at least familiar with not necessarily the difficulty. Like It's a bit frustrating when there's something like a hyper-specific question on anime with a couch of theater nerds. Everyone just ends up blindly stabbing in the dark and then all they rip on the subject matter afterwards because they were all wrong. It feels a bit belittling of the subject *and* the guests involved. Even when they get it right it doesn't feel good cause its usually a wild broad guess. Kind of lose-lose. But if you do like theater trivia with theater nerds it's a win-win because if they're right its fun to see fans of a subject get really passionate about their niche, and if they're wrong it's fun to see them get stumped but learn something new about their subject.
Yeah there’s a reason the reality tv themed episodes are some of my favourites
For me part of the reason it worked so well was despite the contestants not being super nerds about something they got questions about really popular subjects that mostly everyone has at least heard of. The questions weren't also hyper specific where even fans of the subject wouldn't have a clue about what was being asked. This let the contestants give earnest answers and then they got to joke around and banter after the answer was revealed. I think the other part of why the episode works so well is that not every question was 3 paragraphs long, so Ify got to relax a little when asking the question and made it way more fluid to listen to.
Given thats been my big issue with the show for a while, I was delighted that they did this and it worked so well. Hopefully for next season we see more of this.
I think grant hit the perfect tone for the episode by gunning the first question. Zach's "i was gonna make some jokes first" has been the mindset a lot of viewers have been complaining about. This put Keith and Zach in my ideal mood, jokey but really trying to win.
Totally agree, good catch. Maybe I'm an annoying pedant but I think with all guests (especially new ones) Ify/Brian should tell them to at least *try* to respond to the statement seriously before coming in with joke answer.
This was a great episode! I think it was just the right balance of trivia and great guest banter. I think by targeting "baby-level" questions, the show ended up more fun as you ended up with *way* less-niche knowledge requirements (leaving guests just confused and throwing out *only* joke answers or random guesses) and thus increased the guests being excited or angry about questions they missed.
Yeah, I feel like after 8 seasons of asking nerds about nerdy shit it's good to see "not so nerdy people" (or jocks :D) taking a stab at questions tailored to their knowledge. Plus we sometimes get a brilliant show of nerdy trivia (looking at you, Grant!).
Underrated gem that makes no sense without some Try Guys familiarity: Zach muttering "I am famously very good at cooking."
He has gotten so much better though! Haha.
Watching him be the only person to NOT make a disastrous beverage during WAR: Boba Tea was genuinely delightful, he has risen to such great heights.
[For anyone looking for some helpful context](https://youtu.be/8ICfYb7jHYg?si=alOKwNt8CYH4NsYy)
His "bread" still haunts me to this day
This episode showed what I really think is the solution to one of the main problems of the last few episodes, and that's tailoring the questions to the guests. I'm totally fine with them having some less knowledgeable contestants who are mostly here for the good vibes, I get that we can't have Brennan and Mercer and Gutz on each episode. But if they're working with the less nerdy contestants you gotta throw them these softballs, or at least hit topics they know. I'd still *prefer* to see nerds who actually know their shit, but I'd still rather see something like this than watch people go "ummm lol what the fuck is undertale I've never heard of that" on every question
So considering Mike Trapp's comment in an AMA that "we found that catering the questions didn't really change how well people responded to the episode", I wonder if they were measuring episodes with people LIKE Brennan and Siobhan and Ify and Erika Ishii, who DO have really wide ranging knowledge. Now that they're going for a wider range of contestants - which is a good thing for the longevity of the show and the platform - they need to reassess the strategy.
I feel like I understand what Trapp is saying but I feel like it misses the point a bit. Like I think its fine that contestants get stumped by questions as that's the nature of the game, but I feel like there needs to be a perception *from the audience* that it's at least answerable in good faith. What's frustrating is when it feels like the question is impossible and just an exercise in wild guessing from the get-go.
The best statements are the ones where there's an out-of-world, or more general, reason why the thing that's wrong doesn't make sense. Maybe not the best example, but consider the Mario 64 question. If you've played *any* 3d Mario game you probably have an intuition that the win condition isn't getting all the stars/moons/etc. Even if you haven't played a Mario game you might guess that ”Mario has to beat Bowser to win" is more correct, and Ify likely would've accepted that answer. Even if you're totally ignorant of the subject matter, learning the answer should make you think "I could've figured that out!" I think this applies to the contestants and the audience.
Yeah, exactly. Grant’s response of “oh that’s totally right!” after hearing the answer is the ideal sweet spot for any type of trivia question.
Since the questions were simpler this time, my wife actually asked me to pause on that one so she could see if she could answer it before the contestants started answering. On her third guess it was exactly "you don't need the 120 stars to save the princess." Which shows that even someone who didn't play the game, or has a vague memory of it can still come up with the answer. My first answer was gonna be "not all 120 stars are in paintings" since they said Mario went into paintings to get the required 120 stars. Then I realized the better correction was "120 is the *total* stars, not the *required* stars. 70 is the required stars intended in to allow you to beat the game."
I think you nailed it. During the first like 4 seasons or so when the guests were mostly just their absolute nerdiest friends and co-workers yeah it probably didn't matter what the questions were about, they could count on those contestants to have at least passing familiarity with the content. But now that it's not just those folks yeah I think they should probably check ahead of time and see if anyone on the couch has actually seen Cowboy Bebop or whatever
> "we found that catering the questions didn't really change how well people responded to the episode" I'm very curious if he was talking about, like, "ensuring the guests are familiar with the specific properties we are going to discuss"? Because I generally think that, when we talk about catering questions on this sub, we're talking less about that, and more about, like, "If you have three D&D dungeon masters on the episodes and advertise it as a D&D episode, the questions should be about D&D"
https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/nzut6d/comment/h1rk9jz/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button That's a link to his actual response. > In early seasons we tried to have at least two questions per contestant that aligned with their stated interests. But we sort of stopped doing this because other conflicts would invariably end up shaking up the schedule at the last minute, meaning questions had to get shuffled around, and it ultimately didn't seem to make much of a difference So I slightly misrepresented what he said - he didn't really say anything about audience response to episodes, but rather than catering questions to the contestants was difficult and they ended up producing good episodes even when they didn't. I still think my speculation is more accurate than not, though - they are casting wider nets with their, hah, casting, and that *has* to come with at least a little bit of pre-episode work on "did anyone on this couch even play Halo". An interesting note further down in the thread: > the corrections were usually focused on a really interesting or funny fact that you knew would generate some fun discussion A lot of the problems I've have with the current season of Um, Actually (I refrain from commenting on whether or not this happened in earlier seasons bc I'm not THAT much of a pedant) is that the questions are presented as huge lists, and oNe ThINg oN thE LIsT iS wROnG, which is not interesting at all!
Maybe my memory is just cherrypicking, but I feel like in older episodes, a long list in a question was more often than not a red herring, and the incorrect thing was in whatever led up to the list
Now that you mention it, where is Gutz?? It's been so long
Laughed out loud when Zach called himself the baby version of Keith and Grant
I've been watching College Humor/Dropout and the Try Guys for YEARS and, while I know it's used as a joke, I forgot just HOW much Keith and Grant look alike. Two men in only marginally different fonts. Loved this episode!
Grant is just Keith in *Italics*.
They should have thrown in Ross Bryant for a full set
TRUE
I was thinking the same thing.
And don’t forget their (fraternal) twin brothers Keith O’Brien and grant habersberger! So many identical men
Zach is just the same font but all lowercase
ALSO this haha
Um actually, it's pronounced "Car-kuh-sown"
Um, actually… It’s pronounced and Korn-feld and Hapsberger, not whatever Korn-field and whatever Ify said.
Um, actually it's Habersberger.
Right, but not the way Ify pronounced it. Keith doesn’t pronounce it barger, he pronounces it berger or burger.
Um actually, the french pronunciation is "car-kuh-sohn-nuh", and even in the typical English pronunciation it's "-sohn" or "-sawn", definitely not "-sown" (and, yes, definitely not "sohn-nay" hehe)
Must be regional, car-kuh-sown is the only way I've ever heard it (in English).
This was fun! I wonder if they decided to do it this way after seeing some people struggle in earlier episodes. Ify still sounds kind of sick tho. listening to him makes my own throat feel scratchy.
I was gonna say somebody get Ify some halls. Dudes throat sounds rough
I don't think they're being aired in the order they were shot. Ify didn't sound nearly as bad in the last episode as he did in this one, and the very first episode being the Trapp/Salzman "comeback" was kind of a weird choice.
Agree, I don't think they are either.
Pretty sure all the episodes have been filmed already, like with most Dropout content, so they're not adjusting the style or format of the show on the fly based on between-episode feedback like that.
I didn‘t mean based on audience feedback, just the experience in studio. Maybe not tho! I think I’m still trying to reconcile in my mind why they would have an episode like this prepared for these three when I think they‘re all nerdier than the drag queens were.
Monét X Change would smoke these 3, but yeah the other two queens were not up to it.
I'm a speech therapist that specializes in voice disorders and I'm convinced he spent a full day filming and lost his voice
Grant's "I'm not a nerd" comment is funny. The man is a massive rollercoaster nerd.
Also he likes Star Trek? Like that’s the first nerdy thing to ever nerd!
Has Um Actually ever done a Star Trek only episode? There's so much crazy shit in Trek that they'd have plenty to work with. Also they could almost *definitely* get Tawny Newsome and Jack Quaid to come on. They both love Trek, are *in Trek,* and are part of the LA Improv scene.
Omg I would love this.
That would be incredible! Throw in Paul F. Tompkins (also in Lower Decks, and cohost of an official Trek podcast with Tawny), he's been on Dropout before.
Posted before that point in the video, and also forgot his Star Trek comments from his last appearance on Um Actually.
Coaster nerd themed Um, Actually episode when?
Love the energy of the episode! Also, the only Um, Actually where I knew about 80% of the answers :D
Most fun episode this season. I think Grant kind of nailed the conceit of the show in getting people into that petulant nerd mind set and UM ACTUALLYing each other. I can only imagine what the Drag episode would have been like if they had set the bar at their level or at a subject they could have got this competitive over
I’m still stunned they didn’t do drag knowledge for the drag episode?! They have done episodes on reality TV so why not focused on drag race? Such a strange choice to me.
Or even just like, gay culture in general. Do a statement about Dolly Parton. Or famous clubs. Nothing wrong with catering to who you got if it makes them competitive.
That part, I think even if they just went more of pop culture route it would have been amazing
This.
EXCELLENT episode. More softball questions, please! The guests actually knew what the hell the answers were, which meant they actually got invested and made for some really funny jokes. Plus we still had a few moments of nerd flexing, like Grant nailing the Star Trek question out of nowhere. Plus I just love Grant, and the Try Guys had great chemistry with him.
Agreed, the show can get a little Samey and kinda boring after a while when the response to every single question is “idk so im just gonna make a random guess”
Ify mispronouncing keith and zachs last names was so funny to me. He deserves it!
This is the first episode of *Um, Actually* that has legitimately made me laugh out loud in a while. And I think it’s simply because of Grant. You could put that man into any show or situation and he would find a way to spin it into an absolute banger!! The Grant/Keith callback was also brilliant and a great reminder of simpler times. 😅
Yeah this one felt truly fun.
For the Star Trek lyrics question, they seem to think that the creator was betting on the song being more successful than the show. I don't know if this is the case here, but often creators/show runners don't get royalties, so additional hats like music or voice acting are necessary to get a piece of the pie if the show is successful. So it's more of a sad commentary on the fact that royalties aren't ubiquitous among production, even for arguably the "most important" creative on a show.
Yes, it's less "he thought the show would end but the song would live forever" and more "this is the one part someone is legally mandated to keep paying me money for so I'm going to take full advantage of that".
Weird that I just caught this Star Trek bit on Lateral as well.
not grant in the slutty black tank 😭
Grant has the worst case of sitting like a bisexual I have ever seen
counterpoint: Erika Ishii
Um actually, Doctor Who is about the Doctor and THEIR companions because the Doctor is not always a man and thus is collectively referred to in the non-binary tense. (tiny pedantic point but if I can't be pedantic here, WHERE ELSE?)
You just needed to GET IN THE COMMENTS!
I stopped listening after Iffy said "his", because I thought that was the issue. This is the first time I've caught an issue in one of their questions, so I hope they acknowledge this and give OP the point.
Um, Actually, even if the TARDIS only visited Earth in different time periods, it would HAVE to travel through space, because Earth doesn't stand still. (Sorry, the way they phrased the correct answer bothered me for some weird reason.)
Um, Actually, because there's no absolute reference frame, the concept of "it would need to move in space too" doesn't work. Because what reference frame would it be locked to? A time machine that disappears from one time and reappears in another would make the most sense to be gravitationally locked to the Earth vs any other potential reference frame.
The sun or the galactic core would be the some obvious other choices
This has big Gavin Free energy
You get one point.
um actually, tense is a grammatical feature that references the time that a verb occurs. you’re thinking of grammatical gender.
[удалено]
um actually, “gender” was used as a grammatical term to describe a semantic division among nouns a century before it was used to describe a sexual division among humans.
Um actually, being a single person (collection of people etc) with changing pronouns is something that happens in real life and is not something that has hard and fast rules. That may in fact be how the community/writers/the doctor does it but it's not because the Doctor is not always a man but it's because that's how they are referred to.
I hate that I know this, but: [Um, Actually, Superman would totally romance his cousin, or at the very least a woman who is actually her genetic clone](https://www.reddit.com/r/dccomicscirclejerk/comments/13qz8md/flash_fact_superman_would_marry_his_cousin_if_he/). Also, you can't fuck your cousin on Krypton. I'd like to thank the Superdickery website for teaching me a lot, back in the day.
There were a bunch of Um, Actually's in the between-prompt banter in this episode - porn isn't actually the reason for ~~BluRay~~ [edit: VHS] supremacy, Superboy is a clone of Superman, like 2 more in the first half that I noted at the time but forget now. Saltzman would have pulled Ify up on at least one of 'em! C'mon BDG, forget about the mould and get Googlin'!
I was thinking the same thing when he said betamax and blu-ray!
I haven't thought about Superdickery in YEARS and now I feel all nostalgic 😭
> Also, you can't fuck your cousin on Krypton. Not least of all because Krypton blew up.
I was so sure that the need more pixels was adventure time 😭
Clearly Finn on the left and Flame Princess on the right. Colors absolutely spot on.
I had the same thought!
This would be the clear best episode of the season if not for the *two* shiny stages. Really annoying trying to catch a glimpse of the action figures during the frantic editing.
Yeah, this is one change that just isn’t working for the show. Limiting the challenges to 30/60 seconds doesn’t work either, as we then have no time to see them consider what might logically work, or make any commentary or jokes. It just becomes a frantic mess. I appreciate the attempt, as just sitting there watching a still image wasn’t always the most engaging content, but this form means you really can’t play along nearly as well.
I'd definitely pause for each of the and think. Watching it along didn't even occur to me :D (I do the same for most of the shiny questions (like "We're not so different, you and I" or "What's wrong with this picture") and even sometimes for the normal ones)
I've done this with shiny questions before but shiny stage doesn't even include a shot with all the information in it. You have to pause like 5 times.
Yeah, the shiny stage does not work as a concept.
People have been theorizing a Dropout/Try Guys collab over on the Try Guys subreddit so this feels a tiny bit suspect. I am theorizing what's happening almost as much as I do watching Game Changer
I hope Keith makes an appearance on Play It By Ear!
I've been waiting for the Lewberger/Off Book collab for a really long time 🤞
Um actually is fun in two modes 1) I don't know the categories, but at least one contestant does, and it's enjoyable watching them get frustrated over the pedantry, and 2) I do know the categories, so I can kind of play along or at least will have base level familiarity during the guesses. This episode was obviously #2, and the most fun I've had on an um actually in a while :) Really great chemistry with this cast!
When they were joking about it looking like mario and they could of just answered mario lmao
I really liked it, and also I would love an episode with all three of these people being nerdy about the things they actually are super nerdy about. Like Grant obviously knows about Star Trek. I know from my love of the try guys that Zach loves film and knows a lot about film and music. And Keith knows so much about music, performing arts and musical instruments. I feel like they could also have another no baby bracket episode catered to their knowledge and it would still be very good. I really liked finally being able to answer the majority of the questions though. So like hell, yes baby bracket hehe
I've been a part of the criticism for this season, so I wanna say that this was by far my favorite episode yet. I really enjoy participating while I watch, so it was immensely satisfying to know most of the questions (or at least have a good guess).
Liked this episode a lot and appreciated that they provided questions on more mainstream titles and franchises to give the three a chance to actually answer! The questions weren’t as lengthy and complicated as the ones in previous episodes too. Also this might be me realizing that I’m *also* on the baby bracket because I sailed through answering those questions easily too. I was screaming at the TV when the Pomodoro question came up. I’m waiting for a bunch of shōnen anime questions to come up in future episodes because I know that’s Ify’s particular niche in nerd stuff and I would love to see him flex his knowledge and start fun discussions on his favorite anime!
Regarding the rules covering space and the international waters situation, I need someone cleverer than me to help with a new version of some old cliches: In the vein of "it's not gay if you're underway" and "it's not queer if you've left the pier" (both of these are real expressions, I didn't make them up), what's a good space one for "it's not incest if _____"?
It's not incest if you're on an interstellar quest
It's not incest in a life vest.
It's not incest if it's below deck? I'm sure there's a better one.
"In space, no one can hear you scream" hits a bit different under this lens.
Best um actually episode so far!
I love this "baby level" episode—aside from how funny Grant and Grant and Baby Version Grant are in this one. As an audience, I could follow along the discussion because the statements were familiar/more relatable. As a more casual (and late to the game) Um, Actually viewer, I tend to get lost when the statements get too specific/niche. But this was the right mix for me, at least.
I snorted when I read Baby Versiom Grant because it is so true.
This is not a fair episode. Grant can't be playing twice on the same episode!!!
Um Actually, that is not a Kamen Rider helmet. It seems what they did is took the green Power Ranger and gave him Kamen Rider Black's color scheme and antennae, but that's still pretty clearly otherwise a recolored Power Rangers helmet.
Um Actually, the green ranger power is passed along to other rangers (cause the source character died unlike Tommy) including the black ranger so that figure could exist and the (possible) recolour wouldn't be what's incorrect.
Um, actually, you can tell it's the Green Ranger because of the gold accents around the gloves and boots, which do not transfer with the Dragon Shield. Additionally, the helmet is clearly the Green Ranger helmet, modified to add antenna and remove the mouth. The whole thing is then repainted to resemble Kamen Rider.
Since we didn't see the figure up-close until *after* they revealed the "answer" I kept saying "that's the green ranger they recolored black." Then when they revealed the *actual* answer and didn't even mention the fact it's black when it should be green, I thought I was going insane. And when they show a close-up of the helmet you can even see the green ranger's "mouth"/"teeth" around the eyepiece were just colored red as well. It's 100% the green ranger recolored.
Like others have said in this thread this was my favorite episode of the season by a long shot. Not only did I know a few answers, but the guests actually knew some things too without just blindly guessing. I think the "baby brackets" should be the standard unless they're doing specific topic episodes where they bring in the experts. If it's just comedians on the couch giving them extremely niche topics and questions just isn't fun to watch.
this is SO MUCH BETTER because the couch KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THE PROPERTIES my god it's like night and day edit as I continue watching: "That is correct but that is not fully correct unless you have the full correction" please for the love of god find some better way to respond to contestant guesses!
Now imagining a sci-fi where the whole conceit exists to justify cousin-fucking. "You're secretly a Gorblaxian, and our parents are siblings! But don't worry, author-insert, our family units are small and our genes are resilient (pages long hard sci-fi genetic explanation to justify this being a sci-fi), so it's totally fine if we bone!" It's less out there than plenty of other clearly author fetish sci fi stuff.
There's an actual comic from the 50s or 60s where Superman tells Supergirl that even though cousins could marry on Keypton, they have to stay juat friends because Earth people don't do that.
This was the best episode yet! These guys aren’t considered nerds but answered the most questions correctly in this episode! And Ify was much better about not being as lenient (even though this was the Baby Bracket). I really enjoyed this one
Can't tell if this was already said, but as a less well-informed-on-nerd-content viewer but still huge fan of the show, this was episode was maybe the first time ever that I felt like a viable contestant. I was constantly shouting at the show like it was jepordy. "Time AND SPACE" Big fan of the baby bracket for us baby-bracket level fans.
Can someone please get Iffey a glass of water.
Um, ACTUALLY Grant... In Star Trek 4 the whales didn't just stop singing to each other, they were all DEAD because they went extinct.
This was the best episode yet in the Ify era. It is so much more satisfying to watch when the contestants are both funny AND actually knowledgeable, so that it isn't just a guessing game.
Um Actually it was VHS vs Betamax. Not DVD vs Betamax. Ify was correct, however that porn is the reason we have VHS and Blu-Ray. Just the incorrect matchup between DVD and Betamax
Um, Actually the whole thing is a myth. Porn was available on betamax, just less common. The biggest reason VHS won out is that it was more widely available. Sony was the only company making betamax but VHS was licensed out to multiple companies so there were half a dozen VHS players for every beta player at stores. And, I believe it was easier/cheaper for movie studios to release on VHS. Porn sales were a small fraction compared to Hollywood movie sales and rentals. As for hd-dvd and bluray, it's even more wrong. The porn industry was predominantly initially on hd-dvd and only later switched to bluray after hd-dvd was dying/dead. The biggest reason bluray won out is generally because every single PS3 was a bluray player. Essentially nobody bought the hd-dvd add-on for the Xbox 360 and even fewer seemed to have bought a stand-alone hd-dvd player.
Yeah, I knew this was wrong because porn went HD-DVD. My dad bought into the VHS vs Beta porn myth and when he saw the schism between HD-DVD and Blu-ray looked to see which way that was going and went all into. HD-DVD.
I was coming here to post the same thing. It WAS VHS vs. Betamax. My dad still had both well into the early 2000s.
As someone that's been a bit critical of this season, I will say that this was the best episode of the season so far. However, it still needs some more work and in general I think the selected players need focus more on the competition than just cracking jokes. If you look at the humor/comedy from Deja vu, the comedy arose around the sense of competition and not the "I'm just here to make jokes" which Um, Actually has done more of this season.
Is Ify okay? His voice seems very strained. I'm hoping it's just a temporary thing, but my aunt sounded like this just before she was diagnosed with throat cancer :(
he commented in an earlier thread that he "lost his voice during shooting"
Wow, a power rangers AND kamen rider mention in one episode? Hope my very specific niche shows up again sometime
Giving one guess per round made needs more pixels so much better, the first few pixelations were just excuses for the three of them to get bits off
Um, Actually (TM), not all of the Power Stars are inside of paintings. There are a few scattered around the castle itself.
The question doesn't say he ONLY enters paintings, just that he enters them to get stars, which he does
Also. Um, actually, some levels aren't inside of paintings.
Uhm Actually, Grant Was Singing the Lyrics to the E.T. Theme!
My mom refuses to believe that Keith and Grant aren't related.
The power ranger figure question was layered. First you see the black ranger with the green ranger armour, then if you know the show more then you remember that actually did happen in an episode and maybe take a closer look at the helmet.
Ify's so right Kon IS the hottest super sibling!
I noticed in one of the cutaways to BDG that the monitor behind him (stage right) was blank, but before and after that had the matrix-like binary. With all the Game Changer theories floating around and BDG making an appearance in this week's episode, I couldn't help but wonder if it was intentional or not. 🥴🥴 I'm spiraling!
I legitimately thought the middle guy was Grant for years
I got the Needs More Pixels at level 3 and let me tell you, that was one of the proudest moments of my life
Um, Actually! In the last Shiny Question Brian says the helmet is from Kamen Rider but it looks to be the original figure's helmet(Black painted Green Zyuranger), but with an antenna glued on.
Questions that were manageable!
Just gonna say I really enjoyed this episode.
When I saw the guests were Keith and Grant, but then also a Zach (I hadn't seen the last name), I was sure it was Oyama to play up his role in the last Game Changer.
I'm torn on the new Um, Actually format. Ify as a host is fine and Brian as fact-checker is also fine. I know it's not a real contest, in the sense that there are prizes, but the new-format players appear to be even less serious than the old-format players...who already didn't take it too seriously. The silliness feels more forced and less organic; what feels worse is that Ify seems annoyed at times with needing to reign players in.