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Shane
Void where prohibited by law 21 + terms and conditions apply. Hello, I'm Shane and welcome to Smosh Mouth.
Amanda
Hi, I'm Amanda and we have a wonderful special guest, Damian Haas.
Damian Haas
Hey, great to be here, Amanda. Great to be here, Shane. Thank you for having me on your show.
Shane
Thanks, Damian.
Amanda
We're so excited to have you.
Shane
Glad to have you here. This episode's gonna be really cool. We've talked about so random before on podcasts here at Smosh, but I was rummaging around my room and I found some old scripts. Legitimately. I found three so random scripts from back when we were on the show. I also found the icarly script, found a Henry Danger script, found movie script. I found Dear Lemon Lima, a movie I did when I was a teenager. I found. I kept all these scripts, but somewhere.
Damian Haas
Quentin reviews is foaming at the mouth.
Shane
He's like, oh. But the so random scripts I even found. Here's the one I found.
Damian Haas
Oh, my God.
Shane
Has. I'll show it briefly. We might have to blur some stuff out. Just some stuff. But there's a bunch of signatures from all the cast, including Damien. You wrote ooh ooh.
Damian Haas
Cause that was the inside joke.
Shane
And. Yeah.
Damian Haas
Do you want. I'm gonna. There's gonna be a lot of inside jokes. Do you explain everyone.
Amanda
So basically, I am here as a voyager. I am sitting in a passenger seat with my seatbelt on, and I am gonna be asking questions of things that I don't know or are. But I want to hear about your so random journey.
Damian Haas
Love that.
Amanda
Because I feel like me as Amanda. I know you guys from Smosh. I know Shane and Damian from Smosh.
Shane
Right? That's right.
Amanda
But you guys have brought up so random. So I'm so glad that he found these scripts because I want to know.
Shane
And you've never watched a single bit of so random.
Amanda
I haven't watched a damn episode of so random. Not on purpose. Just because life.
Shane
Yeah, that's okay. I. I would be almost a little weirded out if you were like, oh, yeah, I've watched.
Amanda
I've seen every single episode. And that's why I'm on Smosh. Cause I beg to get on here because I love so random.
Damian Haas
We inspired Amanda to get into Sketch.
Amanda
Imagine it if I admitted that. If I was like, okay, I'm gonna fangirl real quick. But you guys are the reason why I got into Sketch.
Damian Haas
I mean, that would be huge. But I have had people say things like, oh, I used to watch you as a kid, where I'm like, oh, that hurts my feelings. Cause now I feel older. But like I was saying earlier, you know, while waiting for this, I didn't get recognized for so random stuff until I started on Smosh because I was in college at the time. So, like, unless I was at the grocery store after, like, work hours, when would a kid recognize me at all? Like, when would I be around people of the age to watch this? You know? So, like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda
So. So random came out in 2011.
Shane
Yes.
Damian Haas
It was 11.
Shane
It was. I think it was 11.
Amanda
I'm looking at the.
Shane
Yes, I think we started. Yeah, it is there. This first sketch was written in March. So literally, quite literally, 13 years ago.
Damian Haas
Wow.
Shane
As of this.
Amanda
And this is when you guys moved.
Shane
What are we doing?
Damian Haas
Yes. It's funny. Cause I remember, like, getting on the soundstage and not being sure where to go. And Shane walks by, and there was just a little, like. I don't believe in too much metaphysical stuff, but there was just a little, like, sort of, like, radar going off. And I was like, I'm probably gonna talk to him way more. And then he was like, the first person I met in our. Not audition. Actual table read.
Shane
Yeah. Cause I. We got hired. All the cast kind of came in at, like, different times, like, the first two weeks. So they brought in a couple of the newer cast in the first week, and I was in on the first episode. And then second week, they brought in you, Matthew Scott, a couple of the people into the table read. And I remember since I didn't know what the deal was with this show, I wasn't hired on as a regular.
Damian Haas
We still don't.
Shane
We still don't know where we were, but we weren't hired as regulars. I was. I auditioned. And, you know, do you know the whole background of this whole thing? Do you know about Sonny with a Chance and stuff?
Amanda
That sounds familiar.
Shane
So Sonny with a Chance was a. Was a sitcom on Disney Channel similar to Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place. It was around that Time. And it starred Demi Lovato.
Damian Haas
Denim labomba.
Shane
Yes.
Amanda
Yeah, we were talking about this. This was this. I was like, you were probably. It wasn't in my vicinity. I was too old.
Shane
Yeah, Both Damian and I were too. I was. I mean, generally speaking, I was 19 at the time, so I wasn't watching Disney Channel. And not that anyone can. Yeah, exactly. But at the time, I wasn't. And. But Demi Lovato. But I was very aware. But let me be clear. I was very aware of all the Disney shows because I was auditioning for them. I had auditioned for Hannah Montana. I'd probably audition for Wizards and stuff. But so had the first two seasons. It was a big show. And then for reasons that people.
Damian Haas
I think they went three. They went three seasons.
Shane
Did they go three?
Damian Haas
We were the fourth.
Shane
Interesting. But it went for a couple seasons with Demi Lovato as the core selling point star of this show, and she's a huge star already. She leaves the show for reasons many people are aware of now and stuff. This was a long time ago. But she leaves the show. And so now they still contractually need to do another season, but they don't have their literal star. So they're like, what do we do? The show is about the behind the scenes of a sketch Show a la 30 Rock. So they. It's literally 30 Rock. Oh, on Disney Channel.
Amanda
Oh, I get it. And this is the sketch show.
Shane
So then they just go, let's make the sketch show.
Amanda
That's actually smart.
Damian Haas
I think so.
Amanda
I think that's brilliant.
Shane
But it was also. It was weird to do because I'm like, disney's never done sketch.
Damian Haas
Can I give you the crazy background for before that?
Shane
Sure.
Damian Haas
Years prior, I'm living in Georgia, still auditioning for things, and I auditioned for a show called Sketchpad. And I get called back a few times and I'm like, oh, man. Like, this might be a thing. And it is a sketch comedy show for the Disney Channel with a small element of focusing on the players in the sketch show. So I end up getting called back a few times. I audition. I don't end up booking it. You know, disappointing, but so it goes. And then when I'm auditioning for so Random, it's the same casting director, and she goes, oh, I'm so glad you're here. Oh, it's so good to see you again. And I'm like, oh, that's exactly what you want to hear. Come to find out, as, you know, production hell goes. It started out as sketch pad became sunny With a chance. And then when she left, I think it was like, let's pull the ripcord on what this was supposed to originally be and turned back.
Shane
Did you know that I. I remember. I never auditioned for Sketchpad, but I remember my agents at one point being like, we got to get you in the room for Sketchpad. They. They've got that.
Damian Haas
Are they chomping on us?
Shane
I don't know. I don't know why I'm making them that they're women and they're not. But. But I never got an audition for it for whatever reason at the time. And I remember being like, damn, okay. And then it came back around and I got the audition for so random. And yeah, the audition process was very similar to Smosh. Really, where they were like, prepare a bunch of characters and come in. It was. There was no script. There was no nothing.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
And so, like, bring in impressions, characters and stuff. So I came in with some similar characters that I did for Smosh. Honestly, like, I was like, I can do a Tom Cruise impression. So I did stuff like that. What was your audition like? I know we've talked about. I mean, they recognized you. They knew you.
Damian Haas
Yeah, I do a lot better flying by the seat of my pants than I do with, like a written out script. So I had some general ideas of like, okay, these are some character types. These are like, impressions I can kind of do. And I just sort of improv. I was like, give me a word. And they were like, bubbles. And I was like, great bubbles. Then I went from there and just went into character to character, to character, and that was it. Wow. But that's more comfortable for me. Cause I would have been so nervous having to like, same memorize. Yeah. I figure, like, hey, same game. Recognized game. For those of you. The audio version. We just bumped fists.
Amanda
We just bumped fists.
Damian Haas
But yeah, so when we went in for the table read, I was told it was still an audition. They were like, hey, they want to bring you in for a table read. See how it goes. And so I did that. And then they were like, all right, so tomorrow we're going to meet up and do the whatever. And I was like, for me too. On the. The. Huh? And they were like, yeah, it's where you're going to film this. And I was like, oh, God. And it was like that for all 24 episodes we did of like, I guess you're back this week, and bro.
Shane
They throw you in. And it's. It's a Disney channel show where. So my first week I'm like, okay, I'm showing up. What is this? And I'm a guest star, but I'm fully in this show. We do the table read, and it's shot like a sitcom. So you show up on Monday. We're table reading that episode, and then we go into a light rehearsal. And then you rehearse, rehearse. You shoot some stuff on Thursday.
Damian Haas
I think live show on Friday.
Shane
And then we do live on Friday.
Amanda
Live sitcom style.
Shane
Live sitcom, but live sketch. So it's more like SNL. And it is in front of a big audience.
Damian Haas
100 children.
Shane
A hundred fucking kids. And it's my first week. It's my first week. I've never done live. I have done stage shit.
Damian Haas
Wait, I didn't know that I didn't do live.
Shane
Oh, very. I was 19. I would have never known that I was not doing live performances. I had been on sets like. And icarly was the crew that does the laughter.
Amanda
Live is a totally different.
Shane
I get in front of live, and the first sketch we're doing, I am, for some reason, the lead of it. And I'm doing an impression of Billy Mays. He had died eight months prior to this sketch being filmed. And I was like, disney, what are you doing? Okay. And I'm. I'm doing this whole bit. And I remember. I remember getting into it. I'm like, okay, I'm filming this sketch in front of a bunch of people. They don't know who I am, so I need to be good or else this is going to flatline. Because these kids aren't, like, stoked to see me. Cause they know me. They were so hyped to see the rest of the cast.
Damian Haas
Yeah, and there's always, like, a musical guest too, where it's like, we even had Justin Bieber. And so we always feel like, go. But I had only done live because I barely ever booked on camera stuff because I'm not, like, believable as an actor. So I, like, did an improv theater. That was my entire high school thing. I worked at an improv theater in Atlanta. Would drive up every day. But the on camera stuff scared the crap out of me. So I guess we just tagged out who was gonna be shitting themselves that day.
Amanda
I remember now I really wanna watch it.
Shane
They yelled action on it. And I remember I have to pop up and start doing this bit. And I'm in this insane character. And I remember I pop up. I saved my first line, and then I get a response. And I remember I had, like, a Second where I'm. And I was doing my bit to the camera because I'm a salesman. I'm Billy Mays.
Amanda
Yeah.
Shane
And I remember. I still vividly remember I had, like a second where I froze. And I was just there. And I was just like. And maybe it. Maybe it read as nothing to people, but I remember I had the split second where I go, holy shit. And then I just. Like. I was like, I gotta just go.
Amanda
And that was your moment. It could either have gone this way or this way.
Shane
I had to go for it. And those first. That first. Those first two episodes, I watched them and I'm like, all right. And then this first sketch that we have that I pulled, this is episode.
Amanda
Oh, yeah. So we have scripts with us.
Shane
This is episode five.
Damian Haas
This is wild.
Amanda
That we're going to read.
Shane
Yes.
Damian Haas
So I found the scripts.
Shane
I found the scripts. So I pulled a bunch. And we're gonna read them today. I guess I should have clarified that.
Amanda
Oh, my God.
Shane
So this is from episode five. This is around the time when I started to feel comfortable. And this first sketch is called Garlic Garden. I don't know. Were you on set for this?
Damian Haas
I remember watching it. I think I was on set watching it, but I wasn't in it. And also, I haven't seen these scripts in a long time because they all went to my college email because I was like, I'm gonna have that forever. And I plan ahead.
Shane
But see, I would take some from the table reads and from our. And I would. I would stack them up in my dressing room.
Damian Haas
I remember that. And the Lacroix cans. Let's unpack this. Cause now it's a thing.
Shane
I love stacking things.
Amanda
I think Shane wants to live in a castle.
Shane
Great. I would legitimately stack all. And you'd get like four scripts throughout the week because they're revising them. But I hit a point where my script stack in my dressing room was like 6ft tall.
Damian Haas
It is huge.
Amanda
So every week. Every Friday. Every Friday was a sketch.
Shane
Was a live show.
Amanda
No.
Shane
Multiple sketches.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Amanda
Was multiple sketches. And how long was the live show?
Damian Haas
A handful hours. I mean, they would have.
Amanda
So it was like, what, nine?
Shane
Oh, these were long days.
Damian Haas
There were long days.
Amanda
But nine sketches? Eight sketches.
Shane
Oh, how many?
Damian Haas
Five or six. Eventually they usually come in with like seven. And a couple would get pared down during the week because they had a team of 800 writers. And yeah, I. I remember they had to be very careful about how long they had the kids on set. So that was something we had to be aware of child labor law.
Shane
So this. The script I have is for the final episode, episode 26. That's where I have this whole script. I have the other script at home.
Amanda
This is actually amazing that you guys did this. So what was crazy is since they kept you in this kind of weird loop. Did I get it? Did I didn't. You probably couldn't really celebrate while you were.
Damian Haas
We guest starred for 26 episodes, but here's the difference. We got paid, like, a third of what the series regulars did.
Shane
That's my big break. And you're like, oh, I still have to struggle for rent.
Damian Haas
I do remember getting my first ever, like, bachelor pad apartment after that. And, like, looking back now, the rent was bone cheap even at the time. But I was like, this is gonna last forever. And it was Los Angeles. So, like, within a year, I was like, oh, time to learn how to sell jeans.
Shane
But, yeah, so this first sketch, then. Yeah, there's roughly, like, eight or nine sketches per episode. But this first sketch is from episode five. So this is around March, and we started in January. Love it. This is the first time where I couldn't stop breaking up until this point. My nerves. My nerves had kept me where I didn't break at all in any of our sketches. I didn't even smile. Cause I was so nervous. I knew this was when I was finally comfortable because I. And this wasn't live. This one was one of the ones we filmed on, like, a Thursday. So that's a lot of cuts. But I remember I could not hold it in.
Amanda
Were they mad about that or. Okay.
Shane
At first, we were all laughing, and I wasn't the only one laughing. But at a certain point, they're like, all right, come on, let's. Let's get this together.
Damian Haas
Yeah. I also had that problem at that time.
Shane
Yeah.
Damian Haas
And I remember, like, every. There was one background actor that was like, hey, it'd be funnier if you weren't laughing at the joke.
Shane
And I was like, thanks, man.
Damian Haas
Thanks.
Amanda
You're like, your background. I'm guest star.
Shane
I'm guest star. Okay, so this is. This is called the Garlic garden. Yay. Amanda, can you play mom?
Amanda
Of course.
Shane
And also, can you play Farrah?
Amanda
Yes.
Shane
Damian, can you play dad? And Timmy.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Amanda
Is Farrah. How old is Farah?
Shane
Farah's ancient. She's like.
Amanda
You're gonna say 16.
Shane
She's like a grandma, right?
Damian Haas
No, that was played by Alison, I think. That's a kid, right?
Shane
Oh, yeah, girl.
Amanda
Farrah.
Shane
Wait, this is before the Recast.
Damian Haas
What?
Shane
An ancient woman. She's like super old.
Damian Haas
That was the fun part of so random. It was a bunch of teens and then.
Shane
Sorry, sorry. I have this wrong. I have this wrong. Mom is ancient.
Amanda
Course Disney motherfuckers. Mom is so ancient, nobody knows how she was ever hot.
Shane
Well, here's what's confusing. So the rest of the cast, the, like, the. The regulars on the show, they have their character names, but all of us that were hired on, they have our first names, but then they would give us a different last name so that we weren't playing ourselves. We're characters.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
So do you want to guess what my last name was?
Amanda
Shane. Like Michaels or like Shane Zabo?
Damian Haas
A proud Polish name. No, I don't.
Shane
What is.
Damian Haas
What is Zabo?
Shane
I don't know what it is to this day.
Amanda
It's cool.
Shane
It's Shane Zabo was my name.
Amanda
What was yours?
Damian Haas
Damian Johansson. I'm like. That's vaguely Franco. Dutch.
Shane
Sure.
Damian Haas
Great.
Shane
Shane Zabo. Zabo. Okay. All right. So you'll be mom and Farrah, who's a teen. I think Farah's an adult.
Amanda
It says teen girl. Farrah.
Shane
Damn. Okay. Yeah. Cause I was also a do. I'm also trying to put.
Damian Haas
So luck you got 26.
Shane
Let's just read this. Let's just read this and see what's going on.
Amanda
Yes, sir.
Shane
This is probably before the edits, before they revise.
Amanda
You want me to read the stage directions?
Shane
I can read the stage directions.
Damian Haas
And I'm dad and Timmy.
Shane
Yeah.
Damian Haas
Okay, here we go.
Shane
Interior, the Garlic Garden. Music. Cue happy commercial background music. Angle on a sign for the Garlic Garden restaurant. A happy family. Mom, dad, teen girl and young Timmy sit at a table laughing and eating in an Olive Garden esque restaurant.
Amanda
More breadsticks, Timmy.
Damian Haas
Oh, thanks, Mom.
Amanda
This place is awesome.
Damian Haas
And I'll have some of that unlimited salad.
Shane
Vito Banducci. Shane steps up to the table. That's what it's there for. More laughs. Hey, I'm Vito Banducci. Welcome to the Garlic Garden. Here we treat you like family.
Amanda
I sure would love some water.
Shane
So you got legs. Giddy yourself. And you're wearing too much makeup. Thing is, I don't like my family. Oh, elbows off the table, huh? Vito slaps the back of Dad's head. What are we, animals? Like I said, we treat yous like family.
Damian Haas
Um, could I get the chicken zucchini ravioli, but with no zucchini?
Shane
I'm gonna make an extra pot of food just for you. You'll eat what you'll get and you'll like it, you ungrateful j'moke. What do you think this is, a restaurant?
Damian Haas
Um, yeah.
Shane
All right, Mr. Smart Alec.
Damian Haas
That's it.
Shane
You lose. Off the bed. No. Dinner. Vito takes Timmy's plate.
Damian Haas
Mommy.
Shane
At the Garlic Garden, you'll get authentic American chain Italian food at not very reasonable prices, but, hey, your family. A white dog jumps up on the table.
Amanda
Ew, gross.
Shane
The dog starts eating off Farah's plate.
Amanda
Get away.
Shane
Don't you talk to her like that. Camilla eats on the table. She's done more for me than any of yous ever will. At the Garlic Garden, when you're here, we treat you like family. Interior, the Garlic Garden, as before. Angle on Vito leaning into Mom. Look, all I'm asking for is a small loan, you know, a couple of grand til the end of the month.
Amanda
I'll pay you back.
Shane
Hey, we're family.
Damian Haas
Incredible.
Shane
This is way before they added in.
Amanda
This is amazing.
Damian Haas
I was in this sketch, Shane. Yeah, I was in the rewrite.
Shane
There was huge rewrites where Vito's mom keeps coming out with, like, a pot that she's stirring. And she's like, when are you gonna meet a nice Italian woman? I'm like, get back in the kitchen, Ma.
Damian Haas
And I would come out as an old man and be like, hey, Bob's the boob. It's this.
Shane
They added so much shit to this. Yes, but this is the original. This is like. This is the table read version.
Amanda
I could see this happening on the UCB stage right now.
Damian Haas
It's.
Amanda
Look, I'm not kidding. Like, this is. It's actually really funny and good and also very Italian.
Damian Haas
Very Italian.
Shane
No, it's very strange that they cast me who's not Italian at all.
Amanda
She's so white. You're like, use it, guys. You use it.
Damian Haas
They're like, shane Zabo is Italian, as in Italian. I give you permission to say that.
Shane
So thank you, Damien.
Damian Haas
You got it.
Amanda
So, okay, so they rewrote this whole thing.
Shane
They would rewrite it a lot, and we would get rewrites on the day.
Amanda
Oh, yeah, that makes sense.
Shane
Yeah. Cause it's like sitcom style.
Amanda
It reminds me of sketch where you would get, like, rewrites up to an hour before the show.
Damian Haas
Very much so.
Amanda
Usually they had it locked at least, but, like, there were, like, a couple tweaks.
Shane
Well, go ahead.
Damian Haas
Well, unlike snl, we didn't need teleprompters, but they would make changes in the moment because, like, you know, you read the same sketch all Week. You've heard it all week. It's not gonna make you laugh the same way all week.
Amanda
No, it's not.
Damian Haas
But in the moment, they're gonna be like, it's not funny to me anymore. What if the dog was a man? And you're like, oh, okay, I guess.
Amanda
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I understand.
Shane
No, and what was so weird about it is it was run like a sitcom, and we kept sitcom writers. We kept the entire same crew and everything. So we had. It was a sketch show with an entire sitcom cast, including all the regulars. Were sitcom actors. They. These weren't. You know, they're all hilarious. I love them. But nobody was like, the people who were on Sunday with a Chance weren't, like, sketch actors. Now. They were thrown into this.
Damian Haas
You know, what I'm realizing is, I think that that was actually a very good thing for how the cast worked together and bonded. Because, you know, come to find out, after getting to know them, some of them felt like, oh, no, they're bringing in these, like, sketch actors who really know what they're doing with sketch. And, like, that's what they're here for. I hope we don't get forgotten. And we're in that same position of like, oh, God, we're joining a show where everybody already love these characters and they know what they're doing. Like, and do we even have jobs next week? And so we were all just sort of in the same area of like, well, gosh, I'm not as good as you.
Shane
Yeah, I guess.
Damian Haas
No, that's bad for us. That kept us all low. That kept us all confident.
Shane
It was so trippy. And, yeah, the entire time we were like, am I gonna come back next week? Yeah, for 26 episodes. That.
Amanda
Oh, God, that's so stressful because you're probably thinking, like, okay, we did the show. Oh, God, did I. Did I mess up that line? Maybe that's not why they're gonna call me back. And maybe da, da, da.
Shane
Well, and I think part of a stipulation of not being a regular, being guest star, is you can't be in every single episode.
Damian Haas
I think I'm in 24 out of 26.
Shane
I'm in, like, 24 or 25 out of 26. So I. And I think mine was, like, episode eight where they pulled me. And I remember. I remember doing seven episodes and be like, this is awesome. It's going great. And then they're like, yeah, they don't need you for next week. And I was like, oh, shit. But, like, I had been on this show every week for seven weeks. And suddenly I was just like, oh, I guess I'm talk about the FOMO of my life.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
Where you're just, like, at home, and you're like, okay. So it's kind of like with smosh.
Amanda
Hey, Amanda, Angela's gonna take over.
Shane
I'm like, okay.
Amanda
And she texts me. She's like, miss you. You're not missing anything. And then I look at all the stories, and everyone's like, la, la. That day.
Damian Haas
I love. That was the best we ever did. We got Chapter two.
Amanda
It says, Angela, Courtney, Shane.
Shane
I'm like.
Damian Haas
I get like, smosh tiktoks, though, that, like, you know, whether it's from someone's story or like, someone has put it together. Like, there was one the other day where it was you while someone else was making coffee. You were in the background, and it, like, zoomed in on you, and it was like, they're having so much fun. Amanda. Love her. And I was like, that's great. They're making coffee.
Amanda
No, I saw that video. I'm not doing anything making coffee.
Shane
I'm like, this is radiant.
Damian Haas
While making it.
Amanda
That's nice.
Shane
I should.
Amanda
I should read the comments more.
Damian Haas
It's always a healthy thing to read comments.
Shane
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Amanda
But FOMO is a real thing. And also your 19 or 18.
Shane
I was 19.
Amanda
That's really overwhelming.
Shane
Oh, it was my first. Like, it was. You know, you hear. And I think it's a little bit of a myth now, but you hear a lot about, like, your big break.
Damian Haas
Yeah, yeah.
Shane
And I think it's a myth. I think, you know, you kind of. A career is a weird thing that goes up and down, but I was like, oh, my gosh, this is my big break. Like, after this, I'm going to find work. I'm gonna be working always. That turned out not to be true. But I remember, like, oh, shit. Like, I can't blow this.
Damian Haas
Like, right?
Shane
And, you know, you have agents and managers who are like, we should. They're screwing you over. We should negotiate for something. And you're like. You're like, no, no. You're like, no, no, don't say anything.
Damian Haas
Don't rock the boat.
Amanda
I'll do it for free.
Damian Haas
I'll kiss them. I'll make you feel good.
Amanda
I'll paint them.
Shane
Please. I'll do whatever.
Damian Haas
Yeah, I'll do a funny dance.
Amanda
We get so desperate.
Shane
We're like, I know. Rock the boat. I'm so sick.
Amanda
I'm coming into work.
Damian Haas
It's like, yeah. If we unionize and stick together, we can get what we deserve. Right, guys?
Shane
Guys?
Damian Haas
And everyone' yeah, I'll do the backpack kid dance.
Shane
There was. There was so much anxiety around the whole show. And I remember, and I wanted to say earlier of, like, when you came in, you and, like, other people came in for the second week at the table read, I was like, oh, fuck, we're getting replaced. I was like. I was like. I was like, oh, us and the other people that came in for the first episode, we clearly didn't pass the test. And they're showing us our replacements. So everyone thought they were getting replaced. Nobody got replaced. Like, everyone was there.
Amanda
You think they do that on purpose?
Shane
I think they on purpose don't really try to comfort you or tell you producers are not gonna be there to be like, hey, we just wanna let you know, like, we think this cast is solid and you guys are gonna be here from start to finish. They don't want you to have too much confidence.
Damian Haas
I think there's a part of it that's like that for manipulation, to put it bluntly. But I also think it's just like, legally, you can't promise work to anybody. But, like, I remember I was in a position there where, like, I was considering dropping out of college because I was showing up to classes just to, like. And then I would, like, skateboard as quickly as possible back to where my car was parked, you know, half the campus away, and would drive to Hollywood to film as quickly as possible and try not to be late. And I was like, what am I doing? And my dad had just passed too, and I was like, I don't really have a whole lot of, like, cornerstones to be like, is this a good life decision to drop out of college and do this show, which is clearly the only thing I have time for. So I kept asking them, like, hey, like, I know you can't say officially, but, like, between you, me and the.
Shane
Wallpaper, but officially am I employing.
Damian Haas
For seven more episod and they were.
Amanda
Like, we don't know.
Damian Haas
They were like, we're having a great time with you. And I'm like, they might.
Amanda
I will say, though, they might not have known. I don't think they might have been like, we're. We. We're just hoping on this week.
Shane
Well, maybe I think that's part of that. And it's true. Because even the, like, in people most in charge at so random were answering to someone else from, like, the Disney execs were probably giving them vague answers. Yeah, And I know towards the end of the show, they were upset that, like, the Disney execs didn't want it, you know, and those decisions are ultimately made by, like, the. The ultimate ultimates.
Amanda
That's. I think that's pretty dumb on their part because, like, all that was a sketch show, but some of the same.
Damian Haas
People worked on it.
Amanda
All that wasn't live, wasn't it? I thought all that wasn't filmed.
Damian Haas
Oh, I thought some of it was.
Amanda
Wait, was it?
Shane
So I'm not saying I'm. It wasn't like, live as in, like, live audio. I know, but like, a live audio.
Amanda
But like, a live audience.
Shane
All that, at least in the 90s, had an.
Damian Haas
Like.
Shane
Because they would have their. Their.
Damian Haas
Kenan Thompson is very real, I can assure you.
Shane
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Amanda
And you didn't. You're not playing it.
Shane
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Shane
Smoshmouth Back to the show.
Amanda
Back to the show.
Shane
But this is in a different era. And we were talking about this the other day. Yeah, we were talking about how different kids sitcoms were in the 90s versus this is the Era, like after Hannah Montana, it was the era of merchandising and the era of like pushing all this stuff. Yeah. And it was like, you want to be famous, you want to be a singer, you want to be all this.
Damian Haas
And.
Shane
And like just all this merchandise and so random. Couldn't have any merchandise because it was sketch.
Damian Haas
Yeah. So you would have to merchandise off the dancing show. Like step it up or what was it. Shake it up, Shake it up. And it was, it was like, oh, we've got the Bella. I'm sorry, I'm forgetting all this. We got the Bella Thorne, like lunchbox and you want to buy that? And we couldn't do that because we.
Amanda
Because the other day when we were talking about this. Disney doesn't have commercials. They only have their own. It's all Disney, all the time. Their own. If it's a commercial, it's a promotion for a movie of Disney.
Shane
So Disney doesn't at least. Yeah. It doesn't make money off of its TV shows directly. They make money off the merchandising that comes with their shows.
Amanda
So it's simply because they couldn't make merchandise.
Shane
I think they could make. That was our guess. We never got told that officially, but I thinking about it, knowing this industry, it's that. It's also that it was expensive. Sketch is expensive.
Damian Haas
The pig outfit, of course.
Shane
But they also would spend so much.
Damian Haas
They would spend a lot of money on money.
Shane
They're building brand new sets every week for sketches.
Damian Haas
The sets were great, but like we didn't. We did a sketch where like someone had to play Porky Pig and you know, you would imagine maybe like a little nose, some like ears, like that sketch comedy.
Shane
That's enough.
Damian Haas
They rented a. To the best of my knowledge, I think it was $10,000 to rent this very true to life pig mascot outfit that you could not act in.
Shane
Okay, we'll put this up on screen. Can you pass her the prosthetic? So I did a sketch called Jack Sparrow where I am a sparrow.
Damian Haas
That's.
Shane
And they did full on prosthetics. That is a beak that moves up and down with my mouth.
Damian Haas
That's funny though.
Amanda
Wait, that's.
Damian Haas
That was.
Shane
Yeah, but that's really good.
Amanda
Wait, that's you?
Shane
Yes. I was in hours of makeup and they did prosthetic stuff like this all the time. Damian had a sketch called My Big Hands.
Damian Haas
Oh, yeah, sorry, that was probably too loud. My big Hands. Apparently it was a prop that was used on some Star Trek shoot. But they, they were just very Realistic hands that were very, like, comically big, but looked real and were like articulated. And I could move perfectly and they had to put me in these very realistically. And that was the whole thing. It was a kid with really big hands. It was the whole sketch. So they. I loved it.
Shane
They were dole. You guys, the budget. The budget was insane. We're doing cool. We're doing stuff that, like, should never have. They shouldn't have been spending that money.
Amanda
But that's so cool.
Shane
Oh, it was really cool to experience special effects makeup. Yeah. Like, that's. Unless I get on a Star Trek show, I'm probably not gonna have that.
Amanda
What is it like to get special effects makeup on?
Shane
So for the beak that they had to put on my face where literally, like, I think I could still breathe out of my nose is what's crazy.
Amanda
Hopefully.
Shane
But no, it takes forever. Like, they were like, all right, you're gonna sit down with this special effects makeup person early in the day. We're gonna film this later. And also, mind you, I'm in a gigantic fucking feather suit with a pirate costume over it. Comfy. But they. I forget, they apply a bunch of stuff and then they put this beak on and then they spend up forever applying onto that. So you have this beak on your face, but when you open your mouth, it opens and you're just start. You start talking. And when you talk, it talks. And you do have to be very pronounced with how you talk. Like, I had to make sure I was talking like that while also doing my Jack Sparrow impression and we're filming it in a nest. I'm sorry, that sketch does embarrass me, honestly.
Damian Haas
Well, that was when I didn't get to see filming, so I only saw it filmed. I think that was like the week after or the week before I joined. And so I was just impressed as hell by it.
Shane
It was one of the first weeks and it got hot and we're in all this stuff.
Amanda
So when you're sitting in the chair, do you have anything to pass the time?
Damian Haas
I mean, you would talk to the.
Shane
Talk to the special effects person.
Damian Haas
A lot of the makeup artists and ha stylists would just be really cool, chill people that you could talk to. Like, I had a recurring character that was a zombie that in a write up, they said was the darkest thing to ever happen on the Disney Channel. But the whole joke was that, oops, a kid went missing. It was probably the zombie that ate him. And so I had like a mild amount of special effects makeup and they Sort of got it down pat. They could get it done within an hour. And they're like, basically like gluing crepe paper to my face to make it look like shredded skin. But, like, it was the first sketch I filmed. And I'm also in, like, a letterman jacket in the heat of a blacktop pavement parking lot in LA in the summer. And I'm just sweating this all down. And it was just the most, like, it's so fun in the moment, but then when you're done, you're like, that is every ounce of energy I've ever had in my life.
Shane
Yeah.
Amanda
Wow.
Shane
Speaking of your sketches. Oh, the second one I printed out, I wanted to find Zombieman, but Zombieman didn't have a lot of, like, I didn't find a Zombieman sketch. It doesn't have a lot of performance in it. It's a little bit more of a.
Damian Haas
Okay. No, I'm kidding.
Shane
But I found the one that does have more performance, and that is Olaf Glutella, fake foreign exchange student.
Amanda
Oh, Olaf Glutella.
Shane
Like Nutella, probably, but Glutella, does she.
Amanda
Bake a lot of gluten?
Shane
This is also from the same episode as the Garlic Garden. So this is early on, how you.
Damian Haas
Feel about the Jack Sparrow one? I think I feel that way about.
Shane
This where you had to do accents. Cause you also had the Irish teacher one.
Damian Haas
Yeah. So for this one, I was like, oh, do you want, like a realistic. Any kind of accent? And they're like, nah, make it weird and different. Cause he's foreign. And I'm like, what can I do? Can I pick a place? And they're just like. They're like, no, make it wacky because you're a fake foreign exchange student.
Amanda
I'm like, okay, so this came out in 2011. Everyone just heads up.
Damian Haas
That's fine.
Shane
So, and this is on the Disney channel. Yeah, in 2011. So, Amanda, can you play Mrs. Jaffe?
Amanda
Of course. Is she ancient?
Shane
I don't think so.
Damian Haas
She's an ancient teenager at an Italian restaurant.
Shane
I am actually cast as the announcer. And then Damian, can you be Owen Gordon? And Olaf.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
Wow.
Amanda
Olaf, who are the students?
Damian Haas
The students?
Shane
They're extras.
Amanda
Yeah, Fuck em.
Damian Haas
Fuck em. Who gives a shit? They don't matter. Like, they don't matter.
Amanda
True.
Damian Haas
Now, would you like me to do it as I did in the day?
Shane
I want you to try to do it as. As you perform.
Damian Haas
I don't remember normal Owen, but I do remember Olaf, so let's make that happen.
Shane
I Remember it too. Very vividly. All right. Interior, classroom. Owen Gordon Damien is being tossed out of his classroom by Mrs. Jaffe after being expelled for extreme class clowning. Exterior, school hallway. Sag down. Smackdown set. That's a different sketch. Continuous. The classroom door slams behind Owen. He pouts and then gets an idea. Typical American teenager, Owen Gordon realized there was only one way to return to school and continue his shenanigans. Cut to interior bathroom. Bedazzles it. Bathroom set continuous. Owen looks at himself in the mirror. Dips down out of view. When he pops up, he is wearing a bushy mustache, crazy wig, Wild and crazy guys shirt, dark eyebrows revealing a foreign look.
Amanda
Omg.
Shane
Announcer beat up.
Damian Haas
Just quick check in. We sure about this one?
Shane
All right, here we go. This is what we were handed.
Amanda
This is from 2011, from an actual Disney show that Shane and Damian did.
Shane
He became Olaf Glutella, fake foreign exchange student. Olaf looks in mirror, points a water gun and squirts. Olaf looking in mirror.
Damian Haas
How you say in my country it means welcome everybody.
Shane
Into your classroom. High school classroom. The no nonsense teacher, Mrs. Jaffe enters.
Amanda
Students, please join me in welcoming our new foreign exchange student from Glendavia, Olaf Glutella.
Shane
Olaf Glutella enters the class doing the same crazy flailing arms and legs walk, then kicks Mrs. Jaffe in the butt. The kids laugh. Olaf smiles, loving it.
Amanda
Olaf, why are you kicking me in the buttocks?
Damian Haas
How you say? In my country it means hello again.
Shane
Hello. Olaf kicks Mrs. Jaffe in the butt again. Class laughs.
Amanda
Olaf, that's enough with the hellos. Take your seat and leave mine alone. And don't feel like you have to participate, but you can if you want.
Shane
Olaf does his crazy walk to his seat to laughs Mrs. Jaffe writing on the whiteboard.
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Shane
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Amanda
Who can tell me what x cubed is?
Shane
Slam A beach ball. Smacks the board, bounces off.
Amanda
Ah.
Shane
Mrs. Jaffe turns around to see Olaf volleying a beach ball.
Damian Haas
Olaf, how you say in my country, this is participate. I love participate.
Shane
Olaf bounces the beach ball into the air a few times, then sends it flying at Mrs. Jaffe, just missing her head. He keeps smiling, smacking the beach ball at her. She keeps screaming and ducking.
Damian Haas
Participate.
Amanda
Ow.
Shane
Participate.
Amanda
Ow.
Damian Haas
Participate.
Amanda
Ow.
Shane
Mrs. Jaffe tries to catch the ball, fails, tries again, runs all over the class until she finally grabs it and holds it, panting. The class is laughing.
Amanda
Olaf, in America, we don't participate by throwing beach balls at heads. Show your teacher some respect.
Damian Haas
Oh no. Let me. Sorry.
Shane
Olaf runs up to the front of the class, pulls out Silly String from his backpack and sprays Mrs. Jaffe's face.
Amanda
Olaf, why in the world will you spray me with funny floss? Rotten egg scented funny floss.
Damian Haas
Well, you say in my country it means respect.
Shane
Keeps on spraying this sketch.
Damian Haas
I have so lots respect for you. So lots respect.
Shane
The class is dying.
Amanda
Olaf. No more anything. No respect. No participate. No hellos. Sit quietly and do nothing. Do nothing. Do you understand?
Shane
Olaf nods like a bobblehead.
Amanda
The rest of you, while your teacher tries to get a certain classmate transferred to another school, you'll take a pop quiz.
Shane
Groans from the class. But then the fire alarm goes off. Mrs. Jaffe turns to see Olaf pumping the fire alarm.
Amanda
Olaf no. Bad Olaf.
Damian Haas
Well you say in my country this doing nothing.
Shane
Olaf pumps the fire alarm. Doing nothing.
Amanda
Doing nothing.
Damian Haas
Doing nothing.
Amanda
Pop quiz canceled. Everyone file out.
Shane
The class cheers Olaf. Olaf. Olaf. As they file out of class, Olaf's the last one out.
Damian Haas
How you say dropping accent and act. I'm getting away with murder. Wink.
Amanda
Disney taught children to act like this. Oh my God.
Damian Haas
The iPad generation is Disney.
Amanda
This is why teachers were miserable. Are miserable.
Shane
This explains Gen Z. I will say.
Amanda
This is a very well crafted sketch.
Damian Haas
It's a lot of fun.
Amanda
These are like very well crafted. Like.
Shane
Oh, they're perfectly, like, wrapped up.
Amanda
They're great.
Damian Haas
The writers knew what they were did. They all had pretty impressive resumes and, like, really knew what was up.
Shane
They're great.
Damian Haas
And that is. This is. It's cool seeing this because, like, this is one of the ones that gets brought up the most when people talk about it. Really, to me, I guess it's not like it happens that often, but, like, when someone brings it up, I'm like, oh, yeah, that was a thing. So it is a well crafted sketch. It is goofy, and it really did give me an opportunity to be pretty wacky, like, in one of my first episodes. I don't know.
Amanda
I love it. I feel like if this sketch was brought to, like, now age theater, like, ucb, they'd be like, all right, super cool. What if Olaf was like, you know what? You're right. I'm gonna reveal something to you. And then he just goes, I'm not from gondola. I'm from Va va va va va.
Shane
Yeah, just a second.
Amanda
And we all think that you're gonna, like, take off your mustache and stuff. And then she's like, olaf.
Damian Haas
Yeah, different disguise. The Derek comedy. Like, let me get the principal.
Shane
Right.
Amanda
Perfect.
Damian Haas
Scan students.
Amanda
Wow.
Shane
We played a lot of characters. We had a lot. Because you had Zombieman, you had Olaf Glutella, you had the Irish. He had an Irish teacher character where the whole point was that you couldn't say there was a word you couldn't say.
Damian Haas
They wanted me to say 40, and it sounded like, farty.
Shane
Oh, 2:40.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
You couldn't say 240.
Damian Haas
And I. I had, like, watched, like, a few Colin Farrell movies to, like, prepare. I'm like, I really want to do a good Irish accent. And they're like, no, we want you to do the, like, the hoi te. Toi te. And I was like, okay, let's go, baby.
Shane
No be offensive, but also, like, no.
Damian Haas
Kid is gonna be like, mm, that's Belford. That's Belford Abbey. Yeah, that's Belfast or whatever. I don't know.
Amanda
That's too far t kids.
Shane
Yeah. We had a lot this County Cork because I had a character that I loved called Mr. Goodman.
Damian Haas
Yes.
Shane
Which was like, this teacher who's trying to be really cool. And I would rol the class in Heelys, and it always had crazy stunts. So in, like, one sketch, the first one I ever did, I had to healy around the room, like, run into things. I had to throw a book through a window, so breakaway glass for that. I Had to break a guitar on a desk. I had to then karate chop the desk in half.
Damian Haas
It was not a breakaway desk. Shane just focused all his power.
Shane
It just really was strong. And then I had to roll out of the classroom out back, and then I had to fall on the ground right around where the glass broke. It was so. Yeah.
Amanda
That's so cool.
Shane
In my opinion. That's crazy, man.
Amanda
That. I mean, I would want to do that now. I feel like those type of shows are so fun to be like, all right, you're gonna do all this crazy stuff. Also the cool teacher, but do the students think he's cool?
Shane
No.
Amanda
Okay. That's the best character ever.
Damian Haas
That's great.
Shane
And what's funny is that the kids weren't making fun of me. They were just kind like, hey, man, you don't have. You don't have to do this.
Amanda
And he's like, yeah, don't worry, guys. Watch this.
Shane
Yeah, it was very fun.
Damian Haas
You brought him to a Smosh sketch, though. We didn't. Did we call him Mr. Goodman?
Shane
So we. No, we didn't call him Mr. Goodman. We did it. We did. Every substitute ever. If you watch it, it's. I love it.
Damian Haas
The Lyon of Mr. Grime.
Amanda
I was in that.
Shane
Were you in every substitute teacher?
Damian Haas
I thought that was before.
Shane
No, that was before. I think we hired.
Damian Haas
It's the one with the Merrell twins in the background, and for some reason, we didn't have them speak, and everyone's like, are those the Merrill twins?
Shane
If you watch it, my look is completely different, but I literally just was like, I'm just gonn bit. And I literally do the exact same thing.
Amanda
Oh, my God. I can't wait to see it.
Shane
It's very fun. And then I had. Oh, a character that is quite literally the same. I had this character called simple country boy, and he. And. And he would just end up in insane situations where, like, these two, like, bomb squad members are trying to diffuse a bomb.
Damian Haas
And it's like, which wire do we.
Shane
It's got, like, five minutes left. And I would come up as, like, a simple country boy with, like, overalls, no T shirt, and, like, a straw hat. And I just. Well, I'm just a simple country boy, but I guess I could figure this out.
Amanda
Were you right? Usually.
Shane
And I would always help him figure it out. I would solve the situation.
Damian Haas
He would know, like, the most important thing about it, where he's like, well, from what I can tell, it's a neutron bomb, which means the connectors are actually at A positive and negative discharge. Like, wasn't that the kind of vibe?
Shane
And that sketch was crazy because they actually put a legitimate timer on this bomb. It was a real bomb on this fake bomb, but we had this timer, so we had to time our jokes to land right when it needed to. And we actually ended up with too much time. And I added this joke of like, oh, we're actually doing fine. We got extra time here. And they're like, oh, no, no, no, that's fine. There was improvised moments we would throw in.
Damian Haas
See, you were physical comedy and, like, impressions. And we both had characters, and they gave me the accents. Cause I had, like, the standout.
Shane
I had, like, weird shit. I did a Jerry Seinfeld character.
Damian Haas
That's awesome.
Shane
In one of the first episodes, they're like, you're Jerry Seinfeld. You were my sage act. The kids will love that. Yeah.
Amanda
What?
Shane
I know, dude. There's some weird shit in there.
Damian Haas
It was a one in a million chance that, like. Because I know, like, you're a sketch actor, obviously. So, like, talking about this, like, oh, yeah, we just got to do this thing when we were, like, 19 and 20. Like, I'm being disparaging because I'm like, oh, yeah, I was goofy. Like, I'm doing that to myself. But, like, in reality, like, what a cool.
Shane
Oh. Oh, We. We loved it at the time, too. Like, a lot of jobs you end up on, and you're like, fuck. And like, I look like.
Damian Haas
No, truly, a lot of jobs. A lot of jobs you work, and.
Shane
You'Re like, God damn. Like, this. This is brutal. And you look back and you're like, God, that was a great job. But it was hard that week. This job. We were legitimately, like, all of us were stoked to be there. It was crazy.
Damian Haas
We would go to ucb, like, every Friday and just, like, bond and be like, hey, let's just go watch a show.
Amanda
Honestly, that is. That's. That's my dream.
Shane
It was a dream.
Amanda
That's my dream to just, like, Like. But it's so cool that you get all week to, like, kind of prep, and then Friday's, like, the show, and it can change, and there's costume changes, and you get to just, like, move your body physically and mentally and, like, do all these cool things. Like, that's a dream.
Shane
It was a freaking trip, man. And there were no. There were episodes and sketches that were hard as shit. Damien has one that makes me laugh to this day, because I have never. I saw Damien in true hell. Well, also, let's be clear. There is a joke that Damien I still reference, and it happens here at Smosh is there's the mustache versions of ourselves. Whenever you have a sketch, we have to wear a mustache. Your entire personality is about to go away. You're about to be so sad because it's so uncomfortable to have a fake mustache.
Damian Haas
Obviously, like, that's the origin of what we called, like, dark Damien or whatever.
Shane
Yeah.
Damian Haas
But I realize now, like, you know, I'm sure I've talked about this plenty, but, like, I've got a lot of neuro spicy things going on. And I realized, oh, I was so overwhelmed in a sensory way. That was me going non verbal. Everyone's like, damian's so sad cause he has a mustache. And now looking back, I'm like, oh.
Shane
I just didn't know what to do. Do you know the sketch that I'm. That I'm talking about that it was. Was your absolute. Yeah, it was Jamtron. He had a sketch where you had to be in a full robot suit.
Damian Haas
I had to be in a full robot suit made for a different Disney actor who was size than I was. And it was very, like, rigid. Like, these parts were. You know, any joint was, like, able to be articulated, but I would have, like, forearm guards and like, shoulder pauldrons and all these things. And I was in full, like, metallic face paint. And there was a whole song, basically. What if your Scantron came to life and was here to dance with you?
Amanda
Like, Scantron test.
Damian Haas
Yeah, but he was your Jamtron. Oh. So I had to do this, like, whole dance with it. But because these things were so rigid, like, I was bigger than that guy, so my circulation was being cut off the whole time. And like, the rap was basically. There was like, a rap. Of course there's a rap. There was like this little, like, rap breakdown where the lyrics were just answers to the test, where it'd be like A, B, C, B, D, B, C, B, A, B, B, C. And they were very specific. They were like, no, you need to get those right. Cause we have to harmonize with those. And then at the very end of, like, hours of sweating and dancing and making sure it's right, not being able to get out of it, the producer comes up to me and is like, hey, what is this thing? And pokes it and lights turn on on the robot. And we filmed the whole thing without the special effect robot line. Like, jam drawn like neon was like, like across the front. And we did none of it. And so I. We all just said, screw it, like.
Shane
We got what we got. It's too late. I've.
Amanda
You didn't reshoot it?
Damian Haas
No. It was hours, Amanda.
Shane
We had spent hours on the sketch, like, way more than most sketches. And. And I. You know, as I. We describe the vibe of the show, where we're not gonna complain.
Damian Haas
No.
Shane
We're trying our best. I witnessed Damien in the middle of this sketch there, just the brightest smile on his face, but I can see the pain there. And I was like, that guy is in hell right now.
Damian Haas
I was not remember.
Shane
I wasn't in the sketch. And I remember sitting up. There's some sketches where you're not in, and you're just like, thank God I'm not in that one.
Damian Haas
Everybody had just a red solo cup at the, like, dance party, just watching me do this. I don't remember any of it, though, other than, like, I remember, like, shots of it. Like, I remember watching the episode, but I don't remember sort of, like, coming back online mentally until the, like, boop, lights.
Amanda
And you're like, duh.
Shane
I'm like, huh? Jam.
Damian Haas
Yeah, I'm your jam troll.
Shane
Sometimes you just black out. I remember I blacked out a little bit. On. There was a sketch that Damian and I pitched so you could pitch sketches or not. So it was a thing that kind of. Only a couple of us were like, let's do this.
Damian Haas
But officially, we weren't allowed to be credited on them, otherwise they'd have to pay us as writers, which they couldn't.
Shane
Yeah, they said they couldn't do that.
Damian Haas
Couldn't do it.
Shane
But we. We had a whole sketch that was literally, like. Well, a couple that were, like, came from us. And one was. Staring contest.
Damian Haas
Oh, my God. Yes.
Shane
And I. Where I sit down on a bench, and Damian's sitting there across the way, just staring at me, staying perfectly still. And I'm like, nice, nice day, huh? And I look at him, and I'm like, okay, I see how it is. Staring contest. You're on. And I stand, I sit there, and my entire life goes by. It's a time lapse, but it goes for decades.
Damian Haas
Beard.
Shane
Beard. A beard fully grows. And I'm married, but I'm staying in the staring contest the whole time until I'm an old man. And then someone walks up. Damian hasn't aged, but my character ages. Someone walks up and they go, that's where I left my mannequin. And they pick him up and walk away.
Damian Haas
Yeah. I did not have to actually be in the rest of the sketch. Wait, I Was just like, have fun.
Amanda
That's a brilliant sketch.
Shane
It was very fun. But. But mind you, time lapse. So I go through multiple beards. They're applying spirit gum and then getting off the spirit gum, reapplying spirit gum, putting on new beards. I had several different things in the course of a couple hours. My face hurt so much. I was like. It was a glimpse into why I understand why Jim Carrey had to have CIA training for the Grinch. Cause I'm like, oh, my God, it's a nightmare.
Amanda
Spirit gum. I have gone through my plenty, plenty of spirit gum. The smell alone now brings back this old nostalgic vibe. Here's the thing. I actually love wearing mustaches. They give me comfort and joy. I don't feel sad. But when I have to take them off and put on a new one, this weird kind of Nana's basement vibe comes in where you smell, and you're like. Like, I've been here before.
Shane
Yes.
Amanda
You know what I mean?
Damian Haas
It's like nostalgia, but not great.
Amanda
And you're like, I kind of want to go home, but I know we have to be here. And Nana's on her way out. I gotta stay.
Damian Haas
What was Christmas like in the 30s?
Amanda
Has that smell. Like, I just.
Damian Haas
For anyone who doesn't know, spirit gum is this, like, skin glue that you use for in theater and film for prosthetic stuff. Or mustaches.
Amanda
Or mustaches.
Damian Haas
But for me, it's not just the smell of spirit gum, which is so distinct, by the way. The remover of it leaves this, like, oily residue where it's like, imagine eating chicken wings, but you're not allowed to wipe your lips. And that's what it feels like to me. It's just oil on your face.
Shane
It's truly the worst.
Damian Haas
I did it for the elf ears for Halloween this past year, and I was like, this is the first time I've ever chosen to wear spirit gum.
Amanda
Oh, yeah.
Damian Haas
My, how far I've gone.
Shane
But I guess applying it to, like, a small area when you have it smeared across your face.
Damian Haas
Nope.
Amanda
This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames, a digital photo frame that is currently the best gift to give. Yeah, I gave one to my grandmother, and she loves it. I get to send photos to her across the world right away. Instantly, she receives it. It only takes two minutes to set up, and she can respond with cute little emojis.
Shane
Oh, that's great. Yeah, it's really cool. I mean, just having a digital frame that you can upload. It has, like, unlimited Storage. So you can upload. Upload from your phone. Just any photos you want at any time, from anywhere. It's really cool because it allows for a lot of creativity and freedom with it. Like, you know, during. Like, Christmas season or during summer, different. Different times of the year, you can just change it up at all times. You can, at any point throw in a dumb meme to surprise people.
Amanda
I love that.
Shane
It's. Oh, man. There's so much room for fun with it. It's great.
Amanda
Right now. You can save on the perfect gift that keeps on giving by visiting Oraframes.com for a limited time, listeners can get $20 off their bestselling frame with code SMOSH. That's a U R A frames.com promo code SMOSH. Terms and conditions apply.
Shane
All right, back to the show.
Amanda
Back to the show. Is there any way that you could, like, do that sketch again? Because I. I love that idea.
Shane
I should just find it and show it to you.
Damian Haas
Let's just make that a full day of filming. Let's do it.
Shane
Yeah, let's. Let's do the whole thing again.
Amanda
Yeah.
Shane
Jump Jumbotron.
Damian Haas
Jumbotron is the sequel. It's like, Damien, can you gain £600 for this role and be an even bigger robot?
Shane
But we pitched a lot of stuff, and one that I know came from us, but I know we didn't write this, but the idea is the Anime Brothers.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
Which is very funny. Like, now, looking at Smosh and all this stuff we've done here. And also the fact that you are now literally several anime characters. Yay. But.
Damian Haas
But, like, this was a fun thing. Cause we would always hang out. My dressing room was the first one when you turned to go into the dressing room. So it was often where a lot of us hung out. And so we would back and forth. In fact, we made up the, like, the make me laugh and spit out the water thing.
Shane
We started doing that. We started just doing that. We would be out, sitting outside, and one of us would.
Amanda
You guys started trying not to laugh before. Trying not to laugh.
Damian Haas
I guess. I guess we're owed something. But no, we would also do just, like, anime voices back and forth. And it was like the first friend I'd ever connected with where I'm like, oh, I could do goofy anime humor. And he kind of digs this. Like, oh, so this is great.
Amanda
That's where the best ideas come from, honestly, is in the dressing room. You're messing around with your friend, and then you're like, should we write this? And It's. I swear to God, it's always like the last thing you want to pitch and then you pitch it. And the director's like, that's great. Where'd you come up with that? Why did you save that? And you're like, oh, yeah, okay, okay, we'll do this.
Damian Haas
But our friendship really blossomed in those goofy videos.
Amanda
And I love that you guys have your own dressing rooms. Hello.
Shane
I know.
Damian Haas
That was. Wow. Some people didn't. Some people had to go to the building next door that had no power.
Shane
Oh, yeah.
Amanda
Oh, that sucks.
Shane
We were famous. We got lucky. I had Demi Lovato's old dressing room.
Damian Haas
I thought I did.
Shane
Did you?
Damian Haas
I guess you did. Well, if that was.
Shane
No, I'm pretty sure I did. Cause I was right next to Tiffany.
Damian Haas
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that makes sense.
Amanda
You guys okay?
Damian Haas
Yeah, I guess we'll get over it.
Shane
Remember when that skeleton kept making the rounds? Yes.
Damian Haas
Allison from the show, she would always leave this horrifying Halloween doll skeleton thing in different people's rooms.
Shane
Like a giant skeleton, but it had a wig on and a dress. And so it was a skeleton. And so people would be putting it in each other's dressing rooms. I come in first. I'm first.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
To set one morning, I walk down the hallway of dressing rooms. I go to open my door. It's dead silent. Cuz it's like 8am I open the door. As I'm opening the door, it's dark in my dressing room. But as I open it up, there is this person right there. And I legitimately. It's the sm. Like, it was one of the biggest jolts of my life. Talk about five nights at Freddy's. That was the experience. They got me once and no. Yeah, no, I did it immediately. So that same morning, I. It happens to me. I go, oh.
Damian Haas
And then.
Shane
And then I was like. I was like, oh, my God. And I go. I go, allison, oh my God. And I grab it. I. In my anger, I grab it. I take it to Damien's, I put it in his dressing room, I shut the door.
Damian Haas
I didn't feel the angry vibes there.
Shane
No, no, I did. I did it to you. I was angry at just that it happened to me, but I was like, I know. I immediately need to prank someone.
Damian Haas
I need to double it and give it to.
Shane
I need to pay it forward.
Damian Haas
And so then I go.
Shane
And I hear. I hear Damian walk in.
Damian Haas
I. It was one of those things that like, you knew it was going around. Like I'd heard For a while, it had been happening to people, so I was mentally prepared in general. Or, like, had been thinking about it as a possibility. But that morning I was zoning out. So the sound I made, as best as I can recreate it here was. Ah, damn it. Remember that? Just scream. And then realizing.
Shane
And I think you then go, allison. Like, I think you said something about Allison. And then I peek out. I go, it was me.
Damian Haas
I think Brandon still has my push up bars. I brought in my GameCube, my push up bars. I hung up posters. Like, I was like, screw it. If you're not gonna make us, like, know that we're here for 26 episodes, I'm gonna move in.
Shane
Do you remember when. When Brin was playing Dead Space, Allison's.
Damian Haas
Xbox in his dressing room.
Amanda
Yes.
Shane
Allison lent him his Xbox. He was playing Dead Space. And this was the impression you just. For a whole day. Cause he's playing Dead Space in his dressing room.
Damian Haas
Spooky. Spooky game.
Shane
And all of a sudden you would just. He would. You would just hear. It was just that. All day. Like, he just. It's a scary game.
Damian Haas
It's five nights at Freddy's, but you have kind of a gun and you keep walking down dark hallways.
Shane
Yeah.
Amanda
Holy God. Anyways, this isn't too far off from, like, any kind of theater.
Damian Haas
It was very theater.
Shane
It was very theater.
Amanda
Cause growlings. We had a girl who would flip over and her hair was matted and her face would always be turned and she was missing an eye. And so people would fuck with her all the time. They'd, like, put her in the dark and you'd be like, as a prop Sandy.
Shane
I was like.
Damian Haas
You were like. We had this girl at the Groundlings.
Shane
Oh, no, she's missing an eye. We had a human person that we would hide in the dark as a joke.
Amanda
We do it with real people. Yeah, it's called hazing.
Shane
That's theater for you. So anyways, back to the Anime Brothers.
Amanda
Anime Brothers.
Shane
So I have the script here. This is the first one. We did several.
Damian Haas
It was one of the most recurring batches of characters.
Shane
We did one where we were fighting the Sprouses. Yeah, the Sprouse Twins. It was crazy, man.
Damian Haas
Before the Riverdale. I didn't tell you about. Oh, sorry. This is. We're going on so many tangents. But, like, I remember playing Minecraft one day with Doug, our castmate, online. Like, we're in our individual homes and he's like, oh, a couple of my friends are gonna join us and they they were into, like, roleplaying these characters, I guess. And so it was like, you know, you can't join our treehouse. Okay. Yes, you can. And it was. I remember texting or, like, feeling later like I kind of just wanted to play, and I didn't really like that. I didn't know we all had to be like, B in character. Like, I don't know if I liked Doug's friends very much. And then when I finally met the Sprouses and we were all playing games, it came up that that was them. And I was like, oh, crap. And then we all played games online for, like, a few years after that. But I like first impressions. I was like, I'm glad I didn't talk crap.
Shane
It's a little intense.
Damian Haas
Your friends are.
Amanda
That is a little intense.
Damian Haas
Whatever.
Shane
So this is the first Anime Brothers. Amanda, could you play pretty much all the characters except for you guys? Tay and Xan are our names heard.
Amanda
So I'm Mark, Coach Dinsey.
Shane
Jeff.
Amanda
Jeff and Heather. Got it.
Shane
Now, this is once again, this is the first draft, so I'm curious how much it changed when it aired, but all right. I'll read stage directions. Got it. Interior school gym day. A bunch of students in gym clothes wait for class to start. Mark and Jeff talk at the front.
Amanda
Oh, man, I can't believe summer's over already and we're back in school. I know. I get this. And get this. I have to sit next to the same clown I sat next to last year. Hey, that's me.
Shane
Heather enters.
Amanda
Got it. Guys, guys, have you seen Xan and Tan Kornbluth? Tay Kornbluth is Zan and Tay Kornbluth. Yeah, I heard they spent all summer locked in their basement watching anime cartoons.
Shane
The gym door flies open, revealing Zan and Tay looking mega anime. Xan has tall blue hair. Tae has yellow, spiky hair. They sport wristbands, headbands, et cetera. They jump into the gym like cartoon characters, landing back to back. All of their dialogue is spoken in rapid, over the top, staccato style, like in a dubbed anime cartoon. Greetings.
Amanda
You heard right.
Shane
I am Xan.
Damian Haas
I am Tay, and we are here for gym class. Tie up.
Shane
They clap their hands once and pose.
Damian Haas
Do you want to just do the pose?
Shane
Oh, yeah, yeah. What was was kind of like dabbing.
Damian Haas
Before dabbing. We kind of invented dabbing.
Shane
Yeah, we kind of invented dabbing. Not a big deal. Don't worry about it. They clap their hands once and pose. Zan and Tay approach the group of kids. Hello, friends. I am very happy to see you.
Damian Haas
I am even happier than my brother.
Shane
What? How can this be possible?
Damian Haas
I am kidding with you, brother.
Shane
Ha. You are kidding with me. They pose again.
Amanda
Okay, guys, we get it. You like anime. Yeah, I like Twilight. But you don't see me coating my face in powder and glitter like that twi hard that sits next to me. Hey, that's me.
Shane
They pose. The gym teacher, Coach Dinsey, enters. Okay, class, attention. Coach Dinsey is here. I will gain his respect with my competent attitude.
Damian Haas
I will gain his respect more.
Shane
No, I will gain his respect more by being even more competent than you. They growl at each other, then break up as Dinsey approaches.
Amanda
Okay, kids, today we're playing dodgeball. Split up by size. Heather, Jeff, you guys are captains. Choose your teams. I don't care who I get, as long as I don't get stuck with that kid that stands next to me in gym class. He's terrible. Hey, dude, that's. That's me. I'll take Zan. I'll take Tay.
Shane
Devastated. My brother. We are on opposing teams.
Damian Haas
We are torn apart.
Shane
They both sigh and look sad. Suddenly, Zan changes his tone to hyper aggressive. Then you are my enemy and I will destroy you.
Amanda
Huh?
Damian Haas
You may try to defeat me, but I will. You will not succeed, for I possess the amulet of Domuto.
Shane
He pulls an amulet around his neck. Close. Close. On it. Dramatic music Sting. You got that at anime anime fest 2009? It's power. Its power is worthless.
Damian Haas
We shall see.
Amanda
Coach Dinsey blows a whistle and tosses.
Shane
A ball to Zan in a series of inner cuts. Zan and Tay stare each other down. Sweat forms on their faces. Zan holds the ball in one hand like he's building up power. You know, anime style. Finally, he can hold back no longer and he lets the ball loose. Z Fu. He shoves the ball away from him. It dribbles lamely onto the floor. Coach Dinzey blows his whistle. What was that?
Amanda
What is wrong with you two? Just. Just knock it off.
Shane
Zan and Tay look embarrassed. Oh no. We have shamed ourselves in front of our teacher.
Damian Haas
I am devastated.
Shane
I feel worse than my Jesus. This line. I feel worse than Maruto when he lost the Ninja Ball tournament to the second to last Wind Bender. God, I want to die. Zen and Tay strike crying poses and gesture tears from their eyes.
Damian Haas
It was like.
Amanda
Wait. Ninja ball. Wind Bender. Are you guys talking about Myrtle ball?
Shane
D they. They nod.
Amanda
I too. Watch that box set. It brought me much pleasure.
Shane
Then we shall Join our powers and fight. All three put their fists together. Zoya, Dinsey, Tay, and Zan freeze after a beat. Heather, Jeff, and Mark staring at them.
Amanda
So does this mean we get to leave class early then?
Shane
Hey.
Amanda
And bye.
Shane
Bye.
Amanda
Those guys are weirder than that kid I got stuck with as a lab partner this year.
Shane
That's me. The class dismissed. We cut to and skat. Yeah.
Damian Haas
So the names they ended up going with were Scott and Elliot Kornbluth. Still Kornbluth, I believe.
Shane
Yeah, that's right. This was the first.
Amanda
This is so good. It explains a lot about you guys. Yeah, well, in a good way.
Damian Haas
I'm glad I feel seen.
Shane
Do you remember we. I realized we don't have an end segment for the show, but I just. A really crazy thing that I wanted to talk about.
Amanda
Jaw drop.
Shane
Well, okay, I got a jaw drop. I'm not done. I still have some more stuff I want to talk about. We're done. But then jaw drop. We're not done with the episode yet, but okay, I want to know. I have what I still think to this day. I'm like, this was the coolest thing we got to do. And I'm curious what you think it is.
Damian Haas
Is it Anime Bros Related? Cause I've got a quick jaw drop about Anime Bros.
Shane
It is Anime Bros related, but I want to hear yours first.
Damian Haas
So they asked because we, you know, sort of ideated the sketch. They were like, what do you want to look like? And so Shane was based off of Goku from Dragon Ball Z. And so they changed his color scheme. And so he had blue tall hair. But, you know, that ended up being a thing in Dragon Ball Z later. You know what I mean? I looked like Naruto, but with a blue outfit instead of his characteristic orange.
Amanda
Totally.
Shane
And then you had red hair.
Damian Haas
Red hair, which I based off of Reno from Final Fantasy 7.
Shane
That's true.
Damian Haas
Because they initially wrote him with blonde hair, which I was like, cloud, great. But yeah, they did everything. They could differentiate. We love him. So the thing that was so cool to me was one time, and this is all rumor, all speculation, hearsay. In fact, I'm making it up right now legally. But I remember talking to wardrobe, and they were like, we need to get you fitted, you know, for your Anime Bros costume and make some changes for the. For the other show. And I was like, what other show? And they're like, I don't know, some kind of, like, pitching thing. And I was like, wait, what? And they were like, oh, I don't think you're supposed to know about it. Don't say anything. Here I am. So I think they were trying really hard to make the Anime Bros like a spin off Disney show. But I think it was probably too hard of a sell. But the one writer we knew the best, I think he was really gunning for it.
Amanda
I mean, yeah, that pro. It probably would have been sick.
Damian Haas
Yeah. But this was before anime was awesome. So, you know, it's cool.
Shane
It wasn't like it was. It was getting mainstream at this time, but it didn't quite hit what it is nowadays. I feel like.
Damian Haas
Yeah, they added in like the Speed Racer old timey.
Shane
Like they were still. This was a bunch of people who didn't know anime. So it was. It was a miracle that it got dog.
Damian Haas
They didn't know Harry Potter. They do a Harry Potter sketch and be like, what are they? So they got one.
Shane
But like anime at this time, like, the adults that we're talking to are writing this stuff weren't like, familiar. And so that's why it's like Maruta. Maruta Ball D. Like. Right. But it was. It was very cool. No, I wanted to say, I guess this will be my jaw drop. And then we can talk a little bit more about some stuff. But we had a lot of guest performers and guest stars, musical guests and stuff. We had some cool ones. You know, we had all sorts. I remember Andy Grammer was there. Kobe, Kalia, all sorts of people. Justin Biber, Justin Bieber, lmfao wanted to be on so Random. But they couldn't be because of their name. Yeah, but we had a guest. We had a guest that was actually. To this day, I look back, I'm like, this is one of the coolest things of my life. And we still have a photo of us as the Anime Brothers with her. We had Miss Piggy as a guest.
Damian Haas
Actual puppeteers. Jim Henson Company.
Shane
Like Miss Piggy. So all these. It was like several puppeteers. And so I got to do.
Amanda
Wait, we got to do Miss Piggy's like a bunch of dudes.
Shane
Oh, no, that's the jaw drop. Miss Piggy is actually several guys.
Amanda
I know that it's a puppet, but also. What? It's not a grown woman with pig blond hair and a tiny little dress, big little purse.
Damian Haas
You think there's a human that looks pretty much equivalent to Miss Piggy playing Miss Piggy.
Amanda
Okay, continue.
Shane
Sorry to truly. But what's crazy is these puppeteers are so good that you're like, okay, I'm gonna act in the S.C. look at Miss Piggy.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
And I remember being like kind of you get lost a little bit and you're like, yeah, you're okay. Yeah, Miss Piggy is here and you're gorgeous. It's so fun. And I to this day I'm like, that's the coolest person I've ever gotten to work with.
Amanda
Miss Piggy.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
It was crazy.
Amanda
That is amazing.
Shane
Yeah.
Amanda
I was so jealous.
Damian Haas
Can I drop a little, a little brag here? Because it's one of the things I'm proudest of in my life. Before I ever got into voice acting, but I knew I really wanted to do it. There was, I don't remember if the puppeteers had left rehearsal or they hadn't gotten there yet, but they were like, we need someone to read like Miss Piggy lines. And I did. And I was like reading them on a microphone like way across the other side of the stage. And the producer ends up coming over and being like, you know, I need to find the, you know, the actor who's doing Miss Piggy. Like where are they? And I was like, oh, that was me. And he was like, that was you? And I was like, yeah. And so like after that I was like, oh, maybe I can do like voice match stuff. Cool, cool.
Amanda
Yeah.
Damian Haas
And it was right after that that I got my voiceover agent and like started doing that.
Shane
That's crazy. I didn't realize voice acting is hard. I didn't realize how long ago you started it.
Damian Haas
Technically I was in like an educational video game when I was like 8. But otherwise voice acting I started when I was like, yeah, 19 or 20.
Shane
That's crazy.
Damian Haas
Auditioning in my life.
Shane
You're so random.
Damian Haas
Bedroom with like a $50 microphone, USB and just trying my best.
Amanda
Yeah, so, so random was your guys.
Damian Haas
Breakthrough in a lot of ways.
Amanda
Cause it like jump started this friendship. Your ideas.
Shane
Yeah, actually, yeah, it definitely was the start. And I mean there was a couple years after where there wasn't much work and it was kind of like, oh shit. Like I remember it was a stark realization of like there's no such thing as a big break. Like you will book a job, it'll be great, it'll be the dream come true and then it's gonna end and then you're gonna kinda in some ways be back to square one. You're gonna have more connections. You're not back to exactly square one, but you may not work for a little bit.
Damian Haas
That was the tough thing with like my college friends at the time who were studying Theater. Cause that' studying, too. And I kept encouraging them, like, hey, like, if you ever want to go try to get an agent or something, like, I'm happy to help you, you know, find someone or guide you in that process. And most of them had the mindset of, like, I don't really want to do that right now. I want to focus on, you know, studying, which is 10,000% fair. But I remember feeling, you know, worried for them because I'm like, look, already nobody gets a free pass here. But once you enter the market, you're going to have kids, like, we've seen on all these Disney shows who have colossal resumes and are your age and, like, already know what they're doing, and even they don't have any kind of guarantees. So it's like, I guess my worries were unfounded because it just. It doesn't matter. Like, it doesn't.
Shane
Yeah.
Damian Haas
There's no, like, finally, I'm in. I've got my ticket.
Amanda
Like, but you guys did this show.
Shane
Yeah.
Amanda
Which is, like, to me, every sketch person's dream was a dream to do, and you did it. And it's like, you did it. You had the footage. Also. That's another thing is, like, sketch artists. Like, we don't like sketch artists. That sounds like we're drawing sketch people don't.
Damian Haas
Why did you make my ears so big?
Amanda
We don't have the footage of a lot of shows. Like, shows that we're like, oh, that sketch was so good. I think it's amazing what you guys have done.
Shane
It's really cool, and it's trippy to think about. We were doing that show that was around the time when Ian and Anthony were, like, at their peak.
Damian Haas
Yeah.
Shane
Like, that's what's. It's weird to think about that and not realizing, like, where your path was gonna.
Damian Haas
These converging paths are wild. Cause I watched Smosh back in the day. Like, I watched them on YouTube. And then probably while I was auditioning for Sketchpad, and then I did this. We meet each other, you know, we're friends. We end up becoming roommates later in this big house of people, you get the Smosh. You know, well, you get a commercial before that, and I'm. I end up. We. We float through these other jobs here. So you got a commercial. I had a small Cartoon Network booking. And then, like, you get the Smosh audition, and you were like, hey, like, potential for games. Then you got me the audition, and now we're here, and, like, it's just like you said, it Is our big break, but just not in the way that we thought, but for friendship and good connections to build with each other.
Amanda
I'm your guy's fairy godmother.
Shane
Super cool.
Amanda
And my job is done here. And now I just disappear.
Shane
And Amanda going, that was D.B.
Damian Haas
Cooper.
Amanda
They found new evidence on him.
Damian Haas
Really?
Amanda
On D.B. cooper? That's my jaw drop.
Shane
Oh, do you have another hour?
Damian Haas
Let's do it.
Shane
Well, I don't give a about so random now.
Amanda
More on that later. Well, that was really cool. Thank you guys so much for sharing with me. Now I understand you guys a lot better.
Damian Haas
Thank you.
Shane
Really?
Amanda
Yeah.
Damian Haas
Honestly?
Amanda
Yeah.
Damian Haas
Yeah. I haven't, like, reminisced about the specifics of it in so long. Like, we talk about it so generally, but being able to be here and, like, share with you, but also, like, hear it through your lens of, like, somebody who had not seen it or heard of it or whatever. Like, thank you. Thank you for giving us this platform, and thanks for giving me this time, both of you.
Shane
It's very sweet. Well, there's more sketches that we could come back and bring back some other time. It'd also be fun to get some other cast members back here. We did a so random reunion episode on the old Smosh cast with Matthew, Scott, and Allison, but we could bring one of them on again.
Amanda
That would be fun.
Shane
It'd be really fun.
Amanda
Do, like, a little table read. I think table reads are really good to be like, we did that.
Shane
I wonder if they have any, because there was some rejected sketches. So sketches that we read that were way inappropriate for Disney that they tried to pitch, like, the writers. Like, we would read them at the table read. We're like, they're.
Amanda
I would read rejected sketches. As long as they're safe for work.
Damian Haas
They are for Disney. There was one that was literally lit from a Tim and Eric sketch that I, like, had to take the producers aside later. I'm like, I don't want to be this guy. Whoever wrote this one either forgot that they saw this, fell asleep, woke up with a great idea, and did it.
Amanda
Mr. Spaghetti in it.
Damian Haas
No, it was da da doo doo doo doo doo doo doo. Except he changed it to bada bing bong. But otherwise, it was verbatim.
Amanda
Oh, my God.
Shane
Yeah, a lot of stories.
Damian Haas
Yeah, a lot of stories.
Shane
Anyways, thank you so much for watching, Damian. Thanks for being here.
Damian Haas
Thanks for having me, and thanks truly. Like, this was a really cool, special thing that just. I don't know. Thank you.
Shane
Of course. And we'll see you next week.
Amanda
Bye, guys.
Damian Haas
Bye.
Unknown
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Podcast Summary: Smosh Mouth – "We Found Our So Random Scripts!"
Release Date: March 4, 2024
In the March 4, 2024 episode of Smosh Mouth, hosts Shayne Topp (Shayne), Amanda Lehan-Canto (Amanda), and special guest Damian Haas delve deep into their past experiences working on the Disney Channel show "So Random!". The episode centers around Shayne discovering old scripts from the show, sparking a nostalgic and insightful conversation about their time behind the scenes, the challenges they faced, and the lasting impact the show had on their careers and friendships.
[00:27] Shane: "Hello, I'm Shane and welcome to Smosh Mouth."
The episode kicks off with Shane revealing a treasure trove of old scripts he found while rummaging through his room. These scripts are not only from "So Random!" but also include material from other beloved shows like iCarly, Henry Danger, and even Shane's own teenage project, "Dear Lemon Lima".
[01:45] Damian: "Cause that was the inside joke."
Damian expresses excitement over finding signatures from the entire cast, including himself, highlighting the camaraderie and inside jokes that defined their time on set.
Shayne recounts the initial audition process, drawing parallels to their experience with Smosh. The casting involved preparing multiple characters and improvisation without a script, emphasizing their background in sketch comedy.
[07:58] Damian: "Yeah, I do a lot better flying by the seat of my pants than I do with, like, a written out script." (07:58)
Damian elaborates on his comfort with improvisation, contrasting it with his apprehension towards scripted acting. Both he and Shayne discuss the nerves and uncertainties that came with being guest stars rather than regulars on the show.
[03:09] Damian: "We were the fourth." (03:09)
This brief exchange underscores the early days of the show, marking the beginning of their 26-episode stint.
The discussion shifts to the demanding schedule of filming "So Random!", which entailed long days filled with table reads, rehearsals, and live performances akin to shows like SNL.
[09:19] Damian: "I think live show on Friday." (09:19)
Damian highlights the intensity of live shows held before a youthful audience, sharing anecdotes about impromptu moments and the pressure to perform flawlessly.
[39:56] Shane: "This episode of Smoshmouth is brought to you by Rocket Money." (39:56)
While advertisements are present in the transcript, Shayne and Amanda ensure the conversation remains focused on their creative endeavors, steering clear of promotional segments as per the summary guidelines.
Shayne and Damian reminisce about specific sketches that left a lasting impression on them and their audience.
[15:30] Amanda: "Of course." (15:30)
Set in an Olive Garden-esque restaurant, the "Garlic Garden" sketch showcases their comedic chemistry and ability to create humorous family dynamics. They discuss the original scripts versus the final edits, emphasizing the evolution of their characters.
[16:06] Amanda: "Course Disney motherfuckers. Mom is so ancient, nobody knows how she was ever hot." (16:06)
This candid moment captures the behind-the-scenes frustrations with character development and Disney's creative directions.
Shayne portrays Olaf Glutella, a hyperactive foreign exchange student, while Damian brings Zombieman to life, showcasing their versatility in character acting.
[32:50] Amanda: "Hopefully." (32:50)
They delve into the physical and emotional challenges of performing with prosthetics and adhering to Disney's strict content guidelines, highlighting the meticulous efforts required to deliver engaging performances.
One of their most memorable creations, the Anime Brothers sketch, blends anime-inspired elements with their unique comedic styles. Damian shares insights on how the characters inadvertently mirrored popular anime trends that emerged shortly after.
[67:25] Damian: "I did it for the elf ears for Halloween this past year, and I was like, this is the first time I've ever chosen to wear spirit gum." (67:25)
The sketch exemplifies their ability to merge fandoms with mainstream media, creating content that resonates with a diverse audience.
A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to how "So Random!" served as a foundation for Shayne and Damian's enduring friendship. They recount spontaneous moments, pranks, and collaborative creativity that blossomed amidst the hectic filming schedule.
[55:50] Shane: "We started doing that. We started just doing that." (55:50)
From dressing room antics to brainstorming unique sketches like Staring Contest, their bond strengthened, providing essential support during the pressures of showbiz.
[74:55] Amanda: "Mr. Spaghetti in it." (74:55)
Amanda reflects on the collective experiences, underscoring the show's role in fostering a tight-knit community of performers who supported each other both professionally and personally.
Shayne and Damian discuss the show's impact on their careers, touching upon the misconceptions of a "big break" and the reality of navigating the entertainment industry post-"So Random!".
[72:30] Damian: "These converging paths are wild." (72:30)
They emphasize that while the show didn't provide the financial stability they had initially hoped for, it was instrumental in building invaluable connections and honing their craft.
[73:42] Damian: "I'm glad I feel seen." (73:42)
Damian acknowledges the personal growth and recognition they received, crediting "So Random!" for shaping their paths in voice acting and other creative ventures.
As the episode wraps up, Shayne and Damian express gratitude towards their time on "So Random!" and contemplate future collaborations and reunions with fellow cast members.
[75:49] Amanda: "That is amazing." (75:49)
They muse about revisiting old sketches, potentially bringing back beloved characters, and continuing to celebrate their shared history in future episodes.
[76:38] Amanda: "This episode is brought to you by Aura Frames, a digital photo frame that is currently the best gift to give." (76:38)
While advertisements occasionally intersperse the dialogue, the hosts adeptly steer the conversation back to their core narrative, ensuring the focus remains on their nostalgic journey through "So Random!".
Shayne at 11:31: "I had to go for it. And those first... my nerves had kept me where I didn't break at all in any of our sketches."
Damian at 26:10: "And we guest starred for 26 episodes, but here's the difference. We got paid, like, a third of what the series regulars did."
Shayne at 35:19: "I am actually cast as the announcer."
Damian at 53:15: "But for me, it's not just the smell of spirit gum, which is so distinct, by the way."
These quotes encapsulate the essence of their experiences—balancing creativity with commercial obligations, personal challenges, and the joy of performing.
"We Found Our So Random Scripts!" serves as a heartfelt exploration of Shayne and Damian's journey through "So Random!", offering listeners an intimate look into the trials, triumphs, and treasured memories of their early careers. The episode not only celebrates their past but also reinforces the enduring bonds formed through shared creativity and resilience in the face of industry challenges.