Bring in the Clowns: Humor and Jokes at the TTRPG Table

Transcript:

You're listening to No Plot Only Lore, a podcast about games and the tables we play them at. Your DMs tonight and every

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Welcome back to No Plot Only Lore. This week brought to you by

you maybe. Here's hoping. We're going to suck some of those sweet sweet extra dollars out

of your pocket with the vacuum. So many dollars.

It we we've it is weirdly hard to get a Patreon going. Yeah. I haven't even tried because I

just kind of assume that um all of my activity is valueless. So, I don't

attempt to get compensated for it. Um, but yeah, when you told me the weird

hurdles you had to jump through, especially if you want to have like more than one.

Yeah. Well, like, okay, I I'm not super concerned about having more than one. I was thinking when I was setting it up

that I may get another one going for like a different creative project, but like

the biggest hurdle for me was actually PayPal. Oh. Right. Uh

yeah, I think I've only interacted with PayPal like two times in my life and they didn't deactivate my account. So, I

don't know I don't know what you did. Uh I I don't know if it's just that my

bank really hates PayPal or if there's something wrong with the way that I

tried to set it up. But I set it up with a different bank and it worked just fine, but it took way too flipping long.

Anyway, we have a Patreon now. Yeah. I just find it very strange like deep.

Patreon was started by a guy who's a creative working on a side project as a

side project and he won't let you get paid for your side project unless it's completely separate from you as a

person. Yeah. I think like some of the stuff

that I've read suggests that running a properly run Patreon and to be fairs is

not. Um, if you decide to throw money at us, there are exactly zero benefits to this at the moment, unless you throw a

ridiculous amount of money at us. Um, in which case we'll figure something out. But like,

if you run a properlyun Patreon, it does take a lot of time and effort cuz you

got to have like the the proper tiers set up and there's like maintenance you've got to do and like make sure that you're getting rewards out and like all

of that stuff. So, I kind of get where they wouldn't want to encourage you to have more than one or two of them.

Sure. But also, people hire people to run that for them.

Oh, sure. Like, not every creative project is just me in my basement, right? Like,

we can't cuz we don't have any money, but not yet. That's what the Patreon's for. Yeah.

Support our Patreon so that we can pay for someone to run our Patreon. Yes. And then there will be perks,

maybe. probably um or something. I mean, we we talked about it a little bit a long time ago. I I would be open

to doing one weird bonus thing a month, whether it's like some sort of horrific

actual play or like just me talking about new board game releases or some stupid thing like that. But

Oh, yeah. One of these days we will have a reason for you to give us $3. But

I mean, we could we could pay while you talking about games just because you're the funny one. H

and then people get the funny thing. That's true. But I I've given this zero

thought so far. Most of the time when I wind up talking about games, it's just because you like shoehorn the topic into

something we were going to talk about anyways and you're like, "Okay, talk about board games." I'm like, "Oh." And then I get to do my like special

interest rant for like an hour. Um, yeah. Every once in a while I just like I I take the shackles off and we don't

talk about role playing games for a while because I know that I need to like the the proper care and feeding of your

Josh requires that you let him graze on the the board games occasionally. Like that that has to happen.

Yeah. Yeah. Every every once in a while I have to be given a taste of freedom. [Laughter]

Um, so funny stuff. Uh, we were talking about clowns. We were so

I forget how we got to clowns. Anyways, oh uh I shared a picture of clowns at a

protest. Um and your response to that was that uh every clown that you've ever

met is the worst. Except these guys seem like they're probably pretty okay.

Yeah. So, um, you you said that you don't know any

IRL clowns. I I have never, to my knowledge, spoken to a clown.

I don't know how this ven diagram worked out, but

because I was friends with people who got involved in swing dancing, um, it

turns out several swing dancers were also clowns and then they're also in the like tabletop communities.

I totally understand that then because like like I was saying earlier, I I

think that there is a lot of like dance in

clowning like the I I have a lot of respect for the art of clowning kind of

separate from anything involving the funny bits, right? like I I do have an

appreciation for like the the physicality and like the the storytelling that comes

out of that physicality. So like I I kind of get where that's coming from. And if they're in the swing dance thing,

then I think there's a lot of parallels there. And this the ven diagram between

swing people and nerds is just a [ __ ] circle. Oh, like the swing if you want to start

a swing dance club, just go to the engineering department at your local college. Um,

yes. I I will say having like met and interacted with these clowns a lot, um,

I have no respect for their art form. Okay.

Like, did did they just like brat fall at you and like squeeze a flower full of water at your face or

I would have I would have taken that better, honestly. They were so like pretentious about the idea of clowning

and what it means to play and like like I being a big theater nerd in like

junior high and high school um you dip into things like comedia del

arte and things like um just like mime and the concept of clowning in general.

Um and you explore towards like especially if you come from like a comedic

background as you go into like improvisation and stuff you start exploring like

physicality in general in in right on the stage and

you talked about like the

the idea of like just you know what it means to like make people giggle and laugh and and

your end goal a bit. And I feel like clowning has lost sight of

the end goal where like it's become such an echo

chamber and like just you know fart sniffing fest of people who

like you they become so like um

protective and and obsessed with the process that they lose sight of

the results, right? And so it's very much just like the the Paris school of clowning taking

movement too seriously for the sake of movement and like Pratt falls for the sake of the Pratt fall rather than the

giggle that it is meant to evoke, right? Like um we're talking about an

art that like very very seriously is like well you need to go trademark and register your face at the school of

clowning in Paris. How do we do that? We paint it on the egg. Like okay

cool. First of all the idea that you would need to like trademark your clown face is so mind-bogglingly stupid.

Like I wonder do you think the insane clown posi has eggs,

you know? I I hadn't thought about that and I

I don't think they do. I don't think they've submitted, but I think they would be accepted.

I don't know if they count as clowns in

that sense. Okay. But I also don't know if there's anyone in Paris being like, "Uh, sorry,

can you show me your master's degree in clowning?" Like, I feel like it's all self-reported.

Oh, that Yeah, that's probably true. Like, I I think that if you show up in clown makeup and you have entertained a

large enough group of people, they probably just kind of have to take you. I don't I don't know about the second part cuz I don't I don't know if you can

get a crowd. Yeah, I think you just show up and be like,

I'm starting my career. This is my unique face. Whatever. You know what? I'm going to

look this up. God, I wonder how many

clowns currently are inspired by the Ween Phoenix Joker movie. Oh, no.

Right. Anyway, this isn't what we're talking about. We're talking about haha at the table. Um,

so yeah, we got into it from clowning the the idea of hahas. And I

um realized that we haven't actually talked about this before. And it's just like the the fact that every table is a

round of comedians, right? Um well, sorry, it's a round of aspiring

comedians. Well, there's that. I don't know where the quote originated from, but there was

a a quote that was running around for a while that like every game starts as Game of Thrones and ends as MontiPython.

Oh, yeah. It was I think it was they all start as Lord of the Rings or something

like that. Is it Lord of the Rings? Okay. Something like that. Yeah. So So they all start like funeral serious

attempts. Well, not all of them, but like a lot of them start as like funeral serious attempts to recreate fantasy

stories and then the Benny Hill theme starts playing and your characters go

off the [ __ ] rails and do the wacky for a while. Yeah.

And I think that's an interesting phenomenon. Um because there are

factors to it. This is going to be an incredibly unfunny discussion about about being funny. Yeah. Yeah.

I feel Yeah. Like I'm I'm going to get kind of heady with it, but I I think that there's like

a few things that happen within gaming and within the shared imagined space.

Yeah. That push towards

that particular type of humor, right? like the the quoting of Montipython and the Holy Grail is not just an attempt to

be funny and in my experience rarely actually is funny.

Yeah. But it's like a a cultural cue. Yeah. Right. It's letting people know that

you're in the inroup. You know the the right things to say at the right time. Yes. We have common cultural touchston.

Don't worry, I'm safe. Right. Like your character takes a whole

lot of points of damage and you throw down with tis but a flesh wound and everybody knows you're the right people.

Right. Right. And I don't I don't actually know how

funny most people find that stuff, I guess. So,

um here's what I have noticed. There's definitely a specific band of person

that finds it hilarious. Right. And Right. I hate those people. I

I I don't know. I don't know if I've always been this sort of cynical, but like I

really dislike like nostalgia and referential humor or just like ah this

thing we all know. Haha. Um, right. But there's a very much like the member berries style

of of funny. But there there is a fairly large band of people that are just like that their

their response is, "Oh, you said a thing that reminds me of a time when that was

funny in context, so I will laugh at it." Right. Um,

okay. I've the only the only time I've found like repetition of joke lines from media

like amusing at all is like immediately in the aftermath of consuming that media

like okay as an example after the I walked out of Tropic Thunder

for the first time like oh no talking to talking to my friends

about some of the bonkers lines in that movie and And it's sort of like like a

cow chewing its cud, but just like ruminating on the the lines in those

scenes. You find funnier and funnier lines that you didn't catch on the first

pass because you were laughing at the line before it, right?

That I think that's great. But then like coming back like a year later and being

like I'm just a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude. Ah, like it's just not a thing. But nerds do it all

the time. I feel like there's a couple of

different levels to it though, right? Like there's definitely the right after I saw it like enjoying the vibe quoting,

right? And I I don't think that there's a higher compliment that you can pay to

a piece of media than like coming out of that thing quoting stuff that was either funny or badass, right?

But there are like if there is a scene happening

that involves two very serious characters

getting married and somebody busts out a m witch.

Right. I giggle. Right. Well, and and there are some that have like proper

holding strength. So, I I think I think what it comes down to is the

release of tension. Whether it's like, okay, whether it's actually like a a intense

or scary moment, there's only so much seriousness for an extended

period of time that most people can take. And so making a joke even if it's

just like a dumb reference to something is enough to do that tensionbreaking

like you know comedic sigh of relief in the room where it's like oh it's okay like I I've needed a release for this

energy and laughter is a great release for that energy so getting that opportunity handed to me you know is

perfect right like I'm going to laugh at it just because I need to laugh in that moment not because what he said is super

funny, but again, it reminded me of a funny time and this moment needed levity

because we were just we had our noses too high in the air for too long and and we just need to like, you know, come

back down to earth for a second. So, you know, whether it's in the middle of an important uh diplomatic session just

giving him my wife, like it's I I think you may have actually just hit

on something that I really desperately hate about some of the more recent

Marvel movies where like they they've taken that idea and made it incredibly formulaic.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You you know exactly when they're going to cut the tension with a stupid joke.

Yeah. And I just want them to live in that tension for a little while longer, right? Or

just not undercut it at all sometimes. And maybe that's part of the the reason

that we're having like a a serious discussion about this in the first place is because I do think that like the the

natural push, right? like the the urge for most tables is to become

accidentally or otherwise improv comedy theater, right? So, I I think there's there's two

things I want to touch on with that idea, especially with within the Marvel universe, is that one um that the the

the cutting of the tension is a role that like for a long time was relegated

to the clown of the group and it was the clown's job to do that and they did it

every time. And I I don't know if it's like I'm going to blame Jos Sweden. I

don't know if it's his fault, but it seems like what's happened is now every

character does that. So, you don't get to have serious characters. Everyone's

quippy. Everyone's jokey. Everyone's funny. And so,

it comes down to like timing. How how long can we let people be uncomfortable for? Oh, it's only going to be a total

of four minutes. And then somebody needs to make a snarky joke. whether or not that's appropriate for their character

or not. Like, well, I mean, like Bruce Banner is a great example of a character who should

just not be funny. Right. Right. Right. Like I want him to be borderline

scary all the time. Yeah. Right. Like I I think that like speaking of Josen, the first Avengers movie was

such a great utilization of Thor or sorry of the Hulk. Yeah. Right. where

he was a horror monster. Yeah. Essentially, right? And through the whole thing, everybody is incredibly

scared of this like meek little guy because like when he slams his fist on a

table, you have to pull out your guns because you're probably about to die. Yeah.

Right. Like that was perfect. And then to make him kind of a funny dude.

Yeah. In the third Thor movie. Yeah. really pulls away from like who that

character can be dramatically. Yeah. Like there's So I I'm I'm glad you brought that example up specifically

because like even though there was like a slight sad smile to his face like when he

turned to the group and and like told them like that's like you don't understand I'm always angry. like the

the weight of the Hulk on Bruce was like

that's the moment where you're like oh [ __ ] like this is not something he wants in his life and then you know playing

with it later where like Loki is trying to like uh draw out the Hulk and

convince him to like you know be be the the main essentially villain um because

of his his you know freakish uncontrol controlled strength or something like that. You're right. He is he he's a monster. And then I understand why they

went with the um I forget what the original comic was called. It wasn't World War Hulk, but

something like that. Um I I get why they wanted to do that. Planet Hulk. That was

one. Planet Hulk. I get why I I get why they wanted to do that, but I think Tao

was the wrong choice for that storyline because again, he is also a guy who in

his snarky New Zealand way makes every character a clown. I mean,

watch like, have you seen the original What We Do in the Shadows? Um, I can't.

Okay. I it it does cringe humor. And I I don't know if we've touched on this on the pod

before, but cringe humor hits me in a deep and personal way where if things are cringy,

I have to like get up and take a lap with my hands over my head. Yeah. Breathing deeply because I am personally

embarrassed that the thing is happening in front of people. So I I I understand. Nope. Like I I can't watch

more than 5 minutes of I Think You Should Leave at a time because I get like a a tingle in my taint. That's how

uncomfortable I am with what's happening in front of me. But for some reason,

when the New Zealanders do it, whether it's Flight of the Concords or uh What

We Do in the Shadows or some of these other shows, somehow it's more tolerable. But that movie like literally

every single character has funniness to them. Like

yeah, even the like straight laced man that's supposed to be like the the viewer's

perspective gets to drop funny lines like

like something as dumb as like we're werewolves, not swearwolves. Like

literally everybody gets a line, right? And so he does that. He did that to Hulk now. Like now Hulk

is a joke. And the girl who's got a drinking problem and is supposed to be this like washed up Valkyrie is a joke.

And the rebels who are just like trying to find a new homeland and and have been stuck in gladiator combat for who knows

how long are also just making jokes. They are either the direct source of a

joke or the butt of a joke in a way that they they get to interact with every single time. Like no one there is

for serious, you know? Yeah. Well, and I think that like

Yeah. No, I think I think you really nailed that. Um

bits. Yeah. So you

bits I find to be like something that is almost unavoidable in

a certain way. If if the group Mhm. has enough chemistry

like off the table, they're going to like fondly remember things that have happened and bring them

up over and over, right? Yeah. Um, well, and I think it's interesting

because like a bit doesn't have to be funny, right? Right. Like that there are bits that you

will occasionally see where people will like bring something up and it'll bring it'll come back and they'll have like

catchphrases and stuff and sometimes they'll be funny and sometimes they aren't. Yeah. Um

I I kind of think of them as like a social currency. Right. Right. in a way like you can you

can just kind of cash your bit in for some affection or attention

occasionally and just be like, "Hey, here's that thing again." And

that'll either get a laugh. Yeah. Or a groan or the dungeon master will

pack up their books and like hang their head in shame for a while at the

activity that they have spent so much time putting together. Yeah. Like,

but yeah, I think bits not only unavoidable, but I do think that they're they're important. I think they frankly,

and this is going to sound odd, but I think bits are a important part of like

character embodiment and character development. Um, people have idiosyncrasies or bad habits

or whatever it is. And so like

knowing enough about your character and liking your character enough to repeat their stupid thing, like I've seen it happen, you know, oh, here's a thing

that happens and then I just like throw back to it multiple times in the same session. But to go back to it again and

again over the course of 6 months, a year, what have you. It's like, oh, I'm

I'm long-term living with this character in my head or in my, you know, my

thoughts. Um, right. And I've developed an affection for their their gimmicks or the weirdness.

Right. Um, and I think it also I think it's a little bit self-regulating too, right? Like Sure.

If a bit is good, it's going to stick around. Yeah. Right. Like if if the bet cashes in and

you get the laugh, then you somebody's going to do it again and it'll get a laugh again or it won't.

Yeah. Right. And if the bits are good enough, um I've actually seen some that like transcend that table.

Yeah. Right. Like you'll you'll start using those bits on other tables in other games and they'll still have the same

kind of cache. So yeah, I I think and there's there's like a fine line

between like bit and like actual character detail, but like there's there's a recurring bit at our table

that's just like this character is a very thinly veiled copy of Gwennneth Paltro in her like peak peak goopiness.

So like yeah like the the recurring bit will just be like like this this weird snake oil salesman

will sort of come out of the druid where it's just like oh this could be a a abusable health product whatever we

happen to find. Yeah. And that's that's good, right? Like it it creates

um continuity. Yeah. In a way that other things kind of can't

cuz they're they're easy to remember, right? Like especially in an improvised art form like role playing is, you kind

of need those call backs. You need to be able to like easily pull in a thing to enforce that

continuity and like remind yourself and your audience who are your other players unless you're doing actual play. Um

that there is like a continuity of character that's happening here. So like remember that thing. Doing the member

berry thing within this context of the same game helps to build that and make it feel

like there's a plot even though there isn't. It's only lore. Yeah. I Okay. All right.

I uh I will say like one thing to really watch over there you cannot have you

cannot force a bit. Like you can try, no, but you need to be very cognizant of

like just because you do a thing over and over and try to make it happen doesn't mean it's like for what I see

all the time is, and I'm going to pick on like a class specifically, but so

many rogues try to force a bit that

just isn't happening. It doesn't get a laugh. It doesn't work. It doesn't like play well in the room. But boy howdy are

they gonna keep trying to play this idea. They're like, "No, my rogue actually tries to pickpocket like every

single person they walk by. That's my that's my bit. I'm just stealing things constantly." And it's like, "Yeah, this

is like your sixth failed pickpocket attempt. We have to fight the guards again."

Well, and I think like that that's part of the whole like self-regulating economy of the thing, right? Like

as much as I think that it's played out now for a very long time, The Horny Bard

was a bit that I think transcended tables. Yeah. Transcended games, transcended like

genres even. Right. Like everybody was aware of the idea of the horny bard is going to [ __ ] the dragon.

Right. Right. Right. And at this point, I think it's oversaturated. Like I think that if you

bring a horny bard to a table, it is going to elicit nothing but groans. Yeah. It feels like the default has

become every bard is horny, which is just like Yeah. such a waste of that character class. I

I played what may have been the only horny bard

in or the only non-horny bard in any D&D game I've ever been involved with.

I think at this point it would be funnier to play an asexual bard. Yeah. Yeah. Just dripping in charisma. People

are like magnetic to him. Doesn't notice any of it

or like notices it but is like mildly repulsed.

I'm sorry. You want to do what? Thanks. But no. Yeah. Well, like with with the character

I'm playing right now, I I took the idea of charisma as like like the idea is like charisma can like

use some sort of facet of your personality to influence people around you, right? And I went the opposite of

like attraction with it. Um, he's super high charisma. He influences lots of things because he's so goddamn annoying.

you just will literally give in to anything to get him away from you, right? Like, please stop talking to me.

Please stop just being this irritating little, you know, coffee flemy old man

who's just kind of like, uh, okay. In my head, I immediately went to

a Gilbert Godfrey place. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Cuz he's also Jewish, so like

Okay. Yeah. It's That wasn't the connection I was making.

I just tried to imagine like the most annoying character that I could and I went to Iago. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Um, how do you feel about like stealing bits from actual play?

I I don't like personally I don't want to

do it. Um, because it's been done. I'm always looking for my own thing. But

again, unavoidable. Most people are not that funny and not

that creative. So, this goes back to the referential thing from the start where they see something, they're like, "Haha,

that's good. That's great." They want to take it and do it or try it. Um,

it's this would be a lot safer to do if the internet wasn't the internet and like

every time someone on a Dimension 20 show came up with a cool bit, it didn't

get repeated through every table through the next two months and everyone saw it, right? like

it's, you know, like these actual plays have become frighteningly parasocial.

Um, yeah. And I I understand that there is a

level of warmth and comfort by trying to do whatever it is that Lou did this

week. But Mhm. the reason that you love, you know, all

of these professional improvisers is because they are unabashedly

themselves and they bring facets of their own

personalities to these characters. And you will not

succeed in these endeavors by trying to be anyone but yourself to the maximum.

So that's I think that's the real lesson is trying to like maximize your individuality,

which definitely does not mean just steal whatever bit Brennan Lee Mulligan

put on his podcast this week. Yeah. I I don't I I think there's there's two facets to it for me where

like on one side I do think that cribbing from the professionals does

help some tables align tone. Mhm. Right. Like in very much this the same

vein of like if somebody makes the MontiPython quote, if somebody else makes the like Princess Bride quote, um

you have an idea of who you're playing with and what references they're going to get and what they're not. Right. Right. And if somebody makes a

comment about like scandlin hand that other people at the table don't get

then you're able to adjust your tone and like figure out which references you're supposed to be like looking for for the the table culture a bit.

Yeah. Um, my concern with it is always more like

who's table are you playing at and how?

Yeah. Cuz like the the people who are doing these actual plays aren't just playing for the

audience of their own table. They're also playing for the audience of you. Right? So the bits that they're coming

up with, the jokes that they're telling have to land on a couple of different levels, right? Like they have to land on the

table level. You have to get the the laugh from your colleagues for that immediate feedback. And then they also

have to land for the audience at large or you're going to get panned. Yeah. Or

like they'll just cut the joke out because that's how media works. So like we we don't see a lot of the the failed

bits or jokes.

But like we're not doing that when we're playing. It's just us and the other people at the table. And so like

there isn't a turn to camera moment that you can do of just like eh

you get that like D20 reference they threw in there. Yeah. Pretty funny, right? Like

so that that's kind of the the concern that I have there. And like I I have in

the notes that there's like a a folk cam comedy cannon that you're able to put together, but I think that that comes

not just from the parasocial quoting, but like the the cannon of your table is

going to be like all the references that people get. I I guess my biggest issue with these,

you know, the the references to other better role players is that well, I feel

like there's been a breakdown in the fabric of what it means to participate

in role playing games or be a role player, right? Um,

Dn D, the experience that I had with it that really hooked me on the game

was so far and away from what these actual play kind of people are doing that like

it feels like we're playing two completely different games. Um, right.

There's a level of like mugging and like, you know, I guess I I

understand there's improv comedy, but there's a level of like weird performance that like everyone does now.

And constantly getting clips serve up to you from the latest podcast does not help with that at all. And so like I am

loathed to bring up what happens on one of these shows at the table. I'll chat

about it with someone independently like, "Wow, that was really entertaining." But I I have to keep it

at a distance like any other piece of media, you know, like like I talk about it like an episode of of, you know,

Reacher or whatever it is that I happen to watch that week. Like that's that's the way I would feel. And and I I'm not

someone who regularly consumes these programs, so I also like don't have this

like I don't ever get to watch those bits happen in context. I just get them shoved at me on YouTube shorts, right?

And so if I and they're not great. No, there. No. Right. Like the being divorced from the

rest of the thing. You're not invested. You don't actually know what's going on. The like buildup isn't necessarily there

in a short that it would be in the the context of the actual game. I do wonder

like how much of that is just the popularity of those shows

now cuz like I was playing when Game of Thrones came out and things got real

serious around tables for a while. Oh yeah. This cuz every DM was like, "Oh, I can just like murder people and

have like weird sex dungeons. Perfect." Yeah. I I can finally merge my normal

dungeon and my sex dungeon. Yeah. Into the same dungeon. Hooray. um whole new definition and dragons,

[Laughter] but like there was a it goes back to the zeitgeist, right? It

goes back to the idea of like what is popular in the pop culture right now.

Yeah. And what are we attempting to emulate at the tables that we're playing at? Yeah. And I think that one of the big

things that we're seeing is a lot of these like funny, fun, personable,

charismatic actors playing D and D are having a big influence on the way that

we play and the way that we joke and not necessarily in a direction that

is conducive to your table at home. Well, yeah. and and they've they've turned these large exploratory

sequences into something a lot more compartmentalized and on rails and scene driven um in a way that doesn't happen

at the average home table. Um, so the way that humor plays out from, you know,

I know roughly the the beats of this interaction and I'm going to stick some jokes in there to like the more natural

like, hey, I'm just like a person in this world and I'm going to make a a little quip to my friend. Like they're

they're very different purposes of jokes in there.

um you know you you have in the notes here talking about like aiming a joke and for for where it needs

to land right and right there's a level of that that just doesn't happen in like I don't want to

say like okay I hate to call it like like actual humor but like

[Laughter] the the kind of thing I would do

to lighten the mood with a friend versus like trying to get a

Right. Right. Like like you're not mugging to an audience, you're just like ribbing a friend.

Yeah. Yeah. Or just like, you know, calling back to shared experiences like

you said. Um in a way that's like

less about being as funny as possible and earning a laugh and more about like

strengthening the relationship or or reinforcing, you know, the the bond.

I have just had what may be the best worst character idea.

Okay. Okay. So, going back to our asexual bard,

he's going to be from the school of clowning. Oh, don't you No.

And just a pretentious [ __ ] ass about it the whole time.

But but insanely high charisma. So every time he puts on a performance, you're like, "Oh my god, I've seen God."

[Laughter] Hey, thanks for making it all the way

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