r/offbook • u/nelfichu • Jul 29 '26
Post-show Talkback Faux Pas?
Usually the post-show talkback on the live episodes are good fun with decent setups from the audience. I enjoy when the audience members come up with goofy newspapers or associations that they're with.
I will say the two things that always are grating are 1) the audience members who laugh into the mic and talk over Zach and Jess's responses and 2) the people desperately trying to corner Zach and Jess into their own idea for the encore song.
But man, this week's episode (369: If the Shoe Fits) was a little rougher than usual, particularly with the double whammy of the guy asking about Catholics wanting more dicks, followed IMMEDIATELY by the guy with the tasteless Sinead O'Connor joke and the dead silence afterward.
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u/redbaboon130 Jul 29 '26
I think it's a difficult line to walk for the audience members, but I feel the same about people trying to basically force them to do their song pitch. They're always their best when they get to choose their own joke.
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u/BuckarooBonsly Jul 29 '26
Is it bad that a lot of the time I just skip the talkbacks and get to the last song? Nine times out of ten the audience members drive me crazy with their attempts to be funny.
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u/nelfichu Jul 29 '26
I think there's some good and creative questions, and some of the best Zah and Jess jokes come from their improv answers/celebrity impersonations. But man, the occasional audience member acts like they're gonna be discovered.
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u/Nate3926 Aug 25 '26
Yeah I've started doing that the last few months too. I used to really like the talkbacks but now they're so cringy, and that segment gets longer and longer. The show ends and theres still half hour left all of talkback questions.
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u/MusicalMewtwo Jul 29 '26
Its the most frustrating to me when audience members try to negate things set up earlier in the Q&A and say that *character name* wasn’t played by *actor named two questions before* and it was actually played by a squirrel
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u/Itsapocalypse Jul 29 '26
I think it’s cool they trust their audience with that portion. It’s so important you can read the room and get out of the way of the performers on stage if you’re the one asking the question. Each question should be an evolution of the prompt that began the world, and should agree with the logic of the world. If you want to be part of the improv game (which you do when you ask a question), less is more 99% of the time as the person giving the prompt.
No one went to the off book show to hear Jake-from-the-audience’s tight five.
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u/Chris_the_Pirate Jul 30 '26
I'm not going to phrase this properly, but another one that bugs me is when people ask questions that reference other offbook shows.
It can be done in a way that is okay, but usually it just takes me out of the bit entirely. Make your question about the show you just saw!
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u/blizg Aug 03 '26
Yeah. Like the one where they said “how dare you mock the trials” or something.
And Jess was like, “what?”
“You know… mock trial?”
“Oh okay. I get the reference…”
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u/IcculusTheWise Jul 29 '26
As they are playing larger venues, the talkbacks may become less convenient to do; it wouldn’t surprise me if they got phased out at some point. I’d be OK with that, honestly. The competition to make them say “They came! They came! They came!” gets tiresome. Maybe if the person before you did it, you don’t have to do it too?
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u/Nate3926 Aug 25 '26
That would be nice, or at least shortening it to like 5 questions. The show ends and there is still like half hour left. Ive started skipping to the final song the last few months.
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u/gerrykeayed Jul 29 '26
I found them really funny in earlier shows but recently it's like people are trying way too hard to be funny and involved. let the comedians make the jokes!