We all have a story to tell.note
A comedy series hosted on streaming service Dropout. Each episode, a comedian is dressed in elaborate costumes, makeup, and prosthetics to make them look nothing like themselves. Once they're shown the final look, they have to quickly figure out a character and give a completely improvised interview with host Vic Michaelis.The show is a Spiritual Successor to "Hello My Name Is..."
, an early CollegeHumor show where Josh Ruben would be dressed in a variety of strange outfits and be asked to give an interview with Pat Cassels.
A list of guests featured on the show (in order of appearance):
Guests
- Vic Michaelis as themself
- Anna Garcia as Princess Emily: European Popstar
- Ify Nwadiwe as Denzel: Alien from Another Planet
- Lisa Gilroy as Nana: Vic's Ex-Step-Grandmother
- Jacob Wysocki and Kimia Behpoornia as Zonton de la Doll and Marionette Conqui: Dolls Come to Life
- Josh Ruben as Kepl and Dr. Milk: A Man and His Puppet
- Zac Oyama as Tommy Shriggly: Mental Health Advocate
- Brian David Gilbert as Avery Goodman: Professor of Transhumanism
- Oscar Montoya and Jiavani as Jasper and Casper: Married Authors
- Isabella Roland as Leighanna-Jean Gruthers: Former Beauty Queen
- Ally Beardsley as Pig #2: One of the Three Little Pigs
Very Important People contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Stepgrandmother, in this case, but Nana physically and verbally abuses Vic throughout the interview, and very much confirms that she treated them the same way, if not worse, when they were a child as well.
- Alas, Poor Yorick: After the skull of Sara is brought to them, Marionette and Zonton tearfully eulogize to her skull.
- Artistic License – Law: Princess Emily's former bandmates probably wouldn't be imprisoned for life for animal smuggling. Granted, we have no idea what country they're actually from, so maybe smuggling laws are just very intense there.
- Bad Boss: Aside comments from Vic about the crew indicate that they treat their coworkers like crap.
- Beehive Hairdo: Marionette Conqui has an elaborate updo with two birds nesting in it. This is never addressed in the interview.
- Boss Subtitles: Each guest (or pair of guests) gets one. Princess Emily, for example, is billed as "European Popstar".
- Control Freak: Avery Goodman is all about control: his goal is to rid the world of "uncertainty" (ie. free will) and uses several inventions to override the minds of the people he wishes to have under him, all demonstrated onto Vic. He even claims his personal idea of ultimate power is control.
- Disproportionate Retribution: One of Tommy Shriggly's comrades-in-arms took the last Coke at the canteen, so he killed every single member in his platoon, one by one, in the dead of night, eventually leading to Tommy being dishonorably discharged.
- Hearing that Vic was refused a job by MSNBC, Zonton de la Doll threatens the entire network with death by guillotine.
- Eat That: Vic occasionally gets roped into consuming odd things that shouldn't be ingested by their guests.
- Princess Emily convinces them to take a handful of unlabeled pills, including ecstasy.
- Tommy Shriggly offers them dry scoops of protein powder, which they clearly regret accepting. They still go back for seconds.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Nana may be an abusive and selfish monster, but she does genuinely cry when she learns that her ex-husband, Vic's grandfather, has passed away.
- Faux Affably Evil: Professor Avery Goodman appears first as an approachable and kindly professor, but it's soon revealed to be a facade hiding a Totalitarian Utilitarian Mad Scientist.
- Higher-Tech Species: Subverted. Denzel keeps talking about concepts that would go over the head of humans due to being too advanced, only for Vic to let him know that what he's talking about is very much understood here on Earth.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: Subverted. Denzel supposedly has access to things like advanced invisibility cloaking, but the picture Vic shows reveals he's just got a blanket thrown over himself Bedsheet Ghost style.
- Incoming Ham: Tommy Shriggly interrupts the show's normal format to introduce himself via pump-up music and dancing.
- Knight of Cerebus: Nana. Vic's usual calm, collected routine is quickly reduced to begging Nana to just cooperate long enough to do the interview, and much of the comedy goes out the window as Nana berates them for perceived slights. Vic has recovered by the beginning of the next episode.
- Literal-Minded: Marionette Conqui and Zonton de la Doll don't have much of a concept of metaphors, so they panic when Vic mentions a media storm that set the media on fire.
- Mushroom Samba: Princess Emily's interview ends with the handful of unlabeled pills she offered to Vic kicking in all at once.
- No-Respect Guy: Kepl is constantly disrespected by everyone, including Dr. Milk, his own puppet, and Vic themself.
- Non-Specifically Foreign: Princess Emily is from "right in the heart of the smack of the dab" of Europe. Vic's attempts to figure out what that means in more specific terms go nowhere.
- Not So Above It All:
- The revelation that Tommy Shriggly took $100,000 in investments and turned it into $16,000 is enough
to make Vic break into laughter, and the show briefly cuts to a "Please Stand By" screen while they recover.
"Tommy, you invested a 100,000-(laughs)-Tommy, you invested a 100—(guffaws)-."- Similarly, Pig #2 declaring that the Big Bad Wolf stepped on their mother causes both Vic and Ally to break into laughter. Twice!
- The revelation that Tommy Shriggly took $100,000 in investments and turned it into $16,000 is enough
- Once per Episode: The last question Vic always asks the guest at the end of the rapid fire round is "What is the meaning of life?"
- Only Sane Man: Vic often comes off as this, since their role as the host is to calmly continue the interview, no matter what the guests say or do.
- Punny Name: Dr. Avery Goodman ("A very good man"). Doubles as an Ironic Name, as Goodman is a supervillain.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Tommy Shriggly was about to go to prison after being discharged for Friendly Fire, but since his uncle was in the military, he got out scot-free.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Zonton de la Doll and Marionette Conqui trek across the Atlantic Ocean and continental US to search for their creator, Sarah, only to find out that Sarah died in 1987, 37 years before the episode aired.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: Avery Goodman's goal is to make his vision of a perfect future where unnecessities such as arts, keeping in touch with your grandparents, or sentiment in general are deleted, whether the people want to or not.
- The Unpronounceable: The show's closed captions translate the alien's birth name as "(vocalizes and ululates)". Everyone, up to and including the format of the show, just calls him Denzel.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Vic frequently deals with aliens, pop stars and living dolls, and they rarely ever bat an eye. Their only reaction to Denzel's completely unpronounceable birth name is asking if that's spelled how it sounds.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Princess Emily's accent is very vaguely European.
