Delayed Input 708 Post-Show Assessment

This was a weird episode. Doing an episode about the Ninja Turtles was something I had been thinking about for a while, I guess I just needed the right way in. It wasn't until I read that article that I started thinking, "Oh yeah this is kind of how I feel about those Turtles games," even though if we're being honest the two topics are practically entirely unrelated.
Also weird thing--there was a comment on youtube saying "I got recommended this as a TMNT fan. Where do I know this guy from?" I think I need to do better about actually using tags on my videos. They say any good youtuber is using tags, I've never considered myself a good youtuber, but I don't want to totally slip into becoming a bad youtuber.

Previously with Delayed Input I've been afraid to have too much overlap with my streams, wanting to keep them both mostly separate and hopefully not alienating anyone who simply prefers not to watch one or the other. I think there were a few times this season where I not only reference and show a clip of a stream, but I've even been elaborating on observations that popped up on a stream. It's probably a little redundant to someone who watches a lot of the streams, but I think I'd like to do more of that going forward.
(I wanted to show a clip of a frustrating moment of Syphon Filter that required rewinding, but I saw that awkward scream again and I just went for the thing that made me giggle like an idiot)

Something I struggled with for most of these past 8 weeks was finding a good headline for my jumping off point. Another thing I'd like to try more of in the next season is just doing thoughts on a game I recently played. Stray and Tinykin are two of my favorite games this year, I'm not sure I even passively mentioned them on the show, but I think they could have made neat spotlight episodes if I framed it up nicely.

Part of my plan for the low-key season was also to do fewer gimmicky episodes. At one point I was even thinking, "Franchise Score? No I don't do stuff like that anymore." Some of the eps turned into what I would call strange essays, which has been nice, but I think in the future we'll have to balance it out with more weird stuff (especially with Halloween coming up next season). I was at least happy to not be like putting on a plasticky wig and going "this is my new character, please laugh at this."

QUESTIONS FROM YOU!

When you're writing, do you primarily focus on the bookend jokes, like the ticklish future NPCs? Or do you take extra time to phrase everything in the script comedically?  
This one's kind of answered in this week's outtakes. The script ends like this:

"I’m simply honestly looking forward to the day where today’s games seem quant."

And then I just kind of vibe out that there's no good button when I'm performing it so I tried to come up with something. For Delayed Input I'd say my primary goal is to make an interesting statement on video games, and then I just kind of fill in funny stuff as I go.

How did YOU feel about the changes this season, in terms of how the videos felt to make and the end result?
As you guessed in your comment, I did cover a lot of this in the post, but one big change I forgot to talk about was removing music. Obviously I've been back-and-forth on this since the show started, but I kind of like it being gone. The show is more likable with music, but more authentically me without it. And I feel like it makes the moments where we do use it, like reading a quote or punctuating a joke, more impactful. I'll probably stick with this for now.

What's the difference between doing a show alone and having a team? Do you feel more comfortable talking to a camera when nobody's on the other side potentially judging you?
It gets done a lot faster when I had someone to set everything up and do the edit and really just enforce a natural deadline. I wonder if part of The Final Bosman's extra energy is the semi-conscious awareness that there's a person behind the camera you're also trying to entertain.
Generally I enjoy this current freedom to workshop stuff out and try unfunny things and take as long as I need to get something right. When Delayed Input started I was a little concerned I wasn't in shape to make good videos anymore, and now I really get to play around. 

Was it always the plan to feature Mucho more with the new style? Has this overall helped or hurt your chances towards the elusive good joke?
I try to just let Mucho do his own thing. There was that one week he was gone the whole time because a dog was barking outside. Though, obviously this week I let a couple of clips stretch out longer than I would have naturally let them just to get Mucho included. It's against editing instincts but sometimes you have to let your cat shine.

And that's it for today. I appreciate all your feedback as always. I'll say right now I'm leaning toward finding a new backdrop, but it absolutely has to be the Right Backdrop. It's like the honk, we can't replace it til we find the perfect thing. Thanks for being along for the ride, I'll be back in 2 weeks! Also earlier I was lying my primary goal for Delayed Input is not interesting statements it's funny jokes. I just want one funny joke please I don't understand why this is so hard