TWIPYs: Behind the Scenes | Don Wants to Buy a Pokemon w/Ian and Colin
Twippies creators discuss production challenges, creative process, and comedic highlights from the 2025 special.
Matt, Don, Ian, and Colin talk about the fun and challenging process of creating the 2025 TWIPYs Show. Also, Don considers getting a Pokemon pinball, which Ian played at the recent Stern media event....
Synopsis
Don, Ian, and Colin discuss the production of the 2025 Twippies award show special, detailing the creative process, production challenges, and standout comedic bits. They cover the one-month turnaround, video production difficulties including green screen work, writing sessions, voice acting performances (particularly Ian's Arnold Schwarzenegger voice), and plans for future content expansion. The conversation emphasizes the creative risks taken, the collaborative writing process, and the team's reflections on what worked and what could improve.
Highlights
- The 2025 Twippies special was produced in a four-week turnaround with no prior experience doing green screen and video effects at that scale
- Two back-to-back snowstorms in the weeks leading up to production caused major logistical disruptions
- Don spent 12+ hours rendering video in the final 24 hours before the Twippies deadline
- The Conan bit with Arnold, Gorgar, and King Kong required frame-by-frame re-centering of mouth movements during post-production
- The 2025 Twippies special is the shortest Twippies ever produced
- Mark Silk struggled to pronounce a fake alien Yelp variant ('Elp-sorps-yelp-sorp') and had to read the line approximately 25 times
- The team is considering splitting out individual skits and interview segments into separate YouTube videos and Shorts
- Ian screamed continuously as Arnold Schwarzenegger for the entire Conan bit performance despite physical challenges
Notable quotes
“It was beyond my wildest dreams, I think.”
“I got sick twice if you can imagine in one month”
“I literally had to go frame by frame and re-center you and arnold every single frame for like an entire performance”
“Well, it'll probably be the first director's cut that's shorter than the original.”
“You're playing like a hundred foot monkey, you know, so that's pretty funny, man.”
“awards make people go crazy, whether they're nominated or not”
“this one actually... celebrates the winners you really busted it down to like the categories that make sense”
“I've never been in any actual writer's room so that was like the closest thing to it and that was really fun”
Entities
- Twippies· event
- Gorgar· game
- This Week in Pinball· organization
- We Are Pinball· organization
- Arnold Schwarzenegger· person
- Brad Albright· person
- Christopher Franchi· person
- Colin· person
- Conan O'Brien· person
- Don· person
- Ian· person
- Mark Silk· person
- Matt· person
- Robert Smigel· person
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