Helpful_Table_Maker

http://www.reddit.com/user/Helpful_Table_Maker

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Helpful_Table_Maker2120 karma

This guy is just shooting off answers, so this table is probably incomplete, but here we go.

This IAMA has been verified.

Question Answer
What is your opinion regarding piracy? Too many eye-patches.
Funniest off-camera/censored moment on Who's Line? 200 lb snatch
What is/was your friendship like with Ryan Stiles? We have a great friendship in that we never keep in contact but when we see each other it's like we saw each other yesterday.
Are you aware that there are tons of blogs dedicated to the on and off screen supposed love affair you and Ryan share? The years of speculation! Add gasoline to the burning hot rumors! Read a book.
Did Wayne Brady really come up with the lyrics for those songs off the top of his head? Yes. Wayne , Chip,Brad and Jeff are amazing at it. They never get enough credit because people think they've cheated somehow. But they are simply the best
How do you keep your cool when even the other comedians are virtually dying of laughter? I don't find the others funny.
What are your thoughts on US vs Canadian vs British audiences? They are pretty similar. The only difference is the suggestions. North America tends to be more pop culture oriented.
Have you kissed Ryan lately? No, would you?
What was your most memorable moment from Whose Line? Breaking up any of the guys was fun because they are pretty jaded and have seen it all so it was a special moment when i could do it.
When is Trust Us With Your Life gonna air? Don't know when the show will air, I'll keep you posted.
Favourite TV shows lately? Modern Family, Louis, Breaking Bad, Mad Men.
I want to know what motivated and inspired you to pursue comedy and improv? When I got my first laugh in a school play, it really did become like a drug. I craved laughs. I lucked out.
How much of your live act gets edited out of the actual TV show? Not much was edited out. We would do about 20 games during a taping and they would cut that into 4 shows. Unless the scene really sucked it was kept in.
Exactly how uncomfortable were you in the Richard Simmons episode? Not uncomfortable at all.
Whats your favourite pizza topping? Jalepenos
Any really memorable moments during tapings that you all realized was never going to be able to make it to air (due to vulgarity, epic failure, or anything of the like)? Everthing pretty much made it. We were never overly vulgar because we wanted to get stuff on air.
Towards the end of the US run of Whose Line, the show started doing things like involving more special guests and getting audience members to do more things (like the Sound Effects game). Was it fun trying to work with this unexpected factor, or did you guys find it more of a hindrance? Working with the guests were fun and kept us on our toes but I felt it took away from the other improvisers.
Do you ever perform any long-form improv? Any thoughts of it vs. the kind of things you did on Whose Line? I have done long form and enjoy it but the games are the audience favourites.
I host an improv club at thornhill secondary school in Vaughan Ontario, what would you say is the most overlooked mistake newbie's make? Not listening and trying to push your idea is the most common mistake.
what is your favourite improv game? Greatest hits is my fav.
What is a dinguisher? A dinguisher is what you say when some asshole gives you extinguisher to rhyme with.
Where do you buy your collared shirts? The collared shirt store
Did you enjoy being on the cast of Whose Line? Loved Whose Line. Lots of laughs, no work.
Did you ever get tired of the bald jokes? Were there any bald jokes that "just went too far"? the bald jokes were something for the less funny guys to hang on. So good for them
Who was your favorite "guest" character to work with? All the guests were fun but Richard Simmons was really gung ho
What was it like kissing Drew? Drew has lovely soft lips.
What were you actually thinking when you said that you were watching animal porn? Can't remember. I was heavily drugged
What are some of the lines you've come up with of which you are proudest? Any that still make you laugh to think of them? The beauty and the curse of improv is that it goes away once you do it, so I can't think of a specific line. Sorry.(How Canadian of me)
When you were a wee little Mochrie, (With a full head of hair) what was it that you wanted to do with your life? Wanted to be a marine biologist. I think it worked out for everyone
Were there any "Whose Line" games that you really hated? Hoedown
How often did the game "Helping Hands" need more than one take? We never did retakes. Sometimes we did 2 or 3 hoedowns because the producer is a sick bastard.

Helpful_Table_Maker2013 karma

Question Answer
What exactly is the legality of you guys recording people doing drugs or buying drugs? Going with a theme. I am a cameraman not a lawyer, so I am not sure what the legal workings are. I will say that we will always shoot a drug deal if it does not endanger the life of the subject or our lives. Usually that is not that case.
How many of the people on the show do you genuinely believe have a chance at recovery? The current recovery rate for the people on the show is high, around 70-75 percent I believe. Much higher than someone just entering recovery.
Do you guys keep a bodyguard (or a very big producer) around just in case? Every once in a while we hire security, then we make them act like our production assistant. I remember shooting in Camden, NJ. I had a security guy with me that was an off duty cop. He told me he was on Americas most wanted. Apparently he was shot in the face a few years before, right were we where shooting and they never found the person who did it.
After all of these years on TV, how do you/the producers still convince the subjects that they are being filmed for a "documentary" instead of for an intervention? Because we are filming a "documentary" about addiction, they just don't know it is Intervention. As the show has become more popular it has become more difficult.
How often do people realize that they are on Intervention early on, refuse to continue the show and you are unable to make an episode out of it? Hardly ever. The only time we really pull the plug is if we find out that they and the family know and are working together to just get free treatment. In those cases they don't need an intervention. They just need to go get treatment. I have been of 3 stories that we had to pull the plug on for that reason. And in each of the cases, we worked hard to provide them with treatment anyway.
Did you film the guy with the best cry ever? No, but my buddy did.
Do you ever ask people to do it again? Or ask someone to push a sensitive question to prompt an emotional response? Many times in TV you ask someone to "do it again". Like can you walk around the corner again, can you tell me that again, I was not on a good shot. But many of those rules do not apply to Intervention. I can't asked someone to do drugs again because I did not have a good shot. It is the truest cinema verite documentary show that I have worked on. And I have worked on a few.
What is the one thing that you can say that addicts seem to have in common? I think that all addicts have some unattended emotional pain in common. I am a cameraman not a therapist, but in my experience addiction is largely a result of using a substance or experience (gambling) to cover up emotional damage that you want to hid from. Genetics does not help the cause for many people either.
What is the worst act that you've seen? There are a couple things that stand out, Someone ODing in front of me, thankfully they made it. Another person trying to kill take their life in front of me, again thankfully they made it. I always remember the times that I have to put the camera down.
A lot of people I know who have seen the show say it is mostly staged, or the subject/family members are just actors paid to act crazy. Can you shed some light on people's skepticism of the show? I have worked on many other shows and I can say truthfully say that Intervention is the most honest show that I have been a part of. The subject nor the family receive money, other than an opportunity to get help. The craziness that you see is real, addiction is crazy. More often than not, there is we capture stuff to crazy for the TV audience.

Helpful_Table_Maker1912 karma

Thank you for this very interesting IAMA!

Questions Answers
What creepy stuff went on? Spying on players. Getting intimate gaming data, their habits, their networks, and how to effectively monetize given X. Another issue was skewing gameplay for the sake of profit, example; I actually resorted to BAD MATH, to make the case for making a feature more fun. At the end of one sprint, a QA dude was complaining about the drop rate of a specific item being absurdly insane, and therefore UnFun. I looked at the code, and tweaked some values, gave it back to QA guy, and fun was restored. Product Manager overrides this, goes for unfun, yet more profitable version.
What are some of the 'good things' that Zynga did, examples? An awesome chowhall for food. 2 meals a day. Arcade machines all over the campus. Living in the carcass of the old SEGA building. Brogrammers committing bad XML and pretending to be programmers. (entertainment value) Designers and Artists committing bad XML. (moar entertainment value)
Just how data driven is Zynga? How much do the PMs rely on metrics to craft the games? EVERYTHING. I have a hook into every piece of new data and user involved feature. I have to report the data at all times. PMs rely on metrics more for office politics, not science, not game design. Zynga is a marketing company, not a games company.
Why did you pull Word Challenge offline? Most likely, if a game released doesn't match some metric or escalating population, it gets pulled off. Or, they are getting sued. It's always these two scenarios. They've released unstable code for public consumption, REGULARLY.
What was your job title? "Software Engineer". That should have been revised to "ActionScript Content Cruncher" though.
What is your opinion on the tiny tower vs. dream heights? Tiny Tower + D Heights is all standard operating procedure here. If you can't buy em, clone em. Even the core technology for FarmVille (MyMiniLife), was bought. The only "homegrown" codebases at Zynga is MafiaWars2 and maybe Poker, the rest of their tech was just bought from small studios. Lookup Dextrose Engine. To me, that's utterly creepy. They try to choke out the competition by gating all these engines and tech.
What languages did you code in at Zynga? PHP, ActionScript, Javascript.

Helpful_Table_Maker1107 karma

Question Answer
Why did you leave the team? Did you want more focus on academics, or was there some other reason? Honestly, there was no negative tension, action, conversation, etc. that occurred between myself and The UCF Basketball program. Mainly, I came to a point in my life where I wanted to focus on things outside of basketball and to explore the opportunities beyond the sport. After talking to my parents, I felt that in order to reach my full potential as a person, I needed to step away from the game and give more thought to my future.
What are your plans after school? What do you want to be when you grow up? Honestly, I have many interests in many subjects and would like to be some sort of a modern day renaissance man.
What made you decide to do a Reddit AMA? Are Marcus and AJ secretly Redditors as well? S/O to my man @kypade on twitter for putting me on the reddit game.
What did you like most about the school? I enjoyed and continue to enjoy the people involved within the UCF Knight family, mainly I noticed the professors/teachers were very different then what I was used to coming from the University of Illinois... but in a positive way where they were more accessible and easy to talk to... *(beautiful campus, beautiful people, welcoming atmosphere)
What did you like about it the least? i would definitely say the 30 min-2 hours parking search issue was the first thing that popped into my mind. I just feel like there should be better ways for the students of UCF to travel across campus on a day-to-day basis.
What's the best advice your father ever gave to you? " Play for the love of the game. The day the game stops becoming fun... stop playing."
Have you ever felt that you'd be living in your father's shadow playing basketball? Never thought about that when I started... I began playing at 3 so I didn't realize what would come in the future.... I just loved the game.
Were you recruited by or did you have any interest in playing at the University of Michigan? I was never officially recruited by UoM, I received letters of interest. My brother Marcus (@sasbmj) had more interest in going to UoM than I did--yet, I do have a lot of friends that go there and love the school.
What are you studying at UCF? I began studying Psychology for three years at the University of Illinois. I transferred into UCF as an Interdisciplinary Studies Major, Which included Behavioral Studies as a Major, Communications as a Minor, and health as an area of study.
When do you plan on graduating? I plan on graduating in the Fall.
What is the single most important thing you want to accomplish in your life? Wow...choose one? I don't know, I would say to be successful number 1, but number 2--make change(s) in the world that are meaningful and long lasting, if not permanent...
How much time do you spend with your dad? Its always a roller coaster when it comes to being able to spend quality time with him. Timing-wise, he's got a lot going on, I have a lot on my plate with projects that I am pursuing, and obviously Marcus has to deal with his duties as a teammate and as a student--so this makes it pretty tough. But we usually try to take one guys trip with all of us together at least once a year...
How much does your father contribute to the UCF basketball program as morale is concerned with you attending there, and Marcus as a big face there. My father prefers to work more behind the scenes... he would give us advice after games that he was at or watched on TV, but besides that he just wants us to have fun.
What do you think of Shaka Smart as a coach, and their run to the Final Four? I've never gotten the chance to talk to Coach Smart personally but from what I've seen in games and interviews, I think he is a great coach who truly understands the game-(the politics). You can tell he is the type of guy that just wants to win and wants his players to succeed. Gotta love that!
Looking back on your dad as a role model and father why are some things you would definitely do as a father? More than anything, I would make sure that my kids have the opportunity to interact and communicate with kids and adults of all races, ethnicities,and cultures to ensure that they have a well-round view of the world.
What are some things you definitely would not do [as a father]? WoW! ummm.... Mainly, I would definitely try not to give any other type of criticism but constructive criticism.

Helpful_Table_Maker730 karma

Question Answer
How would you feel about making a dark, hard sci-fi remake of the 80's sitcom "ALF"? It would be fun and easy. The series had one of the darkest endings of anything I can remember.
Loved Chronicle. And I loved The Death and Return of Superman. It was one of the most entertaining things I've ever seen on the Man of Steel and your thesis was what sold me completely, about death in comics. It was quite academic. Any plans to do other similar comic-based projects? Not YET. Very busy with other stuff. But... I mean, the Clone Saga really did suck, didn't it?
How do you feel about the comparison of Chronicle to Akira? Tremendously flattered. I love Akira, and Andrew in the hospital gown at the end is definitely an intentional homage. That said, plotwise and in terms of the story as a whole, they really couldn't be more different. They share similar elements, but ultimately Akira is a sci-fi epic, and Chronicle is a drama about a lonely teenage boy.
Did you purposely say that the Death of Superman issue was in Action Comics and not Superman just to prove that you really don't give a shit about Superman? No, I fucked up because I was talking from memory. I give a HUGE shit about Superman. Epic shit. Otherwise I wouldn't have spent the time to make a movie about him.
What do you think of the found-footage film genre and its wild popularity in recent years? Are you a fan of Cloverfield and the Paranormal Activity films? Found footage is a medium that's yet to really find its footing. It should be entirely based in character. Cloverfield didn't do anything other giant monster movies haven't done, which bothered me because Found Footage should always be more personal in my opinion; Paranormal Activity really is something special. I kind of love those films.
How does it feel having written the #1 movie in America right now? Feels crazy good. Bizarre. Overwhelming.
How involved were you in the development/production process? How much time did you spend on set? VERY involved in development, but never visited set until reshoots in Vancouver. I had too many projects going at once, and I'm still bummed I didn't make it to south Africa.
After they got powers, Andrew's crappy old videocamera was destroyed. They next thing we see, he has a really nice new one. Did he use his powers to steal his fancy new camera? First of all, not destroyed. Buried. And just before (CENSORED) psi-wipes the boys, we hear Matt say "I'll buy you a new one."
Did you ever consider giving yourself a stage name to avoid the shadow of your pops? Yes, I did, but I love my name too much. Plus, I love my dad.
The dialogue in the movie felt extremely real and genuine. Also, was Matt actually supposed sing or was that improvised? Him singing is in the script! Awesome, right?
Personally, the bullying Andrew went through was very familiar to me but luckily my home life was WAY better than his. Did that come from personal experience? Yes, the bullying came from personal experience, but I've spent time in the lives of all three boys.
If you could pick from three superpowers to have, which would you pick and why? Three? Hm. I dunno man. That's the sort of question I've given up on trying to answer. One is easier. Flying. Couldn't you have guessed?
Hi Max, As someone the same age as you trying to break into writing, what advice would you give on how to break into the business? Writing tips you've learned from your experience? FINISH YOUR SCRIPTS. Find managers before agents. Always managers first.
coolest on-set story w/ your Dad? Not many cool on set stories, honestly. I was a SERIOUSLY misbehaved kid, and spent most of the time I could've been doing awesome stuff grounded.
What is your favorite part of Chronicle? The whole thing.
How do you feel about me pirating it? Would your opinion change if I bought it later? I'd feel pretty bad. I wanna do a sequel, and that doesn't happen if people pirate, really. Go see it when it comes out at the cheapie theaters!
You mention in the youtube desc that your original rant was 45+ minutes long, and was then edited down for pacing. Any chance of ever seeing/hearing the whole thing (sans fancy FX and cutaways) or would you prefer people only ever see the curated final product? The original rant contains a lot of epic stuff (a Spiderman/Batman Tragedy off which devolves into a dick measuring contest, extended thoughts on Doomsday, Lex Luthor as The Cowardly Lion, etc), but I think it'll either be parcelled out in minivids or be lost to the sands of time.
What was it like growing up with the guy who directed 'American Werewolf in London' , 'Animal House' and 'Coming to America' as your father? LOUD.
You have a dream project that a studio writes a blank check for, whats it about, who do you cast, and what is "holy shit" moment of the movie? I'm already doing it at Disney, google it. Top secret.
How'd you get Ron Howard to be in your Superman flick? I already did Knightfall, in college. Search "Cooking With Comics Knightfall."
Was that Joel McHale as Doomsday's creator? No, it was veteran character actor Jimmy Simpson.