Shy Ronnie

Pop-ups (43 · 6 fan picks from YouTube comments)

1. Fans point here

   2:40

   1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 12 likes.

   Like, Norm had a moment. That's too sad. I can't even. Post-Ladder, where his memory was just sharper than it's ever been. Yeah, that's awful. Homer took the crayon out of his brain. Yeah. Well, back in, guys.

2. Fans point here

   13:10

   4 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 7 likes.

   Akiva's daughter has officially done more ad reads than Andy. Yeah. That's a burn. And then another one. I love that you're literally cheated death and still did an ad read instead of Andy. Andy loves that too. All… — Seth

3. Jorma's hospital notes and cards

   14:28

   Jorma reads listener notes after returning from the hospital, including a postcard saying only 'penis', a recurring listener humor thread.

   I also had somebody on a postcard just write the word penis

4. Two Worlds Collide fan comment about dumpster fire

   16:22

   A listener comment about finding a wig in the dumpster prompts the hosts to ask for a not-a-gonk shirt design.

   check in the dumpster and you might find a wig
   not agonk

5. Fans point here

   17:18

   2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment.

   And is sampling him, or he's singing a new part for them? I don't know. He's in the video. I literally just pulled up the YouTube. Yeah, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony. But, like, they sampled him, and he's in the video, like… — Andy

6. Bob Dylan and Wyclef's Gone Till November video

   17:57

   Fans point out the Lounge scene and Bob Dylan appearance in the video, a classic oddity from the Wyclef Jean era.

   Yeah, he's in an airport. Almost as if it happened on accident.

7. Roger Brush sketch and Fred's bad advice

   21:28

   The Roger Brush sketch has Fred filling in for a woman's advice show host, giving condescending answers to audience questions.

   a woman's issues Q&A show where she engages with the audience

8. A Secret Word wig sketch

   23:12

   In A Secret Word, a Broadway actress always says the forbidden word in new funny ways, a fan favorite game-show premise.

   the premise is wig's character is sort of this old Broadway actress who always says the one word you're not allowed to say

9. Fans point here

   27:51

   2 YouTube comments timestamp this moment, 1 likes.

   Thumbtack knows homes. Download the app today. All right. Now we have a very, I mean, this is a really classic, awesome one. I didn't remember we did Reba and Shirani back-to-back.

10. MacGruber edit week

    28:18

    Jorma was away from Shy Ronnie work during MacGruber edit week, which left Andy and Akiva to work the Shy Ronnie session alone.

    This was a MacGruber edit week.

11. Shy Ronnie started as Earth anthem attempt

    28:39

    Before Shy Ronnie, the team tried a Planet Earth theme song riff on city-pride rap that they felt was only a B. The bit later became the Shy Ronnie concept.

    it was a theme song for planet earth oh right yeah and it was to the same beat

12. Shy Ronnie held back over Saxman similarity

    29:14

    The team worried that Shy Ronnie's structure was too close to Saxman and avoided doing it, fearing it would kill a possible future Saxman video.

    it's too similar to Saxman. And we don't want to blow that in case we ever did a Saxman video.

13. Shy Ronnie written and recorded in one hour

    29:24

    The song was written and recorded in under an hour late on a Thursday night, coming together far faster than expected.

    we recorded it, wrote it and recorded it, I want to say in like less than an hour.

14. Rihanna as perfect Ross Trent audience

    31:23

    During an early meeting, Rihanna laughed at every reference in Ross Trent, which the hosts found thrilling since she understood the Caribbean-inflected material.

    She was the perfect audience for Ross Trent. Oh, my God. Just every reference got everything.

15. Rihanna's name pronunciation discussed

    31:59

    The hosts discuss how Rihanna says she doesn't mind people saying her name wrong, a shared family-name joke for Akiva.

    I don't care.

16. Rihanna's perfect comedic inflections

    32:24

    Rihanna matched Andy's temp inflections exactly on the recording, a rare feat that impressed the hosts.

    she was so great at recording exactly Andy's inflections to get the jokes perfect.

17. Shoot planned for noon, starts at 8 p.m.

    35:38

    The crew had a noon shoot planned but Rihanna arrived at 8 p.m., leaving the crew idle for eight hours while the song was still unrecorded.

    We had a noon shoot time planned. And she showed up at 8 p.m.

18. Rihanna's team took over the office

    36:13

    Rihanna's team kicked the hosts out of their office, dimmed lights and lit candles while she recorded on Jorma's computer with engineer Marcus.

    They put silks over all the lamps and dimmed all the lights and lit candles.

19. Vocal session came out perfect

    36:41

    The recording took about 30 to 40 minutes and matched the hosts' expectations exactly, impressing Andy with its melodic and comedic delivery.

    It took maybe 30 or 40 minutes max. And they played it back for us, and we were like, oh, shit.

20. Rihanna's comedic talent praised

    37:35

    Akiva argues that most comedians can't match another performer's inflections, but Rihanna did so perfectly, showing unusual comedic talent.

    people can't. Yeah. say lines the same way other people do, and she perfectly did.

21. Rihanna's team pitched the short

    38:13

    Rihanna's management approached the crew before they met her, saying she'd like to do one of their shorts. The hosts were flattered, though it was later clear the team was the one pushing the idea.

    her team, her manager stuff, came into us before we even met her and said, she would love to do one of your shorts.

22. A one-hour window for Rihanna

    38:42

    After a long wait for her arrival, the production team said she could only spend about an hour on set, which forced the crew to shoot fast.

    how long is this going to take? You can have her for like an hour.

23. Shooting after a long, sleepless week

    39:31

    The crew had been up for hours and days, and the 45-minute shoot took place late at night, leaving them exhausted and short on usable footage.

    Because we're out of our minds. We've been up all night for a week.

24. Akiva's frustrated night

    42:04

    Akiva was convinced the shoot had failed and went home to bed, something he rarely did during production.

    I was so convinced that we hadn't got it.

25. Andy's pessimism during the edit

    43:27

    Andy repeatedly told others the short was trash and would not work, even while Akiva's edit was coming together.

    It's the worst thing we've ever done. We got no footage. It's not going to work.

26. The hallway edit room

    44:26

    Edit was done in Matt Yonks' office, which was really a hallway, with people passing through and stopping to watch the work.

    edit was Matt Yonks' office and it was basically a breeze. It was a hallway.

27. Rihanna's efficient shoot and the joke about a moral

    45:15

    Seth jokes that the lesson is that Rihanna can get a job done in far less time than planned.

    whatever you need done, Rihanna can get it done in like 95 minutes.

28. Dress rehearsal reveal

    45:54

    At dress rehearsal, the crowd laughed hard at the reveal, and the crew's faces fell in embarrassment. The short was approved for the show.

    we looked at each other and, like, our faces just fell. We were so humiliated.

29. Relief and the heist feeling

    46:36

    After the short worked, the relief felt like pulling off a heist, though the crew's embarrassment was still lingering.

    we just got away with the heist of the century or something, you know?

30. Single-location comedy inspiration

    ~47:30

    Seth argued the stuck-in-one-place comedy of the short resembled the Sushi Glory Hole pitch room, a conceit that gave the piece its character.

    the comedy of Glory Hole... the comedy of being stuck in one place is glory hole.

31. Shirani's look inspired by a show

    48:53

    The Shy Ronnie look was based on a character from the show Hung, played by Charlie Saxton.

    Was there a kid on Hung? Oh, that sounds right.

32. Avoiding the Clementine look

    49:08

    The team worried the look could resemble Clementine from Daiquiri Girl, so they adjusted the design to keep them distinct.

    it can't be too much like Clementine from Daiquiri Girl.

33. Rihanna's small, precise dance moves

    50:08

    Seth praised Rihanna for doing more with subtle dance moves than anyone, citing a Super Bowl halftime show.

    Rihanna to the day does more with small dance moves than anybody.

34. Shy Ronnie as an insecurity mirror

    50:53

    Andy argued Shy Ronnie tapped into the shyness and insecurities everyone carries, which he thought was central to the character.

    we all have a chyrony within. It's a bit of like just two guys.
    Shy Ronnie

35. Rihanna had to remember lines after one hearing

    54:55

    Rihanna heard the song only an hour before recording, then had to remember and deliver all the lines in sync.

    she, again, heard this song for the first time an hour ago.

36. Fans point here

    57:46

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 15 likes.

    Okay, that one. She hates her guts there. Oh yeah, we get them rocking. Oh yeah, all hella uncomfortable. Those kids killed it. It just says knowledge. Yes.

37. Shooting the exit separately

    59:15

    Rihanna's exit was shot only twice, and the final line is out of sync because the camera had to move between takes.

    We think we only got her exiting twice.

38. Frame-level sync edits

    1:00:32

    Akiva describes using small nudges to fix lip-sync, sometimes shifting by a single frame to get lines right.

    I'm like, you know how many frames that was? That was one. One frame.

39. Editing and musicals comparison

    1:01:45

    The hosts compare their quick edits to classic musicals like Singing in the Rain, noting the difficulty of matching sync in those films.

    they were editing this analog and they look like they're singing it.

40. Logic police and lyrical content

    1:02:56

    Seth notes the rap's lyrics might have been inappropriate for the kids in the scene if they had been sung at full volume.

    it was a wildly inappropriate song for those kids.

41. Nas' Made You Look reference

    1:03:56

    Seth wonders if Shirani's delivery was influenced by Nas' Made You Look, which had just come out in that era.

    Was that also because Nas' Made You Look had just come out too in that era?

42. Shy Ronnie live stage cameo

    1:06:42

    Andy appeared on stage as Shy Ronnie at a Santi show in New York, auditioning as a backup dancer.

    she was like, do you want to come do something at my show?
    Shy Ronnie

43. Just Two Guys transition to God's Plan

    1:08:05

    During the Just Two Guys set, Akiva and Jorma transitioned into a Shy Ronnie cameo, which led into a God's Plan performance.

    And then Shirani would come out and do God's Plan.

44. Jake Tapper's drawing

    1:09:00

    Jake Tapper drew a cartoon of the hosts, and the hosts joked about being rendered as Mark Cuban.

    Jake Tapper made this and was mad that I hadn't shown you guys
    cubed

45. Getting cubed again

    1:09:56

    The Mark Cuban drawing of the hosts recalled the cubed term used when someone is unintentionally made to resemble Cuban.

    Yeah, you got cubed. I disagree.
    cubed

46. Teasers for next episode

    1:10:21

    Seth mentions a voice note from O'Brien and teases an upcoming episode about Underground Music Festival and other sketches.

    I got a voice note from O'Brien that will play the next episode.

47. The next episode is a dud

    1:11:17

    The hosts jokingly predict the next episode will be a dud after two strong ones, and begin a running bit about it.

    Yeah, tune in next week. It's going to be a dud, you guys.

48. Fans point here

    1:11:37

    1 YouTube comment timestamps this moment, 15 likes.

    I was doing that a lot when I was getting x-rays in the hallway at Rusk and people didn't appreciate it. I was doing like, wind down, selector. And then I was like playing reggae hell of loud in the hallway because my… — Jorma

49. Later, Quaids sign-off

    1:13:48

    The episode closes with the traditional sign-off, "Later, Quaids," a line recorded by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    Later, Arnold. Later, Quades.
    later, Quaids