We are Canadian sketch comedy group LoadingReadyRun and we're in the middle of our 10th annual Desert Bus for Hope, AUA

How lickable is this thread?

6

I really appreciated the research-intense response (licking Matt's screen slew me!)

I encourage everyone in this thread to head over to desertbus.org and donate in multiples of $6. Add "AMA" to your donor tag and let's see how much money this AMA can raise for the children!

My poor monitor :(

-m

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1Ixass5Uew&feature=youtu.be

Graham and Kathleen: raising a young daughter into such publically visible setting as streaming and Desert Bus for Hope, how do you balance that?

As Penelope gets older will you allow her to get more involved in LRR/DB and streaming in general, or less and explicitly keep her away from internet publicity?

---

Additional question, do you ever plan to revisit making full length sketches should a fitting script arise?

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWbAZJtWAuI&feature=youtu.be

You've created a thing that has a really deep meaning for a lot of people, and people obviously connect with both Desert Bus and LRR. Your streams are all highly interactive, as well, which leads to folks feeling a stronger connection to you than they would a TV star or something.

That said, you're all individuals with your own lives. Is it weird being mini-celebrities, or at least the recipients of asymmetrical adoration? Sometimes I realize that I know a bunch of stuff about y'all and feel weird.

Graham: "A little, but I don't mind, I guess?"

So, because of all the content we've put out over the years, through podcasts and videos and so on, and sometimes it seems like many of our viewers know more about us than they know about their friends. The result is that when we meet people, they've spent a lot more time with us than we have with them. So sometimes when people come up to greet us it's like,

"Hi, I'm Graham."
"Yeah, I know!"

But we really like to meet these new people, and of couse the people that like the work we do often like a lot of the things that we like, so when we do get the chance to meet people that like our stuff it becomes really easy to make friends with them when we do have a chance to hang out.

So, we like to meet folks, but of course the dynamic is a little unbalanced, and appreciating that, is appreciated?

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctWnzpzH2BQ&feature=youtu.be

Do you believe you'll surpass DB9 in donations this year?

We think it's possible. We don't think it'll be easy. That said, it's Desert Bus 10, and people like beating their previous high scores. So we think it's possible for sure.

That said, even if we don't, as of right now we've raised $326,000 - that's an incredible amount of money raised for charity, so it's no failure even if we don't pass DB9.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2pWxni4GYE&feature=youtu.be

What Desert Bus memes that have carried over from year to year are your favourites?

AS IS TRADITION

GRAHAM: I LIKE WHALE PLAID - WE HAVE TURNED A TERM OF CONGRATULATION INTO SOMETHING YOU CAN MAKE A PICTURE OF

TALLY: I think Sweetening the pig has had one of the longest-lasting effects on Desert Bus

James: AAAAFFFFFRICAAAAA - this one is a lot of fun when we don't overdo it. But it worked great for Ashley's intro, and is just tons of fun.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDSzHIbpCL8&feature=youtu.be

Is there any fundamental aspect of Desert Bus that you wish you could change, but can't because it is tradition and/or integral to the expectations of viewers?

Tally: The time of year is maybe something we'd change. November is a busy time of year, and we've run aground of Thanksgiving on a few years.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJWqPACk-I4&feature=youtu.be

How are you able to play this game for 12 hours at a stretch without going utterly mad?

Haha, the game is not fun. But it's everything that goes on around you is what allows you to play it for a length of time without being bored to tears.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qulImq1zfzA&feature=youtu.be

What do you do with all the hats used on Feed Dump? Do you still have them all, and if not, when was the last time you purged your collection?

Basically we collect all the hats we get for feed dump and hang onto them for a while. From time to time we perform a cull and keep the very best hats. The rest are sent to a farm upstate to charity. If we hung onto them all we'd have rooms that were floor to ceiling with hats, and it would just be untenable, but most of your favorite LRR hats are FeedDump Hats.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ilA1eu7Zjg&feature=youtu.be

Any plans to turn Lava Bears into an official module?

Jer has thought about this, but at this point it seems like the only way to do this would be to hire a freelance writer to dig into the stream of the campaign and transpose it into something publishable, as he has too much on his plate right now.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-3-ucpnCoU&feature=youtu.be

I'll just get it out of the way:

What on earth triggered this in the first place way back in 07?

and

Have you got to the point where you're quietly wondering what is happening and why so many people throw money at you?

Probably the two questions that'll be asked most.

As an aside, thanks for this. Been watching myself since the first and an LRR fan since the end of Season 1/start of Season 2. Love you guys and everyone involved with DB. Thank you!

Matt: I fell behind transposing the answer on this one, I'll get the video up shortly.

The gist:

James and Paul were the originators. James wanted to do a fund raiser for Child's Paly, and things sorta came together from there. Child's play was started in response to a news article that was negatively representing video gamers, and Desert bus was developed as a response to the various groups that were advocating for the prohibition of video games due to violence back in the 90's. so they seemed like a good fit.

Paul wanted to do some streaming on the internet (and this was 10 years ago, so it was a pretty new thing), and thus desert bus was born.

Video Responses:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8CbGv8IT1k&feature=youtu.be

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfUXxRW12VM&feature=youtu.be

Might we ever get purchasable shame ticket pads? I would love them for personal use when watching DB at home

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-4gskWwBqI&feature=youtu.be

Is this desert bus located geographically south to last years desert bus?

Yes. Our venue this year is one block south of our previous two.

Why do you care so much about children? What have they ever really done for us?

That's... a good question.

Desert Bus cancelled.

Hi Canada, this is your loud downstairs neighbors. Can you send us some Hope? We're a bit low at the moment.

Working on it. Tune in.

Why did you decide that for year 10 volunteers couldn't enter giveaways or bid on auctions? Volunteers bidding in a tense live auction resulted in some incredible moments in years past.

So, our decision was that Volunteers actually can still participate in Live and silent auctions (as long as they weren't involved in actually running the auction itself) because the operation of live auctions especially are pretty transparent.

For giveaways though, all of the winner selection takes place through a backend system that was built by our tech team. WE know that the selection of winners is random, but that's not necessarily clear to the viewers and to avoid any possible perception of unfairness in the result, we chose to restrict entry in giveaways and donation drives o viewers only.

What's your favourite challenge you've participated in?

Love you guys! Well done for all your hard work over the last 10 years!

Bill getting so into "Don't Stop Me now" that he crashed was great.

Johhny is a big fan of having the exercise bike in - especially the fact that he didn't remember having done it while driving and only found out that it happened upon seeing the gif posted to chat was something else.

James liked cutting Tally's hair with the horsehead mask.

Ben liked the really goofy mortal kombat stuff.

Tara: In Desert Bus 8, being taken to the gay bar and fed grapes and stuff.

Matt: The Bus King Pageant stands out to me.

Tally: Ashton performing Baby Got Back in an Afrikaans accent.

Jer: The Werner Hertzog readings rate very high. Previously he had thought the twilight dress up challenge was his favorite, but having rediscovered the video again last night, he... remembers why he wanted that buried.

Video Response: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01YekSF_rY8&feature=youtu.be

What was your favorite moment of DBX so far?

Zippotricks McEdgelord.

Dear Dr's LRR,

If you were a part of the DB overlay what part would you be and why?

The donation total. It gets poked, and I bet that feels kinda nice.

Did the advent of LoadingReadyLive impact the preparation of DBX? How about the opening number?

Implying we "prepared" for DBX.

more seriously, I don't think LRL significantly impacted the way we prepared for or ran DBX.

Desert bus is like a well oiled machine at this point...

It's a Rube Goldberg machine, but it's well-oiled.

Why the switch from 8 hour shifts to 12 this year? Will there be more codrivers next year? (Kate Stark needs a shift with Kathleen or Jamie.)

WE've done 12 in the past, we've done 24 in the past, shift durations have never been locked, it's always something we're willing to play with. We didn't think that 8 hours quite gave the drivers time to make the shift their own. 12 feels like a better duration for the drivers, without pushing them so hard that they spend the rest of the event recovering.

Is James excited to get an entrance this year?

Yeah!

James: I didn't really get an entrance of my own, but being able to initiate the event with a great opening number, which was my idea, was pretty great.

Are you expecting any crazy live auctions from the Penn & Teller call-in?

We never know what to expect. :)

Why is Beej ?

Bonus, why is glass shark ?

He just is.

Do you guys envision seeing yourselves doing Desertbus 20?

We have no idea. That's a long way off. Let's see how Desert Bus 10 shakes out first. :p

Since the local news has confirmed that you now get $20 million a year for Child's Play...how long does this mean you have to bus for?

So, our formula is such that each hour costs 7% more than the previous hour, with the first hour of driving costing $1. This leads to exponential growth in the cost of hours the longer we play.

$20 million dollars takes us to somewhere around 8.5 days, which is about 2 days longer than we go now.

Basically, the formula works.

If you could have any celebrity guest call in to desert bus, who would you choose?

This year, Lin-Manuel Miranda was at the top of our list.

Others we've had on the list, but not been able to book yet include Nathan Fillion, John Cena (memes!), and some others that we're hopeful we'll manage to connect with someday.

Best Meme/Injoke from this years' Desert Bus?

THE BONE ZONE.

Incidentally, the bone zone rates a solid 7 on the Turner Lickability Scale.

Of all the prizes you have auctioned off, and given away over the years, what have you wanted to keep the most but were not able to?

I barely remember all the things we've auctioned off over the years. THere are a lot of magic lots we've done, like the foil sheets that I'm sure several of us wouldn't have said no to. and Matt has a MIGHTY NEED for some of the Ken Steacy original works we've found new homes for.

Really though, we're pretty thrilled to be a conduit for our items to find new homes where we'll know they'll be loved and appreciated.

Hey LRR! Big fan. Today you auctioned off a tour of Wizards of the Coast. Have you ever considered donating a tour of The Moonbase? Seems like it'd be fun!

The moonbase is... not actually very big. It'd be a short tour.

Dear Drs LRR,

If you had an actual doctorate, what would it be in?

Underwater basket weaving.

Dear Dr. LRR,

Has anything gone horribly wrong, but you managed to not show it on stream or were otherwise able to cover for it?

There are always little things, but honestly, nothing huge.

Is Alex ok? He was hallucinating earlier, did he get home ok?

He's not here right now, so my assumption is yes.

Have any of you reached peak bus yet this year?

It's only Wednesday :[

Why doesn't James do a 24 hour shift anymore?

He got too old. We all got too old.

If you could add one feature to Desert Bus, what would it be?

Oncoming traffic. Burnout-style.

What comments in the after Desert Bus survey have surprised you?

The addition of the chat monitor was a recommendation of the survey. We were surprised that we hand't thought of it ourselves. It was an obvious add, and a huge improvement.

Typo or nefarious reason why MomoCon doesn't appear on the LRR wiki for DB9 Prize Sponsors? ;P

Likely an oversight. We're sorry!

Long time crafter, first time questioner. I've been making sprites for Desert Bus for a few years and am always amazed at the variety of other prizes that people donate to the cause.

What is the most memorable prize you've auctioned off or given away in ten years of Desert Bus?

The two that come to mind are Penn auctioning off the trip to Vegas and then tripling it.

Also the houseboat. It was a damn houseboat.

Is there a specific time when you upload the streams to loadingreadylive or just when you have them ready?

When they're ready.

We're working towards a consistent schedule.

Would you rather 500 duck sized busses or 1 bus sized duck?

Definitely 500 duck sized busses. Jer might differ.

Pokemon Sun or Moon? Also: which starter?

James: Sun

Matt: Moon

The only starter I'll ever accept as legitimate is squirtle.

Dear Drs LRR,

What is one thing about Desert Bus that has surprised you the most?

The generosity of the community. People coming back year after year to watch this nonsense. It will never stop being a delightful surprise.

How long are you guys looking to run Desert Bus? Is it something you could see going five years or even ten years down the road? Maybe pass it down to the LRR babies someday? Love you guys lots, thank you for all the work you do! ^{.^}

We don't know. Our focus is on DBX right now, then we'll figure out what 11 looks like.

Have you considered doing a "Desert Bus Zero" which would be similar DB1 in order to return to a more simpler time?

Every year, about halfway through planning that year's desert bus.

Are there any plans to do Loading Ready Live on DB?

To be fair, Desert Bus is like one really extended Loading Ready Live

This is pretty much our answer, yeah.

As answered by another user below, Desert Bus basically is a big LRL.

You know Kimjongillia from insomniac gamers holds the record for most points in a single run right? I believe he got to 4 points on his own. Coulda been 5 though.

That's pretty impressive.

Will there ever be a Loading Ready Run hat or toque?

There have defiinitely been one-off, hand knit LRR touques or hats. whether those will ever become an official thing? Who knows.

For everyone in the room, favorite things to watch on Netflix? Also, why is it Bojack Horseman?

It's not bojack horseman.

In regards to Desert Bus itself, I have a gameplay question:

WHY AREN'T YOU USING SPACE JUMP?!

Space jump, sadly, was not an included feature in Desert Bus.