Unproduced Sketch: Slappy Dude Hugs

Here’s an incredibly stupid sketch — a simple heightening of a very small observation.

There is a particular way you’ll see guys hug sometimes. It’s barely a hug. It’s two to three mutual, simultaneous slaps on the back. I find it funny because it’s everything a hug should not be — perfunctory and violent — while at the same time being a genuine expression of affection.

This sketch also would have featured another moment of Grant on the verge of crying, and Grant getting verbally abused for no reason.

Why wasn’t this made? Because it was TOO stupid? No. Well, maybe. But, no. I think the biggest problem was casting. This called for a lot of people, which is complicated to shoot and more complicated to schedule. Trying to shoot this around every other Dropout project proved almost impossible. We could have slotted in outside cast members, but I liked the idea of this being a big cast sketch, and I kept holding out hope that we would make it work eventually.