Dimension 20's new recruit Vic Michaelis had D&D performance anxiety

While Ponies is a scripted series, Michaelis’ improv background helped influence their character, who gets comedic moments to shine in a mostly tense and taut drama. “I'm really, really fortunate because they knew they were hiring an improviser, and I think they were excited about that,” Michaelis told Polygon via Zoom. “Sometimes some of the improv made it into the edits and sometimes it didn't, but it's like that spirit. I think the spirit of play and lightness comes through regardless.”

That spirit of play shines through in Michaelis’ work for the streaming service Dropout as well. They host Very Important People, an improvised talk show where Michaelis’ host character interviews a comedian or two playing an improvised character. Those comedians wear heavy makeup and prosthetics: The current season has featured Rekha Shankar as Mother Hot Dog and Jacob Wysocki and Brennan Lee Mulligan as horrifying babies up for adoption.

Polygon recently spoke with Michaelis about joining Dropout’s actual play series Dimension 20 for the new Gladlands campaign, the Dropout shows you won’t find them on, Very Important People season 3, and the meaning of life.

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Polygon: January is a big month for you, with Ponies launching and yourDimension 20 debut. How did you come to join Gladlands?

Vic Michaelis: I was in Hungary filming Ponies and I got an email from David Kerns — who is one of the execs over at Dropout and is wonderful, I've been working with him for as long as I've been at Dropout now — and [Very Important People co-executive producer] Paul Robalino, one of the higher-ups at Dropout. And they were like, "Hey, do you want to do D20?" And I said, "I don't think so. Call me. "

I am a fan — I truly am a fan. A Court of Fey & Flowers was the first [Dimension 20 campaign] I saw. Then I went back and I watched a bunch of stuff. I travel a lot, and it's a nice way to sort of feel like my friends are traveling with me.

I think Brennan is one of the more brilliant storytellers that we have, and I could feel the weight and the importance of that. I just like watching [the show, but I have never really done much performance D&D. So I was feeling very reserved about that. They called me and they were like, "So it's six episodes, and all of your best friends are doing it. " I went, "OK."

Can't say no at that point.

So I guess yes. And we were set to start filming the day I returned from Hungary, so I also hadn't been performing for… It was truly the first thing that I did after six months of being abroad. I thought it was going to feel very daunting, and instead it really felt like a homecoming. It was the most wonderful experience in the world. I am so unbelievably glad it panned out that way.

How much experience have you had playing tabletop RPGs, outside of actual play situations?

I had one big one that I played when everything was locked down with Angela Giarratana, Izzy [Roland], and our friend Ruha [Taslimi]. I so poorly misunderstood how to use anything on my character sheet that me and Angela just sort of… Our whole thing ended up being that I was really big and she was really small. And so we created a cheer team. Anytime we'd get into any kind of combat, we'd just see how high I could throw her — that was mostly what it turned into. So that was my previous D&D experience.

Then I did a little bit of other performance stuff, but I never felt like I really totally understood how to use the mechanics. I didn't feel super confident going into it in a performance setting. I felt very content going, "I'm going to be a fan of [D&D]. That's going to be my way into this."

But the modified Kids on Bikes system we used really clicked in after our first day of shooting. I went, "Oh, I understand what's happening here." I also figured out that I wasn't trying to guess at a story, which I'd always kind of felt like before. I wasn't trying to figure out what the story was, I was getting to help build the story. And once that mindset shifted, I was like, "Got it. I understand. This rocks, this is awesome."

Do you think you'd want to return for a future D20 campaign?

Yeah, definitely. I think under the right circumstances. I still feel very fearful of doing D&D proper, where you've got the big character sheets and all of the spells and things you got to focus on. I'm not degreed. I didn't finish college. I did not do well in the school system when I was younger. But I'm very academic when it comes to comedy. I love learning. I love knowing everything about something. I like knowing the comedy textbook in and out. That's how I was with improv.

And so with D&D, coming in, not understanding back and forth how the mechanics work in order to not have to worry about it and just focus on the game makes me very worried. But I'll follow Brennan over a cliff.

So [if] I say no [to returning], then watch me six months from now be like, "Hey, kidding." But yeah, that's my gut feeling. [I’d] do another Gladlands or something like that in a heartbeat.

Is there a Dropout show you haven't done yet that you'd like to be featured on?

Oh, man. D20 was the big one I was such a fan of and had never participated in. I think the only Dropout show I really haven't done is Um, Actually. And again, I like watching that one, but I don't think I would be good at all on that, because I'm very easily convinced. I would join a cult on a dime. You know what I mean? If somebody presents something as truth, my gut is to go, "I love that. That's awesome." And then it sort of takes digesting and thinking to poke holes in something. Something has to be pretty wrong for me to be on gut instinct, "That is incorrect." I feel like that would serve me badly in that game.

And then Crowd Control, the idea of doing standup makes me nauseous. So I think I will continue to just be a fan of that show.

In Very Important People, you play a fictionalized version of yourself who develops during and between seasons, like starting out married (with a 28-year-old stepdaughter) and then being divorced by season 3. How does your arc for the fictionalized Vic Michaelis change between seasons? Do you go into season 3 like, "I have these goals that I want the character to hit”? How does that work?

That pretty much is it exactly. We have a loose arc for the season, which is nice too, because I think for me, as a host, it keeps it fresh. To have a POV to play through, I think it keeps me on my toes and really listening hard. And it also gives guests something to bounce off of other than me just asking questions, because we film for an hour and a half. To do improv for an hour and a half is daunting, especially to people that improv is not their first comedy muscle. So the show has a lot of safety nets built into it to try and make people as comfy as possible, but it's daunting.

The arc is largely for me and for the greater arc of the episodes, because we want to make sure that if you're watching through clips, you can have a fun experience, but you're also getting something additional if you are watching on the [Dropout.tv] platform and watching the whole thing through.

It's something we really care about, and I think it's something that makes the show unique and special. So we do spend a lot of time putting thought into that. Essentially, we have the arc, I have all this information in my head, and then if it comes up, great. If it doesn't, we leave it. There's a couple of key plot points that we make sure we drop in somewhere, but it's stuff that's pretty human. There's never not an opportunity to connect with somebody on stuff that's pretty inherently human. We keep the thoughts. They're pretty basic wants. It's just maybe in kind of a fucked-up way. Sorry, I don't know if I can say fucked-up.

You can say whatever.

Yeah. Fucked-up. There we go. Three times, like Beetlejuice.

Part of the fun of watching Very Important People is watching you and the guests break, and then the show cutting to the “Please stand by” graphic. Who made you break the most this season?

This season, I think my most breaks was for sure Jeremy [Culhane]'s episode. We just really got on a tear. [Culhane’s Boris Tarshkokan] was a character that is sweet and lovable, but absolutely just heart on their sleeve and won't take no for an answer. That really is a trope that makes me laugh. It just tickles me. Never is it an indicator of “I think that this or that thing is the absolute funniest,” because I don't think that there is a funniest thing. I think that's so subjective, and it's also based on where you're at in life. There are just so many factors that go into that. But on the day, certainly Jeremy made me break the hardest. I thought that episode was wonderful.

I wanted to close by asking you about the meaning of life. But not to you, Vic Michaelis. What would your character, the host Vic Michaelis, say when asked, “What is the meaning of life?”

I think the host would say, “Knowing that your situation is only temporary, you got to take it one day at a time. If you hate your life right now and you hate your situation, it could change immediately, and it will change very soon.”

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Very Important People and Dimension 20: Gladlands are streaming on Dropout.tv. Ponies is streaming on Peacock.