issue 08 // volume 41 arts // 9

Douglas alumni take CBC ComedyCoup by storm

» ‘Roll for Damage’ brings role-playing game to life

Cheryl Minns
Arts Editor

M arts
@theotherpress.ca

G a pen and paper, put

on imaginary armour, and
get ready to storm the castle
in the potential new comedy
series Roll for Damage, a
project by Max Mitchell and
Adam Pateman in the CBC
ComedyCoup competition. Each
week the crew produces new
content for the show as part of
the competition’s challenges,
trying to gain viewers’ votes and
win the grand prize of having
the show produced by CBC.

Roll for Damage follows
a call centre employee (Ivan
Decker) who joins a Dungeons
and Dragons group with
four young adults (including
Pateman) seeking adventure
and escape from their mundane
lives. While playing the game,
the characters live out their
fantasies in animations that
appear over the live-action
scenes, drawn by cartoonist
Brian Fukushima.

“Brian’s ability to draw over
the footage as an extension of
the characters’ imaginations is
a very cool element,’ Pateman
told the Other Press. “You get
this boundless opportunity
to do anything—almost like a
cartoon show—whereas you can
see very clearly that these are
drawn imaginations above their
heads and they’re still grounded
in this reality, so it doesn’t get
too fantastical.”

Along with the animation,
the pen-and-paper gaming
aspect of the show allows the
characters to reveal aspects
of their personalities in
unconventional ways.

“Dungeons and
Dragons is fascinating from
a physiological point of view.
You can learn a lot about
people when you free them
to do whatever they like in
a world without real-life
consequences,’ Mitchell
wrote to the Other Press. “I’m
excited to use that as a method
to explore Roll For Damage
characters’ psyches.”

Mitchell and Pateman each
have personal experience with
pen-and-paper games, where
they have gotten deeply involved
in the storytelling side of the
game.

“When we played, we were
more focussed on weaving
a ridiculous story, meeting
new characters, exploring the
world around us, and basically

 

: anything else that would test

: our dungeon master’s creativity,”
wrote Mitchell, referring to the

: dungeon master who acts as a
narrator during the game and

: describes the scenes and events

: that occur.

Actor Andrew Barber

realized the show’s potential
: when he first signed on to the
: project.

“The Dungeons and

Dragons fan base is really huge,
: so when Max was pitching me

: on the show I thought right

: away that, regardless of what

: happens, it’s a good idea to

: attempt this kind of thing,” he

: said to the Other Press.

“I hope that people who

play Dungeons and Dragons
: enjoy it, and that it does it justice.”

Outside of the gaming

aspect, Mitchell and Pateman
: hope to show off their

: hometown of Vancouver and

: film the series around the city,
: which they feel would be a

: unique aspect of their show.

“T don’t think Canadian

television has a lot of

: representation of Vancouver

: in it,” Pateman said. “One

: thing we'd really like to do is

: showcase what it’s like to live

: in Vancouver and what it’s like
: to be involved in a world where
: you have a bunch of friends get
: together and play this game in
: this setting that’s very unique to
: Canadian television.”

Mitchell, Pateman, and

Barber met in high school and
: put together sketch comedy

: performances, including a

: Fringe Festival production.

: They attribute some of their

: live performance skills to their
: student experience in Douglas
: College’s theatre program.

“The theatre background

really boosted me up into

: being able to tackle improv in

: a better way. That excelled me

: fairly quickly into being good at
: improv, enough to get paid for

: it,’ said Barber, who performs

: with TheatreSports.

“T learned an incredible

amount about acting in the

: short time I was there,” Mitchell
: wrote. “Allan Lysell and Cheryl

: Swan are exceptional teachers.’

Pateman added, “We all

kind of ended up at Douglas

: College. First Max went, and

: then I went, and then Andrew
: went. We just kept passing

: on the torch because we were
: having such a good time.’

To learn more about Roll

for Damage, check out the

: CBC ComedyCoup website at
: comedycoup.cbe.ca/roll-for-
: damage