Shut Up and Talk "Allison Pregler" (lost footage of unreleased episode of online talk show; 2013-2014)

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Shut Up and Talk title card.

Status: Lost

Shut Up and Talk was an online talk show produced by American online media production company Channel Awesome that was active from 2012 to 2016. The series was created and hosted by Doug Walker, an American internet comedian and Channel Awesome contributor best known for his web series Nostalgia Critic, and featured him interviewing other Channel Awesome contributors, online media personalities, and celebrities featured in his Nostalgia Critic videos, often asking them question about their creative process and what got them into their respective industries to begin with.

Thirteen episodes of the series were released between 2012 and 2016, but alongside these, an additional fourteenth episode of the series was filmed that was never released. This episode featured Doug interviewing Allison Pregler (aka Obscurus Lupa), a fellow Channel Awesome contributor who hosted the web series Obscurus Lupa Presents in which she reviewed "Z grade" movies.

Production

The episode was filmed at some point between 2013 and 2014, and came about as a result of Allison already being present within Channel Awesome's Chicago filming location to shoot footage for a crossover video between her and Nostalgia Critic. According to Allison, filming of the episode was very unpleasant, with many instances of Doug's lack of aptitude for his given profession shining through throughout. Prior to filming, Doug mentioned to Allison that one of the questions asked would be what her "funny" voice was based off of (the idea of comedy not based on a pre-existing source seemingly being unknown to him), to which Allison responded by stating that it was solely based on her own voice. Doug would later repeat this question in the episode itself, to which Allison responded by reiterating her original answer while also stating that she was just doofy sometimes, to which Doug responded by making fun of her use of the word "doofy", a word which he was not familiar with.

Problems also arose due to Doug failing to go over many of the questions with Allison beforehand, resulting in a very awkward moment where, amidst a series of goofier question, Doug abruptly asked Allison what the most difficult thing she ever experienced was and how she got through it. This lack of empathy from Doug towards Allison was also apparent during the end credits of the episode, during which time Doug and his interviewee would be expected to improvise something to say as the credits rolled. Allison was, by her own admission, not good at improv, with Doug responding to Allison's subpar attempts at improv by saying "You'll never make it in this business," at which point the episode ended.

Availability

Following completion of the episode's filming, the raw footage would lie unedited for several months (as was apparently standard practice for Shut Up and Talk episodes). But before editing of the footage could commence, the release of the episode was cancelled when Allison was unceremoniously fired from Channel Awesome in January 2015 for failing to answer a call from Channel Awesome CEO Mike Michaud within 15 minutes.

Channel Awesome would never acknowledge the episode, and its existence wouldn't be revealed to the public until April 2nd, 2018, when Allison and several other former Channel Awesome contributors published "Not So Awesome", a Google Doc which detailed many of the malicious and incompetent acts they were subject to during their time at the company. It was here that Allison would detail the episode and the many acts of ignorance and hostility towards her that took place during and after its filming, the most egregious of which being when Mike Michaud cornered her after everyone else had left the set to berate her over the amount of midroll ads featured in her videos (despite Allison explaining that she needed the money made from midroll ads in order to live her life).[1]

To date, this account remains the only evidence of the episode's existence, and due to Channel Awesome choosing to largely avoid acknowledging Allison in the years since her firing, along with it being unknown if Allison herself is in possession of the footage, it is unlikely that the episode will ever resurface.

See Also

External Links

References