Don't Encourage Us

The Happening, Our Origin Story & Reality TV Pitches

Episode Summary

Three clips from episodes that never aired. First: a pre-cohost episode where two guests try to make sense of M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening and things go sideways almost immediately. Then: the conversation where Steve joined full-time and we tried to figure out what this show should actually be. And finally: reality TV pitches from a scrapped episode, including a concept where the contestants, the crew, and the hosts all think they're secretly running the game. The audio quality is rough!

Episode Notes

Three segments from the vault a la Morty's Mind-Blowers. 

Segment 1: The Happening (2008)

• A pre-cohost episode with guests James and Eric. M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening gets the treatment it deserves, which is not much.  

Segment 2: The Origin Story 

• Steve joins and the hosts try to figure out what Don't Encourage Us should actually be about. Keanu Reeves movies? Bitcoin? A weekly takedown of Joe Rogan? The answer, eventually, is none of those things.

Segment 3: Reality TV Pitches 

• Pulled from an episode that died due to technical problems. Includes a pitch for an AI-generated challenge show and a layered deception format where nobody knows who's actually competing. 

What's The Happening all about? Check out the trailer here.

Check out the SAXOPHONE GUY from Lost Boys here.