Dropout CEO Sam Reich Teases Unexplainable Games for Game Changer Season 9

For a moment, Dropout CEO and Game Changer host Sam Reich wondered if he could get away with not going to Topeka, Kansas.

The Game Changer season 8 episode “What’s the Catch” starts as if the episode is all about handing out prizes. Those prizes quickly get a catch that turns them into punishments. At one point, contestant Jacob Wysocki wins a private improv show where Reich drives him around. Eventually, that prize involves traveling to Topeka, Kansas, and the tormentor also becomes the tormented. Reich and Wysocki are forced on a trip to Topeka for a random improv show inside their rented car.

“There was a moment between Jacob and I after the fact where we talked about faking it,” Reich tells Polygon.

Dropout considered just pretending to go to Kansas for the bit, but worried that the Game Changer audience would know. Ultimately, Reich decided against that path.

“I care about authenticity more than I prioritize a lot of other things,” Reich says. “I want for us to put on screen what actually happened.”

Despite it being an absolute waste of time for Dropout’s CEO to fly to middle-of-nowhere Kansas for a comedic bit, Reich knew he had to do it. “We’ve got no other choice,” he acknowledges. True to a midwest experience, Reich and Wysocki’s return trip was impacted by tornadoes in the area. At least they got to see two dogs hanging out with a pig.

That Topeka trip was one of Reich’s favorite moments from Game Changer season 8. Other highlights include Lou Wilson’s dynamic with Phil, the random bystander, in “Don’t Wake Standards & Practices,” Josh’s crashout in “Rulette 2,” bringing in Ron Perlman for “Night Shift,” and all of “Count the Rice,” which is one of Reich’s favorite episodes the team has ever done.

Reich does not have a ton of time to reminisce. As the public-facing company CEO and the host of two marquee shows, Game Changer and Make Some Noise, he stays very busy.

“There’s no off position on the content switch,” he says. “We must feed the beast at all times.”

Dropout’s content focuses on comedy, and Game Changer is an example of that. Much of the humor comes from comedians being themselves, along with them learning, playing, and breaking the games Reich and his crew throw their way.

“By the time we lob [a game] up for the players, there’s only so much that we can do to affect the outcome,” Reich says.

Reich describes himself as a perfectionist, and Game Changer helps him escape those perfectionist impulses.

“If I had a career in scripted [entertainment], I would be holding on so much more tightly to like the idea of perfection. Here, I just can’t,” Reich says. “The reason why the show is good for me is because it can’t be perfect.”

Game Changer has evolved over the years, flowing between performance art and game design. Reich points to “Don’t Cry” and “Who Wants to Be Jacob Wysocki” as pieces of performance art dressed up like games. Going into season 8, Reich wanted to flex his knowledge of game design. That approach shines through in an episode like “Count the Rice,” which layers unexpected game mechanics at every turn as players discover they have to lose at each element before they can win the whole game in the end.

Sam Reich teases Game Changer season 9

The show’s ninth season starts filming in October, and Reich calls it an acid trip featuring a few games the team has wanted to run for a while.

“Some of them are just unexplainable,” he says. “We greenlit ideas that we have felt were too weird to do for so many seasons.”

Reich considers himself lucky regarding the room he has to experiment and try out new ideas in Game Changer. Although every episode having to be different poses a challenge, he has plenty of space to tackle it, resulting in off-the-wall games. “They’re really gonna test the audience’s weirdness appetite.”

Season 9 may swing back toward performance art for its episodes, but they will still be about games.

“They’re just really peculiar,” Reich says. “Surreal, in one word.”

Source: Polygon