Review: Bad Monkey, "That Damn Arm Is Back" | Season 1, Episode 5
Vibes and plot can coexist
Entertainment journalists like to ask actors in comedies about improvisation on set. It’s kind of a stock question, but it often yields worthwhile answers. It’s interesting to learn that a memorable moment happened spontaneously, or that something that felt spontaneous was actually meticulously planned. People want to imagine that film and TV sets are workplaces filled with creativity and fun, and improvisation being encouraged means the project was probably enjoyable to work on.
Ad-libbing is an integral part of Vince Vaughn’s comedy, so it’s no surprise to hear that he did his Bad Monkey lines differently every time, according to Zach Braff. And it sounds like everybody got to do some improvisation—I would love to see outtakes of Vaughn and Alex Moffatt going back and forth. This is pure speculation, but I wonder if part of why the actors who were recast got swapped out is because they couldn’t riff with Vaughn (the stated and probably true reason is that the origina…