Sam was just saying in one of his most recent interviews that it's the outtakes reel that he really can't wait to release. It will premiere sometime after February's finale.
I've done sitcoms before, of course, and the outtakes usually entailed actors flubbing lines or desperately trying to ad lib their way out of a self dug hole but, from the very first day of shooting this series, I had a glimpse into that which would make this a different experience.
From the outset Sam told us that he wants us to play this like we're doing "Law & Order" which, coincidentally, most of the cast have already done. Delivering stupid lines deadpan and being really dramatic and grim in the midst of a preposterously idiotic situation only serves to highlight the humor. It's also why it's rarely the actors who break up and wreck a scene in SF:TLY.
On the very first day of shooting, Zangief is mopping the floor of the video arcade at which he works and overhears two kids on a Street Fighter II console saying disparaging things about him. This brings all of Zangief's shame and humiliation to a head and so he breaks down and cries, drops the mop and runs away. When we ran the very first take, I ran off the set out of camera range and stood in the dark quietly while I waited for Sam to yell, "Cut!"
When I heard nothing I turned around to look and saw Sam, Elaine, Amir and at least one of the lighting guys, all of whom were standing with their backs to the wall, suddenly and simultaneously bend forward at the waists and just laugh out loud! It was definitely a foreshadowing of things to come and a hint at how this show will differ from every other comedy I've done. Ever since then, it has almost always been the director and crew who break up laughing and blow the take since we actors are so seriously (and ridiculously) in character.
MANY is the time when Sam is laughing so hard he can barely utter the word, "Cut!"
You will usually see Sam crouched right behind Vince, our DP, to observe the camera monitor during a scene. Upon hearing, after the completion of a scene, no command from Sam to cut, I've looked over to see him literally falling on his ass laughing! Much like a king's courtiers, that's when we, the cast, finally fall apart ourselves.
Only once have I blown a scene by cracking up. When something really unexpected happens, even (and especially) when your character is so sternly stonefaced, it's a comically volatile powderkeg situation and laughter just explodes. Much like, as George Carlin says, when you're kneeling in front of a casket.
Can't wait to see what winds up on that reel!
