Ad skits
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This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent episodes or newly available information.
Needs Campaign 3 episodes from "Far From The Others" (3x52) onward |
And those friends loved me so much that they allowed me to waste hours of their life with these ridiculous advertising skits, which only barely mentioned our sponsors.
— Sam, in the segment for "Breaking Point" (3x31)[1]
Ad skits are pre-show segments advertising a sponsor of the night's episode. Primarily written and performed by Sam Riegel, the segments usually take the form of a monologue, skit, or comedy bit that he performs, often with the participation of other cast members. Despite being advertisements and incorporating provided marketing copy, the narrative or joke at the center of many segments has little to do with the sponsor's service or product. With rare exceptions, when there are two sponsors, Sam's ad is for the first sponsor, followed by Matthew Mercer reading marketing copy in a standard fashion for the second sponsor.
Most ads are self-contained, but some form a series and have a narrative continuity sustained over multiple episodes. The most notable series are the D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign, a political race between Sam and Liam O'Brien for president of the sponsoring D&D Beyond, and Nordverse, a parody of cyberpunk and techno-thrillers that follows the cast's "hackersonas" in episodes sponsored by NordVPN. Nordverse is the longest running series, with twenty-two installments as of "A Dark Balance" (3x38), and eventually included a prequel one-shot, "Generation Nord" (OSx49).
Campaign 1: Vox Machina[edit | edit source]
| Episode | Sponsor | Series (if any) |
|---|---|---|
| "Umbrasyl" (1x55) | Backblaze | — |
| Sam is late to the show, and Travis reads out the ad copy. When Sam arrives, he sings a short song about Backblaze in the style of Bon Jovi's Blaze of Glory: "I'm backing up in Backblaze of glory! Take me now, download the truth. I'm backing up!" | ||
| "Hope" (1x56) to "Heredity and Hats" (1x60) | Loot Crate | — |
| — | ||
| "Denizens of the Moonbrush" (1x61) | Backblaze | — |
| He sings a song in style of Backstreet Boys' Everybody: "Everybody, yeah. Backup your data, yeah. Upload your local files to an encrypted cloud-based backup storage system, yeah. Backblaze back, all right!" | ||
| "Uninviting Waters" (1x62) to "The Echo Tree" (1x63) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "The Frigid Doom" (1x64) | Loot Crate | — |
| He reads out an ad copy, mistakenly saying that, using the promocode Critical Role, Critters can save 3$ for every month they buy Loot Crate (instead it's just the first month). | ||
| "The Streets of Ank'Harel" (1x65) | Loot Crate | — |
| He breaks down the statistics of how much money a 3$ discount can save you. 3$ dollars can get you 1.2 gallons of gas at the Quik Mart (regular, unleaded). If you give Loot Crates to four members of your family, that's four Loot Crates; that's $12 saved and 25 and half free forever stamps. If you give Loot Crates to all 266 employees at your company, that saves enough money to buy a 2002 Kia Sedona with 181,000 miles on it, a barely working transmission, and it doesn't shift in the higher gears, but it is for $800 on Craigslist. | ||
| "A Traveler's Gamble" (1x66) | Loot Crate | — |
| — | ||
| "The Chase to Glintshore" (1x67) | Backblaze | — |
| Sam says that he prepared an epic presentation with song elements, rhyming-verse sonnets, a poem about Backblaze. He wrote it all down on his laptop, but the laptop had a hard drive failure today, and Sam didn't backed up the data with Backblaze. But he remembers a song that was on the corrupted hard drive, which is not based on any Broadway musicals: "525,600 fanfics, 525,000 doodles of Grog, 525,000 nudies of Percleth, how do you back up a Critter's hard drive? How about Backblaze! How about Backblaze! Sam wrote this song." | ||
| "Cloak and Dagger" (1x68) | Loot Crate | — |
| Loot Crate didn't announced the theme for this month, and Sam gives his three predictions for their theme: Screws and Nails (with literal screws and nails), Storks (a handwritten letter from Andy Samberg, trying to beg you to go to see the movie, and one baby stork), and 50 Shades of Grey (ball gag and own personalized safe word). | ||
| "Passed Through Fire" (1x69) | Loot Crate | — |
| He tells a story about something that happened to his friend Jessie. One night, she woke up in the middle of the night to a scratching sound and she couldn't figure out what it was. She just went back to sleep. The next morning, she woke up. Her roommate, the skin had been ripped off of her body, and the cat that they shared had also been turned essentially inside out. And on the wall in the blood of her roommate was written: Use code "criticalrole" for $3 off. The current Loot Crate month's theme is horror! | ||
| "Trust" (1x70) | Loot Crate | — |
| He prepared a rap about Loot Crate, accompanied by a rap beat: "My name is MC Sammy, and I'm here to say, I love Loot Crate in a major way. Their boxes are fly and full of loot. You'll feel real dope and that's no bull shoot! Yeah! (record scratch) I'm funky fresh, a real hip-hopper and we got a discount to save you some copper. If you use our code you can save three bucks! And if you don't, I don't give a fu-. Beatbox break down (beat boxing). So in conclusion, listen up, G, I'm down with Loot Crate and with OPP. Their swag is the bomb, and their threads rocks. You want horror? It's in the box! Word!" | ||
| "Vorugal" (1x71) | Loot Crate | — |
| He presents are history of crates. In Ancient Greece, Zeus gives a crate to the first woman (Pandora), which was opened and corrupted humanity. In Egypt (1957), by Colonel Dietrich and Dr. Rene Belloq open the Ark of the Covenant. "Ghosts fly out, and it melts the faces of several Nazis, while Indiana Jones hides his face". Los Angeles, California (1995), "detective David Mills, played by Brad Pitt, receives a cardboard crate from murder suspect John Doe! It contains the head of his girlfriend, Gwyneth Paltrow. Your town, (present day), a small Loot Crate with geek gear. Sam lets the audience choose what crate they prefer. | ||
| "The Elephant in the Room" (1x72) | Backblaze | — |
| He prepared a game where Sam describes two words that together almost form homonyms of the word Backblaze ("rear part of the chest and what a fire does"). The answers were: black blades, Bach braids, book belay, brick bray, bake blaze. | ||
| "The Coming Storm" (1x73) | Loot Crate | — |
| This month's theme is magic. Sam performs "guess a card" trick, while speaking with tiger prosthetic teeth on. Liam, as a one-armed Tyriok Gadsworth, shuffles the cards, Taliesin cuts the deck in half, and Sam, looking on the bottom card of the one of the decks, correctly guesses that the fourth card down in the other deck is "See Invisibility". Sam says that "it makes him a quadruple threat: actor, singer, professional lover of ladies, and now professional magician." | ||
| "Path of Brass" (1x74) | Loot Crate | — |
| He sings a song to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies, asking Ashley Johnson to add the apparent final word to each verse. "Well, yeehaw for nerd swag, let's all give a big hoot. You get a pretty crate and they fill it with.." (Ashley: Loot!). "With gear and apparel that'll make you look real cute. You'll even be attractive when your butt makes a.." (Ashley: Toot!). "Subscribe with the link that pops up on your computer. With the dough that you saved, buy some hot wings at.." (Ashley: Hooters!). "You'll be all hot and bothered even if you're spayed or neutered. So pull down your skirt, and stick that loot in your.." (Ashley: Cooter!). Sam says he expected the word crate. | ||
| "Where the Cards Fall" (1x75) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam stages a radio play set in August 1929 during the Dust Bowl (Sam didn't research it). Where Sam reads out the stage directions, Taliesin as Junior, Marisha as Mama, Liam as Pa, Laura as Sam Riegel, and both Travis and Ashley as the radio sound effects duo. The McCallisters suffer from the abundance of dust around them. Sam Riegel comes with Loot Crates, suggesting to put all the dust in the crates, which saves the McCallister farm. | ||
| "Brawl in the Arches" (1x76) | Loot Crate | — |
| He performs a beat poem about commercialism and corporate authoritarianism.. but then apologizes before Loot Crate, saying that there are actually really cool stuff inside it. | ||
| "Clash at Daxio" (1x77) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam says that this morning his son's bunny has died and the pre-school kids asked him to bring the bunny to the Critical Role in a Loot Crate to commemorate it. The kids and their parents also wrote a tribute poem in the bunny's honor. At the end, Sam pulls a chicken leg out of the box and a takes a bit saying, "We'll miss you, Dennis". | ||
| "The Siege of Emon" (1x78) | Loot Crate | Rode Slater[fn 1] |
| Sam promotes Loot Crate playing a character named Rode Slater of Malibu, California with the surfer accent. Magic Puzzle Quest also sponsored this episode, which is the first time when CR episode had two sponsors in one episode. | ||
| "Thordak" (1x79) | Backblaze | — |
| While surfer his library, Sam found an old page of original poem by Dr. Seuss about Backblaze. The protagonist's driver got an error and all data has vanished. They were distraught, but Yev of Backblaze appeared and said that all data was saved. With that, the Yev tipped his hat, said good day. | ||
| "Raishan" (1x80) | Critical Role | — |
| Sam wants to send praise to the Spanish Critters, by doing an ad read in Spanish. Sam doesn't know Spanish, he asked a neighbours' son to translate it for him from English. The Spanish part can be roughly translated to: "Hello, my name is Sam Riegel! Here is my dog, who is called Travis Willingham. A joke. Do you like t-shirts? I hope so, we have two t-shirts for sale in the new store. One is purple and is for Gilmore's Glorious Goods (literal translation). The other is not purple it is gray. It has the slogan of Matthew Mercer "How do you want to do this?" They don't cost much. Go to the internet and buy them now. Thank you. Please." | ||
| "What Lies Beneath the Surface" (1x81) | — | — |
| Critical Role didn't have a sponsor this week, but Sam prepared a bit anyway. He records a voice messages for an imaginary phone line for Geek & Sundry. Sam thank the person who phoned in, asking them to press one, if they're calling to argue against one of Matthew Mercer's many, many rule violations". "If you're calling to cry because Ashley Johnson isn't on this episode, mash your forehead into your number pad repeatedly. If you're calling to lodge a complaint about Marisha Ray or the character of Keyleth, or how nothing she ever does is cool, press three. You will be given five minutes to rant and don't worry. Your message will make Marisha feel like shit within 24 hours. If you would like to complain about the technical aspects of the Twitch stream, please hang up and call 1-800-hashtag W-E-K-N-O-W. If you are offended by something Sam Riegel said on the stream, you can go fuck yourself." | ||
| "Deadly Echoes" (1x82) | Loot Crate | — |
| While Sam is late, Liam recites a brief Irish poem about him. | ||
| "The Deceiver's Stand" (1x83) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam reads out an ad copy, but mispronounces the platforms where the Marvel Puzzle Quest is available, and misinterprets Marvel character names from the game. | ||
| "Loose Ends" (1x84) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam is absent tonight, but he sent in a video ad from his ski trip in Park City, Utah. Sam praises Loot Crate, while taking a chairlift. Ashley reads out the ad copy. | ||
| "A Bard's Lament" (1x85) | Loot Crate | Rode Slater[fn 1] |
| Sam, as his character Rode Slater, reads out the ad copy adding in the words that Sam considers to be related to surfing culture. At the end of the read, Rode Slater/Sam become conscious of the fact that he spent too much time searching for surfing terms on Yahoo Answers at 5 pm, when he should've had more quality time with his children, who are going to live through a fatherless childhood, but shrugs it off and signs off, shouting "bonzai". | ||
| "Daring Days" (1x86) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam tells the history of the Loot Crate company and their founder, Ebenezer Lootacrata himself who was born on a silk-worm farm in Budapest in 1919, and was fascinated by boxes. He later named his company "Lootacrata", which was adapted into English as "Loot Crate". In the ad copy, Loot Crate representatives troll Sam, initially saying that they want to celebrate the arrival of Taryon Darrington to Critical Role, by switching the Loot Crate promocode to "Tary". But change their mind, go back to the promocode "criticalrole". | ||
| "Onward to Vesrah" (1x87) | Tor Books | — |
| A Conjuring of Light was just published by Tor Books, completing the three-books series "Shades of Magic". Sam wants to give appreciation for the Tor Books and the show's sponsors in general. Sam ironically lists the ways in which the cast would be financially affected by the lack of the sponsorship. He also suggests ways to show appreciations for the sponsor, for example taking them out for a candlelit dinner (Sam lists the ironically high end restaurant options). He also gives examples of romantic texts that can be sent to the sponsor: "Hey, [Critical Role sponsor], I wish you could be with me right now"; "I had a dream last night, and [Critical Role sponsor] you were in it"; "[Critical Role sponsor], do you have a map? 'Cause I'm getting lost in your eyes"; "Hey, [Critical Role sponsor], of all the beautiful curves on your body, I'm most in love with your smile"; "[Critical Role sponsor, on a scale of one to ten, you're a nine, and I'm the one you need". Or.. you can visit Tor Books website and buy their books. | ||
| "Tangled Depths" (1x88) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam learned how to say "Loot Crate" in different languages, possibly using or not using Google Translate. In Spanish, it is: "las ganancias cajas". In German: "der Zaster Casten". In Japanese: "senri-hin kureto". In Latin: "praedam corbis". In Dutch: "buit krat". In Swedish: "plundra spjällĺda". In Klingon: (intelligible yells). In Pig Latin: "Am-say's ick-day is ig-bay". | ||
| "Curious Tides" (1x89) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam feels that his sponsorship bits has been lacking "a sense of spectacle, of human achievement, of record breaking". Today, Sam reads out the ad copy, while attempting to drink a bottle of Coca-Cola, eat a bite-sized 100 Grand bar, two Snickers bars, Milky Way, Twix, a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and a packet of Big League Chew in two minutes. Travis times him. Sam does not succeed. | ||
| "Voice of the Tempest" (1x90) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam asks the crew team to bring out a close-up camera for him. Inspired by the Critters who do fanart of the show, Sam shows pictures of Vox Machina members he drew the previous day. Drawing of Grog, Keyleth, Percy (drawn on a white sheet of paper using a white pen), Tary (drawn on blue sheet of paper using blue pen), Scanlan, twins (Sam drawn Vax, photocopied him, and put pink ribbons in his hair to make him look like Vex), and Pike. All drawings are signed and numbered by Sam. Sam decided to give away his art, asking Critters to tweet him pictures of themselves with Loot Crate gear and a hashtag "#BrianFosterSmellsLikeCabbage". | ||
| "Vox Machina Go to Hell" (1x91) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam is late. Taliesin, who was unaware and unprepared, improvises a sincere praise of Marvel Puzzle Quest. | ||
| "Deals in the Dark" (1x92) | Loot Crate | — |
| Sam plays a "Sentient Advertising Mechanoid 5000" sent from the future from Planet Lootcrateopia to ensure that humans in 2017 choose the correct time path. "After the Water War of 2018, the Oilpocalypse of 2019, and the Oprah Winfrey Rebellion of 2020, the world was plunged into a hellscape that lasted 2000 years". Loot Crate united the factions and brought peace by sending every human a Loot Crate. And all the Fortune 500 companies: Apple, Kroger, Johnson & Johnson perished under the might of the Loot Crate armies. Mechanoid suggests that humans in 2017 should start the transition now by visiting Loot Crate webpage. | ||
| "Bats Out of Hell" (1x93) - "Family Matters" (1x96) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "Taryon, My Wayward Son" (1x97) | Backblaze | — |
| Sam, Taliesin, and Marisha do an infomercial for the Backblaze. Sam claims that online backup systems are often expensive and confusing. Taliesin portrays a character who is puzzled by the technical terminology. Marisha portrays a character who uses Backblaze and feels empowered. Sam asks Taliesin to guess the price for using Backblaze. Taliesin, believing Backblaze sevice is almost priceless, giving 200 or 300$ a month, Marisha gives 3,000$ a month, Taliesin then gives 100,000$, but Sam reasures them it is much more affordable. Sam repeatedly reads out the url to Backblaze website. | ||
| "The Mines of the Many" (1x98) to "Masquerade" (1x99) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "Unfinished Business" (1x100) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | Trivia quiz |
| Sam does a trivia quiz with Taliesin. Sam reads out the list of names, some of which belong to Marvel characters available in Marvel Puzzle Quest and some which are yoga positions. | ||
| "Thar Amphala" (1x101) to "The Fate-Touched" (1x103) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "Elysium" (1x104) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | Trivia quiz |
| Sam does a trivia quiz with Taliesin. Sam reads out the list of names, some of which belong to Marvel characters available in Marvel Puzzle Quest and some which are movies starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. | ||
| "The Fear of Isolation" (1x105) | Quidd | — |
| Sam claims he found a newsreel transcript for Quidd that rolled during the World War II. The news bring that Churchill announced a new weapon in the fight against Nazis — Quidd, a new app where you can collect stickers, cards and Funko figures on your telephone device, also adding that British frontmen are already using it. Lieutenant Neville Bingham of the Royal Navy stated that Quidd already helped them drive Hitler back to Berlin. The Red army have discovered Quidd as well. Tank commander Ivan Bashenko said that with Quid their army is strongest in world, their morale is unprecedentedly high, and Stalingrad will not fall with app's cute stickers. | ||
| "The Endless Atheneum" (1x106) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "Scaldseat" (1x107) | Magic Puzzle Quest | Trivia quiz |
| Sam does a trivia quiz with Liam. Sam reads out the list of names, some of which belong to Magic the Gathering cards and some which are Kama Sutra positions. | ||
| "The Core Anvil" (1x108) to "The Climb Within" (1x110) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "Shadows of Thomara" (1x111) | Warner Brothers (Shadow of War) | — |
| The cast lists the characters they voiced in the game and share their feelings about the future release. | ||
| "Dark Dealings" (1x112) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam gives an opera performance inspired by Giacomo Puccini. Mid-way, Sam remembers use his propts (headwear and sword). | ||
| "The Final Ascent" (1x113) | — | — |
| — | ||
| "Vecna, the Ascended" (1x114) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam reads the ad copy celebrating the new releases in Marvel Puzzle Quest and tries to brush off the anxiety thought about the upcoming battle with Vecna. | ||
| "The Chapter Closes" (1x115) | — | — |
| — | ||
Campaign 2: The Mighty Nein[edit | edit source]
Over Campaign 2, the ad segments grew more complicated and increasingly featured more heavily produced segments, apparently enabled by D&D Beyond's heavily recurrent sponsorship. Ad segments during Campaign 1 had sporadically recurring elements, but these segments grew into lengthy narrative series. This campaign featured the eight-month-long D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign, the longest series in this campaign, and introduced the Nordverse and You've Got Gale.
Campaign 2 suspended production after "High Seas, High Stakes" (2x99) to enact COVID-19 social distancing precautions, resulting in the COVID-19 hiatus. When the campaign resumed, it was in a pre-recorded live-to-tape format. Some Nordverse sketches in the post-hiatus involved heavier visual effects, as exemplified by "The Calm Before the Storm" (2x130).
| Episode | Sponsor | Series (if any) |
|---|---|---|
| "Curious Beginnings" (2x01) | Backblaze | — |
| He recites a poem about Backblaze in the style of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor | ||
| "A Show of Scrutiny" (2x02) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He has the cast respond to a series of questions about D&D Beyond with either "boo" or "yay". | ||
| "The Midnight Chase" (2x03) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He has Laura read the ad copy while he exaggeratedly lip syncs it. The script pokes fun at her large dice collection. | ||
| "Disparate Pieces" (2x04) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Because it is awards season, he presents ad copy as a series of winners for the D&D Beyond Awards. One of the awards is for Best Picture, in which he announces La La Land before correcting it to Moonlight a la the error at the 2016 Academy Awards. | ||
| "The Open Road" (2x05) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He has Travis, Marisha, and Liam create the best name for a character he describes. Laura, Taliesin, and Matt vote on which name is best. The judges award Travis both single-point rounds and award Liam the two-point round. Sam declares Marisha the winner. | ||
| "The Howling Mines" (2x06) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He has the cast compete to see who can create a level three character in D&D Beyond fastest. He conducts the contest by singing a stressful timer and realizes at the end he isn't sure how to determine the winner. Laura finishes first, but her character is actually level fifteen. He declares Taliesin the winner. The prize is a $1 bill taped the bottom of his mug. Taliesin claims it by tearing it off with his teeth while Sam drinks from the mug. | ||
| "Hush" (2x07) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Because Dungeons & Dragons is "such a dorky 80s thing to do", he composed an 80s-style D&D Beyond jingle. The jingle is very well-received at the table. | ||
| "The Gates of Zadash" (2x08) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He reads various letters he received in response to a request for D&D Beyond stories. The first says that he is their favorite cast member and asks not to tell Travis. The second wonders if Sam is the one they saw running around naked covered in mayonnaise in Studio City, and the third is from a convenience store informing him of an injunction requiring him to stay away after he was caught stealing mayonnaise and smearing it over himself. The fourth is a reply to a prior question from Sam explaining that neither mayonnaise nor Cool Whip is proper attire for a furry convention and that his credentials are revoked. | ||
| "Steam and Conversation" (2x09) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He gives the ad read in an exaggerated British accent and in stereotypical British English slang. | ||
| "Waste and Webs" (2x10) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He performs a dance routine with a pair of ribbon wands to a re-recording of "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" from The Nutcracker where he sings the name of D&D Beyond. | ||
| "Zemnian Nights" (2x11) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He wrote a comedy skit with Ashley, who is not present. He performs it without her, leaving her side of the skit silent. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor; Travis, rather than Matt, reads the copy for the other sponsor. | ||
| "Midnight Espionage" (2x12) | D&D Beyond | Rode Slater[fn 1] |
| Rode Slater delivers a surfer-themed but otherwise standard ad read. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "Lost & Found" (2x13) | D&D Beyond | — |
| For the cast's upcoming trip to Chicago, he performs a Chicago-themed ad read in an exaggerated Chicago accent. | ||
| "Fleeting Memories" (2x14) | D&D Beyond | — |
| To honor Ashley's return to the table, he presents as The Mighty Nein Welcome Back Yasha Ceremony. He goes to each member of the table for various ceremonies but cuts each of them off early because there is not enough time: Travis with a toast, Taliesin with a song, Marisha with a poem, and Liam with an Irish blessing. The set is decorated in favors and banners to celebrate her return for the segment. | ||
| "Where The River Goes" (2x15) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He sings a folk song in which the cast has to respond to various questions with the number one or a similar-sounding word (i.e. "won" or "wan"). This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "A Favor in Kind" (2x16) | D&D Beyond | You've Got Gale |
| He presents a table read of an 1980s ad for D&D Beyond. A teenage boy (Sam) is told by his mother (Laura) that his friend Gale (Ashley) is here to play Dungeons & Dragons. He reassures his father (Taliesin) that Dungeons & Dragons is safe to play. | ||
| "Harvest Close" (2x17) | D&D Beyond | You've Got Gale |
| To celebrate Sam's Emmy win, Matt added the "Emmy Award of Exemplary Talent" (legendary rarity) to Nott's inventory. Sam presents a dramatic reading of a script he found for a CBS sitcom from the 80s You've Got Gale, featuring Ashley as Gale, Laura as her foster mother, and Taliesin as her foster father. | ||
| "Whispers of War" (2x18) | D&D Beyond | — |
| To commemorate the addition of Matt's gunslinger homebrew to D&D Beyond, Sam put together a Top Ten List of Percy Features Being Added on D&D. In reverse order: extra long, pompous names; skin so white it claps on the ones and threes; bags containing gunpowder and Victor fingers; feat where dice always roll 20s even though they're not cursed by a demonic ritual; blue hair dye; steampunk bifocal; giant bathtubs that comfortably hold a female half-elf underwater for 15 minutes;[fn 2] throat bubbles; wit and tact; knives. | ||
| "The Gentleman's Path" (2x19) | Backblaze | — |
| He has discovered that Backblaze is literal magic and has captured their head fairy, Yev, in a kitchen trash bag. He quickly discovers that Yev will die without love and instructs the cast to applaud to sustain him. This causes Yev to bleed internally. To save Yev, enough people must visit Backblaze's website and signed up for a free trial, but Yev dies as soon as Sam says this. Immediately, Yev is returned to life because enough Critters visited the website. | ||
| "Labenda Awaits" (2x20) | D&D Beyond | Rode Slater[fn 1] |
| He begins an ad as Rode Slater, then abandons it halfway through to lament the state of his acting carrer. He felt that at this point, he would be performing serious work like Ibsen or O'Neill[fn 3] His agent calls to inform him that he has been booked to do two radio spots advertising the Lord of the Wings restaurant. He gleefully finishes the Rode Slater ad. | ||
| "Stalker in the Swamp" (2x21) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents the animated version of the D&D Beyond theme song from "Hush" (2x07) that D&D Beyond had animated, featuring art by Kamille Areopagita and Kevin Areopagita.[3] | ||
| "Lost Treasures" (2x22) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents artistic interpretations he drew of new monsters he created: bull-ette (bulette), a female bullet; Despacito beast, Luis Fonsi's head on a displacer beast body; bowel-bear (owlbear), a bear with IBS; giant WASP, which Sam mistakenly defines as "White Anglo-Saxon Person", a wasp-human hybrid; bone Dirt Devil (bone devil); and a Fanta-core, a manticore with a can of Fanta for a head. He additionally created two more creatures that he did not draw: Lin Manuel Miranda-boleth (aboleth) and Nick Frost giant (frost giant), which is always accompanied by Simon Pegg. | ||
| "Have Bird, Will Travel" (2x23) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Storro (Sam), a masked Zorro-esque vigilante, tells everyone about D&D Beyond before running off set. Sam returns, having left earlier to retrieve something from his car, and reads the copy in a standard fashion because he did not plan a bit. | ||
| "The Hour of Honor" (2x24) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents some concepts from his rejected ad file, including a pirate-based sketch, an extended impersonation of Travis, a too dark version of the D&D Beyond theme song about Caleb killing his family, and a high concept of the exchange "Matt." "Yes?" repeatedly. The final one is of a horrifying speculative image of what Travis and Laura's child is going to look like by combining cut-outs of their various facial features. He gives Laura some real roses as an apology for that part of the bit. | ||
| "Divergent Paths" (2x25) | D&D Beyond | — |
| To show Ashley some love as she leaves the set again to film Blindspot, he sings a song for her to the tune of "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday", as covered by Boyz II Men. | ||
| "Found & Lost" (2x26) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents a radio play of Ronin Willingham's birth two weeks ago. Taliesin narrates, Sam plays Travis, Marisha plays Laura, Liam plays the doctor, and Matt plays himself and Ronin. Laura delivers her perfect baby Ronin without going through labor. Ronin brings news about D&D Beyond from the womb. | ||
| "Converging Fury" (2x27) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He rediscovered old fan letters he received for a prior ad bit[fn 4] that got misplaced in the studio move and reads them aloud. The first says that their character was killed the previous week, and they love watching Critical Role because it does not remind them of death. The second says that they love his and Taliesin's interactions this campaign and hope that dynamic does not change, and the third includes a photo of their new tattoo of Nott and Mollymauk dancing together. The last letter is from D&D Beyond instructing him to avoid anything associated with loss and to send their love to Taliesin, their favorite cast member and the only reason they sponsor the show.[fn 5] | ||
| "Within the Nest" (2x28) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He provides tips on how to navigate D&D Beyond's newly redone layout by providing a series of helpful acronyms. He writes them out on a whiteboard, ultimately spelling out "Liam eats farts". | ||
| "The Stalking Nightmare" (2x29) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He sings a song, despite D&D Beyond telling him not to. | ||
| "The Journey Home" (2x30) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He updates Travis and Laura on changes at the studio while they were on parental leave: the wifi password is now "DallasSux", Travis' parking spot is now rented out to Brian W. Foster and his cardboard box until September 15 (Laura thought he lived in the equipment cage), Fjord's middle name was discovered to be canonically "Bronco", Laura's dice were loaned to Wil Wheaton, Max uses the break room to poop from 9 to 11 am, the makeup room has a complicated code system, Travis' chair has been reinforced to accommodate his baby weight, Laura no longer needs to heal because Taliesin's character is a cleric, Liam shaved, it is Ashley's birthday, Marisha now thinks sleeves are assholes, all firbolgs know each other, when to use which of the "Peeastock" and "Hupperdook" bathrooms, and there are flies all over the studio. | ||
| "Commerce & Chaos" (2x31) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He sings a country song he wrote for D&D Beyond because he recently visited Virginia. | ||
| "Beyond the Boundaries" (2x32) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He wrote a simple ad read for tonight, but he left the lyrics of the song at home in his printer. He tries to improvise an ad, but Mephistopheles is disappointed by his attempts. Even after multiple course corrections, Sam is unable to impress Mephistopheles, and Mephistopheles releases him for their pact and returns his soul. Matt and Travis say that, unfortunately, Sam cannot play Dungeons & Dragons without a pact with Satan because "the table's not a free ticket". | ||
| "The Ruby and the Sapphire" (2x33) | D&D Beyond | — |
| In keeping with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist releasing at 9:00pm PT, he points out that the Dallas Cowboys, Travis' favorite team, will have their first regular season game this year on September 9th (9/9) and other nine-related Cowboys stats. To commemorate "this amazing concurrence of the number nine", he reveals he is wearing a Cowboys shirt. However, his heart explodes. Distressed, Laura takes the shirt off of him, revealing a "Keep Calm and Hate Dallas" shirt underneath. With the Cowboys shirt off, Sam immediately recovers.[fn 6] After the bit, the cast observes that there is fake blood everywhere. Travis remarks that this is retribution for the bit. Sam says to him, "I love you, Travis. Go Dallas." He also admits that he had to assure Laura that Travis would be upset with him for her participation, not her. | ||
| "Encroaching Waters" (2x34) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Maxwell James pretends to be Sam and delivers a fairly standard ad read. Halfway through, the actual Sam arrives at the table and shoos Max away. It turns out that Travis emailed Sam informing him that the broadcast will start fifteen minutes later to ensure a non-offensive, non-controversial ad this week. Sam is incredulous that Travis thought people would believe Max is Sam, but Taliesin says that he not sure which is the real Sam between them. Travis directs Sam to read a pre-approved script that ultimately ends in "Go Dallas [Cowboys]!" Taliesin commends "Max" on that ad read. | ||
| "Dockside Diplomacy" (2x35) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents a pre-recorded ad to show off the post-production tools in their new studio, provided through generous sponsorship money. However, the post-production team did not edit in any of the visual effects, so the video is simply Sam in green marker tape gesturing to placeholder props while pretending to be Matt. Laura says that the ad was lame, and Sam agrees. Travis says this is evidence that Maxwell "Better Sam" James (from last week's ad) should return. | ||
| "O Captain, Who's Captain?" (2x36) | Backblaze | — |
| To celebrate that next week's show will be live in New York, he reads an ad script written in the style of an advertisement for a Broadway musical. | ||
| "Dangerous Liaisons" (2x37) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He and Ashley sing an ad set to the tune of "Dear Theodosia" from Hamilton. Sam is also dressed as Alexander Hamilton as depicted in the musical. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "Welcome to the Jungle" (2x38) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He has the cast play a trivia game in which they have to pick which of the named options is not a D&D familiar or creature. | ||
| "Temple of the False Serpent" (2x39) | D&D Beyond | — |
| His planned sketch was too long and he wasn't able to convert it into a funny enough nusery rhyme, so he has Laura and Taliesin paint his face while he simply reads the copy. Matt compares the completed work to Jester's natural one attempt at disguising Yasha as a yuan-ti in the previous episode.[5] Sam wears the face paint for the rest of the night. | ||
| "Dubious Pursuits" (2x40) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents a stop motion short film in which two toy mice spell out D N D Beyond and his Emmy. He thanks the crew, and every name is dick joke or similarly lewd pun. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "A Pirate's Life for Me" (2x41) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He delivers an ad read in an exaggerated Sottish English accent, which Matt then converts into American English. Sam is wearing a hat in tartan, an orange wig, and a red sweater to appear more Scottish. | ||
| "A Hole In the Plan" (2x42) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He claims that a highlight reel of his D&D Beyond ads was put together, but a paper from the crew (presumably Maxwell James) informs him that there is no reel. He complains there were meetings all week about this only for another paper to inform him that this bit was written a hour ago. He worries that D&D Beyond will pull their sponsorship and is informed by more papers that this will not happen and that they will not resent him. When another paper says all the papers are blank, he begins to call the bit a "thinly-veiled attempt to get attention to myself because I am very insecure", another paper informs him that he is actually rather happy in life. He says that this ad bit has taught everyone something, and a final paper tells him that he learned nothing and to end the bit. | ||
| "In Hot Water" (2x43) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He impersonates the rest of the cast through an old photo of them with the mouth cut out. Taliesin's impersonation is in Italian[fn 7] and uses an image of the Eye of Providence as depicted on the reverse of the Great Seal of the United States. Generally, Sam struggles to read the script because the photos block his line of sight. | ||
| "The Diver's Grave" (2x44) | Backblaze | — |
| He delivers a standard ad read, which ends with a message from BackBlaze's Yev Pusin expressing gratitude to the Critical Role cast and crew for being awesome and welcoming and especially to Sam for the effort he puts into the ad reads. To thank Yev, Sam wrote two songs and has the cast vote on whether it's the The Golden Girls or Spice Girls song. The vote chooses Golden Girls, and Sam sings a song for Yev to the tune of its theme song, "Thank You for Being a Friend". | ||
| "The Stowaway" (2x45) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He decides that the cast will make a series of Christmas GIFs for D&D Beyond, against the green screen so that Critters can insert backgrounds. Despite the cast's initial reservations, Sam is able to convince and direct Taliesin, Laura, and Matt into performing for some GIFs too. Most of the GIFs are typical reaction-style gifs. | ||
| "A Storm of Memories" (2x46) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He prepared an ad with musical setting that heavily featured Laura, but since she is not yet at the table, he wrote another sketch. He chooses to read information off D&D Beyond's FAQ or About Us page. He accidentally begins read information for FurryDate, then accidentally navigates to Double D Beyond. He lands at the David After Dentist video, reads a phishing attempt in his email, then finally correctly navigates to the D&D Beyond website. | ||
| "The Second Seal" (2x47) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He announces a year-long campaign for the presidency of D&D Beyond, despite it probably not being an elected office. He delivers a speech (modeled on the United States Declaration of Independence). The speech is unfinished and is missing campaign promises, but he assures everyone he will have some at the next campaign rally. He also needs a slogan, and he instructs viewers to tweet suggestions. | ||
| "Homeward Bound" (2x48) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He created an infomercial for D&D Beyond and gives Maxwell James the thumb drive to play it. Max plays a series of incorrect videos of Sam, despite Sam's increasingly desperate instructions. The videos are: singing the D&D Beyond theme while brushing his teeth, locked out of his house by his children, auditioning poorly for the role of Joel in The Last of Us, and a sext to Liam. Sam eventually instructs him to play all the rest of the videos, showing a clip of Sam taking off a bathrobe, skydiving, and dancing in a pop video. | ||
| "A Game of Names" (2x49) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He presents some campaign slogans submitted by Twitter users, then presents Dani Carr as his campaign manager. Dani points out that she has better things to be doing right now and, when Sam thanks her for volunteering, reminds him that he promised payment. With Dani keeping him on track, he delivers his first "Sampaign speech". Dani steers him away from negative and unsportsmanlike language, and he promises that every character will be preloaded with Inspiration, the default app background will be a picture of him, all characters will have 69 hit points, and sex nap will be added to the rest options. He urges viewers to tweet Dani to suggest which other cast member will be his opponent in the election. | ||
| "The Endless Burrows" (2x50) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He presents a new invention: the D&D Beyond Merciri (Mercer Siri), which allows access to D&D Beyond's organizational toolset. He attempts to demonstrate by asking it about halflings, but Merciri begins insulting goblins. He then asks it to name the best Critical Role player (Travis), the smartest player (Taliesin), players by popularity (Travis, everyone but Sam tied at second, Maxwell James), then the most handsome male cast members with a beard who are not Taliesin, Liam, or Sam (Wil Wheaton, Khary Payton, Will Friedle, Marisha). He asks it to roll a d20 but twice gets a natural 1. Marisha asks for a d20 roll and gets a natural 20. | ||
| "Xhorhas" (2x51) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Over romantic guitar music, he recites (in a Spanish accent) a Valentine's Day love poem to D&D Beyond. | ||
| "Feral Business" (2x52) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He reminds the rest of the table that he's waiting on fundraising donations, then he introduces his opponent: Liam. Sam promises to run a respectful campaign. Liam presents his campaign video, in which he accuses Sam's shenanigans as eroding D&D's seriousness, rule of law, and mechanical integrity. He promises a return to accountability, gravity, and the law of the rules and assures everyone: "With me as your next president, we will rediscover the true joy of gaming: systemic memorization." Sam retracts his promise to run respectfully. | ||
| "Cornered" (2x53) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He claims to have been formerly a ventriloquist and presents a puppet, Yondi the D&D Beyond alpaca. Before he begins, he says that he hasn't rehearsed this bit because Liam interrupted him when he tried to. Yondi insults Sam throughout the ad. Sam implores Yondi that Travis isn't very amused by any of this—Sam attempts to bail, but Marisha and Travis urge him to commit—then Yondi insults Travis. After the ad, Liam jokes, "Tune in next week, when Sam Riegel will stick his dick into a woodchipper!" Sam remarks that he lost so many votes in the presidential campaign just now, and Laura and Travis agree. | ||
| "Well Beneath" (2x54) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He announces that D&D Beyond supports the race between Sam and Liam and instituted two promo codes, one for Sam and one for Liam. He then presents an ad he filmed on a personal vacation with his family, allowing him to claim the trip as tax deductible. In the video, he delivers a standard (but uncertain) ad read while struggling to ski; he ultimately falls. Back at the table, Sam admits he is not a great skier and that it was a beginner's slope. He added that three women who came to help him were angry when he told them that him falling over was a bit. | ||
| "Duplicity" (2x55) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He reads ridiculous job listings for positions needed at Critical Role: part-time joke writer for Brian W. Foster on Talks Machina in which none of the responsibilities involve writing, a dice management specialist for Laura, seamstress to remove sleeves for Marisha, and an image consultant to help Liam's campaign for president. | ||
| "The Favor" (2x56) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He presents a video of celebrity endorsements, featuring Ben Schwartz, Aimee Carrero, Bobby Moynihan, Dave Hewlett, Grey DeLisle, Tim Simons, Yvette Nicole Brown, and Tony Hale. Everyone in the video is unhappy, confused, insincere, or disinterested. | ||
| "In Love and War" (2x57) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Paulie the Shark (full name: Paul Vincent D'Onofrio, no relation), from the East Coast with a thick matching accent, advertises D&D Beyond. He is impressed that their selection includes Out of the Abyss, the Adventurer's Guide to the Sword Coast, Waterdeep, and a homebrew sharkfolk. He tells everyone about his current campaign, including with Jill the Hammerhead, their bard Left Shark, and sometimes Frumpkin the octopus. They used to play with Rode Slater (of previous ads), but he ate him. | ||
| "Wood and Steel" (2x58) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He allows Liam a chance to speak about his campaign. Though Liam is confident in his lead in the polling and asserts his stand against Sam's gimmicks and lack of focus, he introduces a running mate to bolster confidence: Ashley. She claims that Sam, in a recent Talks Machina, "came out in favor of alcoholism". She viciously attacks Sam and briefly casts aspersions on the third party candidate, Arsequeef. Ashley urges viewers to "#VoteWithYourJohnson" and elect Liam. | ||
| "Perspective" (2x59) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He claims he will not respond to Liam's and Ashley's prior attacks and will instead focus on singing a jingle to the tune of the Mystery Science Theater 3000 theme. In the second verse, the jingle changes to be about Sam's campaign. He prompts the rest of the table to predict who will win the election, and they all say Liam. Undeterred, he ends the song urging everyone to vote for him. | ||
| "A Turtle By Any Other Name" (2x60) | D&D Beyond | You've Got Gale |
| He found a transcript of the trailer of a canceled film spin-off of You've Got Gale in a film archive and has everyone do a dramatic reading. In the filme, Gale Force Five: A Gale in Your Coffin Gale saves orphans from missile launcher-toting attackers, defeats a Russian villain, and defies orders to stand down from the president of the United States by telling him: "Why don't you gag me with a spoon?" | ||
| "Agreements" (2x61) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He responds to slander from the O'Brien-Johnson campaign, though his corrections are equally as unflattering to himself. He attacks Liam for being an authoritarian downer with a shrill voice (Liam: "Much more of a nasally drone, but go on.") who makes too many dark, heavy, depressing character choices and Ashley for having missed too many games. He adds that Dani advised him that he does not need to resort to slander to win, and he promises to win the election the same way he won his Emmy: by having sex with an executive. | ||
| "Domestic Respite" (2x62) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He's brought a mic with him to quickly record three ad spots for D&D Beyond. The first is scripted as if it is a fast food commercial, the second (with Travis Willingham) is as if a car commercial, and the third is as if a commercial for a genital herpes treatment. | ||
| "Intervention" (2x63) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He attempts to demonstrate the cast's history and skill in anime dubbing by having Travis, Marisha, and Liam move their mouths over Sam and Laura "reverse dubbing" them. Whoever does it best will receive a $2 bill.[fn 8] The "dub" features Travis threatening to destroy a cram school and rule the world, but Marisha vows to defeat him with her magical girl powers as a Gundam and with Liam's advice to use the strength of a mech with a long-winded name.[fn 9] Marisha wins the $2 bill. | ||
| "A Dangerous Chase" (2x64) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He acknowledges the Critters in Australia by presenting an ad copy full of stereotypical Australian cultural references in a highly exaggerated Australian accent and dialect. | ||
| "Chases and Trees" (2x65) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He was going to perform a sketch as Timmy the copyright-conscious breakfast tiger (dressed in his Halloween costume from 2016, in keeping with his shirt bit), but he is in shock over a recent revelation. In an attempt to uncover the O'Brien-Johnson campaign's sudden popularity, he turned to Marisha. She presents video evidence that the British Mark Hulmes is funding Liam's campaign on the condition that Liam convert D&D Beyond to the British system of units, spelling, and phrasing. | ||
| "Beneath Bazzoxan" (2x66) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| Liam interrupts the ad (a rap) to address Sam's previous accusations. He calls on Travis, "a brilliant forensics analyst with multiple PhDs and degrees from international universities". Travis declares that Sam faked the evidence Liam and presents undoctored footage to reveal that Sam impersonated Liam. Liam additionally presents footage proving that Sam, Mark, and Marisha faked the meeting, which he obtained by hacking into Sam's laptop.[fn 10] Sam insists he is innocent and flees the set. | ||
| "Beyond the Eyes of Angels" (2x67) | D&D Beyond | — |
| His campaign has been suspended after the previous week's events. Claiming that he did not write a bit this week, he shows a pre-recorded video he believes is a generic ad recorded to run in case "something tragic" happened to him. The ad turns out to also be a will in which he leaves Matt his T-shirt collection on the condition he wear them and never destroy them, his dice to Laura because nobody else cares about dice, his flasks to Ashley, Liam, and Marisha because he believes they love drinking, and his rare and expensive items and money to Taliesin. He remembers Dani Carr, then transfers the dice from Laura to Dani. He adds, "Suck an egg, Travis." Sam apologizes to the cast if they didn't get want they wanted in the will and promises it can still be arranged. Travis jokes that they definitely can arrange a death. | ||
| "Reflections" (2x68) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He live-tweets the ad on his personal account (@samriegel) on Twitter., which goes progressively awry and ultimately endorses Arsequeef for president. He tells everyone not to look at his Twitter account for the rest of the night.[fn 11] Two minutes later, a tweet at his account claims to have gotten everything under control and endorses Liam for president.[7][fn 12] | ||
| "The King's Cage" (2x69) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He interrupts what starts as a standard ad copy read to address the suspension of his presidential campaign in response to rumors from Liam's campaign. He challenges Liam to a "master debate" in July and claims he has developed "master debating" skills by constantly doing it, including in public. After he urges everyone to "master debate" themselves tonight, the casts asks various veiled questions about his skills. | ||
| "Causatum" (2x70) | D&D Beyond | — |
| The cast reads a script for a 1930s-style radio drama The Adventures of Detective Clint P. McGinty, Private Dick with foley by Sam. McGinty (Travis) and the Chief (Laura) case a crime scene, going through an improbable number of objects, surfaces, and actions to make noise for Sam to foley. McGinty quickly realizes that the killer is D&D Beyond. However, the amount of gas from the Chief drives him to jump from the window to escape the smell before he can properly explain his conclusion. Sam is very excited about completing this ad segment. | ||
| "Family Gathering" (2x71) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| Ahead of the polls opening next week, he and Liam engage in a "master debate", moderated by Dani Carr and questions asked by Ronin Willingham, Travis and Laura's toddler. Though Dani promised that she will not be more lenient on Sam, whose campaign she's managing, she cuts Liam off mid-answer and gives Sam significantly more time on the first question. Liam and Sam get into an argument on the second question. On the last question ("Say one nice thing about your opponent."), Liam gives a sincere answer, but Sam refuses to and adds, "Vax couldn't make it through Vox Machina campaign, and Liam isn't going to survive this one." | ||
| "Clay and Dust" (2x72) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He informs viewers that the polls are now open. He and Liam are to read simple closing statements. Over "Hail to the Chief", Sam delivers a lengthy speech promising no gags tonight (just as Maxwell James provides a sight gag) and assures everyone that he is a man of the people by providing unrelatable examples from his life. Liam delivers a speech insisting that "things are bad under Riegel's stewardship of D&D Beyond", pointing to how Matt is terrorized by silly string and Marisha is punching other players. He passionately urges viewers to no longer stand for Sam's overlong ad bits and to angrily vote against Sam. | ||
| "Uthodurn" (2x73) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He reminds the audience that the election ends at the show's intermission. He additionally urges everyone to vote for him, promising to pay each voter $50 (if he wins). To celebrate the election, he sings a variation of the D&D Beyond theme about how Fjord lost his warlock magic. | ||
| "Manifold Morals" (2x74) | D&D Beyond | D&D Beyond Presidential Campaign |
| He presents a video of himself and Liam, the new co-presidents of D&D Beyond, after the election concluded the previous week. They celebrate with a crazy bender, leading the D&D Beyond founder Adam Bradford to fire them for spending the entire party planning budget for the year. Though they were co-presidents of the party planning committee for ninety minutes, they decide to remain presidents of one another. | ||
| "Rime and Reason" (2x75) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He pitches various merchandise ideas to Laura: Nott's bag of buttons (buttons sold separately), a Chia Pet Taryon Darrington, Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion dollhouse (complete with invisible servants), and a sterling silver cube cock ring (just like the one worn by Scanlan). | ||
| "Refjorged" (2x76) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Dressed as Britney Spears in the music video for "Baby One More Time", he performs much of the ad copy to various excerpts of her songs. | ||
| "A Tangled Web" (2x77) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| BlackWillow73 (Sam), a parody of film hackers, attempts to hack an unidentified target. However, he's "iced out" because the target is protected by NordVPN and is ultimately "sliced" himself. The ad is full of dense and nonsensical techno-jargon (both real and made up) and pop culture references. | ||
| "Between the Lines" (2x78) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Dressed in an attempt at Goth subculture, in a reference to the advertised Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, he reads a Goth-inspired ad copy. After the copy, he admits that he's never met a Goth person. Travis and Taliesin point out that Taliesin is Goth. Sam says that he has never met Taliesin in his Goth persona, which Taliesin agrees is true. Taliesin adds, "I've definitely seen whoever this is at a couple clubs that I then immediately left." | ||
| "Through the Trees" (2x79) | Big Ben Entertainment | — |
| In a play on the title of Paranoia: Happiness is Mandatory, he is dressed in a suit and has a conspiracy board, as in the Pepe Silvia meme. He urges Matt to keep his voice down, for fear of listening devices, and presents various conspiracy theories, which he claims he confirmed through Paranoia. | ||
| "The Folding Halls" (2x80) | Skybound Games | — |
| He is in various casts and bandages because he was going to get a temporary tattoo of the sponsor but his face swelled because he is allergic to henna, then his hands swelled because he is allergic to the prednisone he took to reduce the swelling, then he broke his arm fist-pumping in excitement about the sponsor. | ||
| "From Door to Door" (2x81) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Dressed as a member of the Blue Man Group, he performs a drumming set while Marisha slowly reads out the ad and thank you to D&D Beyond as it slowly appears in an replicating a side-scrolling sign. Halfway through the ad, he starts trying to catch in his mouth marshmallows thrown at him by Matt and Travis. | ||
| "The Beat of the Permaheart" (2x82) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Because it is officially winter and it is a "chilly" 91 degrees in Los Angeles, he's dressed for cold weather. He presents a video of himself and Liam in the "winter cold" of Los Angeles. In the video, he and Liam are somewhere snowy. Sam advertises D&D Beyond while Liam pelts him with snowballs. Sam bails on the ad in the video. | ||
| "Dark Bargains" (2x83) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Sam is not yet at the table, so Liam handles the advertisement. "Rather than try and fail with some non-Riegel comedy routine", Liam proposes a toast in D&D Beyond's honor. He spends fifty-eight seconds pouring a glass of wine, which aerates loudly the entire time through the cast's near silence. Though the wine is nearly to the brim, he gestures with the glass during the toast—to especially Marisha's and Laura's horror. Travis and Marisha urge him to chug the glass, but he takes only a small sip. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "Titles and Tattoos" (2x84) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He performs a cheerleading routine for D&D Beyond. With the ad lasting only about sixty seconds, the cast wonders if this is the shortest ad Sam has ever done. | ||
| "The Threads Converge" (2x85) | D&D Beyond | — |
| Sorty (Sam, Morty Smith) tells Brick (Liam, Rick Sanchez) about the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons vs. Rick and Morty. | ||
| "The Cathedral" (2x86) | Ravensburger | — |
| Dressed as Chewbacca because it was the only Disney costume the production had, the sketch is actually Evil Queen-themed. He asks his magical mirror (Maxwell James) who at the table is most fair. The mirror says Matt, then Liam. Sam instead asks who is most clever, to which the mirror says that it's clear Sam is fishing for himself. Sam forces him to say it. Once he does, Maxwell says he is contacting human resources and calls for Ed Lopez. | ||
| "Punishment and Politics" (2x87) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| BlackWillow73 claims he's too skilled a hacker to take advice and use NordVPN, but he's sliced by a mysterious hacker called CryptonicOverride. Speaking to him in a heavily filtered voice, CryptonicOverride declares that they will hack him. BlackWillow73 quickly boots up NordVPN, icing out CryptonicOverride and protecting him. CryptonicOverride warns that BlackWillow73's end is soon. BlackWillow73 wonders about the identity of CryptonicOverride and what the Ultra Kodex is. | ||
| "Unwanted Reunions" (2x88) | Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms | — |
| Stand-up Santa advertises the sponsor, inserting between paragraphs various bad jokes about his failed marriage and recent divorce from Mrs. Claus. | ||
| "Lingering Wounds" (2x89) | Backblaze | You've Got Gale |
| He declares that he found an old script on his hard drive for the trailer of Her Miracle Bebop NeoGale 2047, a mid 90s anime remake of Gale Force Five, a popular film starring Ashley as Gale. Liam, Marisha, Matt, and Ashley do a dramatic reading. Gale, a student at a cram school discovers that she can transform into mecha mutant student council vice president.[fn 9] | ||
| "Bathhouses and Bastions" (2x90) | Skillshare | — |
| Baby Yoda, having been booked to read the ad by his agent to help pay rent, advertises Skillshare and discusses the sorts of auditions and various meetings his agents have set up. He mentions being contacted for a reboot of ALF, Jumanji 3, and a sexy remake of Look Who's Talking. He also sets reminders for himself to pitch remakes of Legally Blonde and A Walk to Remember called Legally Green and Ewok to Remember. | ||
| "Stone to Clay" (2x91) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| BlackWillow73 resolves to discover and expose the identity of CryptonicOverride. He fails because CryptonicOverride is protected by NordVPN and slices him, but he manipulates a recording of CryptonicOverride's voice to reveal that it is Laura. She challenges him to a hack of, but the contest is interrupted when they're simul-sliced by the Ultra Kodex. CryptonicOverride realizes the Ultra Kodex is going to infect the world, and they have to hack the planet[fn 13] to protect it. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "Home is Where the Heart Is" (2x92) | Hero Forge | — |
| To see if making a food sweeter makes it better, he adds whipped cream to various food items: a chili dog (yes), Caesar salad (yes), Flamin' Hot Cheetos (better), pepperoni pizza (worse), and red wine (worse, tasted again to confirm definitely worse). He decides to brush his teeth, adding whipped cream to the toothpaste (worse). Each "better" and "worse" is accompanied by an on-screen graphic, voiced by Dani Carr. | ||
| "Misery Loves Company" (2x93) | Knights of Pen & Paper II | — |
| Drak'ar Noir of Travis Willingham's Yee-Haw Game Ranch sings a song about the advertised game. | ||
| "With Great Power..." (2x94) | Skillshare | — |
| Because Skillshare doesn't have a class on "being a corporate shill", he provides a Online Advertising 101 seminar on the basics of handling TTRPG streaming show sponsorships. He demonstrates each element of a Mnemonic, MATT: music (singing a short song), accents (faking an Italian accent), terrible food (doesn't have the beer and ranch dressing prop and producer Maxwell James cannot bring it in time), and time (explaining that people love long ads). | ||
| "Blessing in Disguise" (2x95) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| BlackWillow73 and CryptonicOverride are nearly finished hacking the Ultra Kodex, but they're stopped when they're simul-sliced. They're about to give up when Cereal Killer (Matthew Lillard, reprising his role from Hackers), thought debooted, suddenly appears. He has been secretly watching them and compliments them on their skills, and he presents the legendary Mobius device to help them. However, it is a ruse: Cereal Killer traps them in the internet to protect the Ultra Kodex. | ||
| "Family Shatters" (2x96) | Two Point Hospital | — |
| Dr. Raul Amor, PhD (or, Dr. Love) is a purported "expert in emergency brain surgery, facial replacement surgery, and operating in war zones with no electricity". He takes on a new patient, Marisha, who feels awful. He prescribes her his tender loving care, smoldering looks, and a kiss on the cheek. She cries out in pain, and Dr. Love claims she wasn't ready for his "medical grade handsomeness". Liam, also a doctor, says that her appendix is actually ruptured. | ||
| "The Fancy and the Fooled" (2x97) | World Anvil | — |
| While dressed as a leprechaun, he delivers a Saint Patrick's Day-themed ad, with references to things of at least some Irish association, including cabbage, Guinness, potatoes, jigs, the Blarney Stone, and a list of famous Irish and Irish American people. | ||
| "Dark Waters" (2x98) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He directs Ashley to sing the D&D Beyond theme (first sung in "Hush" (2x07)) a capella. He has provided a sheet of lyrics for her to use as reference. It goes well! | ||
| "High Seas, High Stakes" (2x99) | Griffon's Saddlebag | — |
| He checks the contents of his saddlebag, a stretch goal of the advertised Kickstarter: framed photo of Liam ("Oh, I always carry this with me wherever I go."), "change" in a large wad appearing to be all $100 bills (Laura confirms it's not actually), a bottle of Realm Cellar's Beckstoffer To Kalon Cabernet Sauvignon wine, and lyrics to a song he wrote to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Critical Role. The song is sentimental and commentrates moments from both campaigns so far. | ||
| "Hunted at Sea" (2x100) | — | — |
| He reads a poem remarking that life under COVID-19 has been difficult but glad that everyone has made it thus far. He says that the cast sits separately but does not feel alone because they are surrounded by love. He thanks the staff and crew and is grateful to Critters for their patience, then he leads the cast in raising a socially-distanced toast. | ||
| "Mysteries, Memories, and Music" (2x101) | — | — |
| He advertises his services potential sponsors. He's even willing to advertise bad products and services because he is shameless. He demonstrates this by eating a kale chip, which he claims everyone hates, and singing a short song about kale chips. He signs off with, "So, please, please, when you're thinking of insincerity, think of Sam Riegel." | ||
| "Ghosts, Dinosaurs, and Stuff" (2x102) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| After a recap from Liam, the ad cuts to a pre-taped segment with heavy post-production.[fn 14] BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride have been trapped in the dark web for nano-days, though they're unsure where. They dodge meme clusters and fight their way through a firewall to find safety in Dani Carr's Pinterest account. They realize they need someone to unjack them from the Ultra Kodex. Though he believed he put hacking in the past, Taliesin reluctantly agrees to do it. | ||
| "Maritime Mysteries" (2x103) | Ravensburger | — |
| Marty McFly (Sam) tells Doc Brown (Liam) that he's been to 2020. He tries to tell doc about the COVID-19 pandemic, but Doc discourages him from doing so to prevent altering reality. In a non-sequitur, Doc holds up a picture of Matt making a funny face. Doc asks Marty if there was anything good about 2020, prompting Marty to tell him about Ravensburger's new Back to the Future game. After the ad, the cast discuss if the sponsor's name is pronounced "Rahv-ensburger" or "Ravens-burger". | ||
| "The Ruined Sliver" (2x104) | Ravensburger | — |
| To celebrate the new Wonder Woman game from Ravensburger ("we've almost learned how to say their name"), he is wearing a tiara and lassos Ashley with the Golden Lariat of Truth. He ascertains that the lasso works when Ashley gives a lengthy ridiculous name as her full name and accurately describes the new game. He has her play two rounds of Fuck, Marry, Kill, neither of which have Sam. She chooses to kill Sam in the first, then gives a lengthy description of how she'd do it in the second. | ||
| "Rumble at Rumblecusp" (2x105) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Taliesin introduces himself as FreezerBurn, an old-school hacker who "spent 10 long years in nano-jail for electro-crimes against webmanity". He attempts to hack BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride from the dark web, only to discover it's a two-person job. Ashley jumps in to help him as MadHatterson, though she is reluctant to help BlackWillow69. They successfully rescue BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride, but BlackWillow69 says that everything has changed. | ||
| "A Fog Lifted" (2x106) | Skillshare | — |
| Off the success of the "very current" success of Hamilton's live film recording,[fn 15] he wrote a hip-hop musical about Skillshare, which he assures Marisha is legally distinct despite wearing his Alexander Hamilton costume from "Dangerous Liaisons" (2x37). The song is sung to the tune of Hamilton's "Alexander Hamilton". | ||
| "Devoutness and Dicks" (2x107) | Elderwood Academy | — |
| Matt throws to Sam for the sponsor, as usual, but Taliesin (dressed identically to Sam) starts the ad as if he is Sam. Sam interrupts to correct him, but Taliesin insists that he is Sam. The rest of the cast struggles to tell the two apart, even after extensive questioning about Sam's "typical" strange, disconnected, and asshole behavior. They finally identify the real Sam when Taliesin cannot immediately recite the sponsor's URL because "the one thing [Sam] is perfect at is corporate shilling". | ||
| "Traveler Con" (2x108) | Petersen Games | Bob Matthews[fn 16] |
| Bob Matthews, WP:Dave Matthews' (fictional) younger brother, poorly sings a promotional song incorporating various lyrics from Dave Matthews songs. In the middle of an ad, he receives a call from Dave Matthews, watching the show, to tell him to not use his lyrics to sell things. | ||
| "Frigid Propositions" (2x109) | Hit Point Press | — |
| He promotes the K-Pop band BTS instead of the night's sponsor. Matt interrupts him to remind him that he's supposed to be promoting Hit Point Press. Sam claims that this happens: "because I'm a huge BTS fan, and not because I just wanted an excuse for Matt to read the ad for me." | ||
| "Dinner with the Devil" (2x110) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| BlackWillow69 (formerly BlackWillow73), CryptonicOverride, and FreezerBurn prepare to defeat the Ultra Kodex. However, BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride are uncertain about what to do, and FreezerBurn realizes that Cereal Killer must have drained their hacking abilities. FreezerBurn downloads his brain archives into them to restore their skills, sacrificing his own master level powers. | ||
| "New Homes and Old Friends" (2x111) | Skillshare | — |
| Dressed as a mime artist, he has Travis read the ad copy instead in an exaggerated French accent. Travis reads that Skillshare did not have a miming class, hence why Sam is bad at it, and instructs Sam to mime various situations, like juggling chainsaws, driving in rush hour traffic, and being birthed by a rhino. | ||
| "The Chase Begins" (2x112) | Ravensburger | — |
| Dressed as Vizzini from The Princess Bride, he and Liam (as Dread Pirate Roberts) share a drink, re-enacting the scene from the film where Vizzini attempts to poison the Dread Pirate Roberts by switching the goblets. Sam pours from his unwashed flask in an attempt to poison Liam, but because they cannot swap goblets due to social distancing, the flask water cannot possibly be in Liam's goblet. Sam poisons himself and dies. | ||
| "A Heart Grown Cold" (2x113) | Ravensburger | — |
| Boomerang (Sam, in a superhero costume) discovers that he isn't a hero option in the advertised game, despite his agent claiming otherwise. He pitches some new catchphrases, but nobody in the cast really likes any of them. He throws his boomerang, but it does not come back to him. After the ad, Travis asks if the boomerang had bullet holes in it, and Sam says that producer Maxwell James made it out of cardboard because Sam did not bring his from home. | ||
| "An Open Window" (2x114) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Because it is a Halloween episode, BlackWillow69 takes a break from trying to defeat the Ultra Kodex by enjoying some Halloween candy, only to discover someone hacked his candy bag and made everything candy corn. He jacks in and discovers a text file: "Eat this, you latex dork." Matt says that's his playa name,[fn 17] leading Sam to realize whoever took his candy hid it in Matt's desk to cause conflict between them. | ||
| "Fetching Fables & Frosty Friends" (2x115) | Deck of Many | — |
| He creates a character for the ad by drawing cards from a deck of elements for a quintessential ad, including offensive accent, parody of a song they don't have rights for, dad joke, offensive, and offensive. He draws Santa Claus, France, and doctor and finds the relevant props in a box, creating Dr. Pierre Santa Claus. He reads the ad read as this character, in a bad French accent and sprinkled with medical terms and references to Santa. | ||
| "Under Timeless Ice" (2x116) | Cortex RPG | — |
| He presents an RPG he developed using Cortex, Tax Code Carnage: IRS Annihilation. The game involves navigating federal tax code to file a tax return on time. He demonstrates some gameplay. He tries to prevent a Certified Public Accountant aboleth from shredding his 1040 form by filing an extension. A low roll results his deductibles not being itemized. When he casts a "fixed asset cash flow" spell to fix it and rolls a natural 1, he declares that he has become insolvent. He asks the cast if it's ready for publishing by Darrington Press. Travis thinks it needs more work, but Laura and Ashley believe it's ready. | ||
| "The Tortoise and The Dare" (2x117) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He notes that he hasn't done an ad for D&D Beyond in a while and speculates that it is because they've put him on probation for being too ridiculous. So, Ashley is going to keep him on script this time. He reads the marketing copy and every time he begins to sound as if he's beginning a bit, she admonishes him in various ways, including using a dog training clicker and a spray bottle labeled "acid". | ||
| "Solace Between the Secrets" (2x118) | Hot Topic | — |
| He presents a video of the different "life hack" ways to use the new Critical Role apparel released through Hot Topic. It shows him at home using various shirts as an oven mitt, a wine aerator, a towel, gym shorts, and a doll to replace his disinterested children. The video was filmed by cinematographer Quyen Tran, his wife, and was completed after the episode was recorded. | ||
| "Malice and Mystery Below" (2x119) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He directs the cast through a song written to the tune of "Silent Night", predicting that the entire party is going to be killed in a TPK in the combat with the baby-like monstrosity at the beginning of the episode. | ||
| "Contentious Company" (2x120) | Cortex RPG | — |
| He showcases his new RPG system, Tea & Tea. It has three character classes, each a type of tea, and requires only dice, a cup, and hot water. He begins a module where the player defends the realm from the evil Earl Gray with Rooibos the Red. He rolls a d4 to determine that his tea must steep for four minutes. While they wait, he asks the rest of the cast what they think of the game. They approve. | ||
| "Ice and Fire" (2x121) | Grim Hollow | — |
| Surrounded by New Year's balloons and decorations, he declares that he is so optimistic for this upcoming year. He says that tonight's sponsor will set the tone. He quickly discovers that the advertised TTRPG supplement is a dark fantasy setting that has forgotten hope and is desperately trying to survive. He becomes increasingly optimistic in a desperate and crazed manner: hugging a balloon until it pops, tearing a picture of a kitten with his teeth, and ripping apart a teddy bear. | ||
| "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained" (2x122) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| With the internet protected by NordVPN and the Ultra Kodex hibernating, BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride decide to take everyone on a VR tour of the hackerspace. However, Travis is hacked by the Ultra Kodex on the tour, leading BlackWillow69 to realize that the Ultra Kodex is someone in the cast. He deduces that it is Matt, who reveals himself and declares that he will release Travis only when his demands are met. | ||
| "Fair-weather Faith" (2x123) | Tabletop Tycoon | Dodeca-Heal Yourself |
| Nathaniel "Nat" Twenty, a motivational speaker and sentient d20 die, promotes his self-help seminars, workshops, and one-on-one coaching sessions. He leads the cast through a mantra to will a natural 20 and has everyone roll. Travis actually rolls a natural 20. The others roll well, except Liam and Taliesin. Nat Twenty says they need more seminars and explains that their credit cards were already charged. This episode is a rare instance where the segment is for the second sponsor. | ||
| "A Walk to Warmer Welcomes" (2x124) | Eldermancy | — |
| Inspired by The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns being advertised, he showcases a cocktail he created using the letters in "Eldermancy". It consists of: elderberry liquor, lemon juice, dry vermouth, espresso, rum, mezcal tequila, absinthe, Newcastle Brown Ale, cherry garnish, and yogurt, which Sam confirmed were, indeed, the real ingredients.[10] He tastes it and is sincerely surprised to learn that the ingredients are real and not colored water. He claims it tastes okay, but the others don't believe it.[fn 18] | ||
| "The Neverending Day" (2x125) | Cortex RPG | — |
| He uses the Cortex system to create a TTRPG titled Cyberpunk 1977, an unofficial prequel to Cyberpunk 2077. He describes a cyber-mercenary working during the presidency of Jimmy Carter who can be customized in late 70s fashion like flare jeans, upgraded to use technology like the dot matrix printer and TRS-80, and drives a Ford Pinto. He is wearing an appropriate costume throughout the bit and makes several other specific references to the year. | ||
| "Worth Fighting For" (2x126) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| The Ultra Kodex declares that he cannot take the NordVPN ads because he wants to do them himself. BlackWillow69 claims that they would never hire an "unhinged spokesperson" like the Ultra Kodex. To stop the Ultra Kodex from defragging NordVPN in retaliation, BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride challenge him a hack-off. The Ultra Kodex accepts and easily frags CryptonicOverride, then threatens to destroy BlackWillow69. | ||
| "Sarsaparilla, Licorice, and Red Hot" (2x127) | Idle Champions of the Forgotten Realms | — |
| Taking inspiration from the advertised interactive livestream, he has the cast to vote on how he delivers the next three lines of the ad. They choose: "while clipping clothespins to my face" (unanimously), "in song", and "with Ashley and Liam shooting Nerf bullets at me". Ashley immediately pelts him in the head before he finishes counting votes, and he is barely able to finish the copy with them shooting at him. | ||
| "Cat and Mouse" (2x128) | Hit Point Press | You've Got Gale |
| He reads a series of letters from fans writing into Gale's Dear Prudence-style advice column. Gale advises people to allow their sister to date their ex-boyfriend and throw flaming dog poop at them, remove gophers from their lawn by punching them, and watch Amadeus instead of feeling upset someone less qualified got a promotion. | ||
| "Between a Ball and a Hot Place" (2x129) | Ravensburger | — |
| He instructs Travis, who is deathly allergic to cats, to read the marketing copy and to open a box of cat-related items inspired by the advertised Pusheen the Cat game. Travis nervously sorts through the objects, which include cat toys, "hairballs", and a bottle of alleged anal gland secretions. Laura sternly warns Sam not to kill her husband with real cat hair. Sam finishes reading the copy for Travis. | ||
| "The Calm Before the Storm" (2x130) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| The Ultra Kodex prepares to delete BlackWillow69, but BlackWillow declares that the power of friendship will stop him. BlackWillow69, TechnoSpice69 (Marisha), FreezerBurn, MadHatterson69, and Commodore69 defeat the Ultra Kodex, restoring Travis and CryptonicOverride. In the process, BlackWillow69 becomes one with the internet and becomes a gleaming cube. | ||
| "Into the Eye" (2x131) | Ravensburger | — |
| He gives the other cast members a chance to be "villainous" and give him a haircut and shave by selecting numbered parts of his face. The cast, horrified, refuses to choose anything untoward and guide him into a Hulk Hogan-style mustache and a close undercut. Everyone admits they actually like the ultimate result. | ||
| "Aeor" (2x132) | Skillshare | — |
| He demonstrates what he learned from a Skillshare class on caring for houseplants by talking to a small succulent named Janelle (Laura). He and Janelle flirt, causing her husband Steve (Travis), a fern, to confront them. Though Janelle and Sam insist that nothing is happening between them, Steve attacks Sam. Sam smothers Steve with a blanket and awkwardly urges everyone to use Skillshare. He is then confronted by another large houseplant (Liam), who is jealous over Janelle. | ||
| "Hunter and Hunted" (2x133) | Hit Point Press | — |
| Before starting the ad proper, he reads a lengthy legal disclaimer, claimed to be approved by Critical Role's legal department after 36 billable hours, that Hit Point Press doesn't condone a lengthy list of elements from previous skits. He adds that the following skit is not recommended for nearly every demographic and other warnings. He then has Ashley blindfold herself to knock an apple off his head with a bow and arrow. Matt anxiously claims that there is not enough time and reads the copy himself. | ||
| "The Streets of the Forgotten" (2x134) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| With BlackWillow69 turned into a gleaming cube, the others tearfully share the details of NordVPN's services. They realize that Travis is eating the cube, which he discovered is made of cake. This causes Travis to absorb all of BlackWillow69's knowledge and granting him prodigious hacker abilities. Realizing that Travis is the Number Two of the prophecy, FreezerBurn reveals himself to be Morpheus and says he will train Number Two. | ||
| "The Genesis Ward" (2x135) | Ghostfire Gaming | — |
| As a long-haul trucker, he tells others over Citizen Band radio about the copies of Grim Hollow he's hauling from Fort Worth, Texas to Louisville, Kentucky. He insists that he cannot be delayed, unlike the recent Suez Canal obstruction. Highway patrol attempts to pull him over for speeding, but he instead accelerates to remain on schedule. A tire blows out, but he refuses to pull over safely. The skit uses a significant amount of CB slang. | ||
| "Hell or High Water" (2x136) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He auctions off to the rest of the cast various items from past ads. He claims that the money will go to the Critical Role Foundation, but Ashley insists that CRF has nothing to do with this. Items were: a bag of hair from "Into the Eye" (2x131) (to Liam for $10), unwashed pink latex costume from GenCon in "The Stalking Nightmare" (2x29) (to Matt for $500), and a bite guard stolen from Travis' nightstand (to Taliesin for $50). Ashley swears to sue Sam for his constant references to CRF. | ||
| "Welcome to Cognouza" (2x137) | Skillshare | — |
| He shows off a slideshow of photographs he took after taking a course on Skillshare. The photographs show Sam in unflattering and compromising positions, including on the toilet, fighting with his tripod, and messily drinking a martini. After a photo of Sam throwing up in a toilet, Travis derails the skit by pointing out how far Sam leaned into the bowl out of commitment to the bit. Sam, laughing, admits that he didn't need to do that and ultimately bails on the bit. | ||
| "Where There Is a Will..." (2x138) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Number Two is demotivated while training under Morpheus and admits that he's scared of becoming a cube like BlackWillow69. Morpheus instructs him to turn his fear into love and instructs him to do so to hack the others. Number Two is successful. A mysterious force then shakes the set. | ||
| "Rebirth" (2x139) | Hit Point Press | — |
| He claims he did not prepare an appropriate skit because staff pranked him and falsely said the night's sponsor was Toys R Us. Instead, he will repeated the copy as fed to him by producer Kyle Shire over IFB. Sam repeats sounds transmitted by interference throughout the copy. After it is finished, Sam then repeats Kyle on hot mic asking production coordinator Jeremiah "Jerry" Riva for skin ointment. Kyle throws something at Sam and yells that the skit is over. | ||
| "Long May He Reign" (2x140) | D&D Beyond | Dodeca-Heal Yourself |
| Nat Twenty attempts to direct Ashley and Laura through updating Yasha's and Jester's character sheets in D&D Beyond with personal financial details. The FBI arrive off-screen with a warrant to arrest Nat Twenty, actually Nat Roberts, for federal embezzlement and wire fraud. | ||
| "Fond Farewells" (2x141) | Hit Point Press | — |
| He reads a sincere ode to Campaign 2 and the Mighty Nein. The poem is interrupted by advertising copy for the Hit Point Press module multiple times. | ||
Campaign 3: Bells Hells[edit | edit source]
Critical Role continued to be pre-recorded live-to-tape in Campaign 3. Some ad segments involve significant and complex post-production and production time; examples include producing a highly involved musical number with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in "The Draw of Destiny" (3x01), recording a segment at the table for a subsequent week as with "The Trail and the Toll" (3x03) and "To The Skies" (3x23), transposing Sam's face and scanlines onto Laura's in "Breaking and Entering..." (3x20).
Nordverse continued into this campaign with a new story arc surrounding Setty, a virus infecting the new set. The campaign also saw the introduction of two major series: Quip Public Domain Lounge, where Ludo McGillicutty sings a medley of public domain songs to Matt's increasing annoyance, and the Finger Championship Games, in which finger wrestler Marisha struggles to receive her prize money. With another nine installments as of "A Dark Balance" (3x38), Nordverse is so far the longest running series of the campaign.
Campaign 3 is also the first time a guest player was involved in the ad skit. Robbie Daymond is involved in multiple ads, including some Nordverse sketches.
| Episode | Sponsor | Series (if any) |
|---|---|---|
| "The Draw of Destiny" (3x01) | Hit Point Press | — |
| He performs a musical number with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn about writing skits for sponsorship ads. The number was taped in advance of the episode. | ||
| "Trial by Firelight" (3x02) | Ravensburger | — |
| He, Travis Willingham, Robbie Daymond, and Marisha Ray roleplay as gargoyles, like those from the advertised game Disney Gargoyles: Awakening. | ||
| "The Trail and the Toll" (3x03) | Hit Point Press | — |
| He reminisces about the cast's warm reception of his skit for "The Draw of Destiny" (3x01), but Marisha remembers it differently. Robbie remembers he saved Sam from an assassin and Travis called Robbie "the sexiest person alive". Travis also remembers it this way. Their memories are shown in inserts taped the week of the skit discussed. | ||
| "On the Trail of a Killer" (3x04) | Fantasy Flight Games | — |
| He claims to have used some of the company's petty cash to pay a team of programmers to create a companion app for the show. Over skeptical comments from Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O'Brien, Sam instructs Matthew Mercer and Ashley Johnson to help demonstrate the app, but none of it works as planned. | ||
| "The Threat Between the Walls" (3x05) | Hit Point Press | I'm a cat[fn 19][12] |
| Dressed in a white cat mask, he roleplays as a fussy and troublesome cat who is apathetic to everything and the cast but loves Hit Point Press. | ||
| "Growing Bonds and Teasing Threads" (3x06) | NordVPN | Nordverse[fn 20] |
| Number Two (Travis) and Morpheus (Taliesin) briefly recap Nordverse for Robbie, and Number Two demonstrates his powers by hacking Robbie's tablet. Robbie plugs in his tablet to recharge it, causing him to become spliced into and taken over by an unknown enemy. | ||
| "Behind the Curtain" (3x07) | Quip | — |
| He focus tests three jingles he composed for Quip. Most of the cast dislike each of them, except Travis who loudly declares he loves the first two. Travis, however, hates the third. | ||
| "A Woodworker's Quandary" (3x08) | Old Spice | — |
| He directs each member of the table to smell a stick of Old Spice's The Witcher deodorant and describe the scent, which he'll then name. The scent descriptions are often convoluted or esoteric. | ||
| "Thicker Grows the Meal and Plot" (3x09) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Number Two discovers that Robbie was taken over by a virus from the new set. The virus, Setty, takes over Ashley, Liam, and Laura Bailey. Number Two is confused how a virus could infect a set protected by NordVPN, but Marisha admits that she used the money meant for the NordVPN subscription for Matt's Vest of the Month Club instead. | ||
| "Ghosts, Dates, and Darker Fates" (3x10) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Number Two struggles to remove Setty from the set. At Morpheus' suggestion, he attempts to unplug the set to reset it. However, he is electrocuted every time he tries and fails even with help from MadHatterson (Ashley), Commodore69 (Liam), CryptonicOverride (Laura), and the Ultra Kodex (Matt). Morpheus suggests that there may be a way to bring Blackwillow69 (Sam) back to help them. | ||
| "Chasing Nightmares" (3x11) | Skillshare | — |
| Dressed as Steve of Blue's Clues, in an extended adaptation of "Steve From Blue's Clues Has a Message For You!, he showcases and explains the skills he learned from the online classes at Skillshare he took since he was no longer in the Nordverse ads. | ||
| "Make It Fashion" (3x12) | Beadle & Grimm's | Bob Matthews[fn 21] |
| Bob Matthews (Sam) and Rick Matthews Bronstein (Robbie), Dave Matthews' (fictional) estranged second cousin once removed, perform a song. | ||
| "A Dance of Deception" (3x13) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Morpheus lends Number Two his power glove so that Number Two can speak to BlackWillow69 for guidance to defeat Setty. BlackWillow69 encourages the dispirited Number Two and reveals that there is a digital copy of him saved. However, Number Two has to jack BlackWillow69 into the copy, only possible by pooping the cube out in a pun on his name. | ||
| "In Too Deep" (3x14) | Skillshare | — |
| He reads marketing copy he claims was generated by an AI he programmed, using skills learned from an online class, that he fed previous scripts. Though he expected the script to be silly, the script is a darkly existential monologue about Sam creating ad bits to mitigate an otherwise a hollow, meaningless life. | ||
| "The Tunnels Below" (3x15) | Quip | — |
| He breaks up with his old electric toothbrush for a new relationship with a Quip brush. | ||
| "The Shade Mother" (3x16) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Number Two points out that BlackWillow69 needs a physical host. Though everyone volunteers, CryptonicOverride offers herself to bring BlackWillow69 back. Number Two successfully passes BlackWillow69 through his system, and BlackWillow69 takes over CryptonicOverride's body. | ||
| "Heart-to-Heartmoor" (3x17) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| Vince McSam (Sam, a la Vince McMahon) introduces the first Finger Championship Games: an exhibition match between rookie finger wrestlers Travis (The Palm Pilot) and Marisha (The Finger Blaster, not the name she agreed on). Marisha wins, but she does not have Cash App. She insistently asks how much she won, but McSam refuses to answer. | ||
| "A Hungry Jungle" (3x18) | Hit Point Press | — |
| Inspired by the Animated Tarot Deck being advertised, he offers to do a tarot reading for Liam. Sam gives an incredibly detailed prediction about a bathroom encounter at Golden Corral in Myrtle Beach before Liam cuts him off to ask if this is a story about Sam. It is. | ||
| "Omens Above" (3x19) | Thorum | — |
| He presents a dramatization of Travis' proposal to Laura in 2010. Ashley (as Travis) and Liam (as Laura) act out the highly inaccurate script. | ||
| "Breaking and Entering..." (3x20) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| BlackWillow69 is successfully transferred into CryptonicOverride's body, creating an amalgamation of the two that causes Number Two to flee in fear. BlackWillow69 and CryptonicOverride speak to one another in the same body as they prepare to confront Setty. They worry that Sett is planning something. MadHatterson is visibly distracted the entire time. | ||
| "Fight at the Museum..." (3x21) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| McSam promises to pay Marisha her winnings if she wins tonight's match against Taliesin, The Digital Dominator. Just as Marisha is about to win, McSam throws flour in her face to blind her. Taliesin pins her against the ropes, but she uses her other hand to slam his with a toy table and ultimately wins. She threatens McSam for her money. He assures her that it's coming. | ||
| "Promise and Potential" (3x22) | Quip | Quip Public Domain Lounge |
| Ludo McGillicutty (Sam in a gold lamé jacket and sunglasses) sings a series of ads to the tune of public domain songs: "Meet Me in St. Louis", "Rockin' Robin", and "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Ludo interacts with an increasingly exasperated Matt between songs. | ||
| "To The Skies" (3x23) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| On a VHS video taped the week of the previous NordVPN skit ("Breaking and Entering..." (3x20)), CryptonicOverride tries to figure out how to defeat Setty without Number Two. MadHatterson, in her inner monologue, reveals that Setty secretly took over her body weeks ago without anyone noticing. | ||
| "The Hellcatch Valley" (3x24) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| Vince McSam conducts a post-match interview with Marisha. McSam finally sends her the prize money over Cash App, then has her transfer it back, claiming that he can garnish her winnings as her manager. She attacks McSam. McSam calls for help, promising to pay twice Marisha's prize. Liam (Flick Flare) comes to his aid. Marisha is upset Liam gets to choose his own name. | ||
| "A Taste of Tal'Dorei" (3x25) | Quip | Quip Public Domain Lounge |
| Ludo sings more Quip ads to the tunes of "Für Elise", "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", "It Had to be You", and "Hail to the Chief". Matt becomes annoyed at Ludo for treating him like a waiter, which Ludo finds rude. Ludo repeatedly gets Matt's name wrong but dedicates a song to him anyway. | ||
| "Hidden Truths" (3x26) | Shopify | — |
| He shows off the Ashley-themed products he sold in his online Shopify store, My Johnson. He opens a box to show off the life-sized Ashley, expecting Ashley herself to be inside, but the box is empty. Ashley comes up behind him and pies him in the face twice (one Cool Whip, one shaving cream) to promote her online Shopify store, Riegel Revenge Pastries. | ||
| "A Race for the Prize" (3x27) | Quip | Quip Public Domain Lounge |
| To Matt's exasperation, Ludo is joined by Dallas Baumgartner-Bouvier (Ashley). Dallas, whom Sam admits is here because he is running out of ideas for the sketch series, largely talks about Quip until Matt tells them to sing instead of talking. She and Ludo finally sing a Quip ad to the tune of "Ode to Joy". | ||
| "The Deathwish Run" (3x28) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| CryptonicOverride and Number Two attempts to defrag Setty, who neutralizes them by ringing a bell. Commodore69 and Morpheus realize that Setty is severing the other hackers (and highlight that the Severance TV series is not related to the skit) before they are also severed. The others volunteer to be severed too when Setty says nobody will remember the NordVPN skits. | ||
| "Dark Portents" (3x29) | Quip | — |
| He claims to have drank pint of milk, orange juice, cauliflower vindaloo, a shot of Olestra, and a bucket of Voodoo chili, then suddenly leaves to go to the bathroom. "Sam" (Ryan Manuel)[fn 22] soon returns to read the rest of the ad copy while the cast tries to prove he isn't Sam or is otherwise confused. | ||
| "Reunion & Revelation" (3x30) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| Marisha and Liam face off. The winner will receive twice the prize money, but Marisha simply wants to destroy McSam. Just as Marisha is about to win, Travis throws a net over her hand. Taliesin, acting as the referee, says it's legal. Liam defeats Marisha. Marisha declares she will destroy McSam with help from the Gorgeous Lady Fingers, Laura and Ashley. | ||
| "Breaking Point" (3x31) | NordVPN | —[fn 23] |
| He delivers a sweet monologue to camera for his hypothetical grandchildren explaining who he is and what he's doing. He hopes that they have lives full of love, happiness, and fulfillment. Outside of the ad bit, the cast express their surprise that there was no twist. Marisha jokes she's going to play this ad at Sam's funeral. Sam is surprised to hear that she'll outlive him. | ||
| "A Stage Set" (3x32) | Quip | — |
| Claiming that Quip instructed him never to put the toothbrush in his mouth during the ad, he brushes his teeth with other objects while Marisha reads the copy. He puts toothpaste on a Twizzler, a pickle, a lollipop, a cigar, dried spaghetti, a party horn, Pocky, a Slim Jim, a banana, pipe cleaners, and a metal straw and stuffs them all in his mouth one by one. He ultimately gags them all out. | ||
| "Blood and Dust" (3x33) | Backblaze | I'm a cat |
| He monologues again about being apathetic to nearly everything but Backblaze. He "retches" a hairball onto the table. A litter box also sits on the table as a prop. | ||
| "What Dreams May Come" (3x34) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| While the others are frozen in place, Setty explains that she was tired of Sam's "endless hacker gobbeldy gook" and had to stop it. She declares that NordVPN ads will now be analog. She instructs Matt to tell her what balloon animal to make but ignores his request for a giraffe to make a sword instead. When she finishes, she asks for another. He asks for a monkey, but she again ignores him to make a noodle. | ||
| "Pyrrhic Return" (3x35) | Shopify | — |
| MC Adverbot (Sam in gold paint and lamé clothing) convinces a reluctant Marisha to beatbox underneath his rap about Shopify's services. | ||
| "A Desperate Call" (3x36) | Quip | Quip Public Domain Lounge |
| Ludo, in a flower costume, has been advised by his legal counsel from Ray, Ray, & Huber[fn 24] (Marisha) that his medley of Beatles songs is not public domain. She also advised against a medley of songs by R. Kelly, Chris Brown, and Kid Rock. He instead sings with Matt, whose name he continues to get wrong. Ludo's lines advertise Quip's gum while Matt's lines express his dislike of Ludo. Afterward, Sam points out the "unstated B-plot" where Ludo's flower accessory grew increasingly larger: "Some bits are some are for them, and some are for me!" | ||
| "From the Boughs" (3x37) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| Marisha, Ashley, and Laura introduce themselves as the Finger Ladies of Wrestling (FLOW);[fn 25] Sam admits that Marisha came up with a better name since the last installment and urges everyone to forget the previous name. Marisha (The Finger Blaster) is known for her strength, Ashley (High Five) is known for her speed, and Laura is the Thumb. Laura realizes she hasn't been given outstanding qualities. Over Laura's protests, McSam promises that the group will compete next time. | ||
| "A Dark Balance" (3x38) | D&D Beyond | — |
| He directs Marisha and Travis to perform a series of actions against a green screen. However, the descriptions of the background does not match what is actually added in post-production and instead makes Marisha and Travis look silly. Marisha eventually accuses Sam of doing this, but he reassures her that he would never do such a thing. | ||
| "The Momentum of Murder" (3x39) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| Before the Finger Ladies of Wrestling destroy him, he has everyone say one thing they're thankful for and sign a holiday card for Cash App. After they do, McSam adds that he thankful for having such strong women whom he respects in his life. Touched, Marisha is able to call off her revenge. However, McSam tricked them into signing a contract agreeing to wrestle for him for ten years without pay. Laura claims her signature isn't binding because signed on the incorrect side. Marisha vows to find a way out of this. | ||
| "Compulsions" (3x40) | Hit Point Press | — |
| Radio personality Sammy the Sloth of the Morning Zoo Crew for WCR 420 advertises the sponsored product and makes morning updates with his sound board. However, instead of the expected sounds, the sound board plays snippets of a confrontation in which Roger discovers his wife Rachel is cheating on him with Derek. To Rachel's horror, Derek shoots Roger, killing him, and flees from the police. The sound board begins playing normal noises again, leaving Derek's fate unresolved. | ||
| "Call of the Wild" (3x41) | Quip | Quip Public Domain Lounge |
| Ludo, in a flower costume, talks about Quip while Matt points out that he is slowly turning into a Sunflower. Ludo vehemently denies this is happening. He explains later that he's afraid that is Quip finds out he is turning into a flower he'll be dropped from being the spokes-crooner as "flowers don't have teeth." Ludo tries to leave but is rooted to the spot. He ask Matt, whose name he keeps getting wrong, to water win with a Quip waterpick. | ||
| "The City of Flowing Light" (3x42) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| McSam forces the Finger Ladies of Wrestling to do the ad. After Marisha reads the first bit, they rebel and threaten to give McSam a beat down. However, McSam magically teleports away to safety. | ||
| "Axiom Shaken" (3x43) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| McSam is back to fight the Finger Ladies of Wrestling. The Thumb (Laura) is sad about being the Thumb. If the ladies win the fight, they can get out of their contract, but if they lose, they have to change their names to the GLOV(E), the Gorgeous Ladies of Vince. Vince is McSam's first name. McSam reveals that their fingers have feet & proceeds to beat Marisha and then Ashley. The Thumb however defeats McSam by removing his feet from his fingers and pinning him down. McSam send the money he owned FLOW with the Cash App. | ||
| "Bawdy Basement Belligerence" (3x44) | Capital One Shopping | |
| They cut to a feed to the Capital One Shopping Drift Track where Travis and Ashley act as race cars around a track. Sam insists it's not racing, it's drifting. | ||
| "Ominous Lectures" (3x45) | Cash App | Finger Championship Games |
| McSam is sad that FLOW beat him. The ladies discuss what to with the league after they won. The Thumb turns to the camera and gives a heartfelt PSA for the Thumb Support Network. Ashley assures everyone she knows how to read. | ||
| "Night at the Ligament Manor" (3x46) | Persona | |
| Sam demos the Persona advertisement RPG. Player 1 and Player 2 are Liam and Laura. Liam talks like Akihiko Sanada while Laura talks like Rise Kujikawa, both characters in Persona 3. Liam and Laura try not to break as their voiceovers are played. | ||
| "The Fey Key" (3x47) | NordVPN | Nordverse |
| Ashley refreshes everyone on what happened in the last few Nordverse episodes. BlackWillow73 returns to tell Setty (Ashley) that actually everyone, except Marisha because she has a lot on her plate, installed NordVPN in the studio. BlackWillow73 slices Setty to save the day. | ||
| "An Exit Most Fraught" (3x48) | Skillshare | Rode Slater[fn 1] |
| Rhodey Slater is back to talk about Skillshare. He pretends to do skateboard tricks (with Sam actually skating around the set) while extolling the benefits of Skillshare. Rhodey also imagines using Skillshare to become a registered nurse and thinks up a scenario where he helps a patient in the emergency room one night. | ||
| "The Aurora Grows" (3x49) | Thorum | |
| Sam goes on Tiktok to pretend to be a Tiktok influencer while he pretends to talk to his followers. He explains his day-to-day routine at Critical Role. At the end, he talks about Thorum's rings. | ||
| "Red Moon Rising" (3x50) | UltraPRO | You've Got Gale |
| Sam pops in a VHS tape to see 80s star Gale. In this scene, Gale discovers the cool kids were only being nice to her for a bet. She tells them off and speeds off with Laura's character. | ||
| "The Apogee Solstice" (3x51) | Octopath Traveler 2 | |
| Sam does a QVC style sales pitches for Octopath Traveler 2 in ways to use it that are actually not things that Octopath Traveler 2 does. | ||
| "Far From The Others" (3x52) | — | |
| Sam was ready to drink some really bad tea but is surprised that there is no sponsor for tonight's show. Sam wonders who he is if he doesn't have ads to do. | ||
One-shots[edit | edit source]
| Episode | Sponsor | Series (if any) |
|---|---|---|
| "Thursday By Night – Part 1" (OSx15) | Backblaze | — |
| Sam composed and performs a rap inspired by Sir Mix-a-Lot. | ||
| "Thursday By Night – Part 2" (OSx16) | Tor Books | — |
| This year, Tor Books publish Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, the third book in the Stormlight Archive series. Sam takes his chance to pitch his book to one of the largest sci-fi publishing companies: The year is 9999. "Techno-cyber detective Icarus Dunk is tracking the infamous Extonium bandit, Wrath McQuaid through the radiation mines of Sector Nine. At a hex-fuel outpost in the desert world of Crypto-Diphthong Nine, Icarus finds a beautiful gorgon, a legendary ecto-crystal smuggler named Crasnogorofst Nine." Sam described it as "Ender's Game meets Dune, but with Isaac Asimov dialog and Robert A. Heinlein twists, and a little dash of The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss. | ||
| "Grog's One-Shot" (OSx17) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam asked Grog to write an advertisement for this week's episode, which Sam reads out with Grog's accent. | ||
| "Trinket's Honey Heist" (OSx18) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam forgot to write an advertisement bit for this week's episode and decides to roll out a "generic" ad bit he pre-recorded a long time ago. In the recording Sam played two characters: one asks about a product and another gives template exclamations with gaps between them. Sam fills out the gaps with words specific for Marvel Puzzle Quest. | ||
| "Once Upon a Fairytale Cruise" (OSx19) | Electronic Arts (Star Wars: Battlefront II) | — |
| He reads out the ad copy prepared by Electronic Arts team, but asks the cast to add special effects. | ||
| "Epic Level Battle Royale" (OSx21) | Marvel Puzzle Quest | — |
| Sam claims that this time it will be a regular ad read. When he starts doing the ad, Sam is perpetually interrupted by fart noises. | ||
| "The Mighty Nein Reunited Part 1 – Unfinished Business" (OSx50) | D&D Beyond | — |
| D&D Beyond announce Cyber Monday sales on their website, and Sam ventured to predict what items would be on sale. Dice, campaign books, Matt's vest which he was born in, Sam's cat hairball, a hot water bottle from Ashley's car, 20 feet of rope, Sam's baby teeth (400), Liam's musk, Marisha's seeds and stems, 19 feet of rope, pockets, purple stuff, Sunny D, one feet of rope, ghosts, clock, rope. Marisha asks Sam if he is just naming things he sees on the set. Sam continues to name things around him. Marisha reads the disclaimer sent by D&D Beyond saying that none of the mentioned things, except the first two, are really sold on the site. | ||
| "The Mighty Nein Reunited Part 2 – Uk'otoa Unleashed" (OSx51) | D&D Beyond | — |
| This is a rare episode produced by Critical Role featuring three sponsors. In anticipation of the release of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, the cast is dressed as dragons and are part of a contemporary boy band *NSLYNK. Sam is Dragon Lance Bass, Liam is Dragon Lance Armstrong, Marisha is Dragon Lance Henriksen, Travis is Dragon Lance Johnson, Ashley is Dragon Lance Burton, Laura is Dragon Walter Lance, Taliesin isn't playing because Marisha took Lance Henriksen. | ||
Similar "Cozy Matt" ads[edit | edit source]
The pre-show to Exandria Unlimited did not have ads by Sam because he was not a cast member. The campaign instead featured Matt, accompanied by his dog Omar (often wearing a sweater), reading the marketing copy in a segment taped weeks after the episode and inserted in post-production. The segment incorporated something that Aabria Iyengar (or Marisha in the campaign wrap-up) "observed" about Matt after the segment was played in the final episode but before the segment was actually recorded, forcing Matt to conform to her statement while later filming.[14]
What she decided to make Matt do was usually a moment of improv,[14] though she remembered that she had to ask the producers beforehand about a segment in an episode "towards the end"[15] (presumably the involved Dorian Storm cosplay). After the first episode, the segments became known as "Cozy Matt" and he wore a velvet robe in most episodes. The other "observations" were:
- "The Nameless Ones" (E1x01): Looking "cozy and calm and collected"
- "The Oh No Plateau" (E1x02): Glitter beard
- "A Glorious Return" (E1x03): Braids
- "By the Road" (E1x04): Asymmetrical facial hair pattern
- "A Test of Worth" (E1x05): Stiletto manicure
- "The Gift Among the Green" (E1x06): Matching manicure, makeup, and outfit (a pink bathrobe)
- "Beyond the Heart City" (E1x07): Playing "Hot Cross Buns" on a recorder
- "What Comes Next" (E1x08): Dorian Storm cosplay, with makeup by Brittany White[16]
- "Exandria Unlimited Wrap-Up" (Mx11): Wearing only the robe
External links[edit | edit source]
- Gallery of Sam's ad costumes from CritRoleStats
- Gallery of Cozy Matt from CritRoleStats
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Spelled as "Rode Slater" in "Chasing Nightmares" (3x11) and "In Love and War" (2x57) and "Rhodey" in "An Exit Most Fraught" (3x48). Transcripts before "Well Beneath" (2x54) were created under the direction of the CR Transcript fan project, and those transcripts used the spelling "Rhody" in "Labenda Awaits" (2x20) and "Rhodey" in "A Bard's Lament" (1x85) and mistakenly as "Brody" in "Midnight Espionage" (2x12) and "The Siege of Emon" (1x78).
- ↑ In reference to Vex'ahlia in "What Lies Beneath the Surface" (1x81).[2]
- ↑ Ibsen is known as the father of theatrical realism, and O'Neill is known for being among the first to introduce realism to American theater.
- ↑ This ad bit was in "The Gates of Zadash" (2x08).
- ↑ Mollymauk was killed the prior week, in "Found & Lost" (2x26). Taliesin is absent from the table because of this.
- ↑ At "San Diego Comic-Con 2022: Q&A Panel" (Mx16), Travis said that the Dallas Cowboys told them not to do ad bits like this again. Marisha added, "Turns out the NFL doesn't like their logos seeping with blood and guts and gore."[4]
- ↑ This Italian is a modification of an incantation in Tuscan folklore used by a wife so that her husband may no longer be interested in his mistress and be only interested in her, as recorded in an 1892 survey documenting folklores and superstitions.[6] The modified version generally has the intent of bewitching people so that they are interested only in D&D Beyond.
- ↑ The cast wonders if Sam took the $2 bill from Taliesin's wallet as Taliesin "has deep beliefs in two dollar bills", which Taliesin immediately confirms.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 The script for the "reverse dubbing" bit in "Intervention" (2x63) and the Gale Force Five anime remake trailer in "Lingering Wounds" (2x89) are similar in plot.
- ↑ Sam's account subsequently sent two tweets as part of this narrative:
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "#liamforpresident <3" (June 6, 2019).
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "Booooooo. Nooooooo he hacked my laptop and my phone!!" (June 6, 2019).
- ↑ This ad was actually live-tweeted through Sam's account:
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "Here we go - live tweeting my dnd Beyond spot! #groundbreaking #imagenius" (June 20, 2019).
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "Going well so far, @VoiceOfObrien thinks it's hilarious! #myfriendsloveme #influencer" (June 20, 2019).
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "The New D&D Essentials Kit is coming to Target! It includes several codes for @DNDBeyond, and they have a new tutorial for new players at http://dndbeyond.com/essentials #ASSmaster" (June 20, 2019).
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "Oh shoot, I think I accidentally typed Ass-Master instead of ass master #autoerotic" (June 20, 2019).
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "Dammit. My phone keeps changing ass master to ass master. Ass. Not ass. Ass. Not Asssssss. Wait, crap it changed #autoerotic to #autoerotic??? What the hell? Why is my iPhone so farting douche? #anal" (June 20, 2019).
- Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "I'm so sorry @DNDBeyond, this is going so poop. Not poop. Poop. Poop. Not Poop. Not POOOOOOOOP!! #ARSEQUEEFFORPRESIDENT" (June 20, 2019).
- ↑ Per an exchange about two hours later, this tweet was apparently sent by Christina Farber, then-Online Operations Coordinator at Critical Role Productions. They likely also conducted the account during the ad to coordinated the relevant tweets to Sam's bit.[8]
- ↑ "Hack the planet!" is a tagline and quote of Hackers.
- ↑ Producer Maxwell James posted a video of filming to Twitter: Maxwell James (@Maxxjenga) on Twitter: "Eat your heart out Naughty Dog!" (July 24, 2020).
- ↑ The Hamilton live film recording was released July 6, 2020, about five weeks before the episode broadcast.
- ↑ The next instance of this ad bit is in Campaign 3, "Make It Fashion" (3x12).
- ↑ Playa names are part of the culture of Burning Man, of which Matt is a long-time participant.[9]
- ↑ The final publication of The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns included the Eldermancy cocktail on the menu for the Tavern at Death's Door. The recipe similar to the one in the segment, and its description advises that it reminds the drinker what it is like to die and therefore should only be consumed by the dead.[11]
- ↑ Kyle Shire was the concept originator for this advertisement bit.
- ↑ This series is continued from Campaign 2.
- ↑ The previous Bob Matthews ad was in Campaign 2, "Traveler Con" (2x108).
- ↑ Ryan Manuel replacing Sam is similar to Manuel's two appearances as #13 on Jerma's Twitch stream in February 2022, in which he won a talent contest audition to replace Jerma and took over the stream.[13]
- ↑ So far, this is the only Sam ad for NordVPN that does not involve a NordVPN sketch. The abnormality is highlighted at the beginning of the segment.
- ↑ Marisha's legal name is Marisha Ray Huber.
- ↑ As in the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), a professional women's professional wrestling circuit popularly known through the fictionalized Netflix series GLOW.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ "Breaking Point" (3x31) at 0:55.
- ↑ "What Lies Beneath the Surface" (1x81) at 3:01:21.
- ↑ D&D Beyond Official Trailer on CritRole.com
- ↑ "San Diego Comic-Con 2022: Q&A Panel" (Mx16) at 39:51.
- ↑ "Welcome to the Jungle" (2x38) at 2:30:08.
- ↑ Etruscan Roman Remains In Popular Tradition, p. 328.
- ↑ Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "I got my Twitter back under control! It's listening now. I mean this with everything of my being. #liamforpresident" (June 20, 2019).
- ↑ Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "I did 2 hours ago, but I can start again if you want. - Signed @gaygeeknerd" (June 20, 2019) — in reply to @samriegel: "Dammit @gaygeeknerd — stop tweeting from my laptop!!!!!!"
- ↑ How'd You Get Your Playa Name? from The Burning Man Journal.
- ↑ Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "And for the record, I was genuinely shocked that all the ingredients the crew prepped for me that night were, in fact, real." (November 17, 2021). (backup link)
- ↑ The Seeker's Guide to Twisted Taverns, p. 259.
- ↑ Sam Riegel (@samriegel) on Twitter: "“Sam’s cat character”. Mofo, that was your idea and you should take full credit. Glad I could help you relive college." (November 19, 2021) — in reply to @KyleShire: "Sam's cat character is very surreal for me because he somehow, unknowingly, embodied both my actual cat AND every guy I dated in college. #CriticalRoleSpoliers #CriticalRole" (backup link)
- ↑ See "Jerma's Got Talent" at 2:35:12 and "Jerma Streams - Destiny 2 PVP".
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 Aabria Iyengar (@quiddie) on Twitter: "When the show is recorded we throw to Future Matt for the ad read to get plugged in later. The bit is that I always make up what Future Matt is up to, and that means that they have to affirm/conform to it when the Future Matt ad reads are taped weeks later." (July 19, 2021) — in reply to: "I'm so confused about Critical Role. Aabria says they are pre-recorded and throws to "future matt" and then they come back to the pre-recorded show but comment on the "future matt". How?"
- ↑ Aabria Iyengar (@quiddie) on Twitter: "On the spot! I think there's one towards the end that I had to ask the producers about beforehand, but other than that - IMPROV, BABY." (July 19, 2022) — in reply to: "Do you talk about the bit ahead of time, or just make up what you're gonna make him do on the spot? 😈"
- ↑ Brittany White (brutalbee) on Instagram: "~BLUE~ Fun makeup I got to do a couple years ago for @critical_role" (August 27, 2023)