He Won the Charades World Championship

In this episode of 87.9, Glenn is joined in the studio by Collin Sherman, the World Champion of Charades. Glenn and Collin dive into what inspired Collin to get into charades, how to use (or not use) charades in your love life, and the best tips for beginners looking to get started. Glenn and Collin even do a live charades Q&A, so be sure to tune in! 

Produced by Propellant Films Starring: MJ Mattheson as Glenn Sheen and Lahiru Samarasinghe as Collin Sherman. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Don't your fingers already feel looser? They do feel looser. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

My fingers feel wharish.

SPEAKER_00 0:04

So the hardest to stretch finger is unfortunately the middle finger. So interesting. You'll see if you're like at the like stadium before a competition, you're gonna see a lot of folks just kind of walking around like this.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

Hey, I'm in the studio today for the K Who Are You interview. And hey, who are you? Well, I can tell you that much, at least for your name. And that's Colin Sherman, who is the world champion of charades. So happy to have you in the studio right now, Colin. Thank you for being here.

SPEAKER_00 0:38

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:39

Wow. Okay, world champ. Yes. Not a lot of people get to walk around the world saying they're a world champ.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

No, uh, it's me and two others. So it's You're kidding. Yeah. Only two. Only two. So the world championship for charades has only been around for about twenty years.

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Twenty years, and there's only three champs.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

There's only three champs. The other two champions are like old enough that like they are no longer with us. So they're old enough to be dead. They're they're so yeah, they are old enough to be dead. I'm sorry for I mean I don't really know.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Well, I guess their loss is your win. That's right. Okay. So you okay. So this feels like it's pretty competitive then, because you seem to be happy they're dead.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

I wouldn't say that I'm happy that they're dead so much as I'm happy that their careers are dead. Okay, fair. Okay, you know what?

SPEAKER_01 1:28

In that case, I feel the same way about a couple people who use this uh station as well. And is it charade or charades?

SPEAKER_00 1:35

It is charades. So they're multiple. Yes. Um, so charades is a game, a sport, some might say, in which you are given a word and or phrase, and you are tasked with uh presenting that word and or phrase to a group of people without using your voice in any way. You've just got to use motions. You get just just these myths right here. That's all you get to use. What got you into charades in the first place? For me, it would be growing up in a house of like five siblings. Oh, wow. Right. And like we're all similar. No, they were there. They were there, but they were very occupied in their work, they're very career-driven people. As am I, I guess, but in like a different way. Sure. They were more seated at a computer. Like the dad for a lot. Listeners, you can't stop my.

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Listeners, you can't see it, but as as Colin here was saying, uh, typing on the computer, he typed on a computer, and I thought it was I thought it was there, man. It's inside.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

So you were you were one of five siblings. Five siblings, two parents, very busy. Wow. And the thing is, when you're just a group of children, that a bunch of shrieking voices isn't actually going to get attention directed towards you. You know what I mean? Sure. So I needed another means of communication with the other people in the house. Wow. And so I resorted to not, I guess not sign language, but my own, you know, communication with my hands.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

So do you think that you have to be a good reader of body language to be a good presenter of body language?

SPEAKER_00 3:16

Yeah, because like if you were to think about like how would I most effectively communicate this to another person? I think part of that is understanding how would a stranger communicate this with me.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

So let's say I'm at I'm at the B's, you know, I'm with my boys at the B's, sipping down some margs. I see a gal, she sees me. I want to show her three things uh cool, uh confident, um classy. Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:42

Cool, confident, classy.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Uh what would that look like? And I'll describe it for the listeners at home.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

Yeah, oh, okay, okay. You want me to okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

Well, if you wouldn't mind, I would I would appreciate it greatly because I think I need to steal that.

SPEAKER_00 3:52

Yeah, okay. So I would say kind of like a lean back, just like so so Colin's leaning back in the chair.

SPEAKER_01 4:00

He's he's he's uh kind of fondling something here. Or is this your drink? Oh, that's my drink. Yeah. Oh, okay. So usually I see. Mark, okay. Tomorrow. Oh, sorry. Wow. I you are so good at this that you j you j you changed glassware and I saw it. Because the big one, they do have the big chalice one, but usually that's what you were going for there. Okay, cool.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

But Marg, now I know what you're talking about. The like tessellated glass with the rim. Yeah, I got it. Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

I can like literally see the the the tahine and sugar salt rim that we have on the top of that. That's wild. So you lean back.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Yeah, like I think the really just kind of leaning, but the the further, the more obtuse the thigh-to-back angle is. Thigh-to-back angle. I'm writing this down. Thigh-to-back angle. The more obtuse, the cooler you will come across. The more obtuse the thigh-back angle, the cooler you are. How does this affect your love life? It's a good and a bad in the sense of like on one end, like, yes, like you're better with your hands, fingers, the more dexterity, like all that stuff. Um, but on the other hand, like I'm a bit silent during interactions. Like, I'm usually just kind of going like this, just two thumbs up the whole time. How do you let them know when it's over for you in that particular situation?

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Wow. Okay, so as soon as you like orgasm, you start clapping immediately. Wow. Wow, that's amazing. I I am so curious to find out more about the world champs. I want to hear about that experience. But we do have to cut to a commercial break real quick. If you don't mind, you're gonna stick around. No problem here. We got Colin Sherman, uh, world champion charadist in the studio with us. All right, ticket back in just a little bit here. Cool, wow, dude.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

It's rare to have like an athlete. Thank you. I mean, and you're you're a very engaging interviewer, as well. I you're pretty good at the opposite of charades.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

I have a question. Yeah, maybe this is ignorant. Yeah. What's the difference between mime and charades? Yeah, so miming is more French.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Oh, may we. And then the costumes, I suppose. Oh, yeah. Uh yes. So the like the striped shirts, the makeup, the barray, the what's that, the asset?

SPEAKER_01 6:15

You know, they also the mimes tend to put up a lot of walls. Whereas what you do seems to be more open. I you're inviting people into what you're doing where mimes are kind of like, nah, in here, I'm gonna pull this rope, but it's heavy.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Yeah, and I would say miming is like also much more selfish, you know, just in the sense that like charades, you're like uh acting things out for the purpose of someone else guessing it. You know, like you're trying to communicate them. Right. They're a part of it too. The mimes are just over here like look at me, I'm in a box. Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

That was a baguette. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it we're coming back. K Who radio 87.9. You just heard that ad from Joe's Autobody Experience. That's right, it's holistic car repair. We'll use Reiki on your breakes. I'm in the studio with Colin Sherman, a charadist. Not only that, a world champion of charades. Um, we were just before the break asking a bit more about these world championship tournaments. Uh, do you have like a specific like warm-up or like hand exercise you do to like I don't want to give all your trade secrets away, but I I I I would love to learn some more in inside tips.

SPEAKER_00 7:21

Yeah, so I think the main one, uh, we do a bit of a worm. All right, that helps.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Okay, so uh uh audiences at home, uh uh you're interlocking your fingers and just do a kind of a wave. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 7:31

Don't your fingers already feel looser. They do feel looser, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah, my fingers feel whorish.

SPEAKER_00 7:36

So the hardest to stretch finger is unfortunately the middle finger. So interesting. You'll see if you're like at the like stadium before a competition, you're gonna see a lot of folks just kind of walking around like this.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Oh, I see why we need okay, yeah. So right now I'm getting the double bird, as some would call it, but you're not just staying there. I think I think the staunchness of a of a of a middle finger is like this. Like that's aggressive, yeah. I'm sorry, I didn't mean that at you. Oh no, no, no, I did think this interests. But but but moving it is like that. So you have to you have to flex them. Right. Yeah. Do you ever feel like you mean it a little bit though, if you look at the competition?

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah, a little bit. And I think there's a bit of like a knowing stare that we kind of give each other, like, okay, so this isn't just a stretch. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 8:16

Yeah, you're like, you don't fuck yourself. I didn't I mumbled it. Okay, Colin, walk us through this. Uh you won the world championships. Uh, what was it like? What was the lead up to the moment? What was the the paint the picture for us if you wouldn't mind?

SPEAKER_00 8:30

So I'm standing there before three judges and the like round or the match like mediator comes up with their index card and I read bubblegum tape. Bubblegum tape? Yeah. So like not even bubblegum. I'm like, I'm screwed. I'm gonna I have to not only communicate bubblegum, but like a very specific type. I'm looking over to the left of me where another or the right of me where another round is happening. Like so Well, these are happening simultaneously. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Wild. And I see Benny Graves clearly, clearly miming out two birds, one stone. Like, and that's you, oh, how did he how did Benny Graves get two birds, one stone, and you get bubblegum tape?

SPEAKER_01 9:17

Bubblegum tape. That's crazy. So I'm like, did that fuel you a bit though? Where you're like, you know what, he got an easy one, I'm gonna do this anyway. Right. Would you mind showing us? I mean, how how how did you break that down?

SPEAKER_00 9:26

So I started off like kind of painting a broader picture. So I started off with three words, a classic, classic opening move. And I chew. Okay, cool. Yeah. And then blow the bubble.

SPEAKER_01 9:40

Bubble. That's oh, so it's gotta be bubblegum.

SPEAKER_00 9:42

Right. Right there. So now we're we're two words down. You just chew and blew, and I knew bubblegum. Exactly. Wild. So we're two words down, and like at least we're in the category of bubble gum. Yeah. And given the fact that the bell had not rung yet, the judges now know that like the clue has not been complete. There is more to this. Oh. Right. Yeah. And so I do two things. One, I do the open casing. Sure. And I I try to mime out, you know, open the case, peel off the tape. Peel off the tape. And I wasn't sure if that would suffice. So then I kind of like backpedaled a bit to like office tape, right? And so I like rip. Wow, I just saw it right there too. And then I just kind of mimed, oh, I mimed, that's what it was. I mimed like making a loop, right? Because that's like classic thing that we do with tape. I was like, okay, you've learned bubblegum. I just need to get tape communicated to you. So I focused on tape for my like closing move. And then so like the the bell dings, points given. Because they hadn't two birds, one stone yet. Like that's the thing.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

Like so you so Benny Graves just fails in the last moment. Right. You succeed in your final moment, and now you're crowned world champion. Exactly. That's amazing. Holy shit. Yeah. Wow. Uh, before we let you go, we do have the K Who questionnaire. Okay. So just a couple random questions I'm gonna throw at you. Uh, just some fun stuff for you to just kind of chew on, shoot from the hip. Um, these are sent in from all of our fans. Okay. Uh or our fan. One of them, wouldn't this one guy just keeps sending stuff like every day? It's like, dude, what are you what are you doing with your life?

SPEAKER_00 11:14

I mean, I guess without him you wouldn't have a questionnaire.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

I never thought about it that way. Hey, thanks for sending all your questions in. Uh, keep doing it. But since you are the world champion of charades, would you be willing to answer the questions in the style of charades? I and I'll I'll try to interpret and tell the listeners at home what it is you're answering with. Okay. Yeah. Okay, cool. And you can tell me if I was right or not. Okay, cool. All right, cool. First up, if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be? Okay, one. That's a one single tree. That's a branch, perhaps. Oh, it's a one word. Oh, that's charades. I forgot about charades. Okay, cool. So it's one word, tree. So, um, yeah, and stacking. Oh, okay, we're seeing some pancakes, some flapjacks, right? Okay. Maple? A maple tree? Oh my God, you are amazing at that. That's crazy. Okay, so you'd be a maple tree. That's right. Uh, and then if you were that tree, you could be planted anywhere in the world. Where would you want to be planted? Oh, he's got it. I see it. One word. Mm-hmm. Oh, and we're drawing. We're drawing. Uh huh. And there's a pen. Uh pencil. Oh, uh marker. Uh highlighter? Oh, pen pen. Pack in time, uh, chisel. Uh uh quill. Oh, you meant back to uh oh? Oh, yeah, we're we're sharpening a pencil. Oh, pencil! Okay, cool. So you would be planted in pencil. Pennsylvania? Wow. Okay, so we have a fun little game we like to play. Um uh some people have different names for it, but since we're on the air and it's a family show in some ways, we're gonna call it Mary Smash Pass. Oh, okay. So Mary Smash Pass, and please answer this in charades.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Mary Smash Pass, Donald Duck, Daffy Duck, or an actual duck. That's Mary. We get the box is open. Okay, cool. Okay, that's I'm gonna you're gonna marry um around the duck of the of a wait, you're clapping the duck uh here. Here duck. You're gonna marry the regular duck, the actual duck, you'll marry the actual duck. That's my answer, too. Yeah, yeah. Because can you imagine you're married to a duck? It's a Sunday afternoon, you're reading your book in your chair, you look over. There's another little, there's a little duck with little glasses on reading their book, and you look at them and you go, I'm so glad I married you. The duck just kind of like, you know, shakes. So what are the other ones then? Oh okay, you're passing. That's like murdering, right? Who are you tossing out? No pants. That's Donald. They actually both don't wear pants if you think about it. Me, bald. Um, me, what? White? Oh, I'm white, and so is so is Donald Duck. Okay, so you're killing the white duck. Okay. Uh, and then you're obviously smashing Daffy. Daffy Duck. We have a world-class talent here. Colin Sherman, thank you so much for being in the studio today. Congratulations on your world championship. Okay, K who Heads. It's such a great uh uh honor to have you listening in, but don't turn that dial because we have a solid rock block coming up. Keep it locked in, K Who 87.9