The Dimension 20 sidequest Never Stop Blowing Up melds 80s action movies with a Jumanji-like premise, bringing some wacky characters into the throes of a dramatic and explosion-filled flick. Rekha Shankar, comedy writer and Dropout regular, plays the old and technologically inadept Usha Rao, who finds herself in the shoes of a hacker without knowing what a floppy disc actually does.
Following the season's finale, Rekha sat down to answer 12 quick questions with Distractify, dishing on what celebrity she thinks has the coolest house and her first Dungeons & Dragons experience.
What are your top-three game-day necessities when filming an episode of 'Dimension 20'?
RS: I absolutely need some sort of non-caffeinated tea because the Dome is very cold. I need notebook paper, because I take so many notes, and then realize I'm not listening, and that's actually really important. And then I need -- I need a freaking banana. I literally always need a freaking banana.
If you could have any superpower, what would you pick?
RS: Flying.
Tell us about the first 'Dungeons & Dragons' campaign you ever played.
RS: My first campaign was Escape From the Bloodkeep, and I had done a test game that was pretty short beforehand, and then, I guess I blacked out, because I don't remember having to learn anything before heading onto that set, or if I learned anything. I tried to read my roommate's Dungeons & Dragons books, but I was like, I'm playing like a level 15 barbarian, this is so incomprehensible to me.
But thankfully, that experience was freaking awesome, because I was sitting next to Matt Mercer, and he was extremely helpful to me and very nice the entire time about how I could not figure anything out. So I ended up, by having someone help me with the mechanics, getting to lean on my strong suit, which is storytelling and roleplay and improv. So that was awesome.
What's your go-to karaoke song?
RS: "Tearin' Up My Heart" by NSYNC
If you could switch lives with any celebrity for a day, who would it be?
RS: Who has a cool house? God, I want a cool house... Why is this so hard? I'm going to switch with Padma Lakshmi, because she's really funny, she's really talented, and it seems like she has a really cool house, too. And she can cook!
If you had to get a tattoo right now, what would it be?
RS: A fork.
If you could start a rumor about yourself, what would it be?
RS: "Oh my god, she's five six. Yeah, she's five six." "Wow., it seemed like she was five-three." "No, no. She's five six."
Where do you look for inspiration when creating a new character for a campaign?
RS: I look at things I like to play in improv. So what's a character I feel like I can get a lot of mileage out of, that I would love to come up with a backstory for? So I really just try to lean into my own interests.
Is there a 'D&D' class you haven't played yet that you'd really like to?
RS: I have literally only played barbarians and like, half-orcs. So yes, I would love to learn how to play a cleric, or literally anything that has spells. That's really intimidating to me, and if everyone can just kind of collectively promise that they'll be really gentle with me when I do it
Do you have any superstitions about your dice?
RS: My superstition is that all my dice are bad, and that's why I get bad rolls. So I will roll badly when I'm trying to do something cool, and I think that's because all of my dice are bad, and if they touch my hand, they become bad.
Who was your favorite NPC from 'Never Stop Blowing Up'?
RS: I love the guy who works at the t-shirt store because he's so flustered with us. Oh my god, there are so many good ones. Oh, I love Belvedere and Snowball, the two dogs in trench coats that leave. They're really nice. I like them a lot.
What is your No. 1 distraction?
RS: I think my number one distraction is looking at menus. When I'm really sad, I will look at a dessert menu for a restaurant -- or any restaurant menu on Earth, and put it on my list of restaurants to go to, or not, or take it off my list of restaurants to go to. I'll send it to friends and be like 'We have to try the blank at blank.' I will look up restaurants for cities I'm not in: best restaurant in blank, best desserts in blank. Go on Reddit: What's the best pastry in blank? Where do I find the best breakfast in blank? And then make a note of all of those things I really, really love doing that.
