JOE With a 12- to 15-minute show, we don't have time to properly show any personality and cover all the places. We're figuring out now — well, working on it — the right amount to schedule to allow for the random things to happen and allow for the unexpected, which a lot of times is the best shit anyway.
JOEL Right. And eating and drinking being like a thread that ties everything together . . .
JOE. . . well, yeah, two episodes we didn't do a lot of drinking, and I was like, we gotta get back on the drinking thing here. Because at the Fryeburg Fair there was no booze, and we were just so fucking full from eating at like, eight places . . .
KURT. . . well, you were drinking anyway.
JOE Oh, yeah, but not that much. I'm a big drinker, Kurt.
ALEX At the end of the day the drinking thing is just sort of figurative. We're saying that what was missing was drinking and really what was missing was the freedom in these situations to experience . . .
JOEL Right.
JOE Because we found out in Fort Kent that being hammered does not translate well, either. When we had fifteen minutes of footage after three days filming because we were just so fucked up.
BUT THAT'S THE FORT KENT EXPERIENCE, TOO.
JOEL That was my Fort Kent experience.
JOE Well, Joel took it above and beyond anybody else . . .
SO HOW DO YOU SCHEDULE THE EATING PART OF THE WHOLE WEEKEND, THEN? DO YOU PICK PLACES IN ADVANCE?
KURT Yeah, we have to. We have such a tight time-frame. There's a lot more planning than it probably looks like there is. And we have shenanigans that we plan in.
ALEX We plan open time, which is usually where the shenanigans happen, but there is a schedule.
KURT Well, in Fort Kent we had nap time, which we needed.
JOE That (original) Lewiston itinerary (Alex) had that was like six in the morning 'til fuckin' like ten! We've realized that unless it's absolutely necessary we don't want to (do) any overnights. We wanna get in and out of filming ideally in seven hours, because then I turn into a little crankypants.
WAIT, ON OVERNIGHTS YOU GET CRANKY?
ALEX Just the long shoots without rejuvenation time.
JOE I get really childish. I get like arrgh, I don't feel like it anymore.
ALEX If we start at eight and go 'til like five, right around five Joe just shuts down.
KURT He just hops in the car and drives off.
DO YOU GUYS EVER GET CONCERNED FOR HIM?
KURT Who, Joe? No.
ALEX In his life, yeah, but not in the show.
KURT My wife has concern for him, but that's about it.
JOE I'm fine. . .
JOEL You mean, like, a heart attack or something?
ALEX Yes (he does). No, you mean existential concern?
WELL, IF YOUR JOB IS TO GO TO BANGOR AND EAT AT FOUR OR FIVE PLACES, AND THERE'S ALSO A LOT OF PERFORMANCE IN THERE . . .
ALEX It's no different from Thanksgiving.
JOE And no different from my daily life, sometimes.
