WAWDoing? (advertised sometimes without the “?”) stands for “What Are We Doing” and is a LP with three cast members and sometimes guest stars consisting of other Let’s Play titles, associates of WAWDoing, or fictional characters related to the game. The three members are Brian, who is often frustrated and humorous, McGuirk, who is quieter and the typical straight man, and Tom, who is portrayed as somewhat unintelligent and often mispronounces words. Originally the channel aired weekly episodes on Tuesdays but eventually added a second video per week shown on Thursdays. There are often other “one shot” shorts and other games running parallel which air randomly throughout the week.
Style[]
WAWDoing starts off the first video of each game with a short animation of the three members (sometimes referred to as "The Guys on the Couch") introducing the game and the motivation behind choosing that game. As the video progresses, sometimes the camera will cut back to them as they make comments or speed up with a "VCR" sound effect if the game is monotonous. The final video for that game will usually have some hint as to what the next game will be as well as a "finale" as the guys wrap up the game. An example would be where, in Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos, fed up with the lackluster gameplay, Brian wishes to avoid returning the game back to the store, repeating a cycle mentioned in an earlier episode, so he instead heads to the beach to cast the game into the ocean. A bonus scene at the end shows the game washing back on shore hinting that it could return in future episodes. Another example would be at the end of DmC where the guys each review the game with poor results and suddenly reveal Nero, the protagonist from the fourth game before the reboot, standing beside them the whole time, angerly pounds the ground.
Other episodes that don't focus on Let's Plays include shorts such as the group being controlled by the Harlem Shake viral video and another one where Tom was seen celebrating his birthday alone and seemingly very sad about it. A stark contrast to his usual cheerful and oblivious yet aggressive nature.
Catchphrases and Running Gags[]
“You wanna try that again?” Brian whenever someone (usually Tom) mispronounces a word.
“Nobody cares!” Tom when someone explains something about the game.
“Spin the wheel!” All in reference to a catchy tune made up in TV Show King and said when anything round is spinnnig.
“What are we doing?” All as a not so subtle title drop to their own show.
“Title Drop!” All whenever they or someone in the game says “What are we doing?” or the title of the game they are playing.
“Suppulent” All used when Tom misspoke the word succulent and usually used to describe someone’s butt that is anything but nice.
“Stamina for days!” Tom when describing how fat people have high stamina in games and in real life. This was a joke made early on in Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos.
“Quit like a man” Tom whenever the option to give up or quit the tutorial is available.
Red Skull will usually pop up to hinder the game or a clip from Captain America the First Avenger will show up with the character only saying, “You are failing!” whenever someone messes up an easy task.
Each episode begins with a “Previously” scene where one of the characters with the backdrop of the show’s title says, “Previously on What Are We Doing” before a clip plays. The clip is in reference to the previous episode and usually has very little to do with the game’s plot or what occurred on the show. It is meant as a humorous joke and a tentative connection to that episode.
The guest room, sometimes referred to as “A/The Room With a View” has several props from previous episodes randomly thrown around.
During an episode of DmC where little was going on, a lengthy discussion about Soul Reaver took up most of the video. Since then, anytime there’s dead air or nothing is going on, someone will bring up Soul Reaver.
Texts are often displayed as captions or messages to the viewer. The text is implied to be typed by someone other than the three members of WAWDoing and often insults or is insulted by the members.
Above the couch is a portrait of a broken game controller with the show’s logo on top. Depending on which system they are playing, the controller will display either a PS3, Xbox 360, or keyboard. A stylized Sega Genesis controller is used for shorts or other media that does not include them playing a game.
Triva[]
WAWDoing stands for “What Are We Doing” and has two meanings. The first refers to what they are doing or playing today. The second relates to the fact that they are bad at recording/editing and thus have no idea what they are doing.
Although mostly made up, the credits at the end do relate to what each member of the cast does in relation to making a video. Brian mostly visits sites and posts messages to promote their work, McGuirk draws the three of them as well as guest stars and thumbnails, and Tom edits the video together.
Originally the shows were recorded and edited using Roxio but eventually they started editing their videos using Movie Studio. Since then the show has drastically improved their animation quality and allowed for more dynamic editing jokes and cutaway gags.
A typical episode could take between 2-6 days to edit. Since using Movie Studio, it now takes roughly 9-12 hours.