Day 15: "Are You Ticklish?"
Dan, Arin and the other members of Game Grumps are setting up the next 10 minute power hour. But while they're doing that, Arin's silliness gets out of control. This leads to Dan taking a large brunt of it while other staff members watch.
Can you guess which 'The Grumps' episode I directly referenced? Enjoy the read, and good luck guessing!
Dan and Arin were setting up their Grump space for today’s episode of the ten minute power hour. Their staff were moving the items over to the side, so Vanessa could throw them at the table. Arin was setting up the dinosaurs and the scissor-filled cup holder in the middle of the table, while Dan was trying to figure out how to do his hair for this episode.
“Should I put it in a pony? A bun?” Dan asked.
Arin adjusted the angle of the left dinosaur. “I don’t know. Just throw it up how you want.” Arin told him.
“Fine…” Dan took the pony off his wrist and flicked it at Arin’s butt.
“OW!” Arin lifted his back and grabbed his ass. “Dude!” He looked at Dan. “...Again?” He asked.
This earned a small fit of laughter from the co-host. “Please don’t!” Dan ordered.
“Here.” Vanessa handed Dan a large hair clip. “Thanks!” Dan took it, and threw his hair into a half-up, half-down haircut. “How does it look?”
“Looks good.” another staff member said. “Looks like you whipped it up in 5 seconds.” Vanessa spoke up.
“Come on…” Dan hung his head with a laugh. “I’m getting mixed signals here.” He took it out and tried clipping it in again. “This better?”
“Turn around?” Vanessa told him. Dan turned to show her the rest of the hairstyle.
“Looks fine.” Vanessa replied.
“Thanks.” Dan replied, adjusting his blue plaid shirt. “Arin?”
“Huh?” Arin looked up. “How does it look?” Dan asked him.
Arin looked at the back, and thought for a moment. “I feel like a scrunchie would look better.” Arin told him.
“Come on…” Toasti said in the audience.
“Arin…” Dan huffed and looked at the audience. “I have a scrunchie in my bag. Can you get it for me?” Dan asked Tucker. “It doesn’t match at all, but it’ll work.”
“Sure.” Tucker replied. “Where’s your bag?”
“It’s outside the room by the couch.” Dan explained.
“Got it.” Tucker replied. The door could be heard closing as both the hosts sat down in their respective chairs “You ready?” Arin asked.
“Ready for what?” Dan asked him.
Arin stared at him for a couple moments, before looking down. “...I don’t fuckin’ know…” He muttered.
Dan laughed. “ArE yOu ReAdY? For what, Arin? YES!” Dan reenacted, making fun of their 2-second conversation.
Arin laughed at it, loving the use of the ‘YES’ at the end. “I just wanna make sure you’re on your toes!” Arin told him, sending a couple playful little punches his way. “Ready for anything…” Arin kept going.
“Anything?” Dan clarified.
“Anything!” Arin brought his fist up to Dan’s face, and stopped it mere millimeters away from his face. A couple seconds later, Arin popped out his fingers and poked right above his eyes. “Ahaaa, I gotcha~” Arin joked.
“You need to work on that…” Dan told him.
Arin just flopped his fist against the table and laughed. “Ihi really don’t.” He told him.
“Oh really?” Dan smirked. “How are you gonna…‘keep me on my toes’?” Dan asked him.
Arin smirked. “3 words. That’s all it would take.” He clarified.
“To get me going?” Dan asked. “Alright. Alright, what are those ‘3 words’?” Dan asked. “Spill the beans.”
Arin smirked. “Alright.” He sat up a bit more and adjusted himself in his seat. “Are you ticklish?” Arin asked him.
Dan blinked once…he blinked twice… “Are those the-” Dan’s eyes widened when he saw the little nod from Arin… And in no seconds flat, Dan jumped off the chair. “NO!” He tripped on the chair, but managed to take off running to the other side of the room.
Arin, and the audience all bursted out laughing at the reaction. “OHO MY GOD!” Arin shouted, slamming his hand on the desk.
“That was…The biggest lie, followed up by the deadest giveaway.” Vanessa told him.
“Come on, Dan…” Arin reacted, getting off the chair.
“NO, don’t get any closer!” Dan warned.
“Why? Are you actually ticklish?!” Arin asked. Dan stared at him with slight fear in his eyes. “.....Uuuhhhh…”
Arin walked a couple steps closer.
“Arin…” Dan warned.
“It’s not that bad.” Arin reassured him.
“There’s an audience!” Dan yelled, gesturing to the 6 people in the room.
Arin turned towards the audience. “Tell me, beloved audience: would you be bothered if I just-so-happen to tickle Dan right before the power hour?” Arin asked them.
“DO IT!” Vanessa yelled.
“Vanessa!” Dan yelled.
“Come on! We’ve been friends for how long again?” Arin asked.
“11 years!” Toasti spoke up. “Yeah, 11 years! And I rarely EVER tickle you!” Arin told him.
Dan bit his lip as he heard the audience cheer “Do it! Do it! Do it!” over and over again. “I feel so betrayed right now.”
Arin smirked and looked at Dan. “The lovelies want it!” Arin let him know. And this was the only warning he gave, before sprinting up to Dan.
“ARIN!” Dan kept on shouting his name as Arin pulled him back into the show light. And of course, those shouts and protests were quickly drowned out by Dan’s own yelps and laughter. “FAHACK! HAHAHAHA- FUCK YOHOHOU!” Dan cackled, falling to the ground in under 5 seconds.
“Down he goes!” Arin declared, kneeling down and continuing the onslaught.
“NonoNO ARIHIHIHIN!” Dan weakly grabbed Arin’s hands as he threw his head back with wheezy laughter.
“Jesus, dude! I keep going for different spots, and they’re ALL TICKLISH!” Arin reacted.
“SHUHUT UHUHUP!” Dan shouted.
Arin dug his fingers into his sides. “His sides are bad…” He went for his ribs. “His ribs too…” He dug his fingers into his armpits next. “His armpits are somehow worse…” Arin told him.
“Ihihif yohohou ehend up with a bruhuise, Ihihi am NOT- HAHAHA- REHESPONSIBLE!” Dan yelled at him.
“Try his feet!” Vanessa spoke up.
“NO!” Dan shouted.
“Aw, great idea!” It didn’t take long for Arin to grab both his ankles in a chokehold. With his feet stuck, Arin looked at Dan with a smirk. “Any last words~?”
Dan looked at the audience for a couple seconds, before looking at Arin with a tense smile. “Go fuck yourself.”
“Oh, don’t you worry.” Arin started tickling the arches of his feet, earning him a big fit of cackles. “I’ll save that for a little later.”
“BaHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Dan tugged on his feet, hugging himself as the laughter just kept exploding out of his mouth. “AHAHARIHIHIN! HAHAHAHA- NOHOHO MOHOHORE!” Dan shouted.
“Holy shit- I think this is the worst so far!” Arin reacted, earning some laughs from the audience.
“FUCK YOHOHOHOU!” Dan shouted.
“Okay, fun time’s over.” Arin stopped his fingers and gently put his feet onto the ground. Dan’s huffing and heavy breathing filled the room for a few moments while Arin took the scrunchy from Tucker. “Here’s your scrunchie.” Arin told him.
Dan took it and flopped his hand onto the ground again, letting his breathing slow down first. “Okay…thank you…” He mumbled.
“Are you okay?” Tucker asked. Dan nodded his head and sat himself up. Once he was on his feet, Dan whipped his hair into a half-up, half-down hairstyle like discussed earlier. “This look good?”
Arin looked at it. “Looks good.” He replied.
“Great.” Dan sat down on the chair as the lights dimmed. “I’m just glad I peed before I got in here…because I would’ve needed a diaper change after that…” Dan said.
“You don’t need to go again?” Arin asked, moving his hair out of his face.
“Nope.” Dan replied.
“Wait, again?” Someone said. “How many times a day do you think you pee?” Toasti asked.
“I don’t poop enough.” Vanessa replied.
“I love poop. I love 💩. I 💩 like 3 or 4 times a day.” Arin said.
“How many times do you poop, Dan?” Vanessa asked.
“The pee for me is like 11.” Tucker spoke up.
“If the pee breaks up long enough, and then you’re like ‘Oh?’ and then there’s like a second wind, does that count as two pees?” Dan asked. He looked around. “Did we start the episo-”
“No, no, no, no, no- it’s-” Arin spoke up. “It’s- that’s one pee.”
The light turned on, signaling the beginning of the episode. “Hello!” Dan spoke up right away. “And welcome to the 10 Minute Power Hour!" “Yay-” Arin spoke up.
“This is- My name is Dan, and you are Arin.” Dan said, still looking at the camera. “Hello.” Dan said to Arin, despite STILL staring at the camera.
“Okay.” Arin responded, loving the scripted, yet completely improv intro unfold. In the words of Dan: The show definitely started…


















