Some common terminology discussed on In Lieu of Fun: ✍

  • Baby Cannon: Is a very small cannon that Ben accidentally made famous on Twitter. (S)he has occasionally shown up on ILoF and blown things up, including Ben's computer. Don't ask whether Baby Cannon is male or female -- the answer is "yes". See Baby Cannon destroy a soda and assault some eggs.

  • Baby Prosecco: A small bottle of Prosecco, the occasional target and persistent nemesis of Baby Cannon.

  • Cheese Night: 🧀 Since Episode 462, some shows -- usually on Friday, but not always -- are designated as "Cheese Night". On Cheese Night, the hosts eat cheese (it's right there in the name) and there is no designated guest. Cheese Night takes the place of the old tradition of Saturday show-planning shows and Mystery Guest Sundays.

  • The Greek Chorus: A semi-affectionate term for the regular audience who attend live shows via Crowdcast, and who maintain a lively and intellectually-vibrant (if sometimes irreverent) running commentary in the live chat that accompanies the broadcast.

  • The Lisa Page puppet: An impromptu hand-puppet made to stand in for Lisa Page, who was unable to attend the show live in episode 26 for professional reasons. Lisa has since been able to attend in her actual form on a few occasions.

  • Mystery Guest Sunday: A show tradition from March 29, 2020 until June 27, 2021, in which one of the hosts would invite a Mystery Guest to come on the show, and the others would try to guess who it would be. Mystery Guest Sundays were discontinued when the show stopped airing on weekends. See also Cheese Night.

  • Norms: Standards or patterns, especially of social behavior, that are typical or expected of a group. Mentioning or discussing the failure of institutional checks and balances due to the breakdown of norms may result in the cry of "norms, drink!" from the Greek Chorus.

  • Polls: During the broadcast, the hosts often post highly unscientific polls for the Crowdcast audience to answer. Poll topics range from the silly to the serious.

  • Rapturing: The process of inviting an audience member on-screen to ask a question of the hosts or a guest. A whimsical allusion to the eschatological conceit of The Rapture in which the elect are supposed to be lifted up into a state of grace.

  • Shocking Lack of Due Process: In the early days of the show the hosts met via Zoom, and were assaulted by Zoom bombers. To deal with this, audience participation was curated by the hosts (see "Rapturing") and those who attempted to troll were banned with "extreme prejudice and a shocking lack of due process" by Ben.

  • Where's the Lie: A show format in which a guest (or one of the hosts) tells a story, and the (other) hosts and audience have to figure out whether it is true or a lie. A panel of audience members is invited on to ask the storyteller questions, and everyone is polled for their guesses.