♦ ♣ ♥ ♠
Believe it or not, that kind of thing is usually pretty damn funny if you're there in person. You can laugh at other peoples pain and there's a given amount of mob-mentality that goes into it that just doesn't work if you're looking at it second hand.
I went to the Gaia panel (but not the variety hour) when they were here in Columbus- I won a Dark Wing Pin for wearing a more awesome hat than anyone else ;D That was the first weekend they were available too so they were briefly worth like 10 mil xD
But yes. That's pretty standard fare for a low-budget traveling variety hour- it's not like they can set up a full scale game show.
♦ ♣ ♥ ♠