Being a DM isn't always easy and few people know that better than Matt Mercer, who has been at the helm of Critical Role's massively popular main D&D campaigns since 2015. Usually, Matt's role is to try and control the chaos created by the party members but sometimes even he can't help losing it.
From his own verbal slip-ups that have been forever carved into Critical Role history to times when the group's silly jokes left him broken, there have been a ton of times across the three campaigns that have left the DM and voice actor with his head in his hands.
That Time When Scanlan "Yelped It"
Sam Riegel has been a fixture of Critical Role since C1 and he's been giving Matt reasons to facepalm for just as long. Redditor Thalesrlima points to one such example from the first campaign, commenting that despite being an "old one," his 'yelping it' joke as Scanlan is easily "one of the best."
The joke is a play on words, referring to checking out which place they should visit first on their planned pub crawl on Yelp and Scanlan's yelping delivery. Not only is it dad joke-levels of cheesiness but the silly delivery of the line seemed to get not just Matt but the entire group with their head in their hands.
Sam's Flask Reveal For Critical Role's Third Campaign
A lot has changed across Critical Role's three main campaigns but Sam's ability to produce great facepalm moments from Matt certainly hasn't. One of the show's best running jokes has been the ever-changing drinking vessels he produces but one of them made for a particularly big facepalm moment for the show's host.
It was Redditor evilshenanigans1087 who suggested the reveal of "Sam's new "flask" for C3." Originating from a gigantic mug gifted by a fan, the joke reached new heights of ridiculousness when he pulled out the actual gas can he would be using for the campaign. It was worth it, however, for the way Matt's reaction rapidly went from shock to laughter to a full two-handed facepalm.
Matt Accidentally Creates The Otter Auditors
When the job requires talking extensively for hours every session, it's no surprise even the best DMs can have verbal slip-ups sometimes. In this case, Matt would likely deny he made any mistake at all, though the fact multiple people misheard him suggests he might partially be to blame in an incident that Redditor Frowny_Biscuit titles "The Otter Auditors."
Although he recovered admirably after the party began laughing at the idea of auditors being adorable semi-aquatic animals, it was when the joke came back again later that it defeated Matt completely. He might have admitted to the idea being cute in the end, but he also threatened to kill them all, suggesting he wasn't quite over it.
Laura Creates Critical Role's Greatest Sending Spell
Laura Bailey lived up to her name in Campaign 2 as Jester Lavorre, providing countless moments of hilarity with her sending spells and a complete commitment to using the entirety of the 25-word limit. Perhaps the greatest example came when she sent a message while eating a donut that ended with "Do Do Do Do! Hmm hmm. Donuts."
Redditor SamuraiPanda201 notes that, in response to the silliest bit of filler yet, Matt "not only facepalms, but it's a very audible elbow on the table." Indeed, any one of Jester's sending spells could have been a face-palm moment, but it's clear that it wasn't until this point Matt realized why she should never be the one to send them.
Sam Lists His Former Associate's Favorite Smells
Campaign 3 got off to quite a start when Sam managed to turn a simple character introduction into a facepalm moment for all involved. Though Sam's explanation of how he got the name 'Fresh Cut Grass' starts off sweet, telling the group that his "former associate" named all her creations after her favorite smells, it's when he begins listing them that things get out of hand.
Redditor pdlbean recounts his list, commenting "there was me, there was apple pie, there was oatmeal, there was pussy..." Naturally, it took a few moments for what he'd said to sink in with the group who weren't expecting that kind of joke so early in their new and biggest-ever campaign. When it did, it wasn't just Matt who was left facepalming.
Matt Refuses To Recognize Critical Role's Alpha
Critical Role has had some ingenious player characters across its campaigns but it's fair to say there have also been some less smart ones. Certainly, it seems Matt made his mind up about Travis Willingham's Chetney in one iconic moment from C3 where the character reveals his "recognize the alpha" tattoo.
Redditor Seren82 comments "that wasn't even a facepalm. He just NOPED himself off-screen." It's clear that Matt has no time for clichéd pseudo-psychology as he uses Imogen's intelligence check as an opportunity to explain just how baseless the concept of the alpha male really is, to laughter from the party.
Sam Brags About His Master Debating Skills
Critical Role has done a great job maintaining a relaxed and often chaotic feel no matter how huge it's grown since it first began, but it's no surprise they tend to behave themselves a little more during sponsor segments. That's likely why Sam's long and eloquent explanation of his history as a 'master debator' during a segment for D&D Beyond particularly pained Matt Mercer.
Redditor Chaucer85 thinks it's "hands-down" the best Matt facepalm moment and adds "the technical director was on point, cutting to Matt every few minutes, to show him frozen in shame." Whilst DMs get many opportunities to torture their players, Sam took full advantage of the sponsorship to non-stop torture Matt for several minutes straight.
Matt's Celebone Doesn't Go Down As Well As He Expected
Another running joke in Critical Role is Matt's naming sense, which inevitably goes awry sometimes when he's required to give names to so many different characters and objects. Apparently, he saw nothing wrong with calling an intriguing item a "Celebone" in C2 which, coupled with his description of a reusable, semi-translucent rod, immediately got the party giggling.
Redditor Well_gr34t comments that "as soon as he looked at [Laura], it was all over." Though he tried to prevent the inevitable euphemisms with a 'don't you dare,' that only encouraged the others to joke about it. At that point, there was nothing he could do but put his head in his hands and wait for it to pass.
Matt Accidentally Asks Chetney How Hard He Is
It takes a special moment to become an instant classic but one incident from Episode 16 of the latest campaign has already secured a special place in Critical Role's history. Whilst the entire sequence of Chetney and Fearne's attempted liaison was hilarious, it was one verbal slip-up from Matt that made it facepalm-worthy.
Whilst attempting to ask how hurt Chetney is, Matt slurs his words slightly so that it instead sounded like, as Redditor Chaisz3r0 describes it, "how hard are you?" Given the context, it's no surprise the entire group immediately took it as a euphemism and began laughing. No matter how much Matt tries to protest his innocence, there was no chance he could get away with that particular mistake.
Matt Accidentally Coins The Phrase "Shiver And Quiff"
If there's one verbal slip-up on Critical Role that likely still haunts Matt to this day then it may well be this one from Campaign 2. Redditor boltsandonthego got no shortage of agreement for commenting that "Shiver and quiff" is "def" Matt's best-ever facepalm moment on the show.
After a long session, anyone could accidentally stumble over a phrase but the fact that Matt's attempt to say "quiver and shift" resulted in the word "quiff," which the group misheard for an even more inappropriate word, will always be a legendary mistake. Matt recovers admirably, but it's the party's inability to let it go that really made it one of his top facepalms.