With a booth smack in the middle of the Comic-Con floor, TBS is sharing with Comic-Con attendees its virtual-reality experience for comedy People of Earth, produced by Stun Creative.

Virtual reality is just getting going, and several networks have brought experiences to Comic-Con this year, but this is one of the first times the technology has been deployed for a comedy.

“Unlike almost everything else at Comic-Con which is trying to freak you out or is dropping you in the middle of a drama or creating something dark and creepy, this drops you into the middle of a comedic scene and you can look in any direction and be a part of it,” said Natali Johnson, director of marketing at TBS.

To participate in the People of Earth experience, attendees are sat in a lounge-like chair with a headset is placed on their head. When the video starts, the participant finds him or herself in the alien spaceship from People of Earth. One of the aliens—Don the Grey—recalls, “this one looks familiar.”

When you look down, you see your own legs under a sheet. The aliens occasionally interact with you; at one point a puff of spray hits you as you are being “disinfected.” Later, you are hit with a sharp stream of water as they “insert” a tracking chip into you.

“We wanted to include the participant, the experiencer in it,” said Nancy Pothier, senior creative director at Stun Creative. “Unlike some VR experiences, we wanted to craft this so that you are more than just an observer, you are part of it. That’s why we added lines like ‘this one looks familiar.’ They gave us a list of the available 4D experiences and we baked that into the script.”

To produce the three-minute segment, Stun Creative filmed the scene in one continuous shot with no edits. Creating virtual-reality scenes requires the producers to move from quadrant to quadrant, making editing difficult.

“In terms of direction, this has to be directed like a play because there no cuts,” said Pothier.

“We didn’t want there to be any cheating,” said Brad Roth, founder and principal of Stun Creative. “Wherever you put your eyes you would have a seamless experience.”

The VR experience will be on display throughout Comic-Con, with attendees lining up around the booth to take part. TBS’ People of Earth premieres its second season on Monday, July 24. Toward mid-season, TBS will bring the 360-video to social VR platforms, such as Facebook, said Johnson.

“Our business has shifted so much in terms of campaigns. It’s really about content,” said Roth. “Promo is part of it but there’s really been a tectonic shift toward longer-form content that can live across platforms.”

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