Take off is at once a parody and a series of collusions masked as deceptions (or put-ons). The central issue is trust in the truthfulness and loyalty of a confederate. The confederate is trusted to carry a desired impression to another person. But she or he is also the confederate of that other person and may not be loyal. The possibility of secrecy and intimacy exist on all sides. And betrayal.

But since all three parties become at some point go-betweens (or confidence women/men), each one is able to take certain advantage of the others by manipulating the truth. The take off lies in the fact that the whole Activity is a grand collusion in which each of the the participants knows the scheme from the start, and knows that the others know.