The Rise of Consumer Comedy
June 24, 2015 5:19 PM Subscribe
They go out on stage with a bottle of water and it doesn't MEAN anything!
posted by dr_dank at 5:39 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 5:39 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
The last big standup show I saw had the headliner take requests from the audience, so they could say that they saw him do his famous routine(s) live. It's like buying a Led Zeppelin retrospective box set. Who wants to hear the outtakes and rarities that might actually be new to listeners? Let's hear "Whole Lotta Love" remastered from the forty-year-old printed-through recording tape.
posted by infinitewindow at 5:42 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by infinitewindow at 5:42 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I’m not saying that this sort of referencing of twerking is bad writing or poorly conceived. I’m arguing it isn’t writing or conceiving at all. Unlike Griffin’s jokes, this sort of referencing represents no comedic work. All there is to it is compulsive referencing. As an audience member, it’s nothing more than “they’re doing that thing right now that I saw that other time.”This is also pretty much sums up what went wrong, ultimately, with Family Guy. Well, a lot of things went wrong with it, but one of the things that went wrong with its craft instead of its content was that they started just making references. They actually became what many people were criticizing them of being all along. No jokes, just references. I remember seeing an episode where Peter is a football player and when told to stop showboating after touchdowns immediately scores a touchdown and then sings and dances the entire song of Shipoopy from The Music Man.
3 entire minutes without writing a single joke. They just did a song from a movie. And by the time I stopped watching (christ, it was like 8 or 9 years ago. Fuck you, age and time.) this was all they were doing. Rehash the chicken fight gag but this time make it 5 WHOLE MINUTES without a joke and just standard punching and kicking. Reference a scene from a movie and then just reproduce it in cartoon form without changing anything or making a joke. It's like factory work more than writing.
posted by shmegegge at 5:46 PM on June 24, 2015 [21 favorites]
There's a clip going around lately of Seth Macfarlane and Jimmy Fallon playing Wheel of Impersonations on Fallon's show. I won't bother to link it...it's everywhere. The topic on each "spin" was a company name. So for example the entirety of one joke, aside from impersonating the celebrity voice of course, was Seth doing Liam Neeson pitching Time Warner as his character from Taken, finishing with an obligatory joke about finding and killing you if you didn't sign up for cable.
Hah! I got it. In that one movie (or is it three of them now?) Liam Neeson has a "particular set of skills."
On preview, figures I'd use Macfarlane too. Maybe it's all his fault?
posted by JaredSeth at 5:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Hah! I got it. In that one movie (or is it three of them now?) Liam Neeson has a "particular set of skills."
On preview, figures I'd use Macfarlane too. Maybe it's all his fault?
posted by JaredSeth at 5:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Why are we acting like this is a new thing? Low hanging fruit has been hanging low since the stone age.
posted by Dmenet at 6:01 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by Dmenet at 6:01 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
I find the essay interesting.
I particularly liked the discussion of "like a boss," "FAIL!," "that's a thing?!" "Really?!" etc., where Blake describes how these phrases started as something funny, but then were transformed into consumer comedy within a day or so, reminds me of something I have noticed about the heavier users of Metafilter and how they adopt certain language.
Someone will use language in a new way, one that is actually original, like saying they "noped out of the thread." Then other people pick it up and start using it, even though they are just aping someone else's original use of language. Now everyone is saying "I noped right out of there," "I was like 'nope nope nope," etc. I find these little Mefi trends of language use rather annoying, because it's a descent into cliche and suggests a lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the commenter. But as I thought about it more, I realized that the use of these popular phrases is a way of signifying belonging. The phrases are often used by people who identify with each other in certain ways. So the adopting of the phrase is kind of like a signifier of membership in a group.
So Blake's discussion of how this trend of consumer comedy, and the recycling of stuff that was once actually funny into signifiers of belonging even as they are drained of their original comedic impact is, I think, a pretty interesting and astute point.
posted by jayder at 6:02 PM on June 24, 2015 [25 favorites]
I particularly liked the discussion of "like a boss," "FAIL!," "that's a thing?!" "Really?!" etc., where Blake describes how these phrases started as something funny, but then were transformed into consumer comedy within a day or so, reminds me of something I have noticed about the heavier users of Metafilter and how they adopt certain language.
Someone will use language in a new way, one that is actually original, like saying they "noped out of the thread." Then other people pick it up and start using it, even though they are just aping someone else's original use of language. Now everyone is saying "I noped right out of there," "I was like 'nope nope nope," etc. I find these little Mefi trends of language use rather annoying, because it's a descent into cliche and suggests a lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the commenter. But as I thought about it more, I realized that the use of these popular phrases is a way of signifying belonging. The phrases are often used by people who identify with each other in certain ways. So the adopting of the phrase is kind of like a signifier of membership in a group.
So Blake's discussion of how this trend of consumer comedy, and the recycling of stuff that was once actually funny into signifiers of belonging even as they are drained of their original comedic impact is, I think, a pretty interesting and astute point.
posted by jayder at 6:02 PM on June 24, 2015 [25 favorites]
Metafilter: they’re doing that thing right now that I saw that other time
I understood that reference.
/steverogers
Wait, but that's a reference too, what's more it's a referential joke about a joke about understanding a reference as a joke. And what's worse is the metafilter tagline 'joke' referenced earlier is yet another example of a reference as joke, itself referencing a reference. It's like Referinception over here!
BWAAAH!
BWAHHHH!
ANOTHER REFERENCE!
posted by leotrotsky at 6:07 PM on June 24, 2015 [11 favorites]
I understood that reference.
/steverogers
Wait, but that's a reference too, what's more it's a referential joke about a joke about understanding a reference as a joke. And what's worse is the metafilter tagline 'joke' referenced earlier is yet another example of a reference as joke, itself referencing a reference. It's like Referinception over here!
BWAAAH!
BWAHHHH!
ANOTHER REFERENCE!
posted by leotrotsky at 6:07 PM on June 24, 2015 [11 favorites]
I think this was a big part of what made Arrested Development so well-loved by the internet.
Everybody loves being part of an inside joke. Arrested development was 3 seasons of inside jokes and self-references. You are now part of the Arrested Development friend circle.
posted by just.good.enough at 6:07 PM on June 24, 2015
Everybody loves being part of an inside joke. Arrested development was 3 seasons of inside jokes and self-references. You are now part of the Arrested Development friend circle.
posted by just.good.enough at 6:07 PM on June 24, 2015
I have no idea what you're talking about, so here's a picture of a bunny with a pancake on his head. (HAMBURGER) Does anyone even read the comments down here?
posted by wanderingmind at 6:08 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by wanderingmind at 6:08 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
I honestly don't understand what repeating jokes until they're cliche ("nope" or "that's what she said" or "X her? I don't even know her!", for example, as I'm not familiar with the "like a boss", "fail", and other examples in the article) has to do with consumerism. Is the author under the impression that stuff like this didn't happen back when people thought of themselves as craftspeople? Is the author under the impression that this doesn't happen in non-consumerist cultures?
It feels like..."I don't like consumerism. I don't like this kind of joke. Therefore, this kind of joke must be the product of consumerism." By that token, mosquitoes are consumer insects.
posted by Bugbread at 6:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [10 favorites]
It feels like..."I don't like consumerism. I don't like this kind of joke. Therefore, this kind of joke must be the product of consumerism." By that token, mosquitoes are consumer insects.
posted by Bugbread at 6:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [10 favorites]
I just really loved the inclusion of this Maria Bamford joke and wanted to quote it here:
…I do worship celebrities, because they’re very powerful, their moods create weather. I was feeling bad about it, and then I was like, ‘Well of course, I’m just a tiny, frightened animal. I’m gonna look towards the most powerful and fertile-appearing of our species for information on how to survive. I need to find out what that Jennifer Aniston is doing. She’s a strong, sexy monkey. She’s going to tell us where all the bananas are located.’posted by dialetheia at 6:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [45 favorites]
Meh, people were probably running uninspired Punch and Judy references into the ground back in the 1700s. This is not a new thing.
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:12 PM on June 24, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:12 PM on June 24, 2015 [11 favorites]
It's like Referinception over here!
Not nearly as fun as Reeferinception.
I JUST REFERENCED MY OWN JOKE TO MAKE ANOTHER JOKE. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:12 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Not nearly as fun as Reeferinception.
I JUST REFERENCED MY OWN JOKE TO MAKE ANOTHER JOKE. SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:12 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Someone will use language in a new way, one that is actually original, like saying they "noped out of the thread." Then other people pick it up and start using it, even though they are just aping someone else's original use of language. Now everyone is saying "I noped right out of there," "I was like 'nope nope nope," etc. I find these little Mefi trends of language use rather annoying, because it's a descent into cliche and suggests a lack of thoughtfulness on the part of the commenter.
This is how slang works. (also, I think "Noping" did not originate on Mefi, but I am not an Internet Slangologist). If someone were to record you speaking over an entire day, you also would reference dozens or hundreds of similar slang terms that you picked up from other people, who did the same, because that is how it works. It is not a sign of the Dumbening of America.
I did not get this article at all. Mostly because "we used to think we were craftspeople, but now we think of ourselves as consumers," is not supported by anything at all, not even a definition of who "we" are. What did my grandparents think they were? A housewife, a railroad engineer? "Craftspeople" is not a word they would have used to refer to themselves.
posted by emjaybee at 6:14 PM on June 24, 2015 [54 favorites]
This is how slang works. (also, I think "Noping" did not originate on Mefi, but I am not an Internet Slangologist). If someone were to record you speaking over an entire day, you also would reference dozens or hundreds of similar slang terms that you picked up from other people, who did the same, because that is how it works. It is not a sign of the Dumbening of America.
I did not get this article at all. Mostly because "we used to think we were craftspeople, but now we think of ourselves as consumers," is not supported by anything at all, not even a definition of who "we" are. What did my grandparents think they were? A housewife, a railroad engineer? "Craftspeople" is not a word they would have used to refer to themselves.
posted by emjaybee at 6:14 PM on June 24, 2015 [54 favorites]
Stephen Merchant wtf r u doin?
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:17 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:17 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
I think this is an entirely new phenomenon and jokes, and the spead thereof, didn't happen at all like this when I was in high school in the mid-80's.
NOT!
posted by bswinburn at 6:17 PM on June 24, 2015 [26 favorites]
NOT!
posted by bswinburn at 6:17 PM on June 24, 2015 [26 favorites]
You are now part of the Arrested Development friend circle.
"There's always money in the cornballer!" So many great references. "Training? What kind of training?" "ARMY TRAINING MOTHER!" lol classic.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:19 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
"There's always money in the cornballer!" So many great references. "Training? What kind of training?" "ARMY TRAINING MOTHER!" lol classic.
posted by turbid dahlia at 6:19 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Pitting late night TV against actual standup acts seems unfair.
posted by uosuaq at 6:20 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by uosuaq at 6:20 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is not a new thing.
Indeed. From my favourite bit of Charles Mackay's Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds:
Indeed. From my favourite bit of Charles Mackay's Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds:
Many years ago the favourite phrase (for, though but a monosyllable, it was a phrase in itself) was Quoz. This odd word took the fancy of the multitude in an extraordinary degree, and very soon acquired an almost boundless meaning. When vulgar wit wished to mark its incredulity, and raise a laugh at the same time, there was no resource so sure as this popular piece of slang. When a man was asked a favour which he did not choose to grant, he marked his sense of the suitor’s unparalleled presumption by exclaiming Quoz! When a mischievous urchin wished to annoy a passenger, and create mirth for his comrades, he looked him in the face, and cried out Quoz! and the exclamation never failed in its object. When a disputant was desirous of throwing a doubt upon the veracity of his opponent, and getting summarily rid of an argument which he could not overturn, he uttered the word Quoz, with a contemptuous curl of his lip, and an impatient shrug of his shoulders. The universal monosyllable conveyed all his meaning, and not only told his opponent that he lied, but that he erred egregiously if he thought that any one was such a nincompoop as to believe him. Every alehouse resounded with Quoz; every street-corner was noisy with it, and every wall for miles around was chalked with it.posted by Lorin at 6:21 PM on June 24, 2015 [36 favorites]
Dang it, Lorin beat me to it! Yeah, anyway. This article is really just nostalgia-mongering for some lost golden age of comedy, the equivalent of Bob Seger's "Makin' Thunderbirds"--the ancients created these titanic wonders, and now all we do is make pale reflections of a bygone era.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:27 PM on June 24, 2015
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:27 PM on June 24, 2015
Ah yes! Who could forget "What a shocking bad hat!"
posted by Countess Elena at 6:32 PM on June 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Countess Elena at 6:32 PM on June 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
the ancients created these titanic wonders, and now all we do is make pale reflections of a bygone era.
If you can do an impression of Paul F. Tomkins doing Werner Herzog doing Erich Von Daniken, I'll get you 5 minutes on Comedy Bang Bang.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:35 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
If you can do an impression of Paul F. Tomkins doing Werner Herzog doing Erich Von Daniken, I'll get you 5 minutes on Comedy Bang Bang.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 6:35 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ah yes! Who could forget "What a shocking bad hat!"
The bit about the judge dropping "Who are you?" in the middle of a crowded court room is the BEST. Speaking of references referencing refrences, "If this is anyone other than David Spade you're stealing my bit!" Aaaand you are?
posted by Lorin at 6:38 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
The bit about the judge dropping "Who are you?" in the middle of a crowded court room is the BEST. Speaking of references referencing refrences, "If this is anyone other than David Spade you're stealing my bit!" Aaaand you are?
posted by Lorin at 6:38 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
3 entire minutes without writing a single joke. They just did a song from a movie.
My mileage may vary. To wit, I specifically cited that moment in these very pages as one of the greatest things I've ever seen.
While I certainly agree with the notion that the Simpsons' artfully inserted references reflect better craftsmanship than Family Guy's tendency to reference for reference's sake, I can't help think of an episode of Family Guy I watched recently wherein Peter ends up playing football for the Patriots. After being warned not to engage in any showboating, Peter scores a touchdown, and for his touchdown celebration, he, the players, the cheerleaders, and the fans in the stands perform "Shipoopi" from The Music Man.
The. entire. freaking. song.
It takes 2 and a half minutes, fully 10% of the show's running time, and encountering it for the first time produced a reaction in me that I am not often given to: helpless, uncontrollable, paralyzing laughter, mixed with pure joy and astonishment.
Was it subtle? Did it advance the plot? Did it mean anything if you didn't get the reference? Hell no. But it just might be the single greatest thing I've ever seen on television.
As soon as the episode was over, I immediately went out and bought The Music Man on DVD. I am not making this up.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:22 PM on September 22, 2007
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:43 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
My mileage may vary. To wit, I specifically cited that moment in these very pages as one of the greatest things I've ever seen.
While I certainly agree with the notion that the Simpsons' artfully inserted references reflect better craftsmanship than Family Guy's tendency to reference for reference's sake, I can't help think of an episode of Family Guy I watched recently wherein Peter ends up playing football for the Patriots. After being warned not to engage in any showboating, Peter scores a touchdown, and for his touchdown celebration, he, the players, the cheerleaders, and the fans in the stands perform "Shipoopi" from The Music Man.
The. entire. freaking. song.
It takes 2 and a half minutes, fully 10% of the show's running time, and encountering it for the first time produced a reaction in me that I am not often given to: helpless, uncontrollable, paralyzing laughter, mixed with pure joy and astonishment.
Was it subtle? Did it advance the plot? Did it mean anything if you didn't get the reference? Hell no. But it just might be the single greatest thing I've ever seen on television.
As soon as the episode was over, I immediately went out and bought The Music Man on DVD. I am not making this up.
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:22 PM on September 22, 2007
posted by Horace Rumpole at 6:43 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
Mod note: One comment deleted. jayder, this thread needs to not be any kind of fight about Metafilter. Please drop the "MeFi users are worse than other users of slang" thing; not something to pursue here.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:46 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 6:46 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
You don't want carpet.
You want an AREA RUG.
posted by ostranenie at 6:49 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
You want an AREA RUG.
posted by ostranenie at 6:49 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I remember watching Looney Tunes as a kid and frequently thinking man, I know they're referencing some thing from the 40s here but damned if I know what it is
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [34 favorites]
posted by prize bull octorok at 6:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [34 favorites]
Noping out of a thread isn't a MetaFilter thing. It's a tumblr thing.
...and I quite liked my recent use of it, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I thought the combo of nopetopus and coconut shell octopus was charming and whimsical. *adjusts petticoats until skirts are straight and rights bonnet firmly*
Relatedly... a bunch of my friends and I, years ago, found this bizarre website of animated art all around muffins. I don't think it exists anymore, but we were obsessive about it. One of the images had a bunch of muffins on a muffin tree, as those things grow, and the muffins introducing themselves and asking you to eat them. Some ten, fifteen years later, I text one of the friends who knew of this with me with "I'm a bran muffin" and he texted back "SO EAT ME."
There is a way in which shares humor, shared language, serves as a reflection of relationships and community ties. Yes, most other people would look at that texting exchange with a giant "WAT" blinking over their head, but it communicated a lot between us about the fidelity of our relationship. WHAT we repeat says a lot about who and what we value and what we pay attention to. It's not mindless, and coding it as mindless is essentially a way of dismissing entire swaths of humanity and communication.
Ironically, we're living in an era where shibboleths in and of themselves mean less than ever. Nearly everything is googleable, and the slang is turning over at an ever increasing rate as it filters from "cutting edge" to "defined on CNN".
So you wouldn't buy that for a dollar?
20$. Same as in town.
You want an AREA RUG.
But does it really pull the room together?
posted by Deoridhe at 6:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [20 favorites]
...and I quite liked my recent use of it, THANK YOU VERY MUCH! I thought the combo of nopetopus and coconut shell octopus was charming and whimsical. *adjusts petticoats until skirts are straight and rights bonnet firmly*
Relatedly... a bunch of my friends and I, years ago, found this bizarre website of animated art all around muffins. I don't think it exists anymore, but we were obsessive about it. One of the images had a bunch of muffins on a muffin tree, as those things grow, and the muffins introducing themselves and asking you to eat them. Some ten, fifteen years later, I text one of the friends who knew of this with me with "I'm a bran muffin" and he texted back "SO EAT ME."
There is a way in which shares humor, shared language, serves as a reflection of relationships and community ties. Yes, most other people would look at that texting exchange with a giant "WAT" blinking over their head, but it communicated a lot between us about the fidelity of our relationship. WHAT we repeat says a lot about who and what we value and what we pay attention to. It's not mindless, and coding it as mindless is essentially a way of dismissing entire swaths of humanity and communication.
Ironically, we're living in an era where shibboleths in and of themselves mean less than ever. Nearly everything is googleable, and the slang is turning over at an ever increasing rate as it filters from "cutting edge" to "defined on CNN".
So you wouldn't buy that for a dollar?
20$. Same as in town.
You want an AREA RUG.
But does it really pull the room together?
posted by Deoridhe at 6:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [20 favorites]
found this bizarre website of animated art all around muffins. I don't think it exists anymore, but we were obsessive about it.
I remember that animated muffin website!! It was glorious, I tell you, glorious. We were similarly obsessive about it and quoted it constantly.
posted by dialetheia at 6:58 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I remember that animated muffin website!! It was glorious, I tell you, glorious. We were similarly obsessive about it and quoted it constantly.
posted by dialetheia at 6:58 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm really not a fan of Seth MacFarlane's humor in general, but I totally love his unabashed enthusiasm for musicals that makes him stick all these classic musical comedy references in front of an audience that otherwise wouldn't seek that out at all. I mean, it's not enough to make me want to watch Family Guy, but it's cool.
posted by jason_steakums at 6:58 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by jason_steakums at 6:58 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I think "noping" predates tumblr. As far as I knew it found its origins in 4chan's rage comics in reference to spiders and other creepy-crawlies.
And count me in Team Shipoopi.
posted by sourwookie at 7:01 PM on June 24, 2015
And count me in Team Shipoopi.
posted by sourwookie at 7:01 PM on June 24, 2015
This person is basically talking about memes. It's an Internet thing, and certain sites have a culture around inside jokes, just like people in the real world do. My friends and I all reference inside jokes until they're old and then we move on. That's why websites like reddit have a definite site-wide culture even though it's composed of a bunch of micro- (and not so micro-) communities. This isn't very startling, but I like the way the article was worded to explain this.
posted by gucci mane at 7:03 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 7:03 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I honestly don't understand what repeating jokes until they're cliche ("nope" or "that's what she said" or "X her? I don't even know her!", for example, as I'm not familiar with the "like a boss", "fail", and other examples in the article) has to do with consumerism. Is the author under the impression that stuff like this didn't happen back when people thought of themselves as craftspeople? Is the author under the impression that this doesn't happen in non-consumerist cultures?
I can't answer the last part, about whether non-consumerist cultures did the same thing or not. As for the first part: the phrases quoted in the article used to be funny (or were intended to be funny) because of some other reason, whatever that might have been, but now are only funny to people on the level of "I once watched/read/consumed this piece of funny content, and so have you!" As the author stated near the beginning of the piece, it's people taking pleasure and finding humour in their shared consumption of mass media.
Regardless of whether or not pre-consumerist societies found the same pleasure in references to shared experiences or not, one undeniable crucial difference is that mass media allows a much greater number of people to have that shared experience, and thus it's a lot easier to have humour that's solely based on mutually understood references. Whether you think that's sufficient to make it a consumerism critique or not is up to you.
posted by chrominance at 7:06 PM on June 24, 2015
I can't answer the last part, about whether non-consumerist cultures did the same thing or not. As for the first part: the phrases quoted in the article used to be funny (or were intended to be funny) because of some other reason, whatever that might have been, but now are only funny to people on the level of "I once watched/read/consumed this piece of funny content, and so have you!" As the author stated near the beginning of the piece, it's people taking pleasure and finding humour in their shared consumption of mass media.
Regardless of whether or not pre-consumerist societies found the same pleasure in references to shared experiences or not, one undeniable crucial difference is that mass media allows a much greater number of people to have that shared experience, and thus it's a lot easier to have humour that's solely based on mutually understood references. Whether you think that's sufficient to make it a consumerism critique or not is up to you.
posted by chrominance at 7:06 PM on June 24, 2015
I feel like the author is bending over backwards to find a reason for bad, unfunny, lazy attempts at laughs that's some big sociological theory instead of just labeling lazy writing for what it is. I'm usually the first person to look at sociological theory, or any kind of theory that could possibly apply, but this didn't ring true to me. I guess because I don't buy that anyone really thinks a dry repetition of a meme is funny. It's just what they give us sometimes, it doesn't mean anyone likes it. You can't measure the effectiveness of individual laugh attempts.
posted by bleep at 7:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by bleep at 7:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
I remember that animated muffin website!! It was glorious, I tell you, glorious. We were similarly obsessive about it and quoted it constantly.
OMG MY PEOPLE! Did you see the related one on traffic cone armies and their various and sundry wars? For years we would discuss construction areas in the context of whether the cones or the barrels were winning (and once, vividly, a prison of barrels surrounded by cones - it was epic).
I think "noping" predates tumblr. As far as I knew it found its origins in 4chan's rage comics in reference to spiders and other creepy-crawlies.
I HAVE DONE EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH (see also: typed words into google). Turns out it started in Reddit. April 2012. IRONIC!
posted by Deoridhe at 7:14 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
OMG MY PEOPLE! Did you see the related one on traffic cone armies and their various and sundry wars? For years we would discuss construction areas in the context of whether the cones or the barrels were winning (and once, vividly, a prison of barrels surrounded by cones - it was epic).
I think "noping" predates tumblr. As far as I knew it found its origins in 4chan's rage comics in reference to spiders and other creepy-crawlies.
I HAVE DONE EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH (see also: typed words into google). Turns out it started in Reddit. April 2012. IRONIC!
posted by Deoridhe at 7:14 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
this bizarre website of animated art all around muffins
That is Muffin Films by Amy Winfrey who is a freaking genius.
posted by aubilenon at 7:16 PM on June 24, 2015 [13 favorites]
That is Muffin Films by Amy Winfrey who is a freaking genius.
posted by aubilenon at 7:16 PM on June 24, 2015 [13 favorites]
Hey there it’s not new.
The easiest form of comedy is ‘recognition’. Once you watch a YouTube vid of chimpanzees signaling that danger is over you’ll never feel the same about visiting a comedy club.
Danger!
It’s a predator!
Oh, no, it was nothing. Just something rustling the fronds.
Chimpanzee response - our version we call laughter = relief. It bonds.
And that means - the bonding - that recognition is inherently important. The group gets it. Per the above comments about Seth MF comedies. It’s the easiest form of comedy. We get the reference. We’re bonded as a group. We’re safe.
Easy.
(and from this comes the power of ostracizing the heckler - or more specifically why we ostracize the heckler in performing - by saying he/she is outside the group the comedian is safe.)’
Yadda yadda.
posted by jettloe at 7:19 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
The easiest form of comedy is ‘recognition’. Once you watch a YouTube vid of chimpanzees signaling that danger is over you’ll never feel the same about visiting a comedy club.
Danger!
It’s a predator!
Oh, no, it was nothing. Just something rustling the fronds.
Chimpanzee response - our version we call laughter = relief. It bonds.
And that means - the bonding - that recognition is inherently important. The group gets it. Per the above comments about Seth MF comedies. It’s the easiest form of comedy. We get the reference. We’re bonded as a group. We’re safe.
Easy.
(and from this comes the power of ostracizing the heckler - or more specifically why we ostracize the heckler in performing - by saying he/she is outside the group the comedian is safe.)’
Yadda yadda.
posted by jettloe at 7:19 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
I HAVE DONE EXHAUSTIVE RESEARCH (see also: typed words into google). Turns out it started in Reddit. April 2012. IRONIC!
And the Google Trends on that page show it peaking around June 2007. I wonder what's up with that.
posted by sourwookie at 7:22 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
And the Google Trends on that page show it peaking around June 2007. I wonder what's up with that.
posted by sourwookie at 7:22 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think the google trend tracked the word nope, which predates nope + idea of running away in a gif. I think you'd run into that problem with any meme which is also a commonly used word.
posted by Deoridhe at 7:32 PM on June 24, 2015
posted by Deoridhe at 7:32 PM on June 24, 2015
The muffin site!! In high school I was in a "student-written play" that turned out to be plagiarized wholesale from the muffin site. I believe I was Banana Nut.
posted by threeants at 7:41 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by threeants at 7:41 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
Lazy reference humor is bad because it's lazy, not because it uses references. A talented writer or wit can make a joke or sketch using references that is as clever and creative as any other kind of humor.
And sometimes a mere reference can be funny in the same basic, immediate way as a cat falling off a couch. There's no particular talent or work needed to post a funny video of your cat, but that doesn't mean it's not actually funny.
posted by straight at 7:51 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
And sometimes a mere reference can be funny in the same basic, immediate way as a cat falling off a couch. There's no particular talent or work needed to post a funny video of your cat, but that doesn't mean it's not actually funny.
posted by straight at 7:51 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I have an intense, seething hatred for Family Guy, but the idea of reproducing a song in its entirety on the show can be looked at any number of ways. Why not as a clever subversion of what is expected of a mass-market comedy show? The joke wasn't just that the audience would get the reference to a consumer product, it was that the show did something no one really saw coming.
The sense I got from this article was how easy it can be to devalue something, especially artistic output, once you see it primarily as a consumer product. I think that can be unfair, both to the producers of these works and to their consumers. Things don't have to lose depth just because they're commodified, do they?
posted by teponaztli at 7:55 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
The sense I got from this article was how easy it can be to devalue something, especially artistic output, once you see it primarily as a consumer product. I think that can be unfair, both to the producers of these works and to their consumers. Things don't have to lose depth just because they're commodified, do they?
posted by teponaztli at 7:55 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Also, I don't see what's wrong with there being slang on this site. People seem perfectly happy to call this a community, and it makes perfect sense to have in-jokes and slang. Today I learned about asking for a "pony," which, because I'm relatively new to the site. had sort of confused me. The joke is probably still repeated because people still get something out of it. I have no idea how that could be read as anything other than a pretty normal in-group thing.
I mean, I still have a nickname from high school that I hear when I see people from back then.
They called me "grandma" because I was always the one saying stuff like "we should probably not do this because it could hurt us." You know, the not-fun one.
posted by teponaztli at 8:02 PM on June 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
I mean, I still have a nickname from high school that I hear when I see people from back then.
They called me "grandma" because I was always the one saying stuff like "we should probably not do this because it could hurt us." You know, the not-fun one.
posted by teponaztli at 8:02 PM on June 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
The discussion of simple referential humor in regards to actual comedy writers doing their jobs is totally a great discussion but it gets weird for me when that discussion turns towards web comments, because commenting is largely just casual conversation and lazy jokes and even outright bad jokes are time honored part of that.
Also why did they call it "Consumer Comedy" instead of "Consumer Humor"? Rhyme beats alliteration!
Which, ok, when I typed that out I realized "rhyme beats alliteration" is also pretty good hip hop advice, and a different but still solid bit of hip hop advice with the addition of commas, and I feel self conscious pointing that out after throwing a spotlight on bad jokes in casual conversation, but I couldn't stop myself.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:04 PM on June 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
Also why did they call it "Consumer Comedy" instead of "Consumer Humor"? Rhyme beats alliteration!
Which, ok, when I typed that out I realized "rhyme beats alliteration" is also pretty good hip hop advice, and a different but still solid bit of hip hop advice with the addition of commas, and I feel self conscious pointing that out after throwing a spotlight on bad jokes in casual conversation, but I couldn't stop myself.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:04 PM on June 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
As for the first part: the phrases quoted in the article used to be funny (or were intended to be funny) because of some other reason, whatever that might have been, but now are only funny to people on the level of "I once watched/read/consumed this piece of funny content, and so have you!" As the author stated near the beginning of the piece, it's people taking pleasure and finding humour in their shared consumption of mass media.
I don't think you can easily tell when someone is "merely" quoting something to make a reference to common familiarity with it and when someone is using a colorful new expression because it actually expresses what they want to say.
I think most of the time people say, "I did that like a boss!"--for instance--they're not actually referencing or even thinking of the Lonely Island song. Rather, they've internalized and adopted the meaning of that expression and are using it like any other word or phrase, and using it because it seems like a new and fresh way of saying what they want to say. And the arc of when something seems new and fresh vs. stale and annoying is going to be different for different people. The fact that you were exposed to something a few months before someone else and so got tired of it sooner doesn't mean you're smarter or wittier or have a more refined and discriminating sense of humor.
posted by straight at 8:04 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I don't think you can easily tell when someone is "merely" quoting something to make a reference to common familiarity with it and when someone is using a colorful new expression because it actually expresses what they want to say.
I think most of the time people say, "I did that like a boss!"--for instance--they're not actually referencing or even thinking of the Lonely Island song. Rather, they've internalized and adopted the meaning of that expression and are using it like any other word or phrase, and using it because it seems like a new and fresh way of saying what they want to say. And the arc of when something seems new and fresh vs. stale and annoying is going to be different for different people. The fact that you were exposed to something a few months before someone else and so got tired of it sooner doesn't mean you're smarter or wittier or have a more refined and discriminating sense of humor.
posted by straight at 8:04 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I think most of the time people say, "I did that like a boss!"--for instance--they're not actually referencing or even thinking of the Lonely Island song. Rather, they've internalized and adopted the meaning of that expression and are using it like any other word or phrase, and using it because it seems like a new and fresh way of saying what they want to say.
"Like a boss" is one thing but I was completely surprised to see "is that a thing?" and "really?!?" mentioned because I had no idea those were references to something. Honestly never even noticed them creep into my everyday speech.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Like a boss" is one thing but I was completely surprised to see "is that a thing?" and "really?!?" mentioned because I had no idea those were references to something. Honestly never even noticed them creep into my everyday speech.
posted by jason_steakums at 8:09 PM on June 24, 2015 [3 favorites]
Came here hoping for people discussing that this is one of the main reasons that Family Guy is not very good at all. Going home satisfied.
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:40 PM on June 24, 2015
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:40 PM on June 24, 2015
Yeah, I was confused by this article because I thought ...isn't this just how language works? I mean, I concede that it's lazy comedy to lean on referential humor, but when it comes to people using references like "LIKE A BOSS" or "FAIL" in their everyday lives, that's not some insidious sign of consumer culture or proof that we are bad at comedy, that's just the way people talk. It's more or less the same thing as using an idiom like "the devil's in the details," or even an epithet like the "winedark sea." Use them too often in your speech or your writing and you're in danger of descending into cliche or parody. But we are humans who live in a society with shared cultural references, and we will, on occasion, rely on these shared references to communicate with each other in succinct ways.
I don't know, if I'm making a Simpsons reference in casual conversation, I'm not just doing it as a rote mimicry of a joke that was once funny and has now become diluted. I'm doing it because it's an expression that has meaning partly because it's a reference. Like "I don't think terramazing is a real word." "Nonsense, it's a perfectly cromulent word!" Or the Nelson laugh, or this food "tastes like burning," or the *insert object not working as expected here* "do nothing!"
posted by yasaman at 9:02 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
I don't know, if I'm making a Simpsons reference in casual conversation, I'm not just doing it as a rote mimicry of a joke that was once funny and has now become diluted. I'm doing it because it's an expression that has meaning partly because it's a reference. Like "I don't think terramazing is a real word." "Nonsense, it's a perfectly cromulent word!" Or the Nelson laugh, or this food "tastes like burning," or the *insert object not working as expected here* "do nothing!"
posted by yasaman at 9:02 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
This bothered me, from the first paragraph of the article: "We’ve shifted from seeing ourselves primarily as makers of things, craftspeople of one variety or another, to seeing ourselves primarily as consumers of things."
Speak for yourself, bozo. I just spent several hours in the workshop forging and grinding a new knife blade after work, after spending a couple of hours fixing up some broken windows from recent storms. Or, as I call it, Wednesday. I don't mean to be offensive, but do people really think of themselves as consumers? 'Cause I thought that shit was only what the soulless corporations did, calling people "consumers."
Then again, I didn't get many of the references in the article, and only watched Family Guy once, for about 5 minutes, and have maybe seen 3 episodes of The Simpsons with friends. Sorry, I get enough people being stupid at me at work and in real life to enjoy or find amusing people being stupid on TV.
posted by Blackanvil at 9:10 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Speak for yourself, bozo. I just spent several hours in the workshop forging and grinding a new knife blade after work, after spending a couple of hours fixing up some broken windows from recent storms. Or, as I call it, Wednesday. I don't mean to be offensive, but do people really think of themselves as consumers? 'Cause I thought that shit was only what the soulless corporations did, calling people "consumers."
Then again, I didn't get many of the references in the article, and only watched Family Guy once, for about 5 minutes, and have maybe seen 3 episodes of The Simpsons with friends. Sorry, I get enough people being stupid at me at work and in real life to enjoy or find amusing people being stupid on TV.
posted by Blackanvil at 9:10 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
Blackanvil: "do people really think of themselves as consumers? 'Cause I thought that shit was only what the soulless corporations did, calling people "consumers." "
People don't call themselves consumers, but people who hate consumerism more than average assume that everybody else calls themselves consumers.
posted by Bugbread at 9:23 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
People don't call themselves consumers, but people who hate consumerism more than average assume that everybody else calls themselves consumers.
posted by Bugbread at 9:23 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
"Old Man Yells At Cloud"
posted by rifflesby at 9:34 PM on June 24, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by rifflesby at 9:34 PM on June 24, 2015 [11 favorites]
This is so dumb!
People hear something funny, they repeat it because they thought it was funny (like all jokes! ever!) and when a lot of people catch on and repeat it a lot it becomes stale. Wash, rinse, repeat. (<-- stale joke, check it out!!)
That's how jokes work. If anything we're just more sensitive to it now because media moves so quickly and we interact with so many people and groups over the internet.
posted by easter queen at 9:36 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
People hear something funny, they repeat it because they thought it was funny (like all jokes! ever!) and when a lot of people catch on and repeat it a lot it becomes stale. Wash, rinse, repeat. (<-- stale joke, check it out!!)
That's how jokes work. If anything we're just more sensitive to it now because media moves so quickly and we interact with so many people and groups over the internet.
posted by easter queen at 9:36 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Hit post too fast, but I was going to say exactly what yasaman said-- this is how idioms happen. It's a "rich" use of language. (For some value of "rich.") Darmok and jalad and so forth.
It's not particularly clever, but it's also just how humans apparently express themselves, and this article hasn't convinced me it has anything to do with consumerism. (It seems to mostly have to do with hating on people who aren't cool/witty/funny enough for you?)
posted by easter queen at 9:39 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's not particularly clever, but it's also just how humans apparently express themselves, and this article hasn't convinced me it has anything to do with consumerism. (It seems to mostly have to do with hating on people who aren't cool/witty/funny enough for you?)
posted by easter queen at 9:39 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
The only real good funny stuff ever was by Aristophanes and it's all just been endless cribbing and circular references since then. The diameter of the circle grows larger sometimes though. Chris Morris was probably the last real circle-expander. I might have said Louis CK but recent reports suggest he's a little bit...dick...flashy.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:49 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:49 PM on June 24, 2015 [4 favorites]
In spite of its not being an academic product, for an article whose main thesis is that this is a new phenomenon I'd expect to see even the slightest attempt at providing factual support for that claim. This is really bad analysis, so I guess it shouldn't surprise me that the commenter here who found it "interesting" doesn't seem to have any knowledge of or perspective on the "nope" meme in particular or speech communities in general.
posted by invitapriore at 10:20 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by invitapriore at 10:20 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Although I guess you could say that consumerist culture demands the non-stop production of cheap shit by the underpaid for better or worse. But lazy memes is a symptom of that and not the disease.
posted by bleep at 10:32 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 10:32 PM on June 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
Consumerist culture is just another way of saying capitalism while also blaming the victim.
posted by bleep at 10:33 PM on June 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by bleep at 10:33 PM on June 24, 2015 [7 favorites]
MAH WIFE!
posted by JauntyFedora at 10:34 PM on June 24, 2015
posted by JauntyFedora at 10:34 PM on June 24, 2015
Good lord, in the mid 70's America was convinced to buy (to the tune of 1.5 million) Pet Rocks. just a stone, in a box. and the guy who thought it up laughed all the way to the bank. that, my friends, is consumer comedy.
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by OHenryPacey at 10:46 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
For my part, I'm waiting patiently for the much-more-tiresome genre of Consumer Criticism to run its course.
posted by belarius at 10:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by belarius at 10:52 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
When we were all craftsmen, people would spend over a decade crafting a sturdy criticism of consumerism, to be enjoyed for generations to come. Now all articles criticizing consumerism are cheap and disposable. For example, "Devin Blake", the author of this article, is actually "Devin Blake Inc.", a mass producer of anti-consumerism articles. The actual writing is mainly performed in a sweatshop in China, but they are considering relocating to Bangladesh to further cut costs.
posted by Bugbread at 11:19 PM on June 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Bugbread at 11:19 PM on June 24, 2015 [5 favorites]
I remember watching Looney Tunes as a kid and frequently thinking man, I know they're referencing some thing from the 40s here but damned if I know what it isYeah, I had exactly the same experience as a kid. It turns out that thing was blackface.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:32 PM on June 24, 2015 [2 favorites]
But in all seriousness, one of the running gags I remembered from Loony Tunes was that Frank Sinatra was a rail-thin teen heartthrob. They'd show off gaggles of women swooning at his buck-toothed crooning with abandon I associated with Beatles concerts. Then they'd show just how frail and thin he looked by putting him in an iron lung for a shot.
To me Frank Sinatra was a well-built swaggering old Rat Pack alumnus favoured by old men. And since I was born well after the mass production of the polio vaccine, I needed to have my parents explain the iron lung to me. They found it morbid and macabre, having lost older siblings to various diseases cured shortly after their own birth.
The one thing I'll say of "oh! A surprise reference to something I know!" comedy is that it really doesn't age well.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:38 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
To me Frank Sinatra was a well-built swaggering old Rat Pack alumnus favoured by old men. And since I was born well after the mass production of the polio vaccine, I needed to have my parents explain the iron lung to me. They found it morbid and macabre, having lost older siblings to various diseases cured shortly after their own birth.
The one thing I'll say of "oh! A surprise reference to something I know!" comedy is that it really doesn't age well.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 11:38 PM on June 24, 2015 [6 favorites]
I feel like a lot of snooty pretentious comedians (my favorite comesians, mind you) are really up in arms about the popularity of all the games Jimmy Fallow (and The Roots!) play with their guests that are just lip synching, doing cover songs, reading tweets... that last one might be Kimmel, or both, I'm not sure.
I'm also not really sure why it's such a bother. Jimmy Fallon was the goofy young handsome kid on SNL who always broke character. He's not some serious social satirist or even a road tested stand-up and he never was. Comparing him to Maria Bamford or Hannibal Burress or whoever is like comparing Las Vegas to CBGB'S. It sucks when a CBGB'S act goes all fat Elvis gold jumpsuit Las Vegas but it doesn't really happen that often.
We're living in a golden age of original comedy on TV and in podcasts that also coincides with a perhaps-less-golden age for scatalogical gross out reference humor and TV shows that basically repackage Vine and YouTube clips.
posted by elr at 1:33 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm also not really sure why it's such a bother. Jimmy Fallon was the goofy young handsome kid on SNL who always broke character. He's not some serious social satirist or even a road tested stand-up and he never was. Comparing him to Maria Bamford or Hannibal Burress or whoever is like comparing Las Vegas to CBGB'S. It sucks when a CBGB'S act goes all fat Elvis gold jumpsuit Las Vegas but it doesn't really happen that often.
We're living in a golden age of original comedy on TV and in podcasts that also coincides with a perhaps-less-golden age for scatalogical gross out reference humor and TV shows that basically repackage Vine and YouTube clips.
posted by elr at 1:33 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like this was probably covered in Book II of the Poetics and in a much better fashion. Someone really should dig up a copy.
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 1:37 AM on June 25, 2015
posted by save alive nothing that breatheth at 1:37 AM on June 25, 2015
Seth and PFT often make the same jokes. But one is a hipster wit, and one is loathsomely popular. I also thought Shipoopi was one of the funniest things I have ever seen and had to get The (original) Music Man for my youngest. The utter noncomprehension that that was funny is more confirmation bias than I really needed.
posted by umberto at 3:08 AM on June 25, 2015
posted by umberto at 3:08 AM on June 25, 2015
One of my favorite things about this completely innate and constant human tendency (sorry author of this article, but this is the opposite of new) is how it makes things that are relatively recent seem totally incomprehensible at times. I used to DVR all the old episodes of SNL, and the Weekend Update segments were 50% gibberish to me, because I had no idea who they were talking about. Even when they were from years when I was already alive, I still didn’t have the comprehensive knowledge of pop culture that would have been necessary to get the jokes. I know the name Leona Helmsley, I know she was a terrible rich person or something, but the sheer number of jokes about her that hinged on specific details of her horribleness I don’t recognize can be overwhelming. This is comedy from such a short time ago, but it practically needs a pop culture decoder ring to make sense.
And I actually love that. One of my favorite things from my recent past of teaching 19th century literature to undergrads was helping them to discover all the sick burns in the novels that they were missing. I would bring in history books, and religious texts, and even comic strips (Calvin and Hobbes strips where they were actually representing their namesakes), just so that my students could kind of understand a few of the predestination slams in James Hogg’s Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. And the students often went from “this book is boring and impossible to read” to “oh no James Hogg DID NOT just say that!”
Humor that has a bar to entry (context, other cultural touchstones, historical moment, specific use of language) makes anyone who “gets it” feel smarter for laughing. Just because some people do it badly doesn’t mean the impulse itself is inherently defective.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 6:14 AM on June 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
And I actually love that. One of my favorite things from my recent past of teaching 19th century literature to undergrads was helping them to discover all the sick burns in the novels that they were missing. I would bring in history books, and religious texts, and even comic strips (Calvin and Hobbes strips where they were actually representing their namesakes), just so that my students could kind of understand a few of the predestination slams in James Hogg’s Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. And the students often went from “this book is boring and impossible to read” to “oh no James Hogg DID NOT just say that!”
Humor that has a bar to entry (context, other cultural touchstones, historical moment, specific use of language) makes anyone who “gets it” feel smarter for laughing. Just because some people do it badly doesn’t mean the impulse itself is inherently defective.
posted by a fiendish thingy at 6:14 AM on June 25, 2015 [5 favorites]
I remember watching Looney Tunes as a kid and frequently thinking man, I know they're referencing some thing from the 40s here but damned if I know what it is
One that I know of: references to "Open the Door, Richard".
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
One that I know of: references to "Open the Door, Richard".
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 6:40 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
If we were all blind advocates of consumption and devoted fans of consumer comedy, we obviously would have never had jokes that are explicitly critical of consumerism, like Hicks’ famous “anti-marketing dollar” joke from Revelations
Nice reference in the concluding paragraph of your jeremiad about references.
posted by GrapeApiary at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
Nice reference in the concluding paragraph of your jeremiad about references.
posted by GrapeApiary at 6:51 AM on June 25, 2015 [2 favorites]
PFT: Loathsomely popular
posted by ostranenie at 8:53 AM on June 25, 2015
posted by ostranenie at 8:53 AM on June 25, 2015
odinsdream: It was a clay tablet, not stone. He was still pretty mad, though. Just not stone mad.
posted by amtho at 9:01 AM on June 25, 2015
posted by amtho at 9:01 AM on June 25, 2015
odinsdream, it's not just that one fellow - that complaint was about Ea-nasir, about whom apparently (IIRC) there are a wealth of surviving complaints. So nearly 4,000 years later we have a preponderance of evidence that he was a giant shitbag.
posted by The Gaffer at 9:37 AM on June 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by The Gaffer at 9:37 AM on June 25, 2015 [4 favorites]
The fact that the article mentions that Bill Hicks bit which has become an endless tedious meme on mefi really just ties it all together for me.
posted by poffin boffin at 9:45 AM on June 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 9:45 AM on June 25, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Consumer comedy" isn't competing with more intelligent comedy for airspace - it's competing with penis jokes.
Thanks to this thread, I'm trying to recall other consumer comedy catchphrases from when I was younger (in some cases, much younger):
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Thanks to this thread, I'm trying to recall other consumer comedy catchphrases from when I was younger (in some cases, much younger):
- Where's the beef?
- I can't believe I ate the whole thing.
- You bet your bippy!
- Gong!
- Peter Falk turning back for one more question on Columbo: "And one more thing..."
- Calling somebody "meathead"
- Early SNL: "Jane, you ignorant slut!" "Consume mass quantities!"
- Excedrin Headache number 39
posted by tallmiddleagedgeek at 9:56 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Has anyone linked to this comment yet? It seems relevant to this article.
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:25 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 10:25 AM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Or, when James Corden and Tom Hanks reenacted moments from several of Hanks’ movies in a segment for the debut episode of The Late Late Show.
I wish I were even a little surprised that this pandering and formulaic substitute for comedy was employed as part of the depressing media billionaire scheme to peddle James Corden to us.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:00 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
I wish I were even a little surprised that this pandering and formulaic substitute for comedy was employed as part of the depressing media billionaire scheme to peddle James Corden to us.
posted by George_Spiggott at 5:00 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
Ok so were NOT doing Quoz anymore? Dang.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:38 PM on June 25, 2015 [1 favorite]
« Older File under: creepy | A/V Geeks: Archiving.org the Ephemeral Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 5:28 PM on June 24, 2015 [13 favorites]