Terrorist Spoof

January 20, 2005 8:12 PM

Terrorist Video Bloopers Chicago comedy troupe Teatro Bastardo spoofs the hostage video: Three warnings: 1. Windows Media Player required 2. Funny AND offensive 3. Might be low-bandwidth
posted by lilboo (28 comments total)

Direct download. Death to embedded video!
posted by Nelson at 8:23 PM on January 20, 2005

thanks but I just don't want to watch that.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 8:29 PM on January 20, 2005

That was actually pretty clean, and funny. Thanks.
posted by cmyr at 8:32 PM on January 20, 2005

[this is funny; i mean, it's not like the funniest thing you've ever seen, it won't make you choke on your food or anything, but it's entertaining nonetheless; it passes the time]
posted by dhoyt at 8:50 PM on January 20, 2005

Holy shit, small world! My good friend is part of Teatro Bastardo (I promise I had nothing to do with this posting). I saw their recent show and got a huge pit in my stomach during the first few seconds of the video - I thought it would be horribly offensive and would suck the air out of the room. Like a lot of great comedy, though, it went right up to the edge without going over (in my not-easily-offended opinion). It's hard as hell to make people laugh when their first instinct is to cry, but they made me (and most of the crowd) howl! And the flag falling to reveal an Iron Maiden poster? Gold.
posted by blefr at 8:54 PM on January 20, 2005

Hey, this isn't offensive... its funny!

...sorry, that's an unfamiliar emotion of late.
posted by odinsdream at 9:14 PM on January 20, 2005

Ah, not offensive! The only offensive (to some) thing about it, I think, might be that it's parodying a hostage video, but pretty soon on you can see it's not going to be tasteless. I thought it became funnier as it went along too. Heehee!
posted by DyRE at 10:13 PM on January 20, 2005

Perhaps I have no soul, but I thought that was absolutely outstanding.
posted by sellout at 10:20 PM on January 20, 2005

Does one of the writers have a terminal illness? Because the only way I can see multiple people agreeing to include some of those gags is that one of them is lame and dying. And everyone else consequently approves his/her stuff out of guilt.
posted by Mayor Curley at 10:36 PM on January 20, 2005

Not offensive, just unfortunately not all that funny.

Then again, maybe the other comments raised my expectations too high.
posted by o0o0o at 10:43 PM on January 20, 2005

That was funny.

Batman. HAW!

/Cadbury
posted by bdave at 10:52 PM on January 20, 2005

Bleh. I'm with Mayor Curley on this. Could have been funny, was actually really lame. Make with the short and snappy, comedy people! Especially if your jokes are very, very thin ones like this. And two of the oldest and bustedest comedy clichés going are a) people giving pretentious "I'm not feeling the reality of your emotion"-type direction in incongruous situations and b) people not knowing how to use camcorders. Stop using them. Please.
posted by flashboy at 11:10 PM on January 20, 2005

Not so funny, methinks.
posted by ludwig_van at 12:44 AM on January 21, 2005

So wrong...so funny.
posted by Thorzdad at 4:45 AM on January 21, 2005

Jesus Christ, am I the only one who thought this was totally inappropriate? Have you guys actually watched any of the real hostage videos? Those images will haunt me for a long time, and stuff like this just reminds me of them. Disturbing, not funny.
posted by Who_Am_I at 5:56 AM on January 21, 2005

Yeah, watch the real hostage videos before this and see if it's funny then.
posted by agregoli at 7:01 AM on January 21, 2005

agregoli, I've watched several of the hostage videos and still thought it was funny. In fact I've played out the same scene in mind--fanatics composing the scene and then trying to get the camera angle just right...

It's disturbing because there's a very sick truth in it but it's also funny. The two are not mutually exclusive.

Lights!
posted by nixerman at 7:09 AM on January 21, 2005

Well, great. I'm glad that someone is able to get humor out of people being systematically tortured and killed.
posted by agregoli at 7:13 AM on January 21, 2005

You've got it all wrong, agregoli. I'd be willing to bet that very few people here "get humor out of people being systematically tortured and killed." Most of us have seen those videos; I was in tears watching one. This is the way that some people - obviously not you - deal with the feelings the actual torture brought up; of helplessness; anger; outrage; maybe even denial. You don't think it's funny? Fine, that is certainly your prerogative. Some people who did think this was funny may in fact be sick bastards who enjoy actual torture. Don't paint the rest of us with that brush.

There is a long history of the human race dealing with horrible subjects through humor. IMHO, this was rather tastefully done. And funny. That doesn't make me a connoisseur of torture and murder, and I resent your implication that it does.
posted by jennaratrix at 7:56 AM on January 21, 2005

(vaudeville music plays)
Thanks for keeping it light, agregoli!
posted by jenovus at 7:58 AM on January 21, 2005

Who are you people and what kind of twisted childhoods did you have? Comedy is not always a Nelson "HA ha!" moment -- a matter of mocking the person/character in front of you.

Don't think first. Let the laughter come and THEN think. Comedy is often simple but taps into the complex. In one regard, laughing at something scary takes away some of its power. In another regard, it turns a topic/viewpoint/agenda/person/philosophy on its head and allows us (if we think a little bit) perhaps to understand a little bit better how that thing ticks.

I could go on, but I'm not going to overanalyze the clip. That would take away some of its humor and its power. (Yes, it wasn't the funniest thing I've ever seen.) But suffice it to say that humor involving even dreadful-nasty subjects can and should provoke thought. (So leave your knee-jerk "That's dreadful!" mentality at the door.) It's not always a matter of trivializing or making light of a topic.
posted by Possum at 8:03 AM on January 21, 2005

Ahahahahaa! You said "come"!

</Peter Griffin>
posted by Harry at 8:19 AM on January 21, 2005

Man people can get so uptight. But then again, I don't think there has ever really been a thread that hasn't pissed somebody off. Everybody seems to be offended by something these days. You know what, that's fine by me.
posted by Numenorian at 10:46 AM on January 21, 2005

Come on... the chair is wobbly and in the next frame she's got a big armchair? How is that not funny?

no, i did not watch the real videos. i also never will. that is too much for me, i'm sorry.
posted by odinsdream at 11:13 AM on January 21, 2005

I was neither knee-jerk nor denying that people deal with things differently - I still have trouble finding any humor in subjects like these. I can't help but think of the people who are relatives of the people tortured - what would they feel like seeing this?

"That doesn't make me a connoisseur of torture and murder, and I resent your implication that it does."

It doesn't make you a connoisseur of torture - but it does seem like people who like these things feel better about them when someone makes light of the situation.

Maybe the purpose of this is to make people think - I don't know. I sure hope so.
posted by agregoli at 2:19 PM on January 21, 2005

Humour, particularly "dark" humour, is extremely subjective. The responses in this thread are perfect evidence of this. However, I don't believe that what makes us laugh should be used as a gauge of moral character.

agregoli: "I can't help but think of the people who are relatives of the people tortured - what would they feel like seeing this?"

I imagine that they wouldn't find it very funny... just as I imagine that a young couple who recently experienced the loss of an infant child would find a series of 'dead baby' jokes to be sickening. Or, how a family who recently lost a loved one to a freak accident involving an icy sidewalk would find certain scenes in Home Alone to be very unfunny.

Dark humour, when it works, is funny because it breaks taboos; it takes subjects that we're not supposed to take lightly in polite society, and turns them into jokes. If the taboo subject is one that is on your personal "that isn't funny, damn it" list, you can and should change the channel, turn the page, or hit the back button on your browser.
posted by Darkman at 3:19 PM on January 21, 2005

Because this is a community, I find it also appropriate to register my disgust in the midst of the "this is great!" messages.
posted by agregoli at 6:50 AM on January 24, 2005

Like blefr, I too know the Bastards and I've talked to them about this video. Not that it matters, but it was their intention to mock the terrorists, to retaliate against assclowns who think killing hostages is a valid form of warfare. Not being assassins, they had to settle for making a video parody. I have to say, I don't believe any human act is above mockery. You may disagree, and that's your right.
posted by harrietwrath at 2:02 PM on January 26, 2005