Wassupdate
October 24, 2008 2:33 PM   Subscribe

The Wassup boys have had a tough eight years, but things are looking up. (SLYT.)
posted by william_boot (58 comments total) 68 users marked this as a favorite
 
Ok, damn funny.

Sad I couldn't remember what the original was selling. Beer.

Beer or Obama? Now there's a difficult choice.
posted by cjorgensen at 2:39 PM on October 24, 2008


Wow only 336 views of that clip. Metafilter really is ahead of the curve. Had a weird poignancy.
posted by therubettes at 2:42 PM on October 24, 2008


It started funny and then it... it just hurt.
posted by ardgedee at 2:44 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


I hate to say it, because even I'm getting tired of electionfilter and Obamamania, but that commercial both had me in hysterics and just about broke my heart.
posted by Astro Zombie at 2:45 PM on October 24, 2008 [24 favorites]


I don't really know why, but that clip more effectively portrayed the destruction wreaked on ordinary Americans - the ordinary Americans that McCain and Palin are so fond of claiming that they represent - in the past eight years than the thousands of words I have read on the subject. There's something in both the dogged resignation of the characters and the slight sly smile at the end that just captured what the country has been through. I am completely, unexpectedly, amazed.
posted by googly at 2:46 PM on October 24, 2008 [32 favorites]


That was surprisingly effective, yeah.
posted by cortex at 2:51 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


Sad I couldn't remember what the original was selling. Beer.

I actually think the subtext relating to what they're selling is pretty interesting.

Eight years ago, why not sell whatever? Let's face it, in 2000 we were still at the end of a long party and we had the luxury of casually targeting whatever talents we had at any individually rewarding success.

2008? Things are different. It's a little easier to think about how we're connected because of the shared problems we've got to deal with. The ones that are the focus of the video especially. Putting whatever you've got behind the best bet toward solving these problems makes a lot of sense.

And this is brilliant because it's exactly the kind of retro-reference that'll really take a lot of people back for just a moment, and think about the difference between now and then.

Well done.
posted by namespan at 2:53 PM on October 24, 2008 [5 favorites]


See, this is how the Devil always plays it: I wished for all those things to happen to those guys. I wished it very, very hard, and many, many times. And my wish came true. But it happened to all of us, not just them. Be careful what you wish for. The Devil sucks.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 2:59 PM on October 24, 2008 [13 favorites]


Just for reference, here's the original.
posted by william_boot at 3:07 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Well played.

Made me miss the days before things turned to crap, the Superfriends version, and how I still held hope that things might be on an uptick.
posted by SaintCynr at 3:07 PM on October 24, 2008


Excellent.
posted by notmydesk at 3:07 PM on October 24, 2008


Expect this to go viral...
posted by jim in austin at 3:10 PM on October 24, 2008


This is fucking awesome.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:13 PM on October 24, 2008


Nicely done gents. We forgive you for starting that shit in the first. It's all good now.
posted by oddman at 3:13 PM on October 24, 2008


Awesome.
posted by cashman at 3:23 PM on October 24, 2008


Waitwaitwait, is it the same actors?
posted by roll truck roll at 3:26 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


The Hurricane Katrina part took me completely by surprise and made me do one of those laughs where you just blast, "BAHAHAHA!"
posted by ColdChef at 3:29 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


Is your damn election over yet?
posted by GuyZero at 3:31 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


I think it is the same actors. The original was created by Charles Stone III, who also directed Drumline, and starred him and some of his childhood friends. I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to get the same group together. Sure as hell looks like them, and that's definately Stone answering the phone.
posted by Astro Zombie at 3:31 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]


Looks like the same guys to me...
posted by bizwank at 3:32 PM on October 24, 2008




OK, that was awesome. I'm with Astro Zombie. This totally caught me by surprise.
posted by Eekacat at 3:34 PM on October 24, 2008


Is your damn election over yet?

Almost. Right after the very special episode of "House" where people keep coming into the hospital with no health insurance.
posted by Zambrano at 3:38 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


SHALOOOOM!
posted by not_on_display at 3:44 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Oh the irony! Cindy McCain's family fortune was made by bottling/distributing Anheuser-Busch beers!
posted by ericb at 4:43 PM on October 24, 2008 [7 favorites]


I cannot BELIEVE those guys actually made me cry.
posted by padraigin at 4:56 PM on October 24, 2008 [13 favorites]


Shockingly true.
posted by Shutter at 4:59 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


true. true.
posted by Ambrosia Voyeur at 5:13 PM on October 24, 2008 [2 favorites]




Brilliant.
posted by rdone at 6:10 PM on October 24, 2008


The Vet Who Didn't Vet

That is frickin' awesome.
posted by ColdChef at 6:18 PM on October 24, 2008


I have a Republican brother in law who LOVED the Wassup ads, but who has also suffered multiple layoffs, bankruptcy, and general pain during the Bush era...this was made for him. I sent it on, and am still giggling. The pay phone in the desert! The Katrina bit! Pure genius.
posted by emjaybee at 6:25 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Wasn't there a Sopranos version of this back when? I couldn't find it on YooToob.
posted by thrakintosh at 6:40 PM on October 24, 2008


Awesomely hilarious. Do we know who made this?
posted by mkultra at 7:51 PM on October 24, 2008


cjorgensen, It looks like you won't have to make a choice at all!
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:32 PM on October 24, 2008


I'm not a forwarder, but I sent this along to my parents.
posted by drezdn at 8:34 PM on October 24, 2008 [1 favorite]


Charles Stone was my RA's best friend my freshman year of college, and we all tried to look sharp and not like we were smuggling in beer or kittens or anything when he was around, because at the time he seemed so dang mature compared to the rest of us.

That is all.
And this is very nicely played. Good on them.
posted by stagewhisper at 9:03 PM on October 24, 2008


Drumline is an awesome movie, if only for the sheer percussion and brass involved.
posted by drezdn at 9:25 PM on October 24, 2008


Amazing. It's up-front with its commentary but manages to make its points in a way that comes across as understated.

I haven't enjoyed many of the election posts, but this one more than makes up for the others.
posted by Number Used Once at 10:47 PM on October 24, 2008


This is great.
posted by LobsterMitten at 11:39 PM on October 24, 2008


Fantastic!
posted by schyler523 at 12:03 AM on October 25, 2008


Expect this to go viral...

No shit. I woke up an hour ago, and found a reference to this in 8 of the 22 rss feeds in my newsreader. couple of twitters, boingboing, daring fireball, jesus general, metafilter

Or perhaps I need to diversify my newsfeeds a bit...
posted by DreamerFi at 12:34 AM on October 25, 2008


Oh crap, did I just admit having boingboing in my rss feeds?
posted by DreamerFi at 12:34 AM on October 25, 2008 [4 favorites]


Ha. Nicely played. Wasn't expecting that.
posted by sharpener at 1:01 AM on October 25, 2008


I caught this in a blog comment thread and came here to post, only to be defeated by the dupe filter.
posted by troy at 1:50 AM on October 25, 2008


The Hurricane Katrina part took me completely by surprise and made me do one of those laughs where you just blast, "BAHAHAHA!"

I don't know if it was deliberate, but the fact they save him for last, and the fact that you couldn't really totally blame THAT ONE on the politicians*. That made me laugh.

*The aftermath, possibly, the actual storm, er, no. But he wasn't dealing with the aftermath at the time of the phone call. Over analysing?

The first version I heard was the Superfriends one – it had me completely scratching my head and was duly forwarded. In fact it was a bit of a talking point for a few friends of mine, until an American buddy pointed out it was the audio of a real advert for beer. So quite a unique perspective I think, to discover the meme in that order.

And not living there, I didn't grow to hate them like a lot a lot of US citizens. I'd imagine this would grate on you extremely quickly. Really enjoyed this post.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:40 AM on October 25, 2008


Being an American shouldn't hurt.

Yet, it does.
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 7:15 AM on October 25, 2008


EMRJKC'94, thank you.
posted by desjardins at 8:33 AM on October 25, 2008


Wow - I was surprised by the ending. Well played, all-in-all. Though the message is that change can come, the end was just Vote. No out-right pointing of fingers, bringing up any one party as being to blame. Way to stay classy, little nostalgia-blip.

I'm wondering if this was created after they saw the Aug 28th Daily Show (I'm behind in my Daily Show recordings, so I saw this one pretty recently).
posted by filthy light thief at 9:00 AM on October 25, 2008 [1 favorite]


I, too, was surprised at the number within that first few hours (and was psyched to be in the first few hundred, hah!), and it's now over 416k. Wouldn't surprise me if it cleared an easy million by end of day on Sunday, and if any broadcast picks it up, it'll fly.

I thought I knew a lot about this scene / idea, but didn't realize that it wasn't an ad at first, it was just a short clip that was brought to A-B for use in the ad, or so the Internet lore says in a few places. What's great is that clearly the original idea was a winner, because just about everyone I have sent it to really digs it, just like the first time around.
posted by djspicerack at 9:22 AM on October 25, 2008


Man, I enjoyed that. And I hated the original Wassup? It's 533,923 views now on this vid.

ColdChef, I loved the kids with the milk. aww.

Reading Wikipedia Whassup?, I'd love to see the original 3 minute film by Charles Stone, True, on which the commercial Wassup was made and on which this is a waaayyy better take off.

Anybody have a link to True?
posted by nickyskye at 12:01 PM on October 25, 2008


That was excellent. Thanks, william_boot.
posted by homunculus at 3:12 PM on October 25, 2008


On their own web site, you can find both the ORIGINAL film "True" (not the ad, the film they made) and their Wassup 08.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:37 PM on October 25, 2008 [6 favorites]


Yeah, the video on their website is much higher quality than the youtube one, no surprise.
posted by Justinian at 6:45 PM on October 25, 2008


Thanks EmpressCallipygos!
posted by nickyskye at 8:13 PM on October 25, 2008


Wow, from 0 to 1M views in less than two days. It's almost like they hit a nerve or something...
posted by gwint at 5:54 AM on October 26, 2008


Views: 1,279,717.

Yup, they nailed that nerve.
posted by nickyskye at 4:34 PM on October 26, 2008


A little bit more on the story behing the 2008 version.
posted by Jakey at 10:25 AM on October 30, 2008 [1 favorite]


« Older New Internet Dramedy Hits Internet   |   Cuddle 'n Coo 'n Proselytize Newer »


This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments