There are never enough notebooks

July 6, 2009 11:38 AM

Jesus and Judas, the latest project by Avery Edison.

Avery also writes an amusing twitter, an intermittent daily vlog called the Weekly Show, a serious business personal journal, and oh also a million other things as well.

posted by Potomac Avenue (36 comments total)

Another thing about her is, she used to be a boy.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 11:39 AM on July 6, 2009

droll.
posted by boo_radley at 11:44 AM on July 6, 2009

Judas: Look, why don't I just borrow your copy of "Abbey Road" and check?
Jesus: Buy your own copy!
Judas: I would, but I'm kind of low on silver.
Jesus: You should do something about that.

Hah.
posted by FatherDagon at 11:45 AM on July 6, 2009

meh. bleah. ... and anything but yeah!
posted by snap_dragon at 12:01 PM on July 6, 2009

Is it gauche to link to thingpart based on the similar sense of humor from a used-to-be-a-boy?
posted by DU at 12:06 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

God lord I just found another of her projects: Fake Conservative Twitter Account. Much lols therein.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 12:26 PM on July 6, 2009

Okay, here's the thing. Humor is very subjective of course, but to me, this isn't funny, and her twitter isn't funny, but they are all not funny in exactly the same way and for the same reason.

The presuppose the audience will think a little bit about the context of the joke, but not too much.

For example, here is a line from her twitter: Palin: "I didn't see the mainstream media making this much fuss when JFK left office early."

See that isn't funny, because it is wrong. The joke is supposed to be that Palin is stupid because she doesn't realize that JFK was killed in office, but in fact the joke is stupid because the media did make a huge fuss when JFK left office early, precisely because he was killed. Or is the joke supposed to be Palin comparing her troubles with the media to JFK? But JFK didn't have trouble with the media.

Likewise with these little vignettes of Jesus's life. They presuppose an unconventional view of Jesus and his twelve disciples, namely that Jesus is sort of superficial and glib, his disciples are sycophantic and stupid, and Judas is a sarcastic, cynical hipster. And even after you accept that background, the stories come off more as quirky and a bit trite (or droll, as boo-radley said), but not so much funny.

But there is is a positive side to this. Her lack of a sense of humor is proof that her transition to female is finally complete!

* runs like the wind
posted by Pastabagel at 12:27 PM on July 6, 2009 [2 favorites]

They presuppose an unconventional view of Jesus and his twelve disciples, namely that Jesus is sort of superficial and glib, his disciples are sycophantic and stupid, and Judas is a sarcastic, cynical hipster.

How, exactly, is that unconventional?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:31 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

*follows Pastabagel
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:32 PM on July 6, 2009

Judas: We have no problem with the Son of God telling people to load up on B-12?
Peter: Well, it's sensible advice.
Matthew: Yeah, you don't want to get scurvy.
Judas: Oh yeah, because scurvy is a real problem in Jerusalem.
Jesus: You know, Judas, I'm beginning to get a little sick of your attitude problem.
Judas: Alright. Fine. I'll shut up if you can tell me the *real* eighth commandment is.
Jesus: ...vitamins?
Judas: No. No. It's "thou shalt not steal". A rule ever so slightly higher on the morality scale than "take your pills so you don't get rickets". Especially since the nearest pharmacy is 2,000 years away, and the nearest thief is 2,000 inches away.

SCURVY IS A VITAMIN C DEFICIENCY AND RICKETS IS A VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY NEITHER HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH B-12

T͜H͡ESE͏ ̕J͢O͝K͞ES ҉A̛RE͝ M҉̱̹͖̀A͏̩͙̥͝K̵̴̭̥͔I̡̺͢Ń̨̢̞̣͕Ģ̟͕̫̠̬͈̜̳͢ͅ ̸̛̦̪͈̯̬̜͖ͅ M̤̪̥̰̪̘̬̣̕͠E͜͏̮̜͕̹͉̠̗ V̈́̽ͬͩ̇͆ͧ̚͏̨͏̤̰̝̟͍̣͟E̵͉͍͈͔̅͗ͤ̋̃ͮ̽́̒ͩ̍͑͂ͫ̍͒͑ͭ́͘R̡̍̄̑̓̋͗̂̄҉҉͕̤̰̫͈͚̬̲̮̖͎̯̗͕̱̯͈̠ͅY̸̲̣̫͈͇̹̱̬̪͈̯̮̭ͤ͛̈͛ͭ̓͢ ͆̌̇ͣͯ̐̈̾ͬ͋͑͒̀ͩͪ͊͆́҉̞͔̥̘͖̼̻̤̦ A̼̞̹̻̯͍͎̥͓̪̣͙̲̺̭̔̆̂ͬ͢͝ͅN̪͚͇͙̬̣̬͕̦̰͈̳̘̽̉͛ͭͦ̏̽̋͊̈́̏̔͊̋̎̚͢͢G͎̣̬̫̝̝̗̜͍̤͔̰̻̈͒̈́̌͒ͮ́̐͊͂́͘ͅR̸͛ͨ̆͋̇ͣ͢͟҉̟͎͈̻͔̫Yͣ̂̍̇͞҉̣̰̮̕͠
posted by Pastabagel at 12:34 PM on July 6, 2009

Hey! Not one, but TWO mentions of homosexuality as an insult. Stay classy!
posted by hippybear at 12:42 PM on July 6, 2009

Hey! Not one, but TWO mentions of homosexuality as an insult. Stay classy!

Just staying true to the source material, I guess.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 12:43 PM on July 6, 2009

I'd love to see Pastabagel heckling a comedian live:

"CHOCOLATE CAKE IS ACTUALLY VERY BAD FOR YOUR CHILDREN YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED"

"I HATE TO INTERRUPT BUT IF YOU PUT A FROG IN A SEALED JAR HE WOULD DIE THE LEAF WOULD DO NOTHING BTW"

"EXCUSE ME MR RICKLES BUT THAT PERSON IS OBVIOUSLY IN FACT ARMENIAN"
posted by Potomac Avenue at 1:04 PM on July 6, 2009 [9 favorites]

Potomac Avenue: you missed the part where his eyes weep pitch and a tentacle emerges from his mouth to eviscerate the comedian.
posted by idiopath at 1:24 PM on July 6, 2009

Is it okay if I respond here? I feel like that might breach some kind of rule, but I'd like to address some of the interesting comments.

With regard to Pastabagel's comment about the Palin joke -- that's a very accurate deconstruction of the joke, and I really should have thought it out more before I posted it. A better version would read 'Palin: "I didn't see the mainstream media making this kind of fuss when JFK left office early."', but that would still not entirely make sense.

A lot of my jokes aren't that great. I try to shoot for Jack Handey-style humor, and there's a reason he only puts out a book every few years -- it takes a while to come up with the really good jokes. But I'm still young, and not great at this yet, so posting the not-so-great jokes and seeing how well they do on Favrd is a great learning tool.

Jesus and Judas is similarly, I recognise, not perfect. It really only works if you enjoy seeing Jesus treat people like a dick. I'm not even sure why I find it particularly funny, I just know that when I sit down to write it I laugh, and judging from the "likes" it gets on Tumblr, other people do too.

It's Raining Florence Henderson asks how my characterization of Jesus, Judas, et al. could be called unconventional. Well, since J+J probably counts as blasphemy, I'd say that it outright defies convention. More seriously, if there's a similar work out there that paints the disciples and their leader in a similar light, I'd love to see a link to it -- I'm sure it'd be very enjoyable reading/viewing.

Pastabagel, the slice of the "vitamins" J+J post you quote is indeed a little confusing and probably angry-making because I didn't take time to phrase it right. The mention of B-12 was just to avoid another use of the word "vitamins". Matthew's response of "you don't want to get scurvy" is because he is an idiot, and doesn't know anything about vitamins. Judas's reference to rickets later on is part of the "vitamins" argument as a whole, and not a continuation of the B-12 digression. I'm sorry that wasn't more clear.

hippybear, the two mentions of homosexuality as an insult you reference are both made by Jesus (with one echoed by Peter), who is decidedly the villain of the piece. They both finish the conversations they appear in, precisely so that Judas doesn't respond to them with any kind of negativity. In my head, Judas has no problem with being called gay -- it only matters to Jesus and his disciples because they are children engaging in playground insults.

As someone of a distinctly LGBT persuasion (as noted, I am transgender, and also gay) I try to out-and-out avoid homophobic statements in my work. But it made sense for Jesus to say it, and so I stick by it.

I mean, it was either he call Judas gay, or a retard. And I didn't want to make those guys angry -- they're super strong, and they don't listen to reason.
posted by aedison at 1:31 PM on July 6, 2009 [7 favorites]

Mostly not working for me, but the running gag about pieces of silver is gold.
posted by grobstein at 1:41 PM on July 6, 2009

Welcome, aedison. We're always happy to hear from the author of something we link to (which isn't to say that we're always especially nice, but that's a whole 'nother thing).

As for my comment about how a superficial and glib Jesus, sycophantic and stupid disciples, and a sarcastic, cynical hipster Judas could be considered unconventional, that was just my own lame attempt to climb aboard The Blasphemy Express to Hell. I bought my ticket years ago, but I'm always on the lookout for a better seat.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 1:52 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

I liked it.
posted by nola at 2:01 PM on July 6, 2009

Hiya Avery¹: the only rule you're breaking is that you cant explain a successful joke anymore than you can sell an unsuccessful one. also, please relax, get more sleep, maybe form a serious drug problem--your productivity is making the rest of us interneters look bad.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 2:02 PM on July 6, 2009 [1 favorite]

Why am I getting crazy hieroglyphics coming out of Pastabagel's comments?!
posted by Saxon Kane at 2:05 PM on July 6, 2009

Saxon Kane: the new thing is to make unicode that breaks the rendering engine of your browser, all the cool kids are doing it.
posted by idiopath at 2:09 PM on July 6, 2009

Hi Avery. Very classy of you to respond to my nonsense. I thought I made it clear that I personally didn't find it funny, as a matter of subjective taste. There are a lot of people who love that kind of humor, it's just not my thing. Follow your muse and ignore bitter, unpublished, but devilishly handsome and charming malcontents like me.
posted by Pastabagel at 2:20 PM on July 6, 2009

Saxon Kane: your muse leads e̵̻̮̞̮̰̙͉ͪ͋̕l̶̛͍̫̞͔̖̼̹͒̉̿̇̅s̴͎̟̤͔͚͚͆̾̅͛̑̔ͅͅe̅̎̇̊̓ͨͨ̈́҉҉̸̺̗̠̙w̧̤̰̘͇̜͚͋͆ͫͭͤ̌ͫͫ̕͢h̲͚̱̫̤͍͇̘́̓̽̓̅͞e̸̩͚͉̯̭̹͚͆͐ͨ̈́͋͊ͧ͟ͅr̡͑͏̰͙̺̭͍̦̞̺e͐͒ͧ҉̰̲̰̹̮͎.
posted by Pastabagel at 2:22 PM on July 6, 2009

aedison: I mean, it was either he call Judas gay, or a retard. And I didn't want to make those guys angry -- they're super strong, and they don't listen to reason.

Heh. You kinda stole that from Daniel Tosh, but it still makes me laugh it's so wrong. :)

grobstein: Mostly not working for me, but the running gag about pieces of silver is gold.

A-ha! I see what you did there... grobstein...
posted by hincandenza at 2:28 PM on July 6, 2009

I'm still not sure I admire the use of "faggot" or "gaylord' use in the context of schoolyard insult any more than I would like to hear those coming from a corporate president in a board room. For that matter, I don't like hearing "nigger" or "kike" as a schoolyard insult, either.
posted by hippybear at 2:56 PM on July 6, 2009

Hiya, Av—

Hiya Avery¹:

Potomac you son of a bitch.
posted by cortex at 3:01 PM on July 6, 2009 [4 favorites]

hippybear, schoolyard insults are schoolyard insults. As a shortcut characterization of Jesus-as-petty-dickhead, it's a pretty effective move: bam, he's a 14-year-old on Xbox Live, a fratboy lunkhead. It's not that it's supposed work because calling someone a faggot's hilarious; it's supposed to work because it's a marker, a cringeworthy identifier of type. Jesus as unredeeming douchelord.
posted by cortex at 3:04 PM on July 6, 2009

Jesus as unredeeming douchelord.

Actually, I have it on the highest authority that Jesus is redeemable in Karma Bux. The highest authority.
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:17 PM on July 6, 2009

cortex: I understand the motivation for the use of the term, and am clear on what it signifies. That doesn't make me appreciate it when it is used. Sorry, I guess it's a reaction to the widespread use of "That's so gay!" as epithet, but no amount of explanation is going to help me appreciate the use of terms for homosexuality as pejorative.

"Jesus as unredeeming douchelord" is a phrase I am going to try to help make live forever.
posted by hippybear at 3:21 PM on July 6, 2009

Man, you are one uptight hippy!
posted by hincandenza at 3:28 PM on July 6, 2009 [3 favorites]

If I were cooler or something, I would probably be too jaded to like this humor. But I ain't.
posted by Mental Wimp at 3:53 PM on July 6, 2009

Judas: What are you guys doing?
Jesus: We’re quoting Titanic. Do you have a problem with that?
Judas: Well, kind of. Especially since I was told we’d be out giving footrubs to the lepers today.
Jesus (to Matthew): Dude, he totally did it.
JESUS AND MATTHEW LAUGH

I laughed.
posted by Rumpled at 11:29 PM on July 6, 2009

I thought this was fucking hilarious, tbh.

Judas: What about that wedding in Cana? The whole water thing?
Jesus: Jesus don't pay 80 bucks for a registry-approved gravy boat and end up going home sober. Do you need to look up "emergency" in a dictionary? *They were out of wine.*

I lol'd at this.

In fact, I'd like to see this done as a straight retelling beginning to end of the gospel. I totally buy these characters.

Please get on that.
posted by empath at 12:12 AM on July 7, 2009

Yeah, I get it--we're supposed to laugh at the person making the homophobic (or sexist, or racist) joke, not at the joke itself. We've talked about such things before; it's a big hipster thing these days, apparently, making fun of the very absurdity of such jokes.

I get it. I just don't think it's funny.
posted by MrMoonPie at 5:50 PM on July 7, 2009

Oop, sorry, my "before" link was supposed to go here.
posted by MrMoonPie at 6:10 PM on July 7, 2009

Old news, obviously, but these vignettes sound eerily like the stories of the Gospel of Judas: good-hearted Judas, mean trickster Jesus, dopey disciples.
posted by grobstein at 8:15 AM on July 27, 2009