Periodic Table

July 12, 2001 11:59 AM

Periodic Table The essential elements of a man's universe. Click and learn more.
posted by webcowboy (38 comments total)

Oooooh... That's so funny I hurt :)

My favorite so far: Bar-B-Que
Description: Raw meat and fire help you channel your inner caveman. And while you're bar-b-queing, picture yourself backdooring Rae Dawn Chong.
posted by starvingartist at 12:24 PM on July 12, 2001

Oh, yeah. Hi-lar-ious.
posted by amanda at 12:43 PM on July 12, 2001

too funny.
posted by jbelshaw at 12:44 PM on July 12, 2001

amanda, I'm assuming your post was sarcastic. In which case, you're a female, and I guess it wouldn't be as funny to you. Lighten up. (Straight) men think about having sex with beautiful women. A lot. So it was crude. So what?
posted by starvingartist at 12:49 PM on July 12, 2001

My wife (whose name happens to be Amanda) loves the Man Show as much as I do. I think she's going to Pi herself when she sees this. Hopefully, I'll get a Bj or some Sx when I get home.
posted by msacheson at 1:06 PM on July 12, 2001

I hate the man show.
posted by mcsweetie at 1:11 PM on July 12, 2001

To Amanda: Actually, I found it fairly offensive myself. But then, I'm on the sensitive side of things.
posted by silusGROK at 1:11 PM on July 12, 2001

starvingartist -- I thought amanda's post might have less to do with the notion that the humor in the piece is "not funny to women" and more to do with the idea that it just seems really flat and predictable. Men like meat and screwing! Also we fart!

On that note, I have to concur: Hi-lar-ious.
posted by BT at 1:14 PM on July 12, 2001

BT - perhaps, but sometimes there are people who do "flat and predictable" really well, and in my opinion this was one of those times. Also, I would like to point out that it takes just as little wit and effort to drip sarcastically "Hi-lar-ious" as it does to make a cheap joke about meat and sex.
posted by starvingartist at 1:24 PM on July 12, 2001

while i like the idea of women bouncing up, down, up, and then down again on trampolines, having to go through the rest of the man show to get to that point (at the end) is too much for me to bear. i'd rather watch baseball tonight on espn.
posted by moz at 1:28 PM on July 12, 2001

I don't like baseball or the manshow.
The table of elements is funny though. The show is just too infantile to watch. I tried a few times, but it is really pretty poor entertainment.
posted by a3matrix at 1:34 PM on July 12, 2001

If I were in third grade, or suffered from major brain trauma, this might actually be funny.
It's 2001...I think the Rae Dawn Chong reference has seen it's day.
posted by Doug at 1:36 PM on July 12, 2001

starvingartist: point taking about dripping a line sarcastically, but what I was mostly pointing out was that just because a person responds to the jokes in question with disdain doesn't mean their response is based on gender.

It's a fine line, weighing in with opinions about jokes -- but I frankly feel like we're deluged with the easy and predictable "don't we all feel this way" stuff; so I'm inclined to be harsh. Perhaps it's all so much a matter of taste that there's little point though -- god knows I laugh at much that makes others shrug, or wince.
posted by BT at 2:21 PM on July 12, 2001

In which case, you're a female, and I guess it wouldn't be as funny to you. Lighten up

Jesus christ. Nice.

The show isn't funny, it's fucking infantile. I never understood why there's such a trend of "we're guys, we can yell at chicks, we can scratch our crotches in public, we can have cool beer guts, we can enjoy women merely as sex objects, and drink until we puke" lately. I suppose treating others with respect and being considerate of those around you is just too much effort for some guys.
posted by mathowie at 2:23 PM on July 12, 2001

I suppose treating others with respect and being considerate of those around you is just too much effort for some guys.

But, you should be glad that the Politically Correct contingent of MeFi is reading your posts.

My feelings? The Man Show is like a train wreck. I don't go out of my way to see them, but once one is in view it is very hard to look away no matter how horrible it is.

(Stupid Mozilla. I hope this doesn't get posted twice...)
posted by hadashi at 2:35 PM on July 12, 2001

Essential, perhaps, if you're American.

I'm not at all interested in 'Monday Night Football', 'Softball', 'Jerky', the *cough* 'World Series', the 'Super Bowl', 'Guns', 'Sports Utility Vehicles' (that's a joke, right?) or 'Burritos'.

Although you could quite easily substitute most of those things with more UK-specific pursuits 'Football' (US translation: 'Saw-ker'), 'Cricket', 'Pot Noodle', 'World Cup', 'FA Cup', 'Cars', 'Coupes' and 'Crisps'. :)
posted by metaxa at 2:43 PM on July 12, 2001

The Man Show is just lame, painfully lame. Its not good in a so-dumb-we're-brilliant way, its not good in a offense-but-clever way.

Its comedy central trying to secure the rest of the male 18-35 demographic thats too stupid to get the daily show, or even fighting robots.

The jokes are not offensive here, they're just tired. As mind numbingly tired as Tim Allen grunting like a gorilla.

It does benefit from the CCentral folks usual good web design sense, tho, even if that doesn't make it even slightly funny.
posted by malphigian at 2:48 PM on July 12, 2001

malphigian, is that why Comedy Central insists on putting busty barbie dolls as commentators on Battlebots? I could never figure out, on a show filled with mechanical engineering dropouts and dweebs, why having a playboy playmate ask contestants questions made any sense.
posted by mathowie at 3:21 PM on July 12, 2001

"flat and predictable"

Exactly, BT.

I lived in L.A. when the Man Show debuted and I was a huge fan of the morning radio bits that Adam Corolla and Jimmy Kimmel used to do on KROQ. I was very disappointed when they decided to leave the show to do their own thing and I was even more disappointed when I watched the show.

Flat. Lifeless. Boring. Not nearly as funny as it seemed it should be. Same with that table. Anyone could come up with that stuff. Bo-ring.

I did like the way they did the Flash though -- that was kind of slick.
posted by amanda at 4:11 PM on July 12, 2001

I could never figure out, on a show filled with mechanical engineering dropouts and dweebs, why having a playboy playmate ask contestants questions made any sense.

one of the worst comments i ever caught on battlebots was when one of the female hosts (heidi, i believe) kisses the head of a construction worker-looking bot, the camera cut to the two main hosts and one of them remarked, "i understand there are a lot of pictures on the internet of heidi kissing helmets." ... .. . just wrong.
posted by lotsofno at 4:18 PM on July 12, 2001

I never understood why there's such a trend of "we're guys, we can yell at chicks,

Perhaps its because for the last 15 or so years men have been told that we're "opressive insensitive jerks and god forbid we act the way nature wired us"

It's the whole pendulum of gender equity swinging from one point where women were overly opressed to the point where men are now "automatically" wrong. Reality is in the middle where we accept that men and women are equal but different.
posted by owillis at 5:30 PM on July 12, 2001

but owillis, I think the recent trend is a pendulum swing all the way back, and nowhere near "the middle."

I look at the man show and all I see are guys being proud of the fact that they're acting like self-centered assholes.

Yeah I'll agree that on a very base level, guys like to look at beautiful women, we're wired that way, but is surrounding yourself with strippers, hookers, and beer part of "the way nature wired us?"

The show makes Benny Hill look like Einstein.
posted by mathowie at 5:55 PM on July 12, 2001

[but owillis, I think the recent trend is a pendulum swing all the way back, and nowhere near "the middle."]

In defence of owillis here, pendelums reach the extremes of both sides many, many times before resting in the middle.
posted by revbrian at 6:03 PM on July 12, 2001

I think these shows are a backlash against the current state of gender politics. Sure it's exaggerated, but that's TV (god knows I watch..). I think it's all in fun.

And hey if Lifetime wants to show the "Happy Fun Dumb Dumb Man Hour" or "Inside Chippendales", I say go for it.
posted by owillis at 6:04 PM on July 12, 2001

"And hey if Lifetime wants to show the "Happy Fun Dumb Dumb Man Hour" or "Inside Chippendales", I say go for it."

But I think that's the point. For one reason or another (I have my theories, but that's a different thread), there's no market for a 'Woman Show'. Anyway, I suspect it's entirely possible to create manly comedy for guys without relying on trampolines and bikinis (Red Green Show, anyone?).
posted by jess at 7:05 PM on July 12, 2001

For one reason or another (I have my theories, but that's a different thread), there's no market for a 'Woman Show'.

The reason there's no market for "The Woman Show" is that women already have entire television networks full of stuff that's just as inane as "The Man Show," not to mention most of the daytime TV on the Big 4 US networks.
posted by kindall at 7:20 PM on July 12, 2001

Wah, fucking wah.

I can't believe some of you guys who are standing behind The Man Show as some sort of bastion for your gender and using it as a talking point in regards to your oppression by women. (I can't even type that without snickering.)

Oh, and thanks Kindall for giving us daytime TV. What a horrid invention that is.

I do want to apologize sincerely and deeply for my thoughtless sarcasm regarding the humor or lack thereof on The Man Show. If I hurt your feelings in any way, I think you should be a man and get over it.
posted by amanda at 8:19 PM on July 12, 2001

I've never heard of this Man Show of which you speak.

I do take (very minor) umbrage at the suggestion that beer drinking is intimately related with being a woman-denigrating cheesehead, though. Maybe that's part of the show's anti-charm, I dunno.

Context aside, I was mildly amused by the use of the word 'backdoor' as a verb...
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:33 PM on July 12, 2001

I haven't really watched The Man Show much (I'm not a man!), but I've always been under the impression that it is, on some level, tongue-in-cheek...or at least intentionally designed to be so stupid that it sneakily degrades men rather than women. Therefore, I'm surprised to hear people assigning it enough cultural significance to bother decrying its existence. Has the show been misrepresented to me? Or does the fact that some men might take it seriously make it harmful period, regardless of whether the creators' intentions are satirical?

...Even if I am wrong and the show is meant to be taken seriously, I think that last question is still an interesting one to think about in a broader context, so hopefully my first post here won't be a total bust. :)
posted by lardgrass at 8:43 PM on July 12, 2001

I never said the Man Show was any sort of bastion for the male gender. What I am saying is: the man show revels in boobs, butt jokes, and potty humor. Many men like these things, even though we've been told by women that it's "not proper" to like it. Many women like boo-hoo "woman in danger" movies of the week and sappy neverending soap operas with unbelievably ripped and half naked men traipsing along the beach. So what?

And it's not like the man show doesnt make fun of guys. So we scratch ourselves, belch and watch sports. Not all of us wear tweed jackets and listen to NPR (most of us don't), so why not have fun with the whole thing?

Men and women aren't just the same beings with a couple different body parts, there are real differences there. Instead of one group trying to mold the other into this silly thing, can't we enjoy the differences?

(Geez. Maybe this is what happens when you're raised by a feminist. Argh.)
posted by owillis at 11:31 PM on July 12, 2001

> Yeah, goddamn those fat guys anyway. How dare they
> show themselves in public.

It sounds as if you're plumping for an argument about obesity, Aaron, but you shouldn't give the remark too much weight. I think he was just saying that the show glorifies yobs who drink too much stout and are proud of it.
posted by pracowity at 11:42 PM on July 12, 2001

I could care less about it not being 'pc'. And as owillis said, the man show is also making fun of all the 'cliches' men are often known for.

My only problem with it is it's simply not done very well, and as a result, is not very funny.

But if 'the view' is still on the air I see no problem with 'the man show' existing.
posted by justgary at 11:43 PM on July 12, 2001

What's this 'the view' about?
posted by pracowity at 7:54 AM on July 13, 2001

you shouldn't give the remark too much weight

Smile when you pun like that, pracowity.

I have watched and even laughed at The Man Show....please don't hate me
posted by briank at 8:26 AM on July 13, 2001

I'm with Jess. Red Green Show all the way. The Man Show is just tired. Nothing me and my buddies didn't think was the height of hilarity...right around the 7th grade.
posted by edlark at 9:40 AM on July 13, 2001

The View is horrifying.
posted by amanda at 9:57 AM on July 13, 2001

It's lovely from here. You ought to move.
posted by pracowity at 2:12 AM on July 14, 2001