The Angriest Man in the World

October 5, 2010 4:44 AM

Winnebago Man is the name given to a set of outakes from a 1987 instructional video presented by Jack Rebney. As Rebney swore, thumped and shouted his way through the virtues of said RV, the crew captured it all, and tapes circulated and eventually made him a YouTube hit. Ben Steinbauer went to find Jack, to discover what he made of his online notoriety, and eventually deliver him to his audience to see whether they were what he expected. (If you;'re in the UK, you can watch the film here.)(

Note: I had never heard of this clip until I watched the documentary, but still found it rather touching.

posted by mippy (38 comments total)

Bum, actually found the video I was looking for: interview with Jack Rebney today.
posted by mippy at 4:46 AM on October 5, 2010

Metafilter, could you do me a kindness? Drop whatever horseshit you're doing and go see this documentary.

Don't slam the fucking door, Metafilter!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 4:53 AM on October 5, 2010 [4 favorites]

I met Jack at a screening in New York and found him to be warm, funny and genuinely happy that people identify with the winnebago outakes.
posted by AJaffe at 5:21 AM on October 5, 2010

I remember the original videos-- they had me on the floor. I wanted to post this a few weeks ago, but it would have been self-linky -- we've been printing shirts for Steinbauer - he's a really nice guy. See the movie.
posted by Devils Rancher at 5:24 AM on October 5, 2010

Rebney certainly swears alot, but it's clear he's not a true asshole. There's something valid and defensible about pure frustration and anger in the absence of douchery and pigheadedness. When he asks for a towel and giggles when it's thrown at him, he gathers the sympathy of his audience. It's a feeling without a name, when you want to laugh and cry and swear at the same time.
posted by joecacti at 5:37 AM on October 5, 2010 [5 favorites]

I agree. It's a great piece of footage. Completely human, completely unselfconscious as he trudges grimly up Golgotha.
posted by Ritchie at 5:43 AM on October 5, 2010

Previously... http://www.metafilter.com/64518/Flliiiieeeeeees, http://www.metafilter.com/34181/Does-Cheney-have-a-salesman-in-the-family
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 5:59 AM on October 5, 2010

Times like this I wish I'd ponied up for a sockpuppet account named Al Swearingen so's I could explain how I really don't see what the big motherfucking deal about this cocksucker is.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 6:10 AM on October 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

The film was great. I was fully expecting him not to co-operate at all, but to see his reaction to a room full of 'room temperature IQs' cheering for him was lovely.
posted by mippy at 6:26 AM on October 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Saw the movie, pretty great.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 6:28 AM on October 5, 2010

What the fuck am I looking at goddammit?!
posted by punkfloyd at 6:39 AM on October 5, 2010

I like the Zen Ninja moment around 3:40 where he grabs the (goddam, fucking, sonofabitch) fly. This is awesome. Plus, he has one of those movie trailer voiceover voices where even the swearing has gravitas. I love this guy.
posted by biscotti at 6:55 AM on October 5, 2010

Am I just imagining it or is Steinbauer using higher-quality copies of the outtakes? The YouTube versions look like someone's fifth generation VHS copies of Debbie Does Dallas.
posted by crapmatic at 7:03 AM on October 5, 2010

They went through that in the film - they were dubbed and shared and dubbed again. Presumably he managed to get his hands on a first or second-generation copy.
posted by mippy at 7:09 AM on October 5, 2010

The fact that Jack has a pitbull named Buddha is amusing to me. Very.
posted by Brockles at 7:22 AM on October 5, 2010

Go see this movie, and then, perhaps, go purchase some accoutrema.
posted by DiscourseMarker at 7:29 AM on October 5, 2010

I just wanted to share my little brush with Jack Rebney fame. Some years back, I was pulling a stint at Kinko's. During that time Jack was a fairly regular customer. Because his personality can be somewhat jarring, he ended up frustrating and/or scaring most of the staff at our location. He lived up in Shingletown (outside of Redding, CA), the same town I grew up in. It's a mountain community with a reputation for abrasive personalities. Since I had grown up with people like this, he didn't bother me in the least, so I became his go-to guy. I had a number of fairly in-depth conversations (as in-depth as you can have in a Kinko's) with him. As you might imagine, he's not the easiest person to get to open up, but I thought I got a chance to get to know him a bit. And while he may be a bit gruff, he is an incredibly genuine person.

But... I wouldn't want to cross him. Even though he was in his late 60's / early 70's when I knew him, he was still a physically intimidating person. At the time he must have been something on the order of six-three or six-four and well built. He has a commanding presence when he enters the room and powerful command of the English language. In fact, I remember one instance where a woman quite angrily accused him of hitting her car in the parking lot. He used his linguistic skills to berate the woman for what seemed like three or four minutes, leaving her with mouth open and nearly in tears. She left without saying another word and he turned back to me as though it were a normal course of the day.

Outside of my co-workers, he was one of the people that I missed seeing when I left there.
posted by bionic.junkie at 7:36 AM on October 5, 2010 [5 favorites]

Agree. He comes across as a difficult personality, but there is real warmth there too. Deep down, but it's there. It's a wonderful film.
posted by jontyjago at 7:45 AM on October 5, 2010

The quintessential still of Rebney, arms splayed and standing in front of an RV, lacking caption or other sourcing, has graced my cubical wall for the last five years or so. It is a warden of my professional sanity.
posted by Fezboy! at 7:50 AM on October 5, 2010

bionic.junkie: "Some years back, I was pulling a stint at Kinko's. During that time Jack was a fairly regular customer. Because his personality can be somewhat jarring, he ended up frustrating and/or scaring most of the staff at our location. He lived up in Shingletown (outside of Redding, CA), the same town I grew up in. It's a mountain community with a reputation for abrasive personalities"

Kinkos in the northern CA hinterland has to be the global headquarters of Crazy Manifesto printing and binding.
posted by l33tpolicywonk at 7:57 AM on October 5, 2010 [5 favorites]

90 percent of his yelling in the famous clip is at himself for not remembering his dialogue. I can sympathize.
posted by Astro Zombie at 8:01 AM on October 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

For the first time in my life, I have the urge to buy a Winnebago.
posted by mazola at 8:04 AM on October 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

Go see this movie, and then, perhaps, go purchase some accoutrema.

Accoutrema?!
posted by Horace Rumpole at 8:05 AM on October 5, 2010

Metafilter: Global headquarters of Crazy Manifesto printing and binding.
posted by bionic.junkie at 8:09 AM on October 5, 2010 [3 favorites]

I'd certainly use the guy, Rebney, for V.O. work. He has a great voice.
posted by bz at 8:09 AM on October 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is a great movie - I really enjoyed it with Ms. Glaucon!
posted by glaucon at 8:15 AM on October 5, 2010

Definitely worth watching, I saw this when it was on the BBC. I had a vague inkling that I'd seen some of the clips before but I wasn't familiar with what became catchphrases. You don't need familiarity with the clips to find this an interesting story though.
posted by vbfg at 8:16 AM on October 5, 2010

I remember these videos and have had the documentary in my NF queue for a while. Thanks for the reminder.

And yeah, he's not that angry. He just swears a lot.

I once worked for a man who was much, much angrier. He was likewise funny but with more redness and spittle.

A lot of Rebney's "angry" commentaries are self-deprecating. That's not something you see from someone who is really angry. You can't be the angriest man in the world without redness and spittle.

Also, if he were really an angry man, he would have blown up when Tony threw that "ta'al"

FUCK, SHIT, SON OF A BITCH, JESUS CHRIST!

Accoutrema?!

I get so goddamn diuretic when I sit here!

...

So ... who's the beatboxing fellow at the end? I want more.
posted by mrgrimm at 9:17 AM on October 5, 2010

I don't want any more bullshit any time during the day.
From anyone.
That includes me.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 9:33 AM on October 5, 2010

Accoutrements.
posted by FatherDagon at 9:33 AM on October 5, 2010

I'd watch this but my mind is a piece of shit this morning!
posted by chaff at 9:37 AM on October 5, 2010

This makes me want to go watch Tourette's Guy again.

*stares angrily, abruptly slaps salt shaker off the table*
FUCK SALT!
posted by entropicamericana at 10:02 AM on October 5, 2010

I don't want any more bullshit any time during the day.
From anyone.
That includes me.

This is my ringtone.
posted by Fezboy! at 11:00 AM on October 5, 2010

This is the best thing ever.
posted by everichon at 11:34 AM on October 5, 2010

He comes across as a difficult personality, but there is real warmth there too.

Curmudgeons are curmudgeonly because they care.
posted by StickyCarpet at 11:49 AM on October 5, 2010 [1 favorite]

He loathes the Internet and what he sees as the basic stupidity of Americans, but his greatest hatred is saved for Dick Cheney, whom he quite reasonably claims has ruined this country.

Dad?
posted by nola at 6:11 PM on October 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Guy needs some seratonin or he's going to pop.
posted by Trochanter at 8:21 PM on October 5, 2010

I am frankly amazed to discover this guy hasn't died of a heart attack.

This film's playing here in Seattle later this week. With all these endorsements, will definitely try to check it out.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:20 PM on October 5, 2010