The Smithsonian Museum of Dad Trolling

November 26, 2010 9:26 AM

Zach Weiner guest-stripping for XKCD. Previously, Zach Weiner guest-stripping for Dinosaur Comics.
posted by Rory Marinich (53 comments total)

guest-stripping

I am not sure I want to click on those links.
posted by ArgentCorvid at 9:31 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

Bwahahahaha. Sudden WKRP flashback: Bailey giving Les Nessman a hard time about all his kooky miswords in a news report about a swim meet: "And they were doing the breast stroke, not BREAST STROKING!"
posted by Gator at 9:36 AM on November 26, 2010

"Alcohol is poison. I drink to save you from it."

Haha.
posted by defenestration at 9:40 AM on November 26, 2010

I like the inclusiveness of the washrooms. There's triangle, square AND pentagon.

Also, I can't help wondering what kind of concessions those are, exactly.

"Well, okay, maybe the dinosaurs didn't go extinct because they didn't eat their broccoli."
posted by ODiV at 9:40 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Oh awesome. I didn't realize you could click at first!
posted by ODiV at 9:41 AM on November 26, 2010 [5 favorites]

I'm guessing this isn't Zach, the CPalsied dude who should have won the Oprah Gives Away A TV Show contest. I wish it were, because Zach in the wheelchair is just outstandingly awesome.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:46 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

Star Wars is a documentary. No, seriously..
posted by Ahab at 9:46 AM on November 26, 2010

No, it's Zach of the also-awesome SMBC.
posted by DU at 9:56 AM on November 26, 2010

Are there any easter eggs in it?
posted by Theta States at 9:59 AM on November 26, 2010

Are there any easter eggs in it?

Fun fact from the Museum: Easter eggs are the eggs laid by Jesus.
posted by mightygodking at 9:59 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

France: fact or fiction.

*we have a winner*
posted by liza at 10:02 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

This is the funniest thing that has ever appeared on XKCD by at least two orders of magnitude.
posted by Zozo at 10:18 AM on November 26, 2010 [5 favorites]

Is Zach Weiner the Alan Smithee of internet comics, or am I missing something?
posted by Bathtub Bobsled at 10:21 AM on November 26, 2010

At first I was like meh, but then I RTFM and I was like lol.
posted by tybeet at 10:37 AM on November 26, 2010

I'm guessing this isn't Zach, the CPalsied dude who should have won the Oprah Gives Away A TV Show contest. I wish it were, because Zach in the wheelchair is just outstandingly awesome.

That was Zach Anner

Is Zach Weiner the Alan Smithee of internet comics, or am I missing something?

Uh, no it's a guy named Zach Weiner, who does comics and occasionally guest draws other comics. I'm really confused about all the confusion here.
posted by delmoi at 10:39 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

My favorite little section of the museum is, by far, the "Conservatory of Poorly Remembered History". More specifically: "France: FACT or FICTION?"
So hilarious.
posted by MHPlost at 10:42 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I had never heard the term "dad trolling" before, but am now in love with the idea. The best part is that the first thing I thought of as an example (ie. Calvin's dad's explanations) is one of the first hits if you Google dad trolling.
posted by drezdn at 10:45 AM on November 26, 2010

I'm a little confused, is this Zach Efron?
posted by found missing at 10:47 AM on November 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

I literally just clicked over to Metafilter after having checked XKCD for the first time this week. So, wow coincidence.
posted by notsnot at 10:49 AM on November 26, 2010

drezdn: I'm pretty sure this type of thing is one of the primary motivations for men to have children.
posted by ODiV at 10:52 AM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

I didn't know Zach Galifianakis could draw. Weird.
posted by Theta States at 11:08 AM on November 26, 2010

Pff. That's not xkcd. These stick figures have shoulders, hips, fingers! (no jaw bones though)
posted by joost de vries at 11:11 AM on November 26, 2010

No, it's Zachary Quinto, mathowie's secret identity. Oops, don't tell anyone I said that.*



*metatrolling
posted by oneswellfoop at 11:12 AM on November 26, 2010

The other guest strips have been pretty funny too. Apparently there's a lot of cartoonists who secretly have ideas for XKCD-style humor.
posted by straight at 11:18 AM on November 26, 2010

The other guest strips have been pretty funny too.

Including one by Bill Amend, who also guested for Penny Arcade a while back.

Pretty plugged in for a syndicated newspaper guy!
posted by kenko at 11:22 AM on November 26, 2010

There's also an xkdc guest strip this week by the guy who does FoxTrot. I know web comic guest strips are a pretty usual thing but I've never seen a web comic guest strip by a newspaper comic. That's pretty unusual, no?
posted by amethysts at 11:26 AM on November 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

jinx
posted by amethysts at 11:26 AM on November 26, 2010

I thought a Zach Braff strip would be a lot more quirkily sensitive.
posted by FelliniBlank at 11:29 AM on November 26, 2010

SMBC is the one webcomic I make a point of reading every day. Ever notice Zach Weiner occasionally posts a comic that seems directly related to a recent Metafilter post? This one comes to mind, but I vaguely remember a few more over the last ~year.
posted by Lorin at 11:37 AM on November 26, 2010

For bonus points, play "Where's Cory?" at the museum.
posted by bashos_frog at 11:38 AM on November 26, 2010

You know what would be really awesome? A Foxtrot guest strip by a webcomic guy (xkcd, Ryan North or SMBC Zach would be my favourites).
posted by beepbeepboopboop at 11:42 AM on November 26, 2010

Zach Taylor? I'm surprised he's still alive.
posted by AsYouKnow Bob at 11:46 AM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

Seriously, this week of guest strips have been the highest concentration of awesomeness in the history of xkcd (which usually averages one bit of awesomeness every week or two). Weiner's strip had 26 clickable gags (which had to be orgasmic for both himself and the equally sub-text-loving Munroe). Amend had 3 good gags, plus a classic xkcd "sudo" reference. David Troupes did a great piece of 'romantic deconstruction'. Jeffrey Rowland brought out his inner nerd in a way he never could in his regular strip, just as Jeph Jacques' "meeting of the internal monologues' revealed a previously-unseen sense of the surreal. And the week-before's previously unpublished Five Minute Comics were 28 examples that Munroe can be wonderfully silly when he isn't self-consciously editing himself. Will we ever accept a "return to normal"?
posted by oneswellfoop at 12:01 PM on November 26, 2010 [2 favorites]

What is that on the floor in the Hall Of Misunderstood Science?
posted by maryr at 12:08 PM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

I have to say I thought Bill Amend's were funnier.
posted by ropeladder at 1:04 PM on November 26, 2010

What is that on the floor in the Hall Of Misunderstood Science?

At first I thought it was just a little bench thrown in for realism, and then I thought, that's silly, and then I noticed a lot of other little non-basic-stickfigure types floating around. Like Cory Doctorow, complete with cape and goggles, right in the top center of the comic (in the hallway between the Misunderstood Science and Regrettable Pranks sections).

On the subject of guest comics, I do wish print comics did this sort of thing more often.
posted by Gator at 1:06 PM on November 26, 2010

Dad Trolling is the best part of my day, and now it has a name. I am eternally grateful to Zach for this.

p.s. My daughter currently tells my wife that in French, ninety-five is pronounced 'ninty-foof', as in, "This old laptop is still running Windows Ninty-Foof!"
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:09 PM on November 26, 2010

There's a man wearing a black hat on top of a black hat near the pentagon bathroom.
posted by kenko at 1:22 PM on November 26, 2010

"Ground Beef: Beef We Found on the Ground"
posted by cmgonzalez at 1:57 PM on November 26, 2010

maybe he does read Metafilter.....
posted by The Whelk at 2:08 PM on November 26, 2010 [4 favorites]

In the absence of kids to troll I do this to my friends. My reputation as Nerdy Trivia Girl means it works sometimes, which is really fun.

The best one was when I convinced a guy (who worked in law enforcement) that if he stepped on the streetcar rail he'd get electrocuted, just like the third rail on a New York subway. There were only the two rails, but nevermind that -- a well-timed fake panic goes a long way.

I am amazed that I still have friends.
posted by cmyk at 2:09 PM on November 26, 2010 [3 favorites]

Dad trolling: We used to have a pub on the corner, and the pub had a side garden with a small disused row boat in it. My husband told our niece that the boat belonged to the foxes who lived in the garden, and that they used it each summer to row to France for their holidays.

She totally bought it. She thought this was utterly magical.

Come to think of it, this is possibly my husband's favourite game. He has trained my niece well. If you ask her "What do you say when you see a policeman, Ellie?" she'll instantly tell you "YOU'LL NEVER TAKE ME ALIVE, COPPER!"
posted by DarlingBri at 4:54 PM on November 26, 2010 [15 favorites]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned SMBC Theater. It is another project that Zach Weiner co-created with James Ashby. Together with their friends they've made over 80 videos and their hit ratio is amazing.

Dating Solutions is a great one to start with. Mad Scientist is a fantastic riff on the Saw series.
posted by the biscuit man at 7:28 PM on November 26, 2010 [1 favorite]

The idea of either or both of my grandmothers on Saturn, getting revenge, didn't tickle my funnybone--it superglued a Hitachi Magic Wand to my funnybond.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:05 PM on November 26, 2010

AS IF the collective powers of metafilter can't figure out what is on the floor in the Hall Of Misunderstood Science.

My faith in the hivemind is waning, people. Come back to me.
posted by Theta States at 8:59 PM on November 26, 2010

I'm surprised no one has mentioned SMBC Theater.

It should also be mentioned that they released their videos as a pay-what-you-want torrent as well as DVD.

On principle alone, I gave them $10.
posted by Theta States at 9:18 PM on November 26, 2010

So is 'Zach Weiner' his real name or just his porn name.

It must have been pretty weird to live on Weiner Street. Was it in Boystown, though? Lots of good restaurants there.
posted by hal_c_on at 10:04 PM on November 26, 2010

The thing on the floor in the Hall Of Misunderstood Science - a flying ferret of course.

(thanks to the XKCD forum)
posted by spongeboy at 12:16 AM on November 27, 2010

Ohhhhhhhh!

Yeah, it looked like some poor mountain lion scotch-taped to the ground. It probably just looks larger due to perspective, being closer to a birdseye view since it's in the air and all.
posted by maryr at 12:30 AM on November 27, 2010

Wait, XKCD got Bill Amend of Foxtrot to make a guest comic? That's impressive.
posted by malapropist at 12:38 AM on November 27, 2010

I like this comic even more now knowing he worked in a reference to one of the earliest strips.
posted by Theta States at 9:28 AM on November 27, 2010

Wow. Even though I'm a long-time reader of both SMBC and XKCD, the thought somehow didn't occur to me that weiner's guest strip was A) clickable and B) not incredibly boring like it looks if you don't know it was clickable. thanks odiv!
posted by tehloki at 2:55 PM on November 27, 2010

Boo to those saying XKCD is not complete awesomesauce each and every strip. EACH AND EVERY ONE I TELL YOU!

Also, my daughter is 5 months old and I've been looking forward to dad-trolling her since before I met her mother. (I just didn't know it was called dad-trolling, I was gonna go with "Calvin, the invisible boy who lives on top of your shelf, his dad told me that every time you step on a crack in the sidewalk a star goes out, and he's an astrophysicist so he knows!)
posted by dolface at 3:03 PM on November 27, 2010