You can tell no one here is high. It sucks.
August 3, 2015 10:20 AM   Subscribe

The Onion has released the first installment of their newest series: EDGE.

EDGE is a direct parody of HBO immersion journalism series/media empire VICE.

Episode One: "Beyond The Brink: How The Israeli Occupation Has Made It Impossible For Palestinians To Score Drugs."
posted by joechip (27 comments total) 18 users marked this as a favorite
 
EDGE is a direct parody of HBO immersive journalism series/media empire VICE.

And here I thought they were starting in early on making fun of the new Windows 10 browser.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:36 AM on August 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


This is almost pitch perfect. All it needs now are some completely unnecessary (and patronizing) English subtitles to people speaking English with a foreign accent.
posted by lmfsilva at 10:39 AM on August 3, 2015 [14 favorites]


Paging Phil Greaves ... Greaves, to the front desk? Greaves?
posted by Rustic Etruscan at 11:06 AM on August 3, 2015


This is pretty good. I'm also a fan of this VICE twitter parody.
posted by naju at 11:08 AM on August 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


Ever since the "Thousands Of Elderly Japanese-Americans Rounded Up For Internment Camp’s 70th Reunion" article a couple of years ago, I can't really take The Onion any more. There were a couple more of these recently that caused me to stop following them altogether.

Yes, the juxtaposition of incongruous ideas is a staple in humor, but that doesn't mean it always makes for a good joke.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:14 AM on August 3, 2015


> "Thousands Of Elderly Japanese-Americans Rounded Up For Internment Camp’s 70th Reunion"

Y'see, that headline all on its own made me laugh.

Not that I think the internments were funny - quite the reverse - but this parody is particularly spicy because it reminds people - "Within living memory your own government rounded up innocent people and put them in internment camps because of the color of their skin."

Really good humor is pointy and sharp and will poke you in uncomfortable areas...

See also: The Onion Has Become America's Finest Marxist News Source.
posted by lupus_yonderboy at 11:22 AM on August 3, 2015 [34 favorites]


Definitely glad someone is parodying VICE.
posted by cell divide at 11:24 AM on August 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Well, agreeing with the pitch perfect nature of the segment. (Also, kudos on their video player working on my crappy DSL without a hitch.)

humboldt32: "Ever since the "Thousands Of Elderly Japanese-Americans Rounded Up For Internment Camp’s 70th Reunion" article a couple of years ago, I can't really take The Onion any more. There were a couple more of these recently that caused me to stop following them altogether.

Yes, the juxtaposition of incongruous ideas is a staple in humor, but that doesn't mean it always makes for a good joke.
"

Well, when you decide to really do humor, sometimes you go too far. It's the nature of the beast. How do you know edge cases if you don't explore where the edge actually is?
posted by Samizdata at 11:29 AM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


This is almost pitch perfect. All it needs now are some completely unnecessary (and patronizing) English subtitles to people speaking English with a foreign accent.

Like say the English.
posted by srboisvert at 11:30 AM on August 3, 2015 [3 favorites]


Like say the English.

Whilst they are punching hell out of each other... that's totally what we do every weekend
posted by fearfulsymmetry at 11:38 AM on August 3, 2015


Even after years as an Internet denizen, I've hardly ever found myself saying to myself, "Wow, this is…offensive." So thank you, Onion, for pushing my buttons. While you were doing what you do best, the actual message that things suck for Palestinians came through loud and clear. And it was pretty funny. The Clueless White Guy character hasn't gotten old yet, for me.
posted by kozad at 11:41 AM on August 3, 2015


I started enjoying the Onion much more once I understood that ultimately every piece is coming from a place of incandescent and existential anger.
posted by PMdixon at 11:46 AM on August 3, 2015 [32 favorites]


I love the Onion, but that fell flat right out of the gate.
posted by Catblack at 11:48 AM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


Video crapped out for me before things really got going, but the intro is certainly just about pitch perfect.
posted by brennen at 11:54 AM on August 3, 2015


How do you know edge cases if you don't explore where the edge actually is?
posted by Samizdata at 1:29 PM on August 3

I see what you did there.
posted by symbioid at 11:59 AM on August 3, 2015


could there be some kind of indication this plays (and is loud) on clicking? (i naively thought onion meant text and nearly jumped out my skin).
posted by andrewcooke at 12:08 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


I am so torn about Vice. The online stuff is such clickbait, but the HBO show is some of the best journalism being done today. I'm willing to tolerate the former so that we can have the latter.
posted by jbickers at 12:13 PM on August 3, 2015


I saw it when posted to one of the Gawker media blogs, but the EDGE's official twitter is hilarious:

This season on @EDGEtv: We hold a Geiger counter up to these orphans of war.
posted by rosswald at 12:18 PM on August 3, 2015 [2 favorites]


Also, I really wish The Onion would bring back Joad Cressbeckler. There was so much more they could've done with that character.
posted by jbickers at 12:24 PM on August 3, 2015 [5 favorites]


This is excellent. I am always surprised at how frequently the Onion nails a joke. They produce a ton of content, and I find... I'm willing to say the majority of it being a quality joke (even if it is beaten to death at times). I struggle to think of anything else that hits more often than it misses.
posted by dios at 12:33 PM on August 3, 2015


Oh, and "spikey as fuck" while pointing to a cactus may be the best thing I have seen in an opening credits sequences before.
posted by dios at 12:36 PM on August 3, 2015 [4 favorites]


I've watched that 20-second intro six times and I keep noticing new jokes. I think my favorite one is the Shane Smith analogue leaping back in terror from a baking soda and vinegar volcano produced by a small child
posted by theodolite at 12:42 PM on August 3, 2015 [1 favorite]


The HBO show is some of the best journalism being done today.

I'd agree that they are doing important stories nobody else seems to have time for (who does long-form video journalism anyway?) but I dunno, I feel like I'm too old or they're too cool and detached or something. I always feel like David Carr.
posted by Ogre Lawless at 1:02 PM on August 3, 2015


I want to drive a tank off a cliff into a river.
Only slightly more than I want to see the next episode about the first camel to escape from North Korea.
posted by dios at 1:07 PM on August 3, 2015


I am so torn about Vice. The online stuff is such clickbait, but the HBO show is some of the best journalism being done today. I'm willing to tolerate the former so that we can have the latter.

Other than being at times a bit patronizing towards subjects or the viewer, I love Vice on HBO. It's beautifully shot (when they're not risking being shot at, that is), deals with a lot of subjects most people don't even know about.

The site, for all the clickbaiting it does, at least gets a bit more creative than "You won't believe what this baby, and a puppy with a 12-gauge shotgun did in Disneyworld" or "Things you remember if you were a white suburban American kid born between 1980 and 1995". Not saying that it's a quality product, but it beats facebook fodder farms like Upworthy or pre "hey, we can now actually sign actual journalists?" Buzzfeed.
posted by lmfsilva at 1:08 PM on August 3, 2015


fell flat for me too.
And I came here to laugh, I love edgy humor.
posted by Fupped Duck at 2:15 PM on August 3, 2015


It didn't make me laugh, but I still loved it because I have a burning hatred for VICE that will never die.
posted by teponaztli at 3:24 AM on August 4, 2015 [2 favorites]


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