#he just has some of the funniest nonsense delivery ever

[priestfrommidnightmass]

this random thing i was watching jsut remidned me of that stupid ass video of jack dylan grazer pretending to be a youtuber and i just wanted to take a quick second to thank him for his impact as an unintentional comedic legend. he is involved in at least 5 of the funniest videos ever i’ve seen

[wonderfulworldofmichaelford]

Michael in the Mainstream: The Suicide Squad

Suicide Squad has frequently been touted as one of the worst comic book movies ever, and honestly? I don’t really agree, even if I almost wholeheartedly agree with every criticism of it. The editing is bad, the story is a mess, the Squad’s friendship is nonexistent, characters like Waller act like absolute idiots, Enchantress is a bad character and an absurd villain for these people to face… And yet, the core cast of scoundrels are all pretty likable when you wipe off the crap they’re buried under. These characters all could have shined bright if they were given competent writing and direction; the ideas are there, but the execution is unbelievably flawed due to excessive executive meddling (and probably a bit of pretentiousness on director David Ayer’s part). If only there was a director capable of taking the concept of a bunch of C-list villains getting together and performing dangerous missions and, along the way, becoming a found family…

That director thankfully exists, and his name is James Gunn. Gunn has already shown twice that he is capable of doing “a bunch of assholes become a found family” really well with the two Guardians of the Galaxy films, films that have a lot of style and flair that help make them the best films in the MCU, and considering Suicide Squad was mangled the way it was to try and be more in line with his Guardians films, it only makes sense to pull him in to give Task Force X another shot. Why settle for imitations when you can get the real thing? It’s not like he was doing anything else while Mickey Mouse put him in time out for naughty tweets, after all.

But this isn’t Gunn under the thumb of the Mouse, oh no; this is Gunn allowed to go absolutely wild. This is Gunn given the budget of a modern superhero film and asked to make a Troma picture, with all the blood, gore, and cheesiness that entails, and by god did he pull it off. Right from the get go we are given a taste of just what sort of movie we’re in for as a mangy child-murdering weasel man shows up and Nathan Fillion detaches his arms from his body to gently tap enemy soldiers on the head, and somehow things only get wackier from there.

Gunn seemed to actively go out of his way to fix every single problem of the original film. The characters, for instance, are all fairly similar to those of the first film. Bloodsport is clearly the stand in for Deadshot, but where Deadshot was just your average charming, funny Will Smith role to the point it could get distracting, Idris Elba makes Bloodsport a tired straight man to the wacky antics around him and portrays his growth through the film very well. Peacemaker is the jackass of the team in the vein of Captain Boomerang, but where Boomerang had little use in the narrative despite being the best and funniest non-Harley member of the team, Peacemaker is given his full due, with John Cena making him one of the funniest assholes ever put to film and even giving him a bit of depth and moral complexity. King Shark, AKA Nanaue, is obviously Killer Croc’s replacement, but where Croc was bland and really just stood in the background the whole movie, Nanaue is a sweet, charming, funny oaf with brutal strength who is just absolutely lovable and adorable, all capped off with hilarious vocal delivery from Sylvester Stallone himself. Polka-Dot Man is something of a replacement for El Diablo, though while El Diablo was really bungled by the narrative despite being well-acted and sympathetic, Polka-Dot Man is given ample opportunity to be funny, tragic, and useful all at once, and gives him a bit of an arc (pretty impressive for a character who was added in solely because Gunn googled who the lamest DC villains were). And finally, Ratcatcher is something of the replacement for Katana, being the second woman of the squad and the token good teammate, though where Katana was awkwardly shoehorned in at the last minute, Ratcatcher is clearly the heart of this team and brings the band together. Overall, the new Squad is leagues better than the original, and you will care for this band of criminals by the film’s end.

Returning characters get their due as well, particularly the ones really screwed over by the first film Waller and Flag get it the best of all. In the first film, Waller’s entire scheme was stupid, nonsensical, contradictory, and basically everything she did went against what was told to us about her, namely that she is a master manipulator. It was really a waste of Viola Davis, who had the presence and mannerisms down but who was constantly being failed by a shoddy script. Thankfully, that’s not the case here; Waller is very much the ultimate, manipulative girlboss she should be, from using her own troops as a distraction for another team to threatening Bloodsport with his daughter getting raped and murdered in prison over a minor offense if he doesn’t join her Suicide Squad. She is a stone cold bitch you will love to hate, and is easily one of the best comic book villains in film now (quite the turnaround all things considered). Flag is an actual character in this movie, with great chemistry with the members of the new Squad, particularly Bloodsport and Harley. Much like Bloodsport, he also gets a bit of a rivalry with Peacemaker going, which ends up being entertaining and even leads to a truly sad moment late in the film. Quite impressive for a guy who did nothing but spout awkward exposition in the first film.

Then we have Harley. I’m going to be honest, Harley has never been written better than she was in this film. While Robbie has had the character down from day one, the scripts have consistently failed her. The original film did nothing with her but sexualize her and have her spout crappy one-liners, and while Birds of Prey was a massive step up and had her written as she should be, the overall narrative of that film didn’t quite give her the due she deserved due to her feeling like a passive character pushed around by the flow of the plot. Here, though, Harley fully grasps at what’s given to and takes charge when she can, leading to one of the best action scenes in a film full of them. She ahs great interactions with her teammates and is just consistently funnier than she ever has been before, and it makes me happy to know someone who loves this character as much as Robbie does is finally getting to truly shine as she deserves.

The music and editing are vastly better. Remember how the original film had a new licensed song every minute, and almost all of them made no sense, and the music that played for Deadshot was exclusively rap artists (which was lowkey kinda racist)? Well, Gunn is bringing his ability to weave songs into the narrative with this one, but he also gives plenty of time for the music composed for the film to shine. As for the editing, gone are the obtrusive comic-book style cards that announce stupid throwaway details (and in a few cases, plot points you will very likely miss), replaced by more amusing and less obtrusive gags. The movie is also cut in a way where, you know, it makes sense. Everything flows naturally, and while there are a couple of points where time rewinds so we can see how we got to a certain point, it’s never so confusing that you can’t follow it.

The stakes are vastly overhauled. It made zero sense in the first film that Waller would assemble a team that consists of people whose powers range from “is good with weapons” to “is an Aztec fire god” to “is a big ugly crocodile man” to take on Superman-level threats. This is like if you sent a Boy Scout troop to fight Godzilla, it’s just not gonna end well and there’s an absurd disparity in power levels. Here, the team is being sent on a general black ops mission and have their skills selected by who would be most useful for the mission, and while they do end up taking on something a bit outside their context in the form of a certain cyclopean starfish alien, it’s a bit easier to swallow because of the buildup and because “big angry alien” is a lot more sensible as a threat to black op vigilantes than “ancient interdimensional witch goddess with a zombie army.”

Most importantly, though, is that this film lives up to its title. This is very much a suicide mission, and where the last team made it out relatively unscathed, this film suffers a lot of casualties. Characters die for gags, characters die suddenly, you might think a character is going to be a big, important part of the plot only for them to be dispatched right when it seems they’re getting going. For a film like this, it works perfectly, and some of the deaths are absolutely hilarious. That being said, you can kind of predict who lives and who dies based on star power alone; do you really think Harley’s gonna bite it? Come on.

I don’t really have many issues with the movie, but I will reiterate: this is essentially a Troma film with a massive budget, made by one of their alumni. Troma is a studio that makes gory, gross, and awesome B-grade movies and a similar irreverent mentality is on display here. If you can stomach gore, violence, and absurdity then this is a film you’re probably going to get into, but it’s definitely not the kind of comic book movie for everyone. Thankfully, it is exactly the kind of comic book movie for me. It honestly feels like the sort of movie I’d want to make, where I take a bunch of stupid C-list villains with dumb powers and give them actual development and characterization to the point the audience feels something for them. You’re going to be moved by a girl who controls rats, a stupid shark man, and a depressed dude who shoots polka-dots from his hands, and you’re not going to care.

I really hope they follow this up with another one, especially if they bring James Gunn back. There were a lot of characters he considered for the team, and a lot of them have potential, be that hilarious or dramatic. I mean, the man considered Mr. Freeze, that guy could be one hell of a leading man! Round out the team with some of the considered ideas like Rainbow Creature, Solomon Grundy, Chemo, Livewire, Punch and Jewelee, Man-Bat, Dogwelder, and the almighty Kite Man, and you’ve got one hell of a Suicide Squad! Also, maybe get Gunn to consider Crazy Quilt and Condiment King.

Really, the possibilities are endless, and that’s what the fun of a Suicide Squad movie should be: seeing the dumbest dregs of comic book history thrown into a place where they’re probably going to die horribly. Gunn managed to get that when Ayer couldn’t, and the results are perhaps his magnum opus. This is Gunn at his best and most free, unchained from the restrictions of forcing a film to tie into a bunch of others while also using all the tricks of his signature style to craft a damn fine film that easily holds up on its own outside the context of the DCEU. These are the kind of comic book movies we need, so let’s hope this film gets the respect it deserves so it acts as a wakeup call for studios content to churn out

[vaguely-concerned]

The Mandalorian season 2 ep 1 AGAIN! it’s the rewatch folks

- The entire last season reminder/intro scene is kind of clunky and we’re-hitting-you-over-the-head-with-this, but I think it’s important to note that it’s probably meant for the vast majority of people who watched this stuff once a wholeass year ago, and not for me, the crazy person who watched each episode at least five times lol

- 

I like the way mando & bb walk from darkness into brief light and back into darkness here... the directors keep finding such cool ways of using the armour cinematically, there must be some lighting considerations to be made when your main character is essentially a walking disco ball. I enjoy the mood of this planet too -- the distant lights, the way the sky isn’t quite dark like there’s a city providing some light pollution nearby (it’s a bit clearer as he walks further into the... town? that it’s not just sunset, the sky is lit up weirdly) 

also when din moves towards the camera and out of sight in this first appearance, the signet is the very last thing that leaves the frame! I just thought that was sweet, a clan of two :’)

- shotout to these two lads and their boldly absolutely inexplicable hat choices (I love gratuitous star wars crowd scenes you guys)

those tacky gold sequins on her sleeves... immaculate, beautiful, someone sat through like full body makeup application to be on screen a literal split second, that good good sw nonsense

- oh I didn’t notice before but I think those gladiator dudes are using vibroaxes! I guess they have the technology to portray it in live action now after the vibroblades in the first season

- the way bb glances up at din like ‘hey dad. dad what the fuck???’ as one gomorrean nearly chops the arm off the other fjaslfds

- when you look for it it’s comically obvious that those guys are working for the dude mando’s meeting, they’ve all got more or less the same dark uniform and don’t look much at the fight haha. they might as well have ‘hired thugs’ stamped upon their foreheads

- I like how pared down and spare the music is in this fight scene, it’s just the faint whine of the electric guitars under the thuds of meat hitting metal 

also still love how din fights, the fact that he doesn’t even try to not get hit a lot of the time, he’s just tanking through it waiting for someone to fling themselves at him in a way he can exploit to take them out

the bouncer seems to be holding something like sci-fi handcuffs when he grabs din and lifts him off his feet, so he probably meant to restrain him quickly. bonus: I didn’t notice it the first time around, but din really went straaaaaiiight for this dude’s gentleman area once he dropped him back on his feet lol (you can even see him taking a split second to orient himself and take aim first fhsdkfhas). good job space cowboy dad, sometimes fighting smart means fighting dirty

- leaving this awful dude hanging upside down to get eaten after employing some very deliberate phrasing so he’s not even breaking his word is the ruthless HEIGHT of mando’s hilarious petty streak and it makes me cackle, gives me life, waters my crops    

- oh, the palpable loneliness and longing in din’s voice when he says ‘if I can track down another of my kind’ ;_______; I’m sorry buddy

- may we speak for a moment about the fact that din carries his son around in what seems very much to be a saddle bag sdafjkhsa

- the way din checks in with peli (to see if she’s fucking with him? he’s very confused anyway haha) over the map before saying “I don’t see anything” is so precious. he already seems much more socially tuned in and responsive compared to the beginning of season 1, you love to see it, coming out of that freeze response baBEY

- I can’t get over how much the baby loves speed, this is coming back to bite you so hard if you’re ever going to have to teach this kid how to drive one day mando

- awwww the little patented mando finger curl as he enters the bar <3<3<3 that’s sort of his tell for being preoccupied/anxious; I think finding other mandos, someone to trust and to get help from, means A Lot to him  

once he sees the marshall in the armour his shoulders drop down and he stands up straighter :’) hope is a powerful thing (I guess all of this might add even more to how angry he is too)

the DEAD STOP when cobb takes the helmet off sdkfhkajsldhfsdk

- yodito putting his lil mouth on the lip of this jar thing is such a well observed little quirk of baby behaviour, I’m crying

(there is liquid of some sort in this thing; I’ve seen some people theorize it’s a spittoon but for my own peace of mind I’m going to forcefully declare that it is not thank you)

- so much stuff packed into that “He’s seen worse”!! dismissal, self-deprecation, sorrow, resignation, warning. 

- the contrast in this standoff of vanth’s eastwood eye twitch and the complete deadpan impassiveness of din’s helmet and general demeanor... wonderful  

- upon rewatching I’m actually wondering if some of these scenes with the baby on his own were filmed independently of the actors and that it might add to that slight distracting feeling of disconnect/distance you get through the episode. (it’s sort of odd to me that mando doesn’t even glance down at him as the whole place starts to shake, for example) there must be a lot of stuff that comes down to technical considerations with the baby; I suspect it takes a lot of time and resources to have him walking around too much, which is why The Waddle is kind of a rare treat   

what I’m saying is that they may be saving up dad & baby interaction resources for episodes where it’s more relevant or important

- so is this a one bantha town or is it just for convenient film language reasons it was all alone in frame like that lol

also cobb’s ‘mondays amirite’ look fdsakjfhsjk 

- since I think it every time I get to this part: this is a very neat hairstyle this person is rocking, suits them! 

- ah the stern pointer finger of emphasis. din TALKS, no, COMMUNICATES so much in this episode you guys!!!!! 

- rip this tusken, the bravest person who ever lived

- the delivery of “...they might be open to some fresh ideas” is the funniest moment of this entire episode don’t @ me

- oh the kotor-ness of it all lol

- jill (the girl who hands cobb the detonator) is so cute with her hat and everything ;____; 

- I suppose these tuskens are really the bravest people to ever live considering they saw what happened to the last guy (or gal I suppose I don’t know how sand people gender works)

- baby needs some goggles to protect his giant eyes from wind and sand Y___Y

- they’ve nailed how to make the jetpacks work in live action, it looks really cool and I suspect it easily could have uh. not 

- this poor sacrificial bantha... it even tried to get away

- ooooh the heart eyes -- cobb 100% has a crush on this man jfsdflhsad. (with it being sort of unrequited/’oh man I’m behind about 150 layers of dissociation too many to even really consider that one way or the other bud’ from mando’s side #personal headcanon disclaimer)    

- my take on why din doesn’t get dissolved in acid in there is that that stuff is released from a specific gland or something that the dragon can unleash at will and that the spit itself doesn’t have that quality on its own (or at least it’s a lot less potent) 

- seems pretty well confirmed by now that yodito is a carnivore huh hahaha

- I find it obscurely satisfying that cobb seems to be wearing exactly his old outfit under the armour -- he did just strap it on on top of what he already was. (there’s something there -- he’s a whole thing still without the armour, and at this time at least din would not be I don’t think) just some good narrative foil stuff going on here under the surface

also once again props to the costume design; without the armour he looks so vulnerable again, they have dressed him to emphasise his height and slenderness (especially compared to mando, who actually seems to have bulked up a bit? fatherhood suits him I guess)    

plus, the way the baby looks questioningly up at din while he watches cobb walk away? yeah, din is lonely, let this poor man have a friend who stays around soon T______________T

- heeey boba, nice threads! my guess is that he’s not going to be there for the armour if he does track din down, since he hasn’t seemed to be in any haste to get it back before (which is interesting!). he might also have been unable to go looking for it before because he was still recovering from being half digested, of course, they could play it a lot of different ways

I wonder if we’ll get more of him in the next ep or if they’ll let the tension ramp up through the season 

[nightvalethings]

Episode 2 - “The Glow Cloud”

I decided to join in on the nightvale rewatch being run by @welcometonightblogging. And, as part of that, I decided to do a post. I’ve gathered some ideas and thoughts on episode 2 - the clow cloud.

The visitable nightvale campaign is hilarious, and weird, and paints such a fantastic picture of what this town Is with an amazing amout of word building in it. 

“The View is literally breathtaking”. The specification that the posters will be put in police stations and yogurt shops is weird but the final touch about the free gifts is Hilarious. 

”John Peters, you know, the farmer?” And a long standing gag begins.

The cloud changes colours randomly/depending on who is looking at it but it *whistles*? I don’t remember that detail but it really ups the creepy factor. This plus Cecil’s deadpan delivery is proper spooky.

”We’d never have time to do anything right?” - Ha.

The sheriff’s secret police are established in this episode - it’s fun how much of what I associate with nightvale is introduced in this episode.

The secret police are trying to get  people to run at the cloud, screaming?? Hmm. Cecil is pretty wild but at least he doesn’t agree with that!

I enjoy the take down of the Apache tracker and his nonsense. He’s a character we’ll see more of but I like Cecil’s reaction to him.

 The “great screaming” of the post office is terrifying, horrifying, stuff. Words on the wall written in blood and all.

Here’s something odd Cecil says. Like the entire episode hasn’t been Odd. CECIL, why are you like this.

Which introduces us to Khoshekh! :D Who is now resident in the mens bathroom. This bit is Wild and does make me wonder if Cecil has, in fact, ever seen a Cat. Not convinced he has TBH.

”No pet is perfect, it becomes perfect when you learn to accept it for what it is.”

The message from our sponsors is a fantastic bit of high concept writing but has that wonderful punch at the end -”This message was brought to you by Coca Cola”. Which is literally the funniest thing ever. I remember the first time that happened I was just like ??? And then burst into fits of laughter.

The vague yet menacing government agency are up. That, and the secret police, really let us know that Nightvale is pretty controlled huh?

”Strange sights that no one saw” - Hm. I enjoy the continuing theme we have running through the first two episodes that strong establishes just how much in denial the town, and to a degree, Cecil is about what’s going on. If not in actual denial then willing to play to it anyway.

“Remember, if you see something, say nothing, and drink to forget.”

The scouts! I forgot they where introduced in this episode. The Scout changes are fun, but it’s also playing into the whole authoritarian thing going on. Children don’t enroll into the scouts, they’re selected. Hm.

The glow cloud is raining lizards. Sure. At least the animals are already dead and they have that eternal animal pyre in mission grove park. Right. Right?

Hyrum McDaniels. This is Wonderful as an introduction. “He is suspected of Insurance Fraud”. “After discerning that Frank Chen was a five headed dragon from somewhere other than our world.” Hilarious.

Alert Citizen card gives you stop sign immunity. But it’s that authoritarian thing, isn’t it? This is all painting quite a cohesive picture of how power is controlled in this town.

See, this is the first reference to the Public Library in the community Calendar in which is becomes un-knowable. Is this when the librarians get out of control? I’ve always wondered. Its a “sort of renovation”

Dot day is Scary. I do not like dot day.

”Wednesday has been cancelled, due to a scheduling error.”

Lion. Dropped by the Glow cloud. Onto the ice cream shop. Okay.

ALL HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD

That segway from the Clowcloud monologue to the weather is Wonderful and the change in Cecil’s voice is amazing and creepy. And establishes a pretty strong pattern for Cecil being possessed by various entities from here on out. Fun.

WAITING FOR THE BUS IN THE RAIN - this will forever be stuck in my head. And I always link it with episode one for some reason, even though that’s “These and more than these”.

My headcanon is that the weather is a song so that the citizens of Nightvale are never given any actual information - information is power, after all.

He doesn’t remember the cloud and there’s no tapes. Of course. Of Course.

This also establishes the standard thing of the “evil” of the week being defeated in the weather segment which, you know, I do quite like.

““I’m going to get a little personal here” - Oh, character growth. Thy name is Cecil Palmer. It’s weird how flat, and almost. Disengaged he is? Compared to the Cecil we grow used to.

The closing monologue is oddly Soothing - discussions of how you recover from trauma and the list of things. It’s lovely.

[scrawnydutchman]

The Delicate Art of “Stupid Comedy”

Chances are you have someone in your life who claims to enjoy comedy of a higher caliber. Someone who takes pride in their more refined taste; someone who makes the point that they are not so easy to impress by fart jokes and f-bombs and that they prefer intelligent and poignant one liners that unveil a deeper truth about the state of humanity or the value of life itself, and other pretentious bullshit. Whenever they don’t laugh at something comedic they’ll think it’s because they are above it; like anybody who enjoys it is beneath them and that there’s some comedy that is far too easy to indulge in.

These people are never comedians. You ever notice that?

The truth is, humor is subjective. Laughter is a defense mechanism against jarringly displayed information and is a response to an extreme, be that extreme an over the top ridiculous actor in a movie or an underplayed reaction to something with usually higher stakes. There is no joke on earth everyone will laugh at and that’s totally okay. The subjectivity of the concept is just proof that comedy is every bit an art form as any other creative medium. But just because it’s subjective DOES NOT mean there aren’t objective principles to it. There’s a textbook method to the madness; certain laws one must use as closely as possibly in order to learn the best way to get the most laughs. You can have the funniest joke in the world but it means nothing if the comedian knows nothing about delivery. As a matter of fact, the best comedians can make even the most ridiculous nonsense a riot. The old saying is “A good comedian can make the phone book sound funny” and you know what? It’s entirely true. So the big question is: How do you make stupid into hilarious? It’s a more delicate art then many people believe and if you still don’t believe it, I dare you to go out there and get a laugh out of a fart or a curse. Let me know how that goes, Groucho.

Setting up a “Stupid” joke is just like setting any other kind of joke: you have to establish the premise. If the premise is a couple of idiots just screwing about on a sunday afternoon, create clarity that that is exactly what’s happening. And make sure you portray it well. I’m talking picking effective camera angles, mastering your timing, serviceable sound mixing, appropriate music depending on what you’re trying to accomplish in the bit. Polish is important, in any situation. A decent premise will only carry you so far, if you don’t have the technical prowess to execute it nobodies gonna stick around for long. Stupid may be . . well . . . stupid, but it still has demand for proper utilization just like any other foundation.

the video link I set above is the perfect example of my point. When you boil the premise down to it’s basics, it’s just a couple of idiot manchildren whacking each other with plastic swords and being sort of disgusting. But it has decent choreography, well use of camera placement and cutting, good delivery in voices and is accompanied by a ridiculous but recognizable cover of the star wars clone wars battle theme. It’s stupid executed by clearly intelligent people. This video is actually the inspiration for as to why I made this blog post because it’s one of my favorite online videos of all time. Look at the close ups, look at how each event is shot, look at how some information is intentionally out of frame and thus plays with your expectations (like when Darth Vader suddenly trips).

Proper execution is the most important thing not just in comedy, but in art in general. A mind blowing original premise is just like any other premise; it’s only good or bad in theory. For evidence of how an interesting premise can go wrong, look at a great deal of M. Night Shyamalans filmography. Many of his films are made UNINTENTIONALLY funny not because of an inherently bad concept (not all the time anyway), but because of poor direction to the actors, questionable composition choices and superfluous portrayal of themes. It’s what happens when a self righteous “intelligent director” tries to excerpt how ahead of his time he is and how horribly it can backfire. A real talented artist SHOWS his talent, he doesn’t tell.

So setup is important, the other point is playing with expectations. Many people think stupid is the same thing as random, and to be fair they aren’t entirely wrong. Some people think playing with expectations means going out of your way to bring up unrelated tangents, outrageous editing and just saying whatever comes to your mind when you work it too hard.

Put your left hand on your chest, hold your right hand up and repeat after me.

Random =/= funny.

Playing with expectations should be less about just throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks and more about being selective about how you turn an audiences expecations on it’s head. However you choose to play with your audiences expectations, make sure it somehow plays in relation to the premise you have set up, whether it’s consistent with whatever you set up or is the most contrasting thing you can imagine. If you don’t do that you might as well have not set up your premise at all. 

What’s funnier? Yosemite Sam sawing a plank hoping Bugs Bunny will fall into an abyss once it comes loose on the other side, only to have Sam’s side fall into the abyss whilst Bugs is magically hovering in the air? OR take the same premise as previously established and have a dancing hot dog in a ballerina outfit jump on frame and dance to Smash Mouth for 3 minutes? If you picked the former, you are 100% correct. It benefits the premise but is still a surprise. That isn’t to say random CAN’T be a well utilized tool (The part in Life of Brian where the aliens show up is the most random unexpected thing and I find it hilarious) but just because it’s random doesn’t mean it can go without having a purpose.

So we got a setup and we got a play with expectations. The last ingredient to a complete joke is the punchline. How we bring everything together; the resolution to the conflict if you will. Once again, it can’t just be random. It has to play towards the premise, no matter how stupid that premise is, and it has to emphasize the playing with expectations. Rick and Morty is one of the best shows on right now, and one of my favorite segments from the show is from the episode “Get Schwifty” where Rick and Morty have to put on a live song show for a giant head observing earth. In the song Rick says “Get Schwifty” which is completely meaningless and says other nonsense like “Shit on the floor”. Out of context this bit of stupidity would mean nothing. But the premise is alien creature comes to observe earth and being an alien he’s unaware of any human customs anyway, so the joke is that Rick can say literally anything he wants in the song and it won’t matter. Stupid is given context, setup, and is properly delivered, and has a punchline to tie it all together. That my friend, is how you make stupid funny.

[alexanderwrites]

The endlessly re-listenable Sandwiches and Cats

It’s hard for me to re-listen to a lot of stand-up albums and find myself laughing the way I did when I I heard it. It’s not any fault of the artist. It’s that Stand-Up is such a specific kind of comedy that once you know a punchline, and how that punchline is delivered, the joke loses some of its power. To make a great re-listenable stand-up album, you have to know that the journey is just as important as the pay-off. And in my library of stand-up albums, none has been re-listened to as much as Michael Showalter’s Sandwiches and Cats. In fact, few albums in general have been as re-listened to with such glee as Sandwiches and Cats by me (lets call it SAC from here on in.).

I think what makes SAC particularly unique is that while Showalter’s jokes do have pay-offs and punchlines, some of the things that really stand out are his weird, idiosyncratic deliveries, so that a line describing Starbucks coffee as “too hot and too bitter” is absolutely hilarious because of the pronunciation of the word “bitter”. He purposefully pronounces the “t’s”, and separates the word into two halves, which he then repeats. “Too hot and too bit-ter. Much too hot, and much too bit-ter”. It’s such a small moment, but it exemplifies a quality that makes Showalter such a funny performer. He deconstructs things in such a specific way that you end up either laughing at the most basic elements of it, or a ridiculously heightened version of it. (Fans of his will know that he can take a line as simple as “We don’t have this money” and spin it into the funniest sentence imaginable, all through delivery. He sells every joke in his own particular style with his own cadence, and because of the fact that the stand-up segments feel loose and almost improvised, it feels more like we’re eavesdropping on a supremely funny guy’s thoughts.)

And speaking of heightened versions, I love his ability to conjure surreal scenes out of nothing, like when he talks about seeing a DVD copy of Akeelah and the Bee being sold in Starbucks, and imagines a construction worker coming in to buy several coffees, muffins and DVD copies of Akeelah and the Bee for his crew. It’s a concept that is worthy of a sketch from his beloved sketch-show The State, and these concepts are always worth revisiting. As well as the songs.

I am not generally not a fan of musical comedy. I can recognise when musical comedy is done well, and I hold no grudges against it (unless it involves ukuleles) but aside from a few exceptions, it’s not my thing. Showalter is one of the exceptions, and the songs on this album - if they can even be described as songs, they’re more just spoken-word passages set to music - are ones that I would listen to legitimately, not just for a laugh. But damn, do they make me laugh. Erotica caught me so thoroughly off-guard the first time I listened to it, and somehow, even knowing what’s coming, Showalter dead-panning of ridiculously filthy lines still kills me. Again, it’s what he says (which i’ll let you hear for yourself) but it’s also his unassuming, almost innocent way of delivering it that makes it work so well. Elsewhere, The Mountain is just one of my favourite songs, ever. It’s 5 minutes of nonsense set to music, telling stories from his fictional adventure writing, which again highlight just what a great, absurdist writer he is. He throws out lines describing someone with “legs as long as Kareem-Abdul’s pajama bottoms” so flippantly that it takes you a second just to realise exactly what he has said. Even when he’s endlessly listing foods, as he does on Sandwich Commandments, it’s funny. It’s a 7-minute spoken piece set to music again, explaining how to make a great sandwich, with occasional great over-the-top moments in which he feebly screams that you’re a “liar a fink and a fucking asshole!” if you don’t agree that Mustard goes with everything. The balance of over-emotional outbursts and quiet, dead-serious delivery is masterful.

And only Showalter could make these bits work. Where other comedians might’ve oversold certain moments, he knows that a blank-faced delivery of certain lines makes them so unbearably funny that you kind of have to take a moment to analyse just why you’re laughing so hard at the words “steaming hot chicken cutlets”. Listening to the album feels like a collection of great skits more than a traditional stand-up album. It feels less a series of structured routines and more a colourful, veritable smorgasbord of ideas, subtly ingenious wordings and, of course, Showalter throwing someone out of the show because they brought “two meowing cats” to the show and sat in the front row. The moment is real, but is so strange that it feels like a bit that Showalter would’ve written himself. The comedy on SAC is all about simple things rearranged to become absurd and funny, and that’s exactly what this real-life moment exemplifies, and it also exemplifies why I can keep coming back to this album. It’s made up of so many strange rearrangements of simple concepts and tiny, ingenious moments that listening to it all again somehow feels new.

[humanoid-lovers]

One of the funniest things I have ever read!!!! I love Justin Halperns books, they always have me laughing out loud. His father is a real character - would love to meet him. But underneath it all, he gives very good, common sense advice. This is a great book to read at night so you go to sleep in a happy, peaceful mood. Can't wait to see what he comes up with next If you are offended by cursing, though, take a pass, haha. Otherwise full speed ahead and don't be eating or drinking anything while you are reading this laugh out loud hilarious book. Go to Amazon

A great casual read for a summer afternoon! This book got my attention at a local bookstore. I started reading it and, before I knew it, I had already gone through the first 10 pages or so in a few minutes, I was instantly hooked! I ended up not buying it that day, so I ordered it weeks later. The humor is pretty good, I can't say I've read many comedy books, but this one really made me laugh. Not only is it funny but it is also well written and I found it great how the author's dad is really funny in his way of thinking, saying and doing stuff, but Justin is also a great writer, his own descriptions and remarks of situations are very funny too. There are also some slightly profound passages here and there, which are great, but it has a steady humor rhythm nonetheless. A great casual read, no doubt. I haven't read the other book by Justin Halpern, but I'm definitely considering it. Go to Amazon

Easy and fun read It is an amusing book carrying the "S*** my Dad Says" legacy (I haven't read it, but I will definitely take a look at it). It is the biography of the author's sex and love life up until a crucial moment of his life (which you should have guessed what it is). His dad is ever present in the first chapters of the book, covering the author's formative years and less present as the book proceeds to the final chapters (which makes sense). In all honesty, it is dad's presence that makes the book take flight. However, Justin Halpern does a good job of taking it from there and presenting his life story in an entertaining way, with aspects of which some of us (males) might more or less relate. Go to Amazon

LOVED READING THIS BOOK I wanted to read this book after reading "Sh*t My Dad Says" and finding it so refreshing and funny. Yes, I laughed out loud with this book too and as always, the father is clearly the star of these books. When the Dad talks to his son, it is crisp, precise and really funny. The books are so positive in what his Dad says to the son about the wife/mom--the Dad adores the woman. And the delivery from this seller was very good and I had no problems. Go to Amazon

Hilarious!!! Brilliantly written and lol funny, one of the best autobiographical books I've ever read. He has a gift with language and a wickedly funny and smart sense of humor (no doubt, thanks to his father!) Go to Amazon

Humor for some, but not this one. As the author became famous from his father's crazy sayings on Twitter, I was disappointed to find out this novel is more of the same, despite the book's title. Many of the author's tales seem unbelievable and/or possibly contrived. There was not one moment in the book that is overtly funny, unless you enjoy seeing punchlines a mile away. The good news? It's short and easy to read in a day or two, so you can quickly move on to something new...like a book of poems! Go to Amazon

Just not as good as his first Halpern is a good writer, but it is his father who is the heart and soul of his first book. In this one, his dad is out on the fringe, and while Halpern has had a life of his own, his anecdotes are pretty average. Again, however, he does write well so they are mildly interesting. But make no mistake, it is his dad. I was doubled up by the first book, literally weeping at his father's comments and stories. With two sons of my own, they really hit home. But this book, some chuckles and chortles but none of the pants-wetting moments from the first. Go to Amazon

Another Great Book I loved this book. Great stories that are well written. And for those of us who were less than popular in our younger years and who also sucked at girls(or boys, or whomever), we can relate to that feeling of loneliness confusion and fear. And his dad makes appearances throughout giving advise that is hilarious, honest, and true. I wish I had someone in my life to give me that no-nonsense, straight-to-the-point type of perspective when I was growing up. Go to Amazon

funny He does, he really does LOL Three Stars Genuine story of growing up and relationships Laughed out loud Another good read his first book "sh*t my dad says" is better for that reason I presume the book might be better if you read it instead of listen to it Funniest book ever! It was even funnier the third ...

[spottypotatostuff]

Here’s What Happens to Tech in 2017 (Unless 2016 Was All a Dream)

WIRED

What does 2017 hold for the world of tech and media? With so much changing at the end of 2016, it’s hard to be sure. Very hard. But we have a few guesses.

Here you’ll find WIRED’s predictions for the coming year, and they come with one big wild card: Donald Trump. When the new administration takes office at the end of January, it will alter the course of so many things in this country of ours—not to mention the rest of the world—and alter them in ways we can’t necessarily predict. Tech is no exception.

A Thousand Tech IPOs Will Bloom

2016 was a dismal year for IPOs—the slowest IPO market we’ve had since the recession. But that’s likely to change in 2017.

Snap (formerly Snapchat) will be the first big name going public after the new year. The company has already filed paperwork for an IPO that could value it between $25 and $35 billion. That would be the third most valuable market tech company debut of all time, behind Facebook and Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. If it does reach those heights, others are likely to follow, including streaming music company Spotify, cloud storage vendor Dropbox, and meal-kit maker Blue Apron.

We might even see debuts from the ride-sharing company Uber and the super-secretive big data outfit Palantir. The environment must be right, but at the moment, things are looking good. Of the 20 tech and communications companies that went public in the second half of the year, each climbed more than 25 percent from their debuts.

What does a Trump presidency mean for IPOs? Trump has said he plans to lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent—good news for companies that may have calculated their valuations on the higher rate. Either way, tech companies likely won’t view a Trump presidency as a deterrent. In fact, they may be spurred to go public sooner rather than later—before Trump rolls out policies they haven’t foreseen. —Davey Alba

The Internet of Things Will Die

Last September, some malware took control of millions of internet-connected devices, including security cameras and DVRs, and launched an attack that took down the website of security journalist Brian Krebs. It was one of the largest ever attacks of this type. The next month, the same piece of malware rendered large swaths of the internet inaccessible to many people.

The incidents capped off two years of bad news for the “Internet of Things,” including bricked devices, irritating outages, bankrupt startups, an international emissions testing scandal, and a viral story about a Brit who spent 11 hours trying make tea with a needlessly high-tech kettle. A Twitter account called Internet of Shit started documenting this market’s silliest gadgets, funniest error messages, and most depressing possibilities. It now has over 100,000 followers.

The Internet of Things was a made-up term to begin with. And now this bit of marketing nonsense carries a sheen of ineptitude, danger, and other shit. The upshot: the term will die in 2017, kinda like Big Data before it.

The Internet of Things—or whatever you want to call it—has the potential to save precious resources, spot and fight pollution, and help people lead healthier, safer lives. But adding internet remote control to every single product on the market won’t necessarily help us get there. What we need are thoughtful, affordable, durable devices that actually, y’know, make our lives better. A new name, and a renewed sense of purpose, could be just what the Internet of Things needs. —Klint Finley

Real Internet TV Will Wait in the Wings

What we all want is television that lets us watch any show at any time from any device, all at a reasonable price. But that’s not quite a reality. And in 2017, it will remain not quite a reality.

Yes, YouTube is putting together a live TV package set to launch in early in the year. Hulu is doing the same. Amazon is poised to enter the fray. And the services will join existing options like AT&T’s DirecTV Now, which offers 60 channels for $35 a month or up to 120 channels for $70, plus premium channels HBO and Cinemax for an extra $5 a month.

Sure, the FCC has proposed new rules that would require cable and satellite TV companies to distribute their content through free apps—without the dreaded cable box. And that could push us towards even closer to the nirvana of Internet TV. But there are so many caveats hanging over this market.

Trump’s FCC will likely kill those proposed rules, siding with the cable incumbents who want to keep you tethered to your cable box. And his FCC is unlikely to curb “zero-rating,” which AT&T is already using to favor its own content on DirecTV Now over the content from rivals. This dynamic may only become more problematic if AT&T is allowed to acquire Time Warner, and the Trump administration will surely allow it. Meanwhile, those live internet TV services have so many holes in them—holes typically involving live sports. Without live sports, you’re still tied to cable.

This year, we may see Comcast introduce its own live internet TV service—but this will come with many of the same caveats as DirecTV Now. Internet TV run by the cable companies isn’t internet TV. —Davey Alba

‘Uber For X’ Will Be X-ed Out

In 2015, the on-demand ride companies Sidecar, Shuddle and Karhoo shuttered. Food delivery apps Spoonrocket and Kitchensurfing sunset their services. Washio, which promised push-button laundry, closed down too. Instacart is cutting courier wages, and Postmates doesn’t expect to profit until 2018.

Sure, Uber is still going strong. And Airbnb is too. But “Uber for X”? It will die in 2017.

Consider the numbers. From nearly $9 billion invested in on-demand companies in the third quarter of 2015—the peak for the on-demand economy—there was a sharp pullback in VC funding shortly thereafter, according to industry research firm CB Insights. And the bigwigs in on-demand—Uber, Chinese ridesharing service Didi, and Airbnb—were getting the lion’s share of the investments. In 2016, excluding those companies, funding to on-demand startups fell by almost 50 percent.

The field was too crowded with too many competitors. This type of business has razor-thin margins, and running these operations is enormously complicated. They juggle not just consumers but contract workers, all while competing with players with already enormous scale, like Uber and Amazon. In hindsight, Uber for X never stood a chance. —Davey Alba

Trump’s America Will Bring Blogging Back

On December 11, 2016, government strategist Eric Garland had some thoughts about how Russia influenced the US election. So he unloaded those thoughts on Twitter—where else?—and called them a THREAD.

<THREAD> I’m now hearing this meme that says Obama, Clinton, et al. are doing nothing, just gave up.

Guys. It’s time for some game theory.

— Eric Garland (@ericgarland) December 11, 2016

  Garland, in language at times lyrical and soaring, laid out what he called a game theory analysis of the long con Russia pulled on America with the surprising endgame of electing Donald Trump president. It’s a conspiracy theory. But for many, the most controversial thing about this conspiracy theory is that Garland unloaded it on Twitter, requiring his readers to wait and read—and wait and read. (The Stranger helpfully compiled them into a single-page story you can read here if so inclined.)

When 2016 kicked off, this would have been called a tweet storm. The hip nomenclature as the year ends is “thread”—as Garland showed—but the idea is the same whether the tweets are numbered or merely threaded. And they are happening more and more in the days since November 9. That’s because liberals on the internet have a lot of thoughts. Not all of them are as nuanced and out-there as Garlands, but on topics ranging from race to the white middle class to Hillary Clinton’s campaign failures, to media bias, to Trump’s foreign policy, people are THREADING.

In response, a joke has emerged: uh, guys, remember blogging? It was sort of this same exact thing where you get to speak what’s on your mind, but you did it all in one go, without frantic typo-ed tweets unrolling piecemeal over the course of an hour and keeping we poor Twitter followers sitting at our desks waiting for the thrilling conclusion?

Like all the best jokes, it’s brilliant because it’s true. We’re entering a period of tumult and unrest in America and along with it will come lots of thoughts and takes and threads and storms. The upcoming culture clash will make the George W. Bush years look quaint, and those marked the heyday of the blogging era. In 2017, mediums like Medium and Tumblr, which easily let people publish whatever they want, will flourish. In Trump’s America, the blog will make a comeback. If only it could bring Google Reader with it. —Emily Dreyfuss

Online Headlines Will Get True Again

As we grapple with the complex causality of disinformation and fake news proliferating through the media landscape, one problem is obvious: people only read headlines. Researchers at Columbia University found that almost 60 percent of stories shared on social media have never been clicked. This is partly the result of the sheer glut of available “content.” People simply can’t read all the journalism out there. And with news delivery services like Twitter and Facebook, which show only a headline and a short description, scrolling story after story in front of frantic, dry eyes, people feel an impossible pressure to read everything. The solution: read every headline and move one.

Others, like “Saved You a Click” creator, Jake Beckman, blame this phenomenon on clickbait culture, which in the late aughts tricked readers into clicking on stories that didn’t actually deliver on the promise in the headline. Readers rebelled against the deceit and stopped clicking altogether. They judged the story by the headline alone and moved along. Aha! Can’t trick readers! But in fact, the logical evolution of clickbait culture was fake news, which understood that readers were not going to bother to read past the first few bricks of the journalistic pyramid, but would rather assess the very top and move on.

In the wake of the 2016 election, which was so influenced by the fabrications peddled in these headlines, journalists, politicians, and technologists are struggling to figure out how to fight fake fire with real water. One very simple thing they can do is write descriptive headlines that are clear and hard to misunderstand. That will be antithetical to the brilliance of clickbait, which leaves readers wondering more. But that model was a failure. It hasn’t saved digital journalism from the financial implosion of advertising dollars in the Facebook-as-News era, nor has it on the aggregate encouraged deeper reading. Responsible news outlets trying to figure out how to convey facts will streamline their stories, pack the opening paragraphs with objective reporting, and, ultimately, they will need to abandon clever headlines in favor of clear ones—if they’re serious about being understood. —Emily Dreyfuss

Tech Will Get In Bed With Trump

The tech industry didn’t always see eye-to-eye with the Obama administration on surveillance and encryption, but that didn’t stop the industry from developing a remarkably close relationship with the White House during the Obama years. White House staffers like former press secretary Jay Carney and former senior advisor David Plouffe landed high-profile jobs at tech companies like Amazon and Uber, while former Google employees, such as corporate attorney turned patent office director Michelle Lee, found jobs in the federal government. According to information analyzed by The Intercept, Google’s lobbyists met with the White House employees 427 times in between January 2009 and October 2015.

But the election of Donald Trump has called the future of tech’s relationship to government into question. Trump’s campaign promoted a relentlessly regressive social agenda that stoked racial tensions, especially on the topic of immigration. The tech industry, meanwhile, has lobbied aggressively for immigration reform, and tries to project a progressive image when it comes to topics like gay marriage (which Trump’s running mate Mike Pence has a long history of opposing). Few in the tech industry publicly supported Trump, while many—including Alphabet chairman Eric Schmidt—openly backed Hillary Clinton.

But don’t expect any of that to stop Silicon Valley from cozying up to Trump. Google is already hiring more conservative lobbyists, Reuters reports. It has long employed former Republican congresswoman Susan Molinari. And, of course, several tech leaders—including Schmidt, Apple CEO Tim Cook, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg—agreed to meet with Trump in December.

Not everyone in the Valley is trying to suck up to the president-elect. Investor Chris Sacca criticized those who met with Trump, telling Recode they were “being used to legitimize a fascist.” But Trump’s advisory team already includes Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick, Oracle co-CEO Safra Catz, and of course PayPal founder and Facebook board member Peter Thiel, one of the few Valley figures who openly backed Trump before the election.

A few companies have pledged not to help Trump with one of his most frightening campaign promises: building a registry of Muslims. But Silicon Valley’s main interest, ultimately, is business. That’s something they have in common with Trump. The tech industry might not enjoy the level of access it had to the Obama administration. But if you’re looking for someone to stand up to Trump, it’s time to look elsewhere. —Klint Finley

Source: Here’s What Happens to Tech in 2017 (Unless 2016 Was All a Dream)

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