posted
And once again, I am left out of generational humor.
It strikes me that what is funny about this is not anything inherently funny in what is said, but rather the fact that somebody would THINK that what was said was funny enough to put it up online.
But I suppose one can defend this as existential absurdism or the irony of self-mockery through surrogates or something else that has dissertation written all over it, and thus prove not only that this is funny whether you laugh or not, but also that the person defending it is in fact smarter than you or anybody else because he not only gets it, he knows WHY he gets it.
But me, I get it, but I don't care enough even to post about it.
Posts: 2005 | Registered: Jul 1999
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posted
The thing with Homestar Runner, and especially the spin-offs (such as the Answering Machine and the Strong Bad Emails) is that, recently, a lot of the humor comes from already being familiar with the characters.
If that was my first exposure to the site, I would've left it scratching my head too, and probably had no reason to return.
But, now I'm well aquainted with Strong Bad. I know who the 'thnikaman' is. I know who marzipan is. This is where the humor comes from.
It's a character study, see?
Hey, maybe I should write that dissertation.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
Essentially, yes. Homestarrunner.net is like an internet group of friends you already know and love. They constantly make references to past emails, toons, and games, putting them in new and weirder contexts. For example, say the word "Trogdor the Burninator" on any internet forum and people will probably know what you're talking about, and smile in reaction.
It's silly, absurd humor, but it's funny because you already know the characters so well. I am usually very select in who I expose to Strong Bad. It takes a very, very weird sense of humor to "get" it. A very "internet" sense of humor, which Homestarruner.net capitalizes on, if not embodies.
EDIT: Money says "Goatface" shows up in a later form on Homestarrunner.
[ April 29, 2005, 01:54 AM: Message edited by: Book ]
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Scott's post also reminded me why I think his story Damn Fine Novel is a masterpiece of Western Literature.
Posts: 2689 | Registered: Apr 2000
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posted
*shrug* And yet I, who have been really really trying to "get" them, and recognize all the characters, and their little quirks, almost never find any of them funny.
There was ONE SBemail that made me chuckle. Briefly.
And trust me, my sense of humor is plenty weird.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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I laugh in spite of myself at just about everything they ever come up with, but at the same time I recognize it for the meaningless drivel it is and how contrary it is to where I want literature and art to be going.
The worst part is; we're ruining our own creative spirits. By spending our lives laughing at someone else's funny, at self-referential nonsense, inside jokes, and allusions within allusions, we're shutting ourselves off from the rest of human history. We're spending all of out energy and talent on fanfic, which nobody in five years, and nobody outside of this country today actually, is ever going to care about.
And I'm quite conscious of this, but.... "The System is Down" gets me rolling around on the floor in hysteric spasms. Posts: 8504 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
But see, I do go read them when someone posts a link.
It's kind of along the same lines as why I recently bought a d20 and a d12. I'm not used to being the least-geeky one in the room!
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Actually, I find the whole thing a lot less funny than I used to. I used to check it faithfully every week for updates. Now I usually get a few e-mails behind and have to catch up. I still do catch up, of course. I'm just not as regular about checking it anymore.
Posts: 1814 | Registered: Jul 2004
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quote: The worst part is; we're ruining our own creative spirits. By spending our lives laughing at someone else's funny, at self-referential nonsense, inside jokes, and allusions within allusions, we're shutting ourselves off from the rest of human history. We're spending all of out energy and talent on fanfic, which nobody in five years, and nobody outside of this country today actually, is ever going to care about.
I don't see what's so degrading about giggling at the name "Professor Tor Coolguy." It's not like we're laughing at... I don't know... a chimp in a Hawaiian shirt flinging pudding at a giggling, dancing girl in a bikini. There. That's the most ridiculous and vapid thing I can think of.
Strong Bad does have its own occasional system of satire, I think, most of it referring to the internet or the 80's (if you question the 80's part, look at the Halloween specials, not to mention LimoZEEN).
Sometimes silly is just funny. Monthy Python had men being crushed by cartoony 150 ton weights and old women banging cats up against walls (cat abuse was a recurring theme in Monty Python), and it was funny. I don't see what's so threatening about a shirtless cartoon dork in a mexican wrestling mask.
Strong Bad is like the underground TV show only the internet savvy (and "internet savvy" also means "terribly awkward in real life") can understand. I mean, I have a Trogdor polo shirt. Looks like a normal shirt until you get up close and realize it has a childish dragon on it with a beefy arm comin' outta de back of 'is neck dere. And anyone who realizes what that is is automatically cool in my book.
[ April 29, 2005, 02:19 AM: Message edited by: Book ]
Posts: 2258 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Okay, here's the thing: while most of Homestar Runner is all about the insularity, there are other parts of it that are completely natural, inexplicable humor.
For example: during message #3, where StrongBad and "friends" are chanting "You said you'd bake us a cake," who here didn't notice the rhythm and think, "Man, that would make a perfect StrongBad song." And then it turned into a StrongBad song. And it was beautiful.
If you need to have this explained, you are not a funny person anymore. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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