I pull up with a lamb text,
Too strudel, toaster strudel
Ballin' on you poodles"
-RiFF RAFF
My roommate and I have been on the improv team for almost a whole schoolyear now, and without fail we have listened to the same goddamn song before every Thursday show. Five minutes before we leave, we pull up the track, jump around and rap every single word.
And let me clarify, this song is not good. In fact, the main verse, the closer, the big feature, the part that we go crazy at, is pretty awful. Why don't I just let you decide for yourself.
If you made it to the end, to that glorious rap verse, maybe you can see the appeal. Or maybe you don't. There is no appeal. Is there?
In the first line, he raps rhinoceros with immaculate.
See, my roommate and I love good rap. MF DOOM, Kendrick, Kanye, Nas, etc. We're big fans of great hip hop. But we're also big fans of bad hip hop. Specifically: Riff Raff.
The question you have to ask yourself: Is he serious? And I have to say, as someone who is a huge fan, I'm not sure. But it's so funny. Watch as much of this video as you can take. 30 seconds is plenty
Right? He's an idiot, right? Just another crazy out-of-touch product of modern society. Is he? Because I really think he might be a self-aware satire, on a Stephen Colbert level. Rap game Stephen Colbert, etc.
But wait, another question, and this is the one I'm trying to get at (I swear this blog post has a point), would it be funnier if he was serious? Would you feel better if he was a parody? Does trying to be funny make something less funny? Do the funniest things happen on accident? Have I used enough italics in this blog post?
Think of your favorite sitcom, sketch, comedian. Find what you think is the funniest video ever and watch it for the 100th time (if you really do this, please share what it is!). Chances are a lot of work went into it. Writers, actors, directors, somebody got paid. Probably a lot of money (especially if you picked Friends).
But can you really put a price on this, which was used non-ironically in a real commercial?
I'm asking a lot of questions in this blog, and to be honest, I really don't know the answer to them. If the funniest things happen on accident, why do I spend so much time thinking of jokes?
I'll leave you with this. I think Tim and Eric (AKA genius comedians or utter wastes of time, depending on who you are) would say that trying to be funny is not funny, and that not-funny is the funniest thing ever. It's all a circle of self-awareness and putting so much effort into looking like you don't give any effort at all and when you reach the center it's just nonsense. Here's a clip from their show:
I just renamed this blog Anti-Humor vs Humor. I also realized it's not as media focused as I intended. Which is disappointing since I am a media student.
Italics.
Hahaha, this post was hilarious. Although there were parts that were a little confusing and there were a lot of digressions, you did a good job at keeping the reader entertained and explaining your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteFor example, I had not originally heard of Riff Raff, and you did a good job of cluing the reader in. He is an interesting? person. He definitely does not sound intelligent? What?? was what I was thinking after listening to that interview. Did he really just say that? So I definitely loved how you expressed those same thoughts right after the video.
Nice clip of "It's Not Jackie Chan." That is hilarious but dumb and brilliant? I don't know. You could say that it is dumb, because why that game? But it is brilliant, because no one else has ever come up with that before and it is an awesome parody.
Also I really loved the end of it. the sentences: "I also realized it's not as media focused as I intended. Which is disappointing since I am a media student. Italics." That is priceless and really ties in the rest of the blog in really well.
I love that the topic of anti-humor is introduced. I hate that it's not given enough space. Answer some of those italicized questions.
ReplyDeleteThis is another piece that seems perfectly toned for Rascal Magazine, but I'd like to see a somewhat exhaustive analysis of anti-humor. What do you think the first intentionally unfunny jokes were? Andy Kaufmann? What's the history?
Also, give me some Aristotle up in this. Maybe offhand:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetics_(Aristotle)