If you ever want to see some real cringeworthy awfulness, google image search "(Your real first name) the hedgehog"


Greg is a combination of his mother and his father. He is extremely braggy about his abilities and an overacheiver, but he is also gentle, kind and well-mannered. He will help anyone in need
Hmm...more accurate than those Facebook quizzes.
 

Dave

Staff member
So I had a comedy gig last night at a small town called Esterville, Iowa. We performed at the Elk's Club and the place was deader than my hopes and dreams. Found out that the reason there was only 10 people in the audience is because there was another event scheduled in town for that night.



Yes, that's girls from California in bikinis wrestling in oil.

I can't compete with that.
 
One of the cub scouts at camp "I haven't seen many of those really old Disney movies like the Lion King."
Now that I think about it, we've really had a significant generational shift in relation to media here.

In the 70's, 80's, and even some of the 90's we were able to watch older movies for free on prime time TV. Mary Poppins was made in 1964 but you'll find very few people 40 years and older who have never seen it, and they may never have owned a copy to watch or seen it on streaming service. They watched it as a kid, when it was a 20 year old movie, in the 80's.

We don't have that today. Partly it's because we have so much new content generated daily that there's little reason to delve into the past, but partly it's because those who own the rights to these movies are monetizing them in the most profitable manner, and TV networks don't get as many viewers for old movies as new content (so they're not going to pay for them, or show them) and content owners get more money renting them to redbox, netflix, hulu and other streaming services, as well as making them available to own.

It's been an interesting shift, but I think we're actually going to lose some of the cultural cues, and we're not generating new ones, that we are used to. Because content is so diverse and available in such quantities, you don't have to watch what everyone else is watching, you can curate your content to those things that arouse your interest the most, and we may find that people actually find less and less common ground in society over time.

Or not. Interesting to wonder about, though. I bet some academic knows more about this than I ever will.

 

GasBandit

Staff member
Something I saw on Twitter today:

"Your indie band name is your high school sport/organization/event/team and a part of the human body that begins with the same letter as your first name."

WHAT'S UP EVERYBODY WE ARE SHOTPUT JUGULAR! AND A ONE TWO THREE FOUR...

(harmful noises)
 
Now that I think about it, we've really had a significant generational shift in relation to media here.

In the 70's, 80's, and even some of the 90's we were able to watch older movies for free on prime time TV. Mary Poppins was made in 1964 but you'll find very few people 40 years and older who have never seen it, and they may never have owned a copy to watch or seen it on streaming service. They watched it as a kid, when it was a 20 year old movie, in the 80's.

We don't have that today. Partly it's because we have so much new content generated daily that there's little reason to delve into the past, but partly it's because those who own the rights to these movies are monetizing them in the most profitable manner, and TV networks don't get as many viewers for old movies as new content (so they're not going to pay for them, or show them) and content owners get more money renting them to redbox, netflix, hulu and other streaming services, as well as making them available to own.

It's been an interesting shift, but I think we're actually going to lose some of the cultural cues, and we're not generating new ones, that we are used to. Because content is so diverse and available in such quantities, you don't have to watch what everyone else is watching, you can curate your content to those things that arouse your interest the most, and we may find that people actually find less and less common ground in society over time.

Or not. Interesting to wonder about, though. I bet some academic knows more about this than I ever will.
Disney's actually pretty good about this, routinely showing it's 90's/2000's animated catalog on Disney, Disney XD, and ABC Family. ABC occasionally gets big movies on it's network for holidays too. But it also OWNS those networks and thus loses nothing by showing it's own content on them.
 

fade

Staff member
Something I saw on Twitter today:

"Your indie band name is your high school sport/organization/event/team and a part of the human body that begins with the same letter as your first name."

WHAT'S UP EVERYBODY WE ARE SHOTPUT JUGULAR! AND A ONE TWO THREE FOUR...

(harmful noises)
Cross country Johnson

Sounds like a folk band.
 
Disney's actually pretty good about this, routinely showing it's 90's/2000's animated catalog on Disney, Disney XD, and ABC Family. ABC occasionally gets big movies on it's network for holidays too. But it also OWNS those networks and thus loses nothing by showing it's own content on them.
But people, especially young people, aren't watching tv anymore. The cellphone is the new tv, and television is now the radio.
 

Dave

Staff member
I just turned 50 and my birthday sucked. I got molested by a dyslexic pedophile.


(A new joke I wrote and am testing for quality here.)
 

GasBandit

Staff member
I just turned 50 and my birthday sucked. I got molested by a dyslexic pedophile.


(A new joke I wrote and am testing for quality here.)
... that made me long for the heady days of Rat-Toes Intolerance.

Also it might go over some heads because children's ages don't include the zero in the tens digit.
 

Dave

Staff member
... that made me long for the heady days of Rat-Toes Intolerance.

Also it might go over some heads because children's ages don't include the zero in the tens digit.
Oh it's a thinker, that's for sure! The few people I've tried it on in person thought it was pretty decent. But you guys are comedy vultures so I thought I'd give it a shot.[DOUBLEPOST=1508782784,1508782743][/DOUBLEPOST]I guess I could use a fictitious friend and say they turned 31.
 
Maybe it'd be clearer if you said "the big five-oh" or something instead of just fifty...
I dunno, though. It'd still work better with 13/31 or something like that.
And even so, dyslexia, or dyscalculia?
 

Dave

Staff member
Maybe it'd be clearer if you said "the big five-oh" or something instead of just fifty...
I dunno, though. It'd still work better with 13/31 or something like that.
And even so, dyslexia, or dyscalculia?
I like "the big five-oh" thing. Probably makes it more clear.
 
I just turned 50 and my birthday sucked. I got molested by a dyslexic pedophile.
Meh. Off the cuff it isn't funny, and it's hard to get a pedophilia joke to pass muster, but I'd guess with the right crowd warmed up it'd be worth a chuckle. Further it necessitates people thinking of "05" as an age, whereas we drop leading 0s on things like ages.

Consider toying with the trope and making it the best birthday ever instead, casting yourself as having a hard time getting attention - though this necessarily affects your character and whole body of jokes.

You could also lead into the joke just a bit more, perhaps reversing it.

"Did you know dyslexia affects numbers as well? I avoid it by trying to write checks in repeating numbers, so I'd rather pay someone $22 than $25. Lost a lot of money on $19.95 infomercials, let me tell you. As bad as it is for me, though it's worse if you have a mental illness. I met a dyslexic pedophile once. I gotta tell ya, it was the worst 50th birthday I ever had. I set up a police sting for my upcoming 60th party though, we're gonna catch him this time!"

It's long, I'm sure you could tighten it up and spice up the delivery (infomercial jokes probably won't sell well to younger audiences), but telling the same joke while ratcheting up the significance of the outcome is a time honored path to a good laugh while preparing the audience for a relatively complex joke. I'm not a big fan of jokes you have to pause for the audience to think about to get.

Though I doubt I'm telling you anything new. I just like the soundread of my own voicewords.
 
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