Defend the Indefensible: People who think that just referencing Mr T or David Hasslehoff makes them some kind of comic genius

"My band is big in Belgium" (reference: Matt Dillon in Singles)
*rolls eyes 74982 degrees*

http://www.grudge-match.com/Images/Coleman.jpg

http://news.bbc.co.uk/media/images/38363000/jpg/_38363733_saville300.jpg

and the smurfs, obviously.

http://www.obsessedwithwrestling.com/pictures/g/genesnitsky/08.jpg

We care a lot about the little things, the bigger things we top
We care a lot about you people yeah you bet we care a lot,

Wizbit, I think.

Some of these have barely been referenced at all. Mask, for instance.

http://www.vayatele.com/images/joey.jpg

I want to murder those who speak of Churck Fucking Unfunny List that Got Sent on The Email And Now He Helps Huckabee Fucking Goddamn Norris.

hey guys how about people with Mullets lol

People always dressed funny and wore their hair in hilarious styles thirty years before the present time.

Was the video for 'Sabotage' the first real example of this? I saw it again last night, and it's just LOL MOUSTACHES, 70s COP SHOWS WERE FUNNY with nothing else to say.

I don't know how this thread has gone so far without mention of Justin Lee Collins - this kind of shtick is his entire career.

It's a replacement for humour.

Once Mr. T punched Chuck Norris while Chuck delivered a roundhouse kick to his face. The event is known today by scientists simply as the "Big Bang."

lemonade was a popular drink and it still is oh shiiit

there is a level or two to the Sabotage video that aldo is not getting, but damned if I can explain it. Little help here?

i'm a seecret lemownade drink-ah

Was the video for 'Sabotage' the first real example of this? I saw it again last night, and it's just LOL MOUSTACHES, 70s COP SHOWS WERE FUNNY with nothing else to say.

-- aldo, Saturday, 26 January 2008 10:27

It's a pop video, ffs. What do you want? "Earth Song"?

Tim Long, co–executive producer, The Simpsons:

Mr. T [another guest] was telling me the scenes that happened in Rocky III, where he lost. The reason he lost was because his mother needed money for an operation, and so he was paid to take a dive. And I said, "Well, I don't remember that in the movie." And he just looks at me right in the eye and says, "Things you don't see!"

I said to him, "I remember you put out a record called Mr. T's Commandments." And somehow he heard that as "Mr. T, please sing 'Mr. T's Commandments.'" So he sang me the whole song.

it's just LOL MOUSTACHES, 70s COP SHOWS WERE FUNNY with nothing else to say.

-- aldo

indie hipster sleaze aesthetic right there

Was the video for 'Sabotage' the first real example of this? I saw it again last night, and it's just LOL MOUSTACHES, 70s COP SHOWS WERE FUNNY with nothing else to say.

Maybe on the fine line between "omg 70s cop shows were hilarious" and "I Love 70s Cop Shows." A good parody must by nature be a little richer than just "lol copshows/misterT/etc" - if it was just that for three minutes, Sabotage would be a one-joke SNL skit. As it is there's an attention to detail that can only come from real fans. I hope.

Alternately, I loved the video when I was sixteen and don't want to admit it has links to these really horrible backwaters of "humor."

Watching it now, it's actually funny, mainly because they seemed to just be having a lot of fun and not really worrying about making anything resembling a coherent story for the cop show. I think at one point a guy actually slams himself onto a car hood.

Beavis: "This is gonna be cool, when this video finally comes out..."
Butthead: "Uhhh...what are you talking about, Beavis?"
Beavis: "You know, when the, when the real video finally comes out?"
Butthead: "This is the video, dumbass!"
Beavis: "No way!"

revive

Will this thing work as well in the 1990s revival? By then the idea of being really self-conscious about pop-culture and entertainment was starting to go mainstream, and many of the would-be revived figures of mockery seemed to be in on the joke anyway.

Isn't it already happening with like a bunch of reality shows? We've already seen revivals of Dustin Diamond and Flavor Flav (who I guess crossed between both '80s/'90s but still) and...I swear I just saw some indie rap video or something on C4 that was all 'lol remember rap in the early '90s' and wasn't very good.

sarah silverman working a cover of lisa loeb's "stay" into her sitcom?

Was it Lisa Loeb who had (yet another) 'help me find love' reality tv thing a while back or who am I thinking of?

yes

She (Loeb) also appeared on an early (maybe the first?) episode of The Colbert Report during a similar joke.

anyone remember when lisa loeb and then-boyfriend dweezil zappa had their own show on the food network? it only lasted a few weeks, i think -- they broke up.

why did lisa loeb and dweezil zappa have a show on the food network?

Premiered
January 16, 2004
Ended
March 26, 2004

Show Summary

Lisa Loeb and partner Dweezil Zappa developed the format for this new Food Network series, which will offer a look at the couple's professional and personal lives.

Originally the duo had approached the Food Network hoping that they would be interested in promoting Loeb's album "Cake and Pie" as well the concert performances in which a friend would make pies on stage for the audience. The network instead had a better idea...give Dweezil and Lisa their own show!

The couple's everyday lives as traveling musicians are filmed and shown on the series as they explore several different and interesting food venues throughout the country.

I think LOL SPIN DOCTORS is a good example of this same idiotic lazy bullshit re: the 90s

i hated the '90s while i was living through it, so the majority of '90s mockery from me comes from a sincere, legitimate place.

LOL SAVED BY THE BELL - LOL SCREECH as well.

the 90s might be the next decade subject to that kind of watercooler "humor" but i don't think it'll have the same appeal. there's just something about "LOL GRACE UNDER FIRE" that doesn't resonate the same way as "LOL DESIGNING WOMEN."

plus the 90s were already full of self-conscious ironic distance, making it a bit more difficult to poke fun at certain 90s cultural touchstones.

I dunno, I think the 80s had some irony too, and the LOLs are based around that irony being forgotten, and things which were originally self-aware being remembered as utterly sincere. So LOL MR T could easily morph into LOL GEORGE COSTANZA, because the gag is only really "wasn't he a dope!?" and the right answer to that in both cases would actually be "yes, that was kind of the point".

I mean, I can totally imagine people getting all LOL LADY GAGA in another 15-20 years time.

I dunno, I think the 80s had some irony too, and the LOLs are based around that irony being forgotten, and things which were originally self-aware being remembered as utterly sincere. So LOL MR T could easily morph into LOL GEORGE COSTANZA, because the gag is only really "wasn't he a dope!?" and the right answer to that in both cases would actually be "yes, that was kind of the point".

I mean, I can totally imagine people getting all LOL LADY GAGA in another 15-20 years time.
― JimD, Monday, April 27, 2009 12:16 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark

good point. i forgot about cultural amnesia.

http://www.funnyvideoarchive.com/images/carlton-dancing.gif

plus the 90s were already full of self-conscious ironic distance, making it a bit more difficult to poke fun at certain 90s cultural touchstones.

LOL REMEMBER PAVEMENT!?!? What was THAT all about oh wai...

i remember pavement.

so is bea arthur still kitschy now that she's dead? how does that work?

re: Spin Doctors LOL, I defy you to come up with a better song for Brian Posehn to mince around to.

So far I came up with:
That Third Eye Blind song

Far worse is the use of Journey on Sopranos, which I'm almost convinced is sincere.

I was just thinking earlier today about how some commercial slogans have had a strangely long shelf life, thanks to people's lame attempts at humor:

"Got ____?"
"____: It's What's For Dinner"
the whole "______? Priceless" routine

I'm pretty sure early 00s emo like Dashboard Confessional and Saves The Day is gonna be our generation's LOL HAIR METAL in a few years

It already is!

LOL REMEMBER PAVEMENT!?!? What was THAT all about oh wai...

― Cunga, Monday, April 27, 2009 1:47 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark

hhaha exactly.

so is bea arthur still kitschy now that she's dead? how does that work?

― macaulay culkin's bukkake shocker (bug), Monday, April 27, 2009 2:51 PM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark

i think she was kitsch before her death. i remember her being mentioned on sea lab 2021 a few times, and being a punchline on a couple of other shows as well.

Bea Arthur as throwaway comedy reference seemed less to do with kitsch than with her resembling a man despite having appeared in kitsch masterpiece Star Wars Xmas special.

yeah Bea Arthur was more shorthand for "lol unattractive woman" than "hey remember the 80s"...for a while Estelle Getty was used in the same way but usually more to emphasize old than mannish

"Got ____?"

the longevity of this meme is truly astounding

local billboard: "got fibromyalgia?"
me: ur doin it rong

CHUNK FROM THE GOONIES!

THE TRUFFLE SHUFFLE!!

LEGEND!!!

carlton still brings the lols for me

http://zootfly.com/

ZootFly to Develop a Mr. T Game

With Prison Break nearing completion, ZootFly today announced it secured the official Mr. T graphic novel license from Mohawk Media.

ZootFly will develop a series of games packed with the trademark over-the-top adrenaline-pumping action of Mr. T.

The games will feature knuckle-whitening action-adventure, furious brawler combat, gravity-defying platforming, and environmental puzzles.

The first game will see Mr. T take on Nazis and their gigantic machines in the varied universe of South American rain forests, lost ancient cities, industrial complexes and contemporary military installations.

Along with Mr. T and other characters from the graphic novel, the game will feature non other than Will Wright. In this universe, Will Wright is not a top-notch game designer but a top-notch American geneticist who was kidnapped and coerced to work on a diabolic plan. Mr. T and Will Wright will join forces to annihilate the Nazis and their hardware.

Platforms include PS3, Xbox360, Wii and PC

They're just spitting in our face.

"Got ____?"

the longevity of this meme is truly astounding

― roman knockwell (elmo argonaut), Tuesday, April 28, 2009 8:34 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

^^^

This has got to be one of my biggest peeves and has been since the beginning.

Got Redemption By Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ?

Got Crabs?
http://cn1.kaboodle.com/hi/img/2/0/0/7f/f/AAAAApH07w8AAAAAAH_wJw.jpg