As an avid Strong Bad fan I thought that a good review of his work over the last 200 emails deserved to happen. For those of you who are unaware who Strong Bad is, I suggest that you head down to http://www.homestarrunner.com and catch up on this webseries.
Strong Bad's email show is a web cartoon updated weekly (a term I use rather loosely) ranging from 1-6 minutes depending on how recent the email is and how far you could take the content of that email. Its a show which now been going on for almost 7 years. Unlike many shows which grow stale and dry with age, Strong Bad appears to be consistent in the hilarity of of his content over time.
The formula a Strong Bad email follows translates well to most of his emails. Strong Bad starts at his computer, reads the email, types a response and then a series of events happen which may or may not be related to the email of the week. In fact in a particular email called "The Process" Strong Bad himself goes over the formula he uses in his email show. The show was not always as such though, his earlier emails have the problem of being criminally short, often featuring little content, many of them just being Strong Bad saying a few paragraphs and leaving; but the show progressed and came into its formula that is still used today and was the better for it.
Strong Bad's work had received some large amounts of attention, particularly for his creation of the famous dragon, Trogdor the Burninator and other famous emails spawning things such as: Teen Girl Squad, Sweet Cuppin' Cakes, Stinkoman and Dangeresque. The popularity of these emails may be because of the series of inside jokes that each character subsequently spawned, but I think it may have more to do with each of them being screechingly funny the first time through. The problem with these emails, however, is that the inside jokes which these repeat characters generate can be confusing to new watchers. While I encourage new watchers to start from the beginning, considering the 200 emails already done, that is no easy task. This means that the current target audience is the group of people who already consistently still watch Sbemails (Strong Bad Emails).
While these famous emails are incredibly funny, many others are noteable as being comic genius as well such as: Children's Book, English Paper, Death Metal and so many more. With the funny ones however, come ones that come off as stale. Some just aren't that funny. Strong Bad appears to be a bit of a hit or miss show in terms of its funniness. Ones like: Huttah!, 2 emails and Funny (ironically) seem forced. Of course, with content which is generated from user emails it is easy to blame a lack of interesting emails coming in but something about the fact that millions of people watch that show makes one think there would be a least a few good ones in reserve.
That said the characters in the Homestar Runner universe are well-rounded and all have unique and funny things to bring to the table, making the world of Strong Bad easy to fall in love with. Thankfully, the email show broke out of its original formula and as a result gives the other characters a time to make you laugh just as much as Strong Bad himself.
Because Strong Bad is much more family friendly than most of the cess pool that is the internet's video content you may find the humor to be tame. I don't find this, I find the lack of swearing and lude sexual humor to be endearing and I would describe the whole vibe of the Homestar Runner world as being just plain fun.
We have now reached the 200th Sbemail. Some say that Strong Bad has become played out and gimmicky with his 20-30 year-old electronics and his self-absorbed humor but I still say its some of the best humor on the net. I hold it up there with "Toothpaste for Dinner" as being one of the few series on the internet which has fairly consistently amused me for years. If you haven't tuned into the world of Strong Bad and the gang then I strongly recommend you give it a try. Its a world of many laughs and good times.
Strong Bad's email show is a web cartoon updated weekly (a term I use rather loosely) ranging from 1-6 minutes depending on how recent the email is and how far you could take the content of that email. Its a show which now been going on for almost 7 years. Unlike many shows which grow stale and dry with age, Strong Bad appears to be consistent in the hilarity of of his content over time.
The formula a Strong Bad email follows translates well to most of his emails. Strong Bad starts at his computer, reads the email, types a response and then a series of events happen which may or may not be related to the email of the week. In fact in a particular email called "The Process" Strong Bad himself goes over the formula he uses in his email show. The show was not always as such though, his earlier emails have the problem of being criminally short, often featuring little content, many of them just being Strong Bad saying a few paragraphs and leaving; but the show progressed and came into its formula that is still used today and was the better for it.
Strong Bad's work had received some large amounts of attention, particularly for his creation of the famous dragon, Trogdor the Burninator and other famous emails spawning things such as: Teen Girl Squad, Sweet Cuppin' Cakes, Stinkoman and Dangeresque. The popularity of these emails may be because of the series of inside jokes that each character subsequently spawned, but I think it may have more to do with each of them being screechingly funny the first time through. The problem with these emails, however, is that the inside jokes which these repeat characters generate can be confusing to new watchers. While I encourage new watchers to start from the beginning, considering the 200 emails already done, that is no easy task. This means that the current target audience is the group of people who already consistently still watch Sbemails (Strong Bad Emails).
While these famous emails are incredibly funny, many others are noteable as being comic genius as well such as: Children's Book, English Paper, Death Metal and so many more. With the funny ones however, come ones that come off as stale. Some just aren't that funny. Strong Bad appears to be a bit of a hit or miss show in terms of its funniness. Ones like: Huttah!, 2 emails and Funny (ironically) seem forced. Of course, with content which is generated from user emails it is easy to blame a lack of interesting emails coming in but something about the fact that millions of people watch that show makes one think there would be a least a few good ones in reserve.
That said the characters in the Homestar Runner universe are well-rounded and all have unique and funny things to bring to the table, making the world of Strong Bad easy to fall in love with. Thankfully, the email show broke out of its original formula and as a result gives the other characters a time to make you laugh just as much as Strong Bad himself.
Because Strong Bad is much more family friendly than most of the cess pool that is the internet's video content you may find the humor to be tame. I don't find this, I find the lack of swearing and lude sexual humor to be endearing and I would describe the whole vibe of the Homestar Runner world as being just plain fun.
We have now reached the 200th Sbemail. Some say that Strong Bad has become played out and gimmicky with his 20-30 year-old electronics and his self-absorbed humor but I still say its some of the best humor on the net. I hold it up there with "Toothpaste for Dinner" as being one of the few series on the internet which has fairly consistently amused me for years. If you haven't tuned into the world of Strong Bad and the gang then I strongly recommend you give it a try. Its a world of many laughs and good times.