Now, first something out of the way right from the start. I'm vintage '91. My earliest first-hand gaming memories were from just before the turn of the millenium (mostly pokemon and a burned copy of GTA2, which I had to hide from my parents) I was a DBZ-kid. I used to think comedy could never get any better than shit-tier 90s era German latenight shows.
So I might just be to young to make an accurate judgement. But one of the most dearly treasured traditions of nerddom that seems to have enthralled so many people, I just don't get.
I'm talking about Mystery Science Theater. No, not the show itself.
After I've heard peopel on the internet praise it so much, I checked it out on youtube and I love everything about it. I love the iconic characters, the cast chemistry, the set design, the sketches... but I never got the phenomenon of MSTing. (for the still uninitiated: "Myster Science Theater-ing" means doing pre-written humorous commentary over some stock material, usually very bad movies)
Every time I watch one of the countless MSTing shows on the internets, (like the Escapist's own Unskipable), I ask myself: Why do people find this funny?
There's almost never original material in it, besides some stating-the-obvious observational humor. For the most part it's just letting the stock footage work for you and making some dime-a-dozen reference to something way funnier (mostly Monty Python).
And appearantly joke-delivery is something not even the originaters of the trend grasped in the commentary segments, since the dialogue NEVER. FUCKING. STOPS. There's never any pauses between 2 jokes, no letting one reference sink in before moving on to the next.
And now on the internet, everyone and their dog seems to try to emulate this style, either part of comedic natured reviews or just as plain ripping off.
Now I get it's supposed to be like watching a movie with friends and cracking jokes about it (I do that a lot too) but the thing is: I don't do it with complete strangers who put on bad british accents all the time because they think that will make their Dr Who references less horribly unfunny.
And when I do it with friends, I can tell them to shut up for a second so I can catch up when something important is going on on-screen.
So tell me, internet. Why? Why is this style of comedy so funny to you?
So I might just be to young to make an accurate judgement. But one of the most dearly treasured traditions of nerddom that seems to have enthralled so many people, I just don't get.
I'm talking about Mystery Science Theater. No, not the show itself.
After I've heard peopel on the internet praise it so much, I checked it out on youtube and I love everything about it. I love the iconic characters, the cast chemistry, the set design, the sketches... but I never got the phenomenon of MSTing. (for the still uninitiated: "Myster Science Theater-ing" means doing pre-written humorous commentary over some stock material, usually very bad movies)
Every time I watch one of the countless MSTing shows on the internets, (like the Escapist's own Unskipable), I ask myself: Why do people find this funny?
There's almost never original material in it, besides some stating-the-obvious observational humor. For the most part it's just letting the stock footage work for you and making some dime-a-dozen reference to something way funnier (mostly Monty Python).
And appearantly joke-delivery is something not even the originaters of the trend grasped in the commentary segments, since the dialogue NEVER. FUCKING. STOPS. There's never any pauses between 2 jokes, no letting one reference sink in before moving on to the next.
And now on the internet, everyone and their dog seems to try to emulate this style, either part of comedic natured reviews or just as plain ripping off.
Now I get it's supposed to be like watching a movie with friends and cracking jokes about it (I do that a lot too) but the thing is: I don't do it with complete strangers who put on bad british accents all the time because they think that will make their Dr Who references less horribly unfunny.
And when I do it with friends, I can tell them to shut up for a second so I can catch up when something important is going on on-screen.
So tell me, internet. Why? Why is this style of comedy so funny to you?
