Lazyblog

A simple how-to guide

Me: To eliminate all confusion, I'm going to ask this as clearly as I can, with the IMPORTANT BITS in capital letters. You are a STARBOARD oarsman. You are letting it run, and the boat is off-set DOWN TO PORT; that is to say, the PORTS' oars are dragging on the water. Do you RAISE YOUR HANDS or LOWER YOUR HANDS?

Brendon Evans: ports should raise and stb should lower

Me: THANK YOU

Thanks, Conan.

I can never ever thank you enough for the kindness to me; I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. And all I ask is one thing, and I’m asking this in particular of the young people who watch: please do not be cynical. I hate cynicism—for the record, it’s my least favorite quality; it doesn’t lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard, and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

From one “unfunny person”

I’m told that I’m among the “unfunny people” Derek Mansen scolds for not being funny enough, or not funny to his taste, or something. And it also seems like there’s a general undercurrent of being annoyed about people who find humor in quoting or making reference to pop culture or Internet memes in general.

Here’s the thing. People—or the people I hang out with—seem to enjoy references to pop culture and Internet memes. Within this group, that type of thing is considered quite humourous indeed. Nobody (well, almost) pretends that we’re blazing new grounds in comedy and making jokes that our children will remember. We’re just saying stupid shit and linking up our lives with pieces of our culture that are a little bit larger than us.

People like it. People like seeing a link in between their lives and something beyond their little circle of friends. That, I think, is why pop culture references and memes work. It taps into the shared experience of the people who create and view it. The combination of novelty and familiarity, and seeing your life in those of others makes for the humor.

I made a little “FFFUUUUUUUU” cartoon about going to school on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day and posted it on the Internet. About a dozen people decided it was funny enough to share with their friends in turn, and it got 30 upvotes in RIT’s little corner of reddit. I wasn’t trying to craft a masterwork; I wanted to amuse people for one day. My audience liked it; I’m happy that I made a bunch of people’s days a little nicer. No, it’s not the funniest or most lasting thing ever, but it performed its task admirably.

Doubtless most memes don’t have staying power. FFFFUUUUU might be done by next year. But some will wind their way into the culture. The lightbulb joke could be considered an early humourous meme, and it has proved lasting and versatile. The formula provides the listener a set of expectations which the joke is free to fulfil or volate to make them laugh. It’s hard to dismiss the entire lightbulb genre as a silly, unfunny meme, since it clearly resonates with a lot of people.

In short, I think it’s silly to dismiss the meme or pop culture reference as a form of humor. While they might not be High Comedy that will be remembered by future generations, they are a kind of toolset with which people can amuse their friends and others. Enjoy it. Don’t have a cow, man.