Final Clarification and Conclusion

For my last post on here, I would like to return to the subject that started it, Andy Milonakis, and the subject I highlighted in contrast, Toby Jones. In my second blog post, I mentioned that the reason I thought Jones still held water while Milonakis ceased being funny was because Toby Jones was just a character used to promote the humorous businesses. It’s been pointed out to me that Milonakis is just as much a character, so that argument doesn’t really hold. I would like to clarify.

vs.

It is certainly true that Andy Milonakis, for the "Andy Milonakis Show" at least, was a character that Milonakis created to be funny. But there is a fundamental difference between the humor created by Milonakis and the humor created by Robert Hines (“Jones”).

Andy Milonakis’s show was based on the fact that it seemed like an adolescent boy was writing and producing it. The humor was not sophisticated, and in many cases it was legitimately bad. But when I thought that a kid was making it, it took a certain level of intelligence that I respected. I laughed because it was funny in the context of the televised musings of a boy who somehow made it onto MTV. Once that context was taken away, the humor was stripped of its shield and went back to being unsophisticated or bad.

The Toby Jones videos, on the other hand, were not based on the fact that Toby Jones had to be a real person. The real humor was in his delivery, in his script, and in his ridiculous businesses. I laughed at the commercials themselves, not just because I thought Jones had produced them. When the context was taken away, and I found out that Toby Jones was really Hines, it didn’t really make a difference because the delivery and the editing were still just as funny.

It is from these two examples that I have generated a conclusion about this type of humor. In the case where humor is based primarily on the belief that an imaginary character is real, if the character is discovered to be fake, the case stops being funny. If, on the other hand, the humor is based on something other than the imaginary character’s perceived existence, it doesn’t really matter if the character is discovered to be false.

Why Does This Humor Exist?

In this blog, I’ve examined examples of the various types of humor that exists in such a way that you can’t always tell from first glance whether or not they are real. Now I would like to spend a post discussing why this type of humor exists at all.

The main reason that I think this type of humor has gotten so big is that it is relatively easy to do and still make it look as though you were not consciously making it. That is, even though you are doing it on purpose, it’s easy to make it look like it was not on purpose. This applies less to people like Milonakis – although his condition did give him an edge for fooling his audience – and more for Turquoise Jeep or “Toby Jones” and their YouTube released and promoted videos. YouTube has opened the door for anyone and everyone with a camera and an internet connection to upload blogs, home movies, and humorous videos. 

Take, for example, this video of one boy supposedly secretly filming his brother’s reaction to a cancelled video game account.

At first glance, it seems pretty legitimate. The boy talks to the camera before hiding it, and it was probably filmed with a real webcam. But since the brother admitted it was a fake on the Comedy Central show Tosh.0 (warning: language), it’s clear that the two boys were just trying to make it look as real as possible.

The reason that they were successful is because this type of video has many real counterparts. From “Candid Camera” to “Punk’d” on TV or hidden webcam videos on YouTube, the world has plenty of precedent for a secret filming of an outrageous reaction. I think that this is an essential part of the equation. There must be real counterparts somewhere for it to be believable.

“But wait, what about the Turquoise Jeep videos?” you may be thinking, “Surely you don’t think there can be a real analog to such sexually ridiculous lyrics and atonal music!” Indeed I do, reader, and don’t call me Shirley.

Take for example this real song and video, which is entirely serious, called “Smell Yo D*ck” by Riskay.

(I’ll refrain from linking because it is not appropriate for all audiences.) 

Discussing the back and forth between a woman trying to confirm if her man has been cheating (via the test described in the title), the song includes such gems of lyrics as, “You was on the dance floor grindin’/ with a stripper-hoe named Diamond.” The chorus is somewhat catchy but badly sung, and the rapping is laughable. 

But it is entirely serious, and therefore so may be Turquoise Jeep Records.