Friday Roundup

Many favorites and a selection of duds from Friday's commenting.

Favorites, in no particular order:

Eddie Murray Sparkles had a pair of killers today. His first great joke came in the Wake Up Deadspin post, with this naughty one-liner. Terrific. Later, I cracked up at this beautiful wordplay joke in the Roger Federer Bulge post.

Steve_U flexed his muscles today, pretty much carving up Deadspin's comments sections left and right. He had two winners in the Wake Up Deadspin post; first this awesome dig at Shane Mosley, and then this hilarious caption. In the Donnie Walsh post, it was this funny observation; in the Pablo Neruda Investigation post, it was this simple shot at Cristiano Ronaldo. And finally, in the John Buccigross post, it was another excellent photo reference joke. Take a breath there, guy.

And, of course, Hatey McLife got in on the act. I really enjoyed this subtle historical reference in the Wake Up Deadspin post. And in the John Buccigross post, the crowd went wild over this Rachel Maddow joke. That's good work.

DJ Jazzy Jeff Weaver also left his first winner in the Wake Up Deadspin post with this hysterical Bleacher Report joke. Later, I laughed at this straightforward shot at Ohio State graduates in the Buckeye Voices post. He seems to be picking up steam on a daily basis.

The same could be said for Raysism, another guy who contributed something noteworthy to the best Wake Up Deadspin post in a long time. This joke killed me. That's just so fucking hilarious. For me, it's again the intersection of the strength of the reference and the absurdity of the connection. Great, great comment. Later, in the Montana Montana Montana post, this short dialogue joke was good for a hearty chuckle.

Our guy Gamboa Constrictor cracked me up with this naughty recontextualization in the Wake Up Deadspin post. I laughed aloud at it. The thought of it is just so repulsive.

I chuckled at this silly joke from norbizness in the first Boston Video post. We beat up on norbizness for the photo jokes and quotes from The Simpsons, but he genuinely has his own specific style and voice when he makes original jokes. This was just a funny, well-executed comment, and I loved it.

Also in the first Boston Video post, it was shocking and disorienting to see the name Gourmet Spud attached to a comment, and it was a pretty sharp pull, too. I won't get my hopes up for a full-time return to commenting, but this was a nice appearance.

Here is an excellent pull from Gottlieb's Cards in the Jezebel Tattoo post. I had to think about this for a moment, but it was worth it. Great job.

In the Pablo Neruda Investigation post, I was surprised more people didn't roar with laughter at this absurd offering from SavetoFavorites. For me, this was one of the funniest comments from the entire day.

In the John Buccigross post, I enjoyed this excellent thread featuring Vodkanaut, dont-forget-where-you-came-from-cheese-mac, Steve_U, SavetoFavorites, titansfan78, DJ Jazzy Jeff Weaver, and IronMikeGallego. Nice work, gents.

In the Montana Montana Montana post, I giggled at this joke from unstarred commenter Carolina Blue Balls, which earned a promotion and a round of applause. Keep it up!

This is almost the exact same joke, from unstarred commenter FortCollinsPubeFair, earlier in the same thread. It, too, is very good. The jokes have different tones, but they're pretty much the same. This one came a few minutes earlier and also received a promotion and applause. Why am I including them both? Because they're both very good jokes from unstarred commenters.

And finally, I laughed at this simple recontextualization joke from Rare Endangered Vuvuzela in the Buckeye Voices post, and the crowd loved it. I'm a sucker for North Korea jokes, and this had that delicious kick-em-while-they're-down characteristic. Great job.

Total Fucking Duds

Moving quickly now because I am way, way behind schedule and this bitch is encroaching on my weekend . . .

In the Wake Up Deadspin post, Sarcastro again puzzled me with another lazy-as-hell one-liner. Look, he wasn't the only person who went with "boots=gay" and/or "beard=[insert bearded celeb/athlete]" as the essence of his joke, but he's a featured commenter for crying out loud. Surely you can come up with something better than this.

Unstarred commenter P3nnst8r did this, of all things, in the first Boston Video post. This killed me. I was fucking dying when I saw this, but not for any kind of good reason. No, it was the Sir Truthington of it, the utter lack of orientation that cracked me up. Boy are you commenting on the wrong website, silliest of all geese.

The similarities between this clunky, horribly wrong-headed disaster from NobodysFault and Steve_U's excellent comment in the same post are troubling, to say the least, but that's not why it made the duds. Talk about a hack job - that's as clumsily constructed and heavy-handed a delivery system of that joke as possible. The differences between this joke and Steve_U's joke are the most perfect and succinct possible demonstration of everything I tried to express in today's earlier post - one guy has it, the other guy does not yet have it. How clean and convenient an example! I don't want to beat up on the guy (at least he attempted a joke), but ooof. OOOF.

It's a simple mistake, and forgivable, but this comment from DeamonDeac in the Shaq post makes no effort at original humor. I could be fighting a losing battle with this, but the standard of commenting ought to and usually does include creativity and originality. Make a joke out of that thing - don't just drop it there with the laziest possible caption.

Armen Tamzarian; I too have seen Goodfellas. I'm not sure why that quote belonged in the MLB Debt post. When a quote ripped directly out of another source is dropped in a Deadspin post, it needs to belong. The reference needs to be spookily apropos. I have already conceded victory in this particular battle, but I will continue to fight the good fight.

Rooo sez BISH PLZ was obviously very excited about Roger Federer's win over Novak Djokovic today. I'm not sure the Roger Federer post was the best place to express that excitement without a joke. I'm willing to concede, though, that it seems an awfully appropriate forum. Save it for DUAN, homes.

And finally, in the Montana Montana Montana post, unstarred commenter BufordJustice continued to demonstrate an obvious misunderstanding of the rule and standards of Deadspin commenting with this not funny, not-a-joke photo post. Oh well.

One quick note: I feel compelled to express that there are many, many, many great comments in a given day on Deadspin. Those that make the Favorites on Mad Bastards All are a selection of my absolute favorites, but I spend all day laughing at many jokes, both featured and unstarred. A joke that does not make the Favorites is not a throwaway waste, nor is a joke that doesn't get promoted or receive a +1. Keep doing what you're doing. Take it seriously and strive to do better all the time, but if you're making jokes already, hey, keep at it.

Happy DUAN and have a great, great weekend.