Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Wednesday Roundup

Favorites and duds from Wednesday's commenting.

Favorites
, in no particular order:

In the Wake Up Deadspin post, tastes like burning earned a big round of applause for this creative spin on a tidbit from the content of the post. Nice work.

Eddie Murray Sparkles cracked me up with this nonlinear, Christopher Nolan-esque contribution to the Mark Cuban Lawsuit post. That's just so wonderfully creative. Great job.

Mantis Toboggan, M.D. rang up a pair of winners on Wednesday. I chuckled at this recontextualization in the Mark Cuban post, which forced ClintonPortishead to remake his own joke. That alone is something. Later, in the Passive-Aggressive Scouting post, this Brady Bunch joke was one of the day's very funniest comments. So, so good.

David Hume earned a huge ovation for this outstanding one-liner in the Mark Cuban post. That's probably your comment of the day.

I laughed quite a bit at this dialogue joke from Fendi Hotdogbun in the Jack McKeon post. It's one of those jokes that gets funnier the second and third time you process it.

DJ Jazzy Jeff Weaver slayed me and everyone else with this beautifully simple re-use of the theme of the Passive-Aggressive Scouting post. That's a great comment.

Hatey McLife earned a round of applause with this fantastic Salvador Dali reference in the Dwight Howard post. There's really not much to say about this; it's a great comment, Hatey McLife is a master.

I laughed aloud at this hysterical dig at Rihanna from Tulos_Mullet in the Dwight Howard post. The tone of this comment is downright hostile, and that's a major part of the joke.

I was surprised this long, damn funny joke from SavetoFavorites in the Mark Cuban's Lawyer post didn't get any attention. It's a little bit of a reach, sure, but once he got the premise out of the way, I thought the progressively less subtle iterations of the joke were pretty damn hilarious.

Gamboa Constrictor's contribution to the Mark Cuban's Lawyer post was good for a chuckle. And really, who doesn't love a good Top Gun joke?

And finally, Bevraj of Choice did an impressive job constructing this excellent Tiki Barber joke in the Football Cops post, and earned a round of +1s for his efforts. Later, in the Jennie Finch post, he landed this delicious wordplay joke, bringing the crowd to their feet. Two great comments there.

Total Fucking Duds

Unstarred commenter DonCherry'sHockeySchtick brutalized his own [very poor] Emmitt Smith joke in the Mets Sketchbook post. This comment didn't fail because the Emmitt Smith meme is dead - many good jokes are made from this meme every week. No, this jokes fails because it's weak, DonCherry'sHockeySchtick knew it was weak, he submitted it anyway, and then used a slashie to back away from it. Don't do that. Seriously, take pride in your contributions. If you think it's weak before you submit it, don't submit it. If you think it's weak after you submit it, redact it and go with something else. That's always preferable to shaming your own comment with a slashie.

I'm not really sure what unstarred commenter istealllamas was going for with this offering in the Dick Enberg post. I get the sense that's maybe the sort of casual humor that might fly in a room among friends, but even then, I have no idea where the center of this joke is. I say this so much, but take pride in your contributions. Try a little bit harder. The whole idea of this comment lacks any amount of ambition.

Unstarred commenter sir_pantsless satisfies our be funny quota for today with this effort in the Mark Cuban post. Be funny. The guy was once a featured commenter, for crying out loud.

Okay! Look at that! A roundup in the bag and it's not midnight! Wonderful!

Hey, have a great night, and here's to a joyous DUAN.



5 comments:

  1. good sir,
    I have been not-posting a lot of jokes lately that I feel have a really solid premise but I can't figure out how to package. I'm unstarred, and have been featured once as a dud for a lame "O AN HE SEXY" attempt. My question is, do you have any tips for someone trying to get from step 1 of finding a joke (The imagination necessary to find a good premise) to step 2 (packaging in a way that fully delivers on the premise)? I feel like the jump from the first to second step is what it takes to be a starred (or even passable) commentor, and I'm curious if you feel you have any insight that might help me develop my game.

    You are doing all of us a great service,
    Johnny Bench Called

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  2. @Johnny Bench Called

    Theodore Donald Kerabatsos had a great comment not this year comparing a comment to a good pizza. And how it has layers and you don't just throw a bunch of shit quickly onto it. It was a great way to visualize the process.

    And, coming from somebody who garners COTY attention, it's worth a read (if you can find it, which I could not).

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  3. If you don't quite get it, you don't quite get it, JBC.

    So what can you do? Shameless aping. I'm not kidding-- set your sights on someone (Deadspin commenter or no) you want to be like, and observe the timing, style, delivery. Then try it on, maybe practicing in DUAN first; your style will grow out of that. The Commenter Profiles Shitehawk has put together here are also pretty good study fodder, I suppose. But learning what's funny is... well... tricky.

    On today:

    -- Toboggan's having something of a Fred Lynn/Jordan/Pujols kind of debut season, no? The Brady joke delivery killed me.

    -- Great day, and great catches, generally. (Raysism had a rock-solid Tom Emanski video joke on the Andrews post that you missed; MKM had a semi-horrifying Accused joke on there, too.)

    -- Never have I rooted harder for a joke of mine to land than I did for the one that you picked. (I think it was turning a 72-ounce steak into a name.) Thanks for the daps, and for finally making me feel sexy, despite the residual baby weight.

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  4. Johnny Bench:

    I think it really is just time. It's almost like a math question. While the answer is important, you don't get any credit unless you can show your work and how you got there.

    So if you've got an idea, just go through different scenarios in your head, or write it out and just keep working it. The natural impulse is to get it out there as quickly as possible because a)you want people to think you're funny and b) you don't want anyone to get there before you.

    Remember though, if you're concerned about b), you may be starting behind the 8 ball already. So, take the time. When you do, you'll allow yourself to come up with new and original ways of doing things so that you get to a point that where have a routine and a voice that ensures b) will never be a concern.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Here's the pizza analogy:
    http://deadspin.com/5743250/will-hill-would-like-everyone-to-know-he-does-not-go-harder-than-a-russian-shit-in-airports-etc?comment=36120005#comments

    -Flash Bench Mob

    ReplyDelete