I Love That Stupid Shenanigans.

I forced my mom to watch Tim and Eric with me, and she said something afterward that shocked me, because I had thought the exact same thing, but not said it. She said “The humor on that show is the same as making faces at yourself in the mirror.” You know, she’s right. And I love it all. What they have done is examine a medium, for example 90’s era infomercials, pinpoint the things that make it ineffective or unpleasant, and specialize in them. The result is interesting, it’s kind of like the art of mediocrity brought to perfection. I also really enjoy Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace, which is made in a similar way. I can sit through more consecutive episodes of Tim and Eric than any of my friends, maybe because I really enjoy low-brow humor in a way that they have grown out of. Or told themselves they have grown out of. I think one of the things that distinguishes the humor of children from that of adults is grown-ups laugh at juxtapositions of disparate ideas. The humor of children is simpler, consisting of outbursts of silly energy, often screamed in louder than inside voices. I am somehow still able to indulge in this kind of humor, which sometimes turns other people off. Some of my friends have told me that going to a public place with me is a nerve-wracking but often funny experience. One of them said “You never know what he’s going to do, but it’s funny. He gets a lot of weird looks from strangers. If you know him, it’s funny, if you don’t he’s terrifying.”

Wow, I got really off-topic with this one.