Thoughts??

[MSTJedi]

I really enjoyed the stretch of free-form minnesotant dialogue. Who other than the big three would have made such effective and beautiful use of a long stretch of ice scenery?

I find it funny that even though I'm a born and bred Texan, I sympathize with the Midwestern humor found in MST3K and Rifftrax so much more than the humor of those from my native South. Maybe it's that I just don't cotton with the "bigger is better" attitude of most Texans. I like my humor passive-aggressive, thank you.

You mean GIT-R-DONE doesn't make you wet your pants each and every time you hear it?

Can't say that it does . . . of course, I just threw up in my mouth a little at reading that phrase. I'll be honest and say that of the "Blue Collar" guys, I find Ron White funny and even can laugh at Foxworthy and Engval from time to time, but Larry the Cable Guy just serves as a horrible reminder of what the hell is wrong with the South. Of course, Midwesterners have cheeseheads and crackers, too, according to MST3K. I suppose stupid is universal when you get down to it.

[torgosPizza]

Larry the Cable Guy just serves as a horrible reminder of what the hell is wrong with the South...

Of course you realize "Larry" isn't his real name, and he's not even really from the south? It's just an act. A really unfunny, cartoonish act.

This short clip is funnier than all his Cable Guy jokes combined.

[SecretAgentSuperDragon]

  All those Blue Collar retards watch this and take off their Larry the Cable Guy suits, realizing they're idol is a cartoony character.

I bet 90% of Blue Collar watchers believe Larry is a real person. 

[Nunyerbiz]

Well, there is nothing particularly groundbreaking or taboo about a comic taking on a alternate persona / stagename as part of their schtick.... next revelation is going to be that he was never actually employed by any cable providers.... 

Also, the reason anybody actually LIKES Larry the Cable Guy is BECAUSE he's a cartoony character, not in spite of it. It was pretty much the same exact scenario with Dice Clay about 20 years ago.... they both realized that going on stage as somebody other than Dan Whitney or Andrew Silverstein could make them a lot more money...

[MSTJedi]

I always hoped that all that was an act. I'm sure the guy laughs his way all the way to the bank at all the rednecks that take him seriously . . . which there are frighteningly too many in my neck of the woods.

[torgosPizza]

Also, the reason anybody actually LIKES Larry the Cable Guy is BECAUSE he's a cartoony character, not in spite of it. It was pretty much the same exact scenario with Dice Clay about 20 years ago.... they both realized that going on stage as somebody other than Dan Whitney or Andrew Silverstein could make them a lot more money...

I don't think Dice Clay and Larry the Cable guy are that comparable. Alter egos, maybe. But Dice never really had a catch phrase that he loved to cash in on, as far as I could tell. Nor did he immediately jump into every moneymaking market possible (See: "LTCG: Health Inspector", Blue Collar Comedy Tour(s), Blue Collar TV, that movie where he thinks he's in Iraq but it's really Mexico, his recent Comedy Central special.... and others).

I would also disagree with you that people like him because he's a caricature of the south. At a time when NASCAR is a popular sport among the middle class, and people use "Git-R-Done" in every day language (trust me on this one, I've heard it plenty of times) - I think it's more than just his pretending to be a character on stage. He's just a really good businessman, taking advantage of the popularity and moneymaking scam he's got going on.

He's even poking fun at it in the promos for the ComCen special. He basically points out that saying "Git-R-Done" is mandated in his contract.

I always hoped that all that was an act. I'm sure the guy laughs his way all the way to the bank at all the rednecks that take him seriously . . . which there are frighteningly too many in my neck of the woods.

I feel your pain, man. Back where I went to college (and some places near where I lived back east) you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a Nascar fan's pickup truck. If you listened closely you could hear them watching Blue Collar TV and buying tickets for the Cable Guy's next big show at the Critter Cafe.

[MSTJedi]

I feel your pain, man. Back where I went to college (and some places near where I lived back east) you couldn't throw a rock without hitting a Nascar fan's pickup truck. If you listened closely you could hear them watching Blue Collar TV and buying tickets for the Cable Guy's next big show at the Critter Cafe.

What's even worse is that while I do my best to write as intelligently as possible, my speaking skills aren't so great. I often find myself slipping into redneck-ian, especially when in the presence of other rednecks.

[Nunyerbiz]

I don't think Dice Clay and Larry the Cable guy are that comparable. Alter egos, maybe. But Dice never really had a catch phrase that he loved to cash in on, as far as I could tell. Nor did he immediately jump into every moneymaking market possible (See: "LTCG: Health Inspector", Blue Collar Comedy Tour(s), Blue Collar TV, that movie where he thinks he's in Iraq but it's really Mexico, his recent Comedy Central special.... and others).

As far as the Dice vs Larry comparisons... I think they fairly apt. Dice had a TON of cable specials in the early to mid 90s... and who can forget the Adventures of Ford Fairlane? I think the similarities stopped because the "Dice" alter-ego eventually generated enough of a politcal corectness backlash and forced him out of the spotlight. Larry is just a relatively tame bumpkin-type by comparison, so he hasn't had to worry about that aspect. Just because Dice didn't have an annoying catchphrase doesn't mean he didn't ride that persona for every dollar it could get him.... he'd still be pulling his "Litte Miss Muffet..." dirty limeric bullshit to this day if he could have gotten away with it.

I think it's more than just his pretending to be a character on stage. He's just a really good businessman, taking advantage of the popularity and moneymaking scam he's got going on.

So if you develop a successful comedy act that a shitload of people enjoy you are a manipulative scam artist only out for money?!? At the risk of sounding like a smartass, that's called free enterprise Comrade Torgos. I'm no fan of Larry the Cable Guy... I've chuckled at a few bits here and there from what I've seen of his standup... but he's not my cup of tea. That said, I don't understand this backlash against entertainers when they try to cash in as much as possible and strike while the iron is hot. Do you really think Dan Whitney toiled in countless comedy clubs during the 1980's to sit back and not make money when he found a winning formula? Certain people laugh at his stuff and pay him for it.... I'm failing to see a "moneymaking scam".

[SecretAgentSuperDragon]

So if you develop a successful comedy act that a shitload of people enjoy you are a manipulative scam artist only out for money?!? At the risk of sounding like a smartass, that's called free enterprise Comrade Torgos.

Risk? That was pretty much a guarantee. I got nothing against people making money, but Larry does the same thing stupid reality tv shows do. They cram it down our throats until we are forced to accept the stupidity. It's making people think it is alright to be a dumbass like Larry the Cable Guy, and that I cannot abide. If it was more of a satire, like Stephen Colbert, than I could understand. But it's mostly people going, "Dang! He's just like me!"

At a point in time where the United States is ranked 33rd for overall intelligence, we don't need Larry the Cable Guys to make sure we come in 40th next year.

[Nunyerbiz]

I'm not saying what he's doing is good or bad for society or anything like that... but it is a market driven system. Who is this mysterious "they" that's cramming anything down our throats? If he wasn't getting ratings, he wouldn't be on TV. If you're making some analogy to the decline of western civilization... Larry the Cable Guy's popularity is a symptom... not the disease.

Apologies for being a smartass... I really meant it more as a joke and a silly excuse to drop a "Comrade"... and wasn't trying to be meanspirited or anything.

[SecretAgentSuperDragon]

No need for apologies. It's all good man. The only point I'm making is that people will watch what you put in front of them. The perfect representation of what America watches is my father. He'll watch Grey's Anatomy, What About Brian, or whatever else is on after he gets home from work from 8pm to 11 pm.

I had once blocked out every channel on his cable box when I was visiting except for educational and thought stimulating channels like Discovery, History, A&E, The Science Channel, Nat Geo, PBS, Etc...
When he went to watch TV and asked me what happened, I told him the cable must be acting up. So from 8 to 11 pm he watched only those channels, and was actually pretty interested in them. Now if that could only be the case for the rest America, not to that degree necessarily, then it might very well help.

But when it is guaranteed that all people who have a tv and at least an antenna will get ABC,NBC,CBS, and FOX. And those networks have caught viewers in a vicious circle by making dumbed down shows available from 8 to 11pm, having the people watch them just cause they are there,taking that as liking them, and renewing the hell out of them. If you replaced most of the serial dramas with educational shows (not boring,but thought stimulating), you know what, they would watch them because they are there. For most people, TV or media is on the same level for them as eating.

If you put a can of day old dog food out in front of them, and nothing else. They'll say "Wait a second,"  but then they'll realize they're getting hungry and just end up eating it.

And thats what TV networks are doing now. They are essentially force feeding us day old dog food.

Wow. How's that for a rant?    Go from Larry The Cable Guy to this. But to be honest, it is completely irrelevant. Except that LTCG is more like a week old dog turd we have to eat.

[Nunyerbiz]

I get what you're saying... I just look at it from the other perspective. I don't think it's the networks conspiring to dumb down America. They play what gets the ratings. To piggyback onto the food analogy... they aren't nonchalantly throwing out stale dog food and saying "eat this or starve"... they've been running a buffet for over a half century. As tastes and trends and fads come and go, they continually rearrange and substitute the shit behind the sneeze guards until only the popular items are left. If their customers want junk food, then that's what they are in business to provide. As anything else in a free market, there wouldn't be supply without demand (or at least you would eventually hit equilibrium).

Now you could make a case against many networks for continually going the easy route and playing to the lowest common denominator... but it's up to the public to reject that at some point. I think the crazy reality show boom is on the downside of the curve... and while it's been replaced by the "three pseudo-celebrities judge dumb talent contest" boom... it's at least kind of a step to the side instead of backwards. Also, you mentioned a good number of thought stimulating channels... and more and more of them seem to be coming around all the time as well. There's like 6 Discovery sub-channels now... where the hell were those when I was a kid and TV was supposedly smarter? Those wouldn't exist today if the country was already over the edge plummeting towards the cliffs of retard. Somebody out there is fighting the good fight.

[Minnesota]

I can think of a thousand reasons why there is nothing wrong with TV ... hell they're even bringing Futurama back on the air!

[MSTJedi]

I can think of a thousand reasons why there is nothing wrong with TV ... hell they're even bringing Futurama back on the air!

As in making new episodes? Now that would be sweet.

I think there's a lot wrong with TV and some right. Currently I don't have cable, but when I did, my family almost exclusively watched Discovery, A&E, History, and Cartoon Network. The kids would watch Nickelodean during the day and I'd watch some stuff on G4, Comedy Central, and Sci-Fi. Those channels are what's right . . . for the most part. Then there are channels like E!, MTV, VH1 (which used to be good, but now sucks donkey balls), and all the other brainless pop-culture crap they show on local network stations. So it's a mixed bag. I just choose to ignore the crap and watch what I like.

[Minnesota]

I think there's a lot wrong with TV and some right. Currently I don't have cable, but when I did, my family almost exclusively watched Discovery, A&E, History, and Cartoon Network. The kids would watch Nickelodean during the day and I'd watch some stuff on G4, Comedy Central, and Sci-Fi. Those channels are what's right . . . for the most part. Then there are channels like E!, MTV, VH1 (which used to be good, but now sucks donkey balls), and all the other brainless pop-culture crap they show on local network stations. So it's a mixed bag. I just choose to ignore the crap and watch what I like.

Meh, I can channel surf like nobodies business ... many of the channels you mentioned have shows I love... Discovery has CashCab, History has Modern Marvels, Comedy Central has South Park, Cartoon Network has adult swim (w/ new Futurama episodes coming soon), E! has my favorite show- THE SOUP)

anyway I'm tied to TV for life, if for no other reason than to watch sports or sports related TV ... plus if TV stops producing crap then what are my two favorite comedians (Joel Mchale and Mike Nelson gonna riff on every week!?)