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Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar comedy recommendations than comedians?
And then, suddenly, it was gone.
But certain catchphrases have remained stuck in fans heads since 2002.
Theyll probably be the last thing left in our dementia-riddled brains in 2080.
Murdervilleshowrunner Krister Johnson is one such fan.
Johnson discovered Homestar when he was still a struggling comedian in Brooklyn.
It felt very mysterious and mythological.
Since then, Ive never really seen a website as a sort of destination like that.
In my head, it shouldve been paired withSouth Parkon Comedy Central for 15 seasons.
I did a little research and they seem to have resisted all that, and I dont know why.
But it just feels like this crazy thing that showed up feeling fully formed and then kind of disappeared.
So it was both depressing and also exhilarating.
And you just keep clicking and discover more things.
Even the interface, which it’s possible for you to still see on theirwebsite.
And the animated graphics pop out.
Suddenly its old-timey, or whatever.
It was this incredible treasure chest you could dig around in.
Once Twitter took over, everything got shunted through that system.
Things are kind of pre-chosen for you, in a way.
Its like,Oh, this article, everyones freaking out about it.
I better read this.Going to a website isnt something I do that often anymore.
Its very weird, and I dont necessarily think its a good thing.
Whereas with Twitter, its a much more passive experience.
Were there any particular videos that stand out for you?A Jorb Well Donewas really funny.
But to me, theStrong Bad Emailswere it.
It was a mechanism for any kind of joke.
Theres one, No.
118, where he gets a virus.
It is a remarkable piece of comedy.
Its so funny, and then they dissolve the actual world that youre looking at.
Its just great writing.
But it especially was, you know, 15 years ago.
Its sophisticated, but they also use their limitations to the best effect.
But theres something about it thats unapologetic.
His sometimes-girlfriend doesnt have arms, but somehow she can still play the guitar.
All the absurdity that comes from that is just accepted, and it becomes part of the world.
It never feels like theyre trying to create something they cant.
It always feels like exactly the thing they want to create.
You need multiple peoples input to create the moment.
If you make a scripted show, at the very least, you know youve got a great script.
But you at least start from a place of knowing what you want it to be.
We didnt know what the guest was going to do.
I did aTwitter threadrecently about the Kumail funny-walk moment.
I certainly didnt know how that was going to play out.
He walked this perfect line between a little suspicious and willing to dive in headfirst.
you’ve got the option to see in the video that Will kind of glances over at him.
And that was nothing we had planned.
That came from Will in the moment.
It only works because Kumail came up with the perfect sound.
That was the magic we were trying to create.
We didnt know until we were done with an episode if we had what we needed.
We knew even less until we started editing.
Thats why, for people who enjoy this show, it works.
Youre not stuck in a bit.
We find a way to stay on the tracks of the story and move it along.
You said you knew how you wanted the show to feel, as a finished product.
People could succeed or fail, but it wasnt really about solving a crime.
I would label the Homestar universe as dumb.
So much of it is just Matt Chapman making noises with his mouth.
I guess my initial defensive response is that dumb equals lazy or didnt work too hard on it.
But making comedy is hard.
Making stuff funny is hard, and that applies to very sophisticated comedy and very dumb comedy.
Its all difficult to do.
Thats what I think I love about the whole Homestar Runner world.
It doesnt feel haphazard or thoughtless.
You really felt like these guys were making decisions because they really believed in them.
I think that their hit rate was incredibly high.
When revisiting the different videos, I was struck by how many phrases still live in my head.
Like I have a crush on every boy!
Thats in there, and its never going away.Oh, totally.
In one of the Strong Bad Emails, hes asked tocreate a video game.
But then they releasedthe actual vector game on the site, so that you could actually play it.
And every time you die, it would flash across the screen, YOUR HEAD A SPLODE.
Im pretty sure I put that in there.
It wasnt until someone commented on Twitter, Love the Homestar reference!
that I was like,What?
!I went back and found that Brett Bretterson is thefictional boyfriendof one of the Teen Girl Squad.
It was just stuck in my head.
Suddenly it ended up as an unintentional homage in a TV show, years later.
It was the first time I was able to interact with a website like that.
They were putting work into creating these experiences that a lot of people would never even see.
They just hid all this gold in various places.
And if people found it, that was great.
And if they didnt, that was fine too.
But also, when we got the show, I also thought I didnt know how to write mysteries.
Maybe its one of those things you learn just by doing.
Will we ever see moreMedical Police?
That show was really fun.As of now, not that I know of.
It debuted in January of 2020, and its a story of a global pandemic.
I think our timing was a little off.
We wrote it a full year and a half before that.
Im immensely proud of that season of TV.
Who knows what the future holds?
Some shows that seem to be done suddenly come back.
