Conservative Comedy Destroyed My Life

Lovely video as always! Wanted to drop a note that the version on Nebula has the video cut out at ~1:26:58 for like one shot. Also I had some thoughts on Rosanne's Q / Quarantine joke. First, I think "Q stuff" is more out there than you say. The jokes about eating bugs in lady ballers are from a new world order conspiracy theory that the world government is going to use climate change as an excuse to make you get your protein from bugs. I think the overall audience is kind of down with that. The thing that's killing the mood is that, I think, the audience doesn't know when to laugh. Like you said, the joke is basically that Q was predicting the lockdowns with their name (and that awakened to our family situations because of it). But it's not clear, in her delivery, how far Rosanne is taking that assertion. Because she could pivot from the joke to saying "because Q means quarantine we know 'the storm' and all those things aren't real." She could be about to deviate from conservative beliefs and so I think the audience is uneasy about when to laugh. They are worried that it's a fake out and it's gonna be a joke about NOT believing in Q. Ultimately you're right that it's because the joke structure is kind of confusing, but I also think it's telling about the symmetry of cultural adherence. You can get a similar feeling in more leftist crowds when people feel worried they will laugh at the wrong moment and appear to not be in on the joke.

The South Park asian accent really bothers me

you have deeply changed me. i don't understand how yet, but i think that's the point.

Great video :)

I would love to hear your analysis of An American Carol, a comedy made in a conservative bubble that has ghastly politics, but surprisingly good comic timing. It's directed by one of the Zuckers and has a spirited Leslie Nielsen cameo. I've seen it twice, mostly because I'm surprised, and a little endeared, by its competence. Even the Michael Moore parody has some characteristics of an everyman rather than just being "Person You Hate".

there actually IS another dylan mulvaney reference in LB. in the clip you use at 1:41:28, the guy front and center is wearing an outfit that mimics the one dylan wore in the bud light video. so that's three mulvaney references and two that specifically allude to the bud sponsorship.

Hi Joel, this was a fascinating video. Some random thoughts: -Who painted the cover photo for the video? It's gorgeous! -After watching this I spent over an hour browsing Nick Adam's Twitter. It's SO BIZARRE. Is he for real? Could it possibly be satire? Could Mr. Adams be having horseplay with hard, masculine men in his hot tub right at this very moment? -As someone deeply fascinated by these conservative freaks, should I watch LadyBalls or whatever it was called? I'm worried it will make my laptop feel tainted. Maybe I should pirate it and delete the file right afterward. -Can someone please recommend me some other insane conservative, "alpha male" Twitter pages!

I loved this, and you're definitely not alone in your reading of Team America. The National Review put it on their list of "Best Conservative Movies."

I love Big Joel videos so much

hello medium joel what song is at 1:50? i like the song at 1:50

love love love this video!! i have one nitpick. my disclaimer is that as a trans gal i am pretty attuned to when ppl they/them me if they feel my gender is called into question, that’s what’s influencing my nitpick here: i’m curious about ur thought process for using they/them pronouns for the character in lady ballers who gets punched in the balls for coming out as trans. I haven’t watched the movie so idk if maybe there’s a reason, but wouldn’t it make sense for you to use she/her pronouns? but beyond that nitpick ab pronouns, honestly an excellent video. i’m really glad you talked about trey parker and matt stone, you put into words some pretty nuanced takes about their politics that I really agree with and resonate with and have felt were difficult to articulate. comparing team america to the nostalgia critic wall video made me laugh out loud in public. that was easily my favorite joke of the video. good job joel

There's so much to say about this one, but all I really want to say is that I think this video is really good, and I think it's going to do really well.

Great video, but I kind of wish I didn’t have to learn “Lady Ballers” exists. It’s disgusting to think how much time and effort went into making something so hateful.

my favorite piece of conservative comedy: the Bach cello suites. lol on the Martin Scorsese mention, I remember in ur oscars lil Joel vid you talked about him as a Christian filmmaker— did you see he’s doing a series on saints for fox nation?

Big Joel, i watched this yesterday and you slayed really freaking hard. It's soooooo good I think it topped my previous favorite, your one hour special on Adam Sandler's click. It feels like such a passion project that incorporates a bunch of Little Joel rants, like the Ricky Gervais bit reminded me of that Talking Funny interview where he insisted the bar "sitting on a cock cuz I'm gay" to the tune of sitting on the dock of the bay was only funny ironically. And the nostalgia critic cosplay got me to IJBOL so fiercely. So happy to be a patron! It really just feels like work you care about. Which is meaningful to genuinely so many people. You cooked Henry

The jumpscare of the nostalgia critic cosplay lol

Love the thumbnail! Really intriguing and memorable

Is having the team America guy say f*g gonna get you demonetized? I want Big Joel getting the Big Joel Bucks

where did the thumbnail for this vid come from? it's the same art style as the prageru war on christmas video thumbnail and I think the recent black mirror vid? I really like it.

well. the lady ballers movie has a kind of faux-concern for the "mentally ill men". and in their framework, the genuine sufferers are playing into a bad system. therefore, "tough love" is needed. so it isn't pure disgust.

gotta disagree with you on the fat joke in lady ballers. you say that his reaction isn't legible but honestly, it seems like the bullying recipient is emotionally destroyed. he is ground down and abused. he is very sad. he's just taking it, looking at the ground. and idk, he doesn't seem that fat certainly from what we do see of him. so it seems the joke centres on you empathising with him due to the deep sadness portrayed by the actor and the fact that the fatness isn't portrayed openly which a conservative film absolutely would do if that was the intent. so i think the joke kinda is more legible than you're giving it credit for.

now this is videoessaying

There's a unique magic in how these vids get me to see the fascinating implicit messages in what I would otherwise view as hot dogwater. Thank you, Large Joel, for making me see the beauty in Roseanne Barr's onstage meltdown.

I think it might be a good idea to turn down the volume on the instrumental backing, at least in the latter half of the video. I understand it’s supposed to underscore emotions and even crescendo during particularly important moments but it’s just too loud in my opinion. Like, during the Roseanne segment I almost started getting anxious from the loud piano + Roseanne screaming about her nonsense simultaneously haha. I really enjoyed the video though. Good work!!

Regarding demonitization, the second clip you posted of the Team America ending speech is uncensored (it's a shorter clip so idk if that played into your decision not to dub over it with genius improv)

This is extra large joel

Jsyk you're visible under the letterboxing at 1:22:32

I’m watching now and I spent a while just not having ever heard of Team America and having a lot of what you say mean nothing to me. I think the movie needs more of an introduction than you think.

little joe

I was gonna say you’re like the Michael Jordan of video essays but I think you’re actually closer to the Monstars

I seriously enjoyed that. Impeccable punchline as ever.

31:21 There's a line here about how only trans people would be offended, and I was confused what you were saying for 10 seconds before I realized you meant trans and allies.

I used the phrase "undesired intimacy" to absolutely devastating effect at work txtx big bro he Needs to fix this

thank you big joel for creating a safe space for me to confess that there are jokes from the nostalgia critic’s animated titanic review that I watched when I was 13 that I still hold close to my heart and chortle to recall

Ooohhh I'm cooking dinner, so I've got time

At 2:57 the word "politics" clips at the very end. Might need to rerecord the line to fix that, but you asked for little audio notes. <3

Let's goo long video about fun topic

the nostalgia critic cosplay is too good and freaking me out man

(in particular I want to know if the audio sounds fine throughout. are there points where you find yourself turning up or down the volume? let me know where! if you want!)

Nitpicky as hell, but at 28:25 the comment says "reverse psyoppery" and you say "reverse psypoppery"

yeaaaaah thanks joel