01/22/2006

Sorry Folks, But Chuck Norris Is Officially Not Funny Anymore

by Matthew Edward Hawkins

For those who weren’t watching SNL, or didn’t watch (can’t blame you, since its so fucking bad these days), they just had a music video of a young Chuck Norris, going around learning karate and figthing bad guys in the 70′s. Sound funny? It wasn’t. And I’m sure I’m in the minority.

First off, I find this current Chuck Norris craze far from funny. It was great when when Conan O’Brien was showing Walker clips, and yeah that site with the thirty Chuck facts was initially humorous, but it has long run out of steam, perhaps because people have been repeating said facts ad nausea. I know people want to be part of whatever’s popular, but hearing the same joke over and over again has become grating (anyone who’s been on a message board, any which one, might perhaps know the high number of folks doing just this). People I don’t think even care of the joke itself is funny, so long as they get to say the name Chuck Norris.

And now this SNL sketch, which I just knew while watching, it will have everyone going go “OMG, Chuck Norris! LOL!!!!” for days now. The thing is, its not funny! I mean, for starters…

- the song was not great
- the dude hardly looked like Chuck
- why is Chuck eating out of a garbage can?

… But no one is going to question it because OMG, its Chuck Norris! LOL! LOL!

I guess its hardly surprising, since SNL has been such shit for the past few years now.

Oh God, I’m so worked up over this that I was foolish enough to leave the TV on Weekend Update is on! If I hear Tina Fey’s cackle for more than a few minutes, my head will explode.

BTW, I’m probably the guy who didn’t find the Narnia rap from a few weeks back all that funny. Actually, it was, but no where on the scale in which everyone else seems to think it is.

  • http://www.yaytime.realmsend.com dave roman

    You’re probably getting way too worked up over the idea of something making people happy just because it doesn’t live up to your personal standards.

  • http://www.vitaminsteve.com Steve!

    Why are we all still up and on the internet?

    -Steve!

  • https://www.fort90.com Matt

    Dave, you seem genuinely upset with my comments. I certainly hope that’s not the case. :)

    Hey, like I’m the only who gets confused and annoyed by stuff that I feel is highly stupid, yet which other people adore. Besides, what is the internet other than a tool to bitch about the most trivial of things?

    Also, you have to consider that I have, by popular consensus, bad taste in comedy. After-all, I hate Family Guy, and I love Arrested Development.

    As for your question Steve, I’ve just been killing time till the 3am classic SNL. Hey look, Tom Davis!

  • http://www.angelfire.com/ny4/timkelly19/ Tim Kelly

    SNL is officially the worst show on the planet. It’s unfunny beyond belief. Family Guy grows on me from time to time, and the camerawork on Arrested Development makes me dizzy.

  • http://www.vitaminsteve.com Steve!

    As long as MadTV exists, SNL will never be the worst show on the planet.

    -Steve!

  • http://www.yaytime.realmsend.com dave roman

    I don’t know if I was genuinely upset. But just letting you know that your post came across as concendingly like “You know what is funny because you watch more TV that everyone else…so if people laugh at something that isn’t as original as the comedy that you watched 5 years ago, then they are really stupid and need to catch up with you”.

    Not that I’m defending the sketch in question, because I didn’t actually see it. I was just surprised by how angry the sketch made you so much that you needed to tell everyone they were stupid for laughing at it as soon as it was over. It just makes it seem like it struck a personal chord with you. So you had to get revenge ;)

    I DID see the hotel channel sketch on SNL (while I paused a movie I was watching to go to the bathroom) and found it pretty funny. But probably because I spend a lot of time in hotels and always remark on how mundane and pandering the hosts of those things are. So the idea of someone obsessing over it and eventually falling in love with the TV made me laugh. That probably doesn’t mean it would be funny to everyone else watching. Another friend of mine posted on her LJ how the opening sketch parodying Anderson Cooper was the best thing on the show this week. Probably because she is really familar with Anderson Cooper’s show and found extra context that you or I might not have.

    So different strokes for different folks. Comedy is completely subjective.
    Sometimes bad comedy is good! And sometimes good comedy is bad.
    And you certainly have a right to bitch about it (it’s your blog!)
    The initial point of my post was really just questioning if there was a deeper fuel for your fire. Because getting mad at the fact that people MIGHT be laughing at something seems especially bitter!

    Anyways, sorry if this making it sound like a big deal. It obviously isn’t!

  • http://www.jennydevildoll.com Jenny

    I didn’t think the Narnia rap was that funny either. I guess the joke was a wordplay on “chronic” and “chronicles” and they were going on about cravine junk food (ooh they got the munchies), but why was this deemed hilarious enough for everyone to forward/post the link as much as they did?

    I do like Tina Fey though.

  • https://www.fort90.com Matt

    As stated already, I think everyone has been guilty at one point or another of making a stink over what’s popular when it seems obvious to one’s self that it’s really, really bad, whether its comedy, or a movie, or a band (especially most of my friends… not to name names of course… but I guess that’s why I’m friends with them in a certain sense).

    Again, am I taking SNL too seriously? Of course I am, because also like everyone else, I take certain things that most people finds superfluous and overanalyze them to death. In this case its comedy, since I’m such a big fan of it, and at one point or another, I would love to be involved professionally. Also, I’ve been an SNL fanatic since I was literally 4 years old. When you also consider the fact that its always been considered a reflection of America’s taste in humor (among other things, such as who’s popular, what’s in the news, what the current musical trend it, etc.), it then becomes all the more unbearable to see it as bad as it is. Many state that it should remain on the air because its a staple of American television, and that it deserves all this respect, but if you ask anyone who’s doing comedy, at least at the grass-roots level, they will all agree that being too respectful of what is established, or being too careful in general, is pretty much the death of comedy right then and there. And that’s the general sense I get from SNL, and henceforth why I refuse to cut it any slack. But then again I guess in the end it really is an accurate reflection of the state of comedy in America today, as evidence by the Chuck Norris song and how funny many seemed to have find it (and I’m certain those same folks also probably liked that throughly unfunny pirate sketch… again, SNL has taken what should be comedy gold, and managed to fuck it up… perhaps they should stick to satirizing real life things instead of trying to improve upon internet gags).

    And for the record, I avoid SNL like the plague, but its hard to miss since so many of my friends are into it. Plus I do check in from tim to time since the show does managed to have a re-birth and become very funny once again, every five years or so. Though I would say that its been long overdue, for about six years now. Also, a correction: I barely watch television these days, mainly because, once again, the state of comedy is so wretched.

    Oh, and I still tune in in hopes of catching a Bear Country sketch.

  • http://www.johngreenart.com John Green

    Chuck Norris didn’t find the sketch funny either. In fact, he snuck into your bedroom, Matt, and drop-kicked you while you were asleep so that it would knock your sense of humor into alignment with his, thus making you the perfect prophet to convey his message that he is not inherently funny, and anyone who continues to use his name in vein will suffer multiple roundhouse kicks to the face. But you see, you’ve got an uphill battle, Matt, since so many refuse to accept the Intelligent Design of Chuck Norris.

  • phooky

    I am confused. You are watching Saturday Night Live, presumably on Saturday night. There are other things you could be doing. Please, Matt, we’re here to help.

    By the way, I can’t play that Godzilla DVD on my linux box due to some bullshit Sony copy-fighting dick voodoo. Fuck you right in the brain, Sony. I’m taking it back to the shop.

  • https://www.fort90.com Matt

    Yeah well, I normally do have much better things to do on a Saturday night than just sitting around home, watching TV, such as a show that I had planned on catching, but MK wasn’t feeling all that hot, so we figured that it might be best to just hang out, read comics, and play video games instead. After a particularly frustrating session with Super Mario Sunshine, I saw the time and said why the fuck not. And there ya go.

    As for the fucked Godzilla DVD, sorry to hear that. Though isn’t the first time I’ve heard about a Sony product not playing well with Linux.

  • http://www.yaytime.realmsend.com dave

    I guess I must not have much better things to do than just sit around home watching TV on Saturday nights. But considering I only ever watch Televison Shows about 3 times a week I’m okay with that.

    I can’t defend Saturday Night Live for consistency or originality. But I do enjoy watching it and still do on a semi-regular basis. I enjoy most of the performers and I like watching them.

    and just enjoy sketch comedy in general especially when it’s live for the “you never know factor”. I like watching things evolve from 1 times sketches to re-ocurring characters to things they’ve run into the ground. I like seeing performers find themselves and try different things. Like Chris Parnel suddenly going from Merve the Perv to a gangsta rapper. That’s fun for me. It’s all part of the legacy. I guess I’m more patient and have lower standards. The show still has the ability to make me happy. And so does rapping about cupcakes and being taken to a dreamworld of magic. Just because people don’t like the same stuff doesn’t mean they need to ruin everyone elses fun.

    I’m sure I’ve been guilty about bitching about Shrek or the Matrix or whatever. But I don’t blame people for wanting things to be good and just enjoying them for their own reason. I like seeing people enjoy themselves.

  • http://www.yaytime.realmsend.com dave

    Raina just found the link to the sketch on the interweb so I finally saw it. Although it was out of synch.

    I thought it was kind of cute. Very Creed/Tenacious D like. Obviously far from original (even though I don’t recal the Conan Obrien sketches in question)

    Since I’ve actually never watched a Chuck Norris movie or TV show, certainly not funny enough on it’s own to get me as excited as the Narnia video. It’s less sincere. And not true to life (like making an adventure out of going to the movies)
    But still though it was enough to make me smile. Reminds me of kids just goofin’ around making their own funny videos like Dan and I used to.
    Their Chuck Norris is very in keeping with the Fish Man sketches we did. Amplified immaturity :)

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