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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   570 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for March 6, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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I still follow The Onion on Facebook, and it's sad how anodyne and unfunny their content has become. Every so often I stumble across one of their older articles, and it's heartening to be reminded of how funny and perceptive they used to be.

This is one such case: "‘This Here Is Probably Our Bestselling Love Seat,’ Says Man Who Would Have Been Powerful, Revered Warrior 4,000 Years Ago".

From that comedic premise, the entire article is a tour de force.

They used to put out some LEGENDARY videos.

Yeah they did. I was just thinking about this gem yesterday. I'm guessing it was too expensive to make those videos, but either way it's a shame they stopped. Almost every video they did back in the day was pure gold.

I was just thinking about this gem yesterday.

To be fair to him, hair metal did AFAICT get mainstream airplay during Reagan's first term, so that's at least one campaign promise filled!

It must be the Millenial in me, but somehow, "take any staid, stodgy, formal, professorial, restrained affair or institution and add raucous profanity and exaggerated reactions while otherwise playing things straight" is instant comedy gold for me.

"Jesus H. Christ, we're on the fucking moon" delivered in the standard professional NASA tone has me cackling.

I just realized there HAS to be some market for accurate, quality reporting delivered with this exact sort of style, and LLMs should be able to provide it.

I'm gonna have Grok do this for any articles I read from now on.

Yeah I also think it's hilarious. Another example I love is Thug Kitchen (or did love, back before they became lame about it and started to say it was racist to do that schtick). I also don't think it's a millennial thing per se. South Park uses that kind of tonal dissonance to great comedic effect, and Trey and Matt are GenX. I think the only real requirement is to not be uptight about swearing (so, I have a hard time seeing boomers appreciate it).

True. Although I note that I find it easy to overdo, many writers think "profanity in odd contexts = funny" without the recognition that you have to balance it so it is actually dissonant rather than just obscene.

I enjoyed the first Season of Stranger Things where there was dissonance from the young heroes occasionally dropping F-bombs under stress. The later seasons they made them ALL potty-mouths, even in front of adults, and even the younger kids.

It has to be somewhat unexpected to work.

See also This video.

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