I'm back, yes, whoop whoop. Started university, got money, got paid and all that nonsense. In my absence as you'd expect I've spent a lot of time on the internet, and only tonight have I encountered the funniest video I have ever seen.
Being from Wigan, anything remotely funny from there is instantly given cult status by my community, purely for the fact Wigan has fuck all else to be proud of. A little YouTube video has reached a bump in popularity over the past few days, popping up on facebook a few times, and finally I decided to click on one of the links. Here it is, anyway.
It really is terribrill (terrible/brilliant). On the surface, it's nothing more than some drunk fool falling down some stairs then getting shouted at. That's funny! But the humour is actually much deeper, and when you look into it, this could easily be one of the most well written comedy sketches of all time.
First of all, the stage is set. A shirtless man stands atop a flight of stairs, dancing like a madman, and the cameraman slurs his words poetically, to let us know that there is clearly a lot of alcohol about. We can tell from the positions of these two men (and of course the title of the video) that there is going to be some sort of stunt, which is beautifully confirmed by the well-dressed chap who makes his way down the stairs, saying 'let me get down bottom', obviously for a better view.
Here we see the first 'hidden joke'. This is something you would expect from the comedy minds of Graham Linehan (Father Ted) or Gervais & Merchant (The Office); brilliantly layered comedy. As soon as the smartly dressed boy makes his way out of the frame of the camera, a sock-bearing individual is revealed. It's just perfect. We know that everyone there is drunk and surely parading around with only a sock hiding your dignity is the epitome of all inebriated antics. The contrast between the shirt wearing boy and the almost completely naked one is almost too good to make up.
I can't quite make out what 'Gordon' is saying to the sock wearing man, but it sounds like he's saying that there's a serious risk of injury, and he wants to try it first to be safe. Makes perfect sense. Furthermore, why is he being called 'Gordon' instead of his real name, Jordan? Surely this is just an in-joke between friends, so it's safe to presume that he has been conditioned to the deliberate mistake, but what if he hasn't? He's clearly drunk enough to mishear 'Gordon' as 'Jordan', so again, this could be the work of a comedian.
Then, we just have the innocent bystander, on the landing with the camera, counting down. A typical element of comedy, he is merely there to observe and add perspective to the situation, clearly the most 'normal' person in the frame and the one you (the audience) are expected to relate to. However, he adds his own little bit of funny with the "on your marks, get set, go". 'Gordon' completely misses his cue and sends himself flying down the stairs like a rag doll. He falls to his knees completely expressionless and tumbles... it is beautiful physical comedy. Landing on his knees, we can see he is completely unfazed, proud even that his trick has worked to full effect, only to discover there are a few stairs left. At this point he just gives up and goes limp, crashing into the banister. The cackle of the cameraman gives the audience the cue to burst out laughing, topped up by his final fall to the floor and clutching of his head.
But now is when we really get professional. As he gets up, the cameraman pans perfectly across, capturing his entire erection (ooh er). The look of quiet confidence is now of complete fear and bewilderment, as a torrent of abuse spills from some woman, with the cameraman's laughter staying consistent.
The woman's foul, colloquial speech touches the funny bone of different people for different reasons. People from Wigan will find it the funniest for the pure rage that is involved; she is absolutely fuming, and the line "I'll phone your fucking Dad" is just the icing on the cake. Others will take only from the fact that we know why he's panicking, and she has taken control of the situation, completely changing the tone of the video. We are no longer laughing for the stunt involved, but at the completely new comedic situation of the muscular, shirtless man being put into submission by the shrieking anti-heroine.
Then comes the killer. "You want see state of our Wes." With the video cutting off in perfect time, the completely useless excuse for his behaviour just tips off the video in such a gorgeous fashion. With 'Gordon' in-jokes, threats to phone Dads and 'our Wes', we can see that this is a sort of family affair, and that taps into our nosy nature. We're laughing at what we can only presume is a typical night in for this household, which makes it all the funnier.
The characters in this 23 second video are so fantastically layered but we don't even notice. This really is the funniest video on the internet. Now it's easy to say that I could do this for any video, but this one just caught my eye, and is perfect. This really is just the best video on the internet. The accidentally professional camerawork, unintentionally multi-dimensional characters... perfect. And why have I written about it? Because I want to. Deal with it.
The Famous Peter is back, thanks kids.
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