interview

Strong Bad Email #62

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"I was raised by a cup of coffee."

This article is about the Strong Bad Email. For the short, see The Interview. For real-world interviews, see Interviews and Public Appearances.

Kerrek asks Strong Bad about Homsar. Pen puppets ensue.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Kerrek (Pictured, Easter egg), Trogdor (Pictured, Easter egg), Homsar, The Cheat

Places: Computer Room

Computer: Compy 386

Date: Monday, February 10, 2003

Running Time: 2:13

Page Title: Compy 386!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc Two

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Ahh...so many emails, so little good emails.

{reading}

What's up with Homsar? I know he's
weird and all, but don't you think we
deserve to know a bit more about him?
I think you should do an interview so
we can finally find out what his
deal is.

Kerrek
PA

{Strong Bad reads "PA" as "P-A".}

STRONG BAD: Whoa, that's a pretty cool name! {typing in a Gothic blackletter font} And then Trogdor smote the Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination. {Clears the screen, starts typing normally} My good Kerrek, you might enjoy such an encounter, but I know I can't talk to that guy for more than about 3 seconds before I start thinking that gnawing my own leg off might be a more better way to spend my time...more...more better. {clears screen, continues typing} Let me show you how it would go down with post-its attached to the top of pens.

{Strong Bad ducks his head and brings up two pens with sticky notes attached to them, one with a crude drawing of Strong Bad, the other of Homsar. Strong Bad does the voices for both puppets.}

STRONG BAD PUPPET: All right, then. For the record, please. Tell us who you are.

HOMSAR PUPPET: DaAaAaA! I'm a song from the sixties!

STRONG BAD PUPPET: That's just nonsense. Are you trying to make some sense?

HOMSAR PUPPET: AaAaA! Rightio! I think I can twice!

STRONG BAD PUPPET: Homsar, tell us about your childhood.

HOMSAR PUPPET: DaAa! I was raised by a cup of coffee.

STRONG BAD PUPPET: Interesting. So! How did you end up here?

HOMSAR PUPPET: 'Twas the pride of the peaches.

STRONG BAD PUPPET: 'Twas the pride of the peaches, huh? You got any last remarks?

HOMSAR PUPPET: DaAaA! Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk!

STRONG BAD PUPPET: Okay, interview over. Commence beating! {Strong Bad starts beating the Homsar puppet with the Strong Bad puppet.}

{The doorbell rings. Cut to a wide shot of Strong Bad kneeling in front of the Compy.}

STRONG BAD: Whoa! That'll be The Cheat with my Thai iced tea! Come on in!

{Cut to the entryway. Homsar shuffles in.}

HOMSAR: AaAaAaAaAaAaA! Hey Reggie! Is that rhinoceros around?

{His hat stays an inch above his head. Cut to Strong Bad}

STRONG BAD: Um... I can only assume you're talking to me and asking about Strong Sad. He's in the basement.

{Cut to Homsar. His hat falls down.}

HOMSAR: {His hat makes a full loop as he says this.} I'm a song from the sixties.

{Cut to Strong Bad, who is now sitting on the stool and shaking salt on his leg.}

STRONG BAD: If you don't get down there quick, things could get real ugly around here.

{The Paper comes down.}

{After a while, The Cheat shows up with Strong Bad's Thai iced tea but Strong Bad doesn't notice him. The Cheat then walks away. Strong Bad continues salting his leg indefinitely.}

Easter Eggs

• Once Strong Bad starts typing and the name Kerrek comes up, click on it to bring up a Strong Sad-style drawing of Trogdor smiting the Kerrek.
• Click on Strong Bad's or Homsar's sticky-note figures to see a few different versions. This can be done throughout the whole email.
• Once Homsar appears, click on the bottom lightswitch for the lighting effects from techno and the top one to turn the other lights off. This happens only until the scene changes back to Strong Bad.
• After The Paper comes down, click on the floppy disk near the two puppets to bring up the Homsar Main Page.
  • The original version of the Homsar Main Page had only the Toons and Games buttons. After it was added as an Easter egg on the Main Pages, it was normalized to fit in (more or less) with the rest of the menus.

Fun Facts

Trivia

An email and a Main Page in one!

• The label on the disk in the floppy disk container reads "rise of the dragon".
• All of the objects for the Homsar Main Page are included as part of this email's Flash file. Using a seek bar to view the menu page before viewing the email, and then watching the email afterward, causes all of the features from external Flash files normally used on the Main Pages (i.e. the homepage list, the "What's New" button) to appear during the rest of the email.
  • This can also be accomplished in the Flash file by viewing the Homsar Main Page, right-clicking, and then choosing "Rewind" or "Play".
• As popular as the idea has become, Homsar did not actually say that he was raised by a cup of coffee until an Easter egg in Haunted Photo Booth, fourteen years later, albeit recorded backwards.
• The words written on the Homsar sticky notes are (in order): "Stoop", "Gomp", and "bread??".
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad sorta interviews Homsar. Also, I had forgotten that it was actually Strong Bad who invented, 'I was raised by a cup of coffee.""

Remarks

• Strong Bad catches himself saying "more better", which is incorrect grammar.
• The salt shaker never runs out of salt at the end of the email. (In anything, a bottle of Mountain Dew acts the same way and Homestar Runner comments on it.)

Goofs

• For some reason, the table's shadowing is not complete, so a brighter brown bar appears under the Compy after Homsar's first scene.
• The sticky notes and pens do not cast reflections on the Compy's screen.
• A small blue dot is visible at the bottom of Homsar's right foot. It is best seen when viewing the Flash file and zooming in.
• After the camera goes back to Strong Bad, the sticky notes return to their default pictures regardless of which version was showing before.
• After the camera goes back to Strong Bad, the Compy's contrast buttons are gone.
• If the computer room and the room that Homsar enters are one and the same, there should be the brown carpet covering the whole room. However, when the camera switches to Homsar, there is no carpet, but just a bare floor. The room that Homsar is in appears to be the computer room, because there are two lightswitches, one regular one, and The Cheat's, which is mentioned in techno. Also, the No Loafing sign is visible by Homsar, which should loom just to the left of the Compy.
• On the YouTube version of this email, the title is spelled as "Strong Bad Emil".

Glitches

• After the sbemail URL format was changed with the Post-Flash site update, moving this email to homestarrunner.com/sbemails/62-interview, the extra Main Page elements do not appear properly on the Homsar Main Page Easter egg. The main page navigation, copyright year, Q/F/S/R buttons, "Go on and see what's new!" text, main page messages, and First Time Here? are missing; only the H*R logo, six menu buttons, and striped frame appear.
  • If the email is viewed from the old-style URL homestarrunner.com/sbemail62.html, the Easter egg loads fully and properly.

Inside References

• One of Strong Bad's sticky-note alter egos is his action figure from the email action figure.
• Strong Bad referring to salting and eating his own foot recalls island, where he says, while pondering what life on a deserted island with Homestar would be like, "And at some point my foot would look like a sandwich and I'd put salt on it and try to eat it and it's like, 'Oh, no! It's my foot!'"
• The second Strong Bad sticky-note drawing (the one showing him running) is similar to the caricature of him seen in a vacation Easter egg.
• The drawing style of Trogdor smiting the Kerrek was first seen in the email dragon when Strong Bad was singing about Trogdor.
• There is another appearance of bread in the Easter egg.
• There is an incongruous use of the word "twice".

Real-World References

• The phrase "Don't fake the funk on a nasty dunk" was said by Shaquille O'Neal in his first Reebok commercial.
• The flying skull-like Strong Bad head is a reference to the Bubble, an enemy from the Legend of Zelda series. However, Bubbles did not have wings in some games from the series.
• Thai iced tea is a chilled drink made with red tea, anise, sugar and condensed milk.

Fast Forward

• The Kerrek appears later in Peasant's Quest.
• Sticky-note Homsar's quote "I was raised by a cup of coffee" gives rise to the motto on the back of the Homsar - Raised by a Cup of Coffee shirt in the Store, and later the front of a similar shirt.
  • Homsar himself would later say the line in Haunted Photo Booth, albeit recorded backwards.
• The "bat winged Strong Bad head" seen on the sticky note was later seen in Decemberween Short Shorts.
• Homsar's "parents" were later seen in an Easter egg in fan club, and on the Homsar Reservation flag in Strong Badia the Free.
• Homsar again says "I'm a song from the sixties" in Strong Badia the Free. Strong Bad (when temporarily able to understand Homsar) says (or at least Strong Sad hears him say) "'twas the pride of the peaches," suggesting it's something that Homsar might have said.

DVD Version

• To view the Easter eggs (except for the Homsar link, which has been removed), use the angle button on the DVD remote.

External Links

• watch "interview"
• watch "interview" on YouTube
• watch "interview" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "interview"