stand-up

Strong Bad Email #18

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"Oh no!"

Joe P. asks Strong Bad if he has ever done any stand-up comedy.

Cast (in order of appearance): Strong Bad, Strong Sad, Coach Z, Lil' Strong Bad

Places: Computer Room, Strong Sad's Room, The Stage

Computer: Tandy 400

Date: Monday, March 18, 2002

Running Time: 1:27

Page Title: Tandy 400!!!

DVD: strongbad_email.exe Disc One

SBEmail Menu Description: Strong Bad's first and last stand-up comedy performance.

Transcript

STRONG BAD: Something has compelled me to check my email.

dear strong bad,
ur a real, funy guy. have you ever done any
stand up comidic stuff?

crapfully crappy,
joe p.

{He pronounces the first sentence as it's spelled: "Urr a real fewney guy." He also pronounces "comidic" as spelled and "joe p." as "Jopy".}

STRONG BAD: {typing} What? No. No. No. I mean, no. Never. No. What? No. {leaves computer}

{Strong Sad sticks his head in the scene. Computer blurs out of focus.}

STRONG SAD: Psst. Come with me. {leaves computer}

{Cut to Strong Sad's room, now with a Telebision. He walks in, carrying a video tape marked "S.B. Talent Show" and inserts it into his old-fashioned wood-paneled VCR. The video shows a younger-looking Coach Z with a huge afro and mustache on-stage talking into a microphone.}

COACH Z: {while the video stutters} Once again, thank you to little Marzipan and her wonderful clogging. {the video stops stuttering, and the "PLAY" and the running time disappear from the screen} Okay, so up next we got the comedy stylings of little Strong Bad.

{Coach Z walks off-stage as Lil' Strong Bad walks on from the left to general applause. He lowers the microphone.}

LIL' STRONG BAD: Thank you, Coach Z, {pause} for not patting my butt. {audience laughs} Good evening, ladies and germs. Um... How about this cafeteria food? Is it cardboard or is it pizza? {more audience laughs, though less pronounced; Lil' Strong Bad looks uneasy} You know, 'cause it... tastes bad. Um... What about that one... that joke... Coach Z's hair is funny looking. Don't you guys think? 'Cause it's big... He has really big hair...

{Lil' Strong Bad's pants fall down. He looks down at them as the audience laughs.}

LIL' STRONG BAD: Oh no!

{Lil' Strong Bad starts running offstage, but falls down just as he reaches the edge of the screen. The screen goes blank. The Paper comes down.}

Fun Facts

Trivia

• This is the first email in which Strong Bad is seen with a shirt on.
• This is the first appearance of Lil' Strong Bad in an email.
• This is the first time Strong Bad loses his pants.
• This is the first appearance of Coach Z in an email.
• This is the first instance of Strong Sad getting revenge on Strong Bad.
• This is Lil' Strong Bad's first speaking role.
• The VCR is made by Totaltronics.
• The YouTube description for this email is "Strong Bad's first and last stand-up comedy performance."

Remarks

• Lil' Strong Bad doesn't have the highlights in his eyes that the adult Strong Bad has.
• Strong Sad shows us this tape on his own TV/VCR in his room. While the TV is identical, Strong Bad's VCR is not nearly as retro.
• Marzipan is able to clog dance, despite her lack of visible legs.

Goofs

• If the contrast is changed to anything but black, it will change back to black when Strong Sad steps in front of the Tandy, and back to whatever color it was when he moves away.
  • Also, when Strong Sad stands in front of the Tandy 400, the green lines stop moving.
• When Lil' Strong Bad runs away screaming "Oh no!", his mouth doesn't move.
• When Strong Sad says to come with him, he's holding the VCR tape off-camera, and its text is mirrored before he turns.

Inside References

• Strong Bad receives another email signed with the word "crapfully".
• Strong Sad's Telebision is the same as the one used in the Old Telebision Toons Menu.
• This is another mention of pizza.

Real-World References

• Strong Sad's VCR resembles a Sony Betamax.
• Lil' Strong Bad's joke about cafeteria food resembles a similar stand-up comedy standard about airline food.

Fast Forward

• "The Comedy Stylings of Lil' Strong Bad" is mentioned as a credit in the middle of theme song.

DVD Version

• The DVD version features hidden creators' commentary. To access it, switch your DVD player's audio language selection while watching.

Commentary Transcript

(Commentary by: Mike Chapman, Matt Chapman)

MIKE: So... here's another email that we made.

MATT: On our wed—{trips over his own tongue} wedthighs. It's, uh... I remember thinking how ambitious it was at the time.

MIKE: It is ambitious for—

MATT: Not only do we cut away... Um... Ahhh... Yeah... What?

MIKE: We've got a rack focus right here. Oooh, blurry monitor.

MATT: That's the old Strong Bad mouth, though. That's not very good. I remember this, that VCR was pretty complicated—

MIKE: That's Strong Sad.

MATT: S—what'd I say?

MIKE: Strong Bad. Strong Bad's the one with the red face.

MATT: {laughs} The tracking is amazing. Mike did that tracking and that little rainbow effect.

MIKE: Yeah, we used that a lot of times.

MATT: Yeah, 'cause it's so good. Nobody ever—

MIKE: Hold up!

MATT: —Why are people not as concerned with Coach Z with the fro and mustache?

MIKE: Yeah, no one cared.

MATT: I think it's great! And little Strong Bad, he's wearing a—that's not a tuxedo, Mike, it's one of those tuxedo T-shirts.

MIKE: Like... the kind that Mark Cohen used to have.

MATT: Yeah. And if you, uh, look, he's wearing—he's got elastic waistband pants, khaki pants.

MIKE: {laughing} Garanimals.

MATT: {laughing} Garanimals. Yep, that's the stage from our elementary school, from Vanderlyn Elementary School, which we later make even more obvious in a Christmas cartoon.

MIKE: Yes.

MATT: Oooh! So this is also the only other time we reveal that Strong Bad actually has, like, legs, like flesh—flesh legs.

MIKE: Oh yeah.

Fun Facts

• Garanimals is a line of children's clothing manufactured by Garan Incorporated.
• A rack focus involves shifting the attention of the viewer from one part of the scene to another by changing the focus of the lens.

External Links

• watch "stand-up"
• watch "stand-up" on YouTube
• watch "stand-up" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "stand-up"