Detective No. 27 posted:

mind the walrus posted:

Gotta go autistic on this one:

It's a 2-man vaudeville sketch with loads of pauses, miniature scenes, and lines that can be recontextualized in a variety of fashions-- surreal, hyper-literal, non-sequitor. You can insert other memes into it, or any one part of it into another meme. There are multiple notes for jokes-- the concept of steamed hams and various cons pulled around them, Aurora Borealis (itself a three-note joke from absurdist comment, to Chalmer's incredulity, to the "may I see it"/"no" cap), the regional dialect exchange, Agnes' screams and Skinner's reassurance at the end--which allows for heavy versatility for short or long-form remixes. Other memetic exchanges in the Simpsons don't reach that level. The Dud goes pretty far, Hibbert is an easy insert, and personally I think the Frogurt Shopkeep has way more potential than is being used for, but none have proven to really "go the distance" yet.

MariusLecter posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzIzpmavnBM

Randaconda posted:

Poppyseed Poundcake posted:

How is this a meme?

Class3KillStorm posted:

History is dumb. Simpsons memes are not.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XvZtmSmbvzw

Araki posted:

https://twitter.com/pixelatedboat/status/949100087350710272

NuminaXLT posted:

Ok, so who actually died? That's how this works... right?

NuminaXLT posted:

Ok, so who actually died? That's how this works... right?

Jamesman posted:

https://twitter.com/oneunderscore__/status/949386914284670977

Pastry of the Year posted:

And (to continue slicing up Steamed Hams [mm, steamed clams]), one thing that makes the sketch fantastic is that Skinner is wound up so tightly, and no less, wound up tightly about appearing foolish, that he ends up becoming a clown. Here's a guy that uses phrases like "unforgettable luncheon" and "ye gods," and answers the door - presumably on a day off! - not only wearing what he feels is his work uniform but with a lace-frilled pink apron over it. He's fastidiously fussy, not about his appearance per se but about how Chalmers will perceive him.

And, as was pointed out upthread, Chalmers believes every single word of his lies, but I'll go against forums user organburner and say that Chalmers, in spite of all available evidence, actually [b]believes[/i] Skinner, because Skinner has lied his way out of so many absolutely outlandish situations (as depicted in the little "title single" montage, in which we see, among other things, multiple children being digested by some sort of snake). Organburner was right in that Chalmers has had some sort of breakdown in which he believes, e.g., the kitchen fire could possibly be the Northern Lights, but that happened way before this unforgettable luncheon. Chalmers has long ago come to a place where Skinner's "crazy explanations" (as the song has it) have anything but the ring of truth, because so many bizarre things have been explicated by them.

He's still canny enough to ask questions, but he's happy to accept answers. And why not? Chalmers lives in an insane world. Why shouldn't a burning roast and steaming clams, on this occasion, smell more or less exactly alike, which is also to say exactly like hamburgers and french fries?

And what exactly does Skinner think he has to lose by lying? Who hasn't hosed up in the kitchen? But Skinner is so stuffy, so fussy, so intent on presenting a certain image, that he's willing to let his house burn down while he sips purple drank - at least, for a moment.

Neither one of these two want to lose face by accepting the obvious, and that's one of the most human things there is.

Pastry of the Year posted:

I'm not joking when I say I would actually love to hear more about how this scene was localized into other languages.

Samuringa posted: