August 2011
2 posts
“I never learned how to ride a bicycle”
– -Peggy Hill
March 2011
2 posts
Important KOTH Update
King of the Hill fans, if you’ve been enjoying the series on Netflix Instant Watch for the past year, I have bad news for you. KOTH will no longer be available on Instant Watch starting April 1st. So if you want to contribute to Judge Ye Not with some screen grabs of the show, get to work now. I wish it were an April Fool’s joke, but no. I’m sorry.
February 2011
4 posts
“I wanna score! And I want money! But I never get it! …Damnit!”
– Beavis
Drug Satire
If I had to pick the number one reason why I don’t do drugs, it’s because I’m cheap. Drugs cost money, and I’d rather spend that money on my wife or dog. Besides, alcohol and coffee suffice. And, honestly, who really needs drugs anymore? Drug culture has already come and gone. It was a supplement to the rebellious counter-culture of the beats and hippies. It made for some...
January 2011
3 posts
“Fine we won’t go to any church. You, and I, and our son will live the...”
– Peggy Hill
4 tags
December 2010
10 posts
6 tags
“Where’s my eggnog! Bring me my eggnog!”
– Cotton Hill
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Have Yourself A Satirical Little Christmas
Is it ever appropriate to satirize a holiday? If it’s a holiday driven by greed, delusional religious beliefs, and materialism, then absolutely.
Christmas is sold as “the most wonderful time of the year.” Isn’t that just absurd though? Talk about audacious marketing tactics. And what pressure families are under to make sure everyone is happier during the end of December...
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“You know I always say, more gay couples should have children.”
– Gerald, The Goode Family
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Fun With Stereotypes
Are all Texans republican Christians? Are all teenagers metalhead perverts? Are all liberals elitist hippies? In the real world, the answer across the board is “no.” But in the world of satire, stereotypes are essential. We shout a resounding “yes” to any and all stereotypes in this world. Remember, everything is wrong in the world of satire. No character is correct,...
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“so I figure if we knock down that wall, and build a new wall over there,...”
– -Hank Hill
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November 2010
16 posts
3 tags
Reverse Psychology
Even though it’s easy to relate to Mike Judge’s characters, they are not actually designed to be viewed as heroes. Satire is a little bit like reverse psychology, in that it should make a viewer want to do the opposite of what the characters do. This is tricky, because it doesn’t always work.
American cartoons have long used reverse psychology in conjunction with gags, most...
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“Oh, oh, and I almost forgot. Ahh, I’m also gonna need you to go ahead and...”
– Lumbergh, Office Space
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Satire Basics
Satire is easily misunderstood. By its nature, it is sarcastic. It is very different from other forms of comedy because its primary goal is not to make us laugh, but to think. In a sense, it is a form of moralism, because satire is designed to discredit a folly or vice.
Good satire is hard to come by, because it is very complex, sophisticated, and, quite honestly, requiring of much patience and...
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“I love art! I care about art! I MAJORED in art!”
– -The Goode Family, episode 5
WatchI mean, did you like, invent extract or something?
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The Football Vice
“If Bobby doesn’t love football, he won’t lead a fulfilling life, and then he’ll die.”
-Hank Hill
The most popular sport in America is football. And by popular, I mean people can make it the most important part of their lives. As the above Hank Hill quote indicates, Americans value football so much that they include it as an essential ingredient to personal happiness.
Take Hank Hill, a former...
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“So you’re gonna fire Samir and Michael and give me more money?...”
– Peter Gibbons, Office Space
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WatchMike Judge on Space Ghost
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When the Mean Means Vice
According to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, a vice is either an excess or deficiency of what would otherwise be a virtuous mean. In other words, the best way is the middle, not too far left or too far right.
Mike Judge regularly uses Aristotelian ethics as his grounding for satirizing contemporary American vice. For example, Office Space exposes the vice of laziness. Beavis and Butthead...
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“Huh huh, huh huh huh…
Huh huh mmm, uh huh huh huh…
Huh huh, huh...”
– Beavis’ haiku
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Watch“Xtra Big-Ass Taco!”
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Hilloween
A holiday is one of the best ways for a group of Americans to forget how lousy their everyday lives are. Instead of bemoaning the same old banalities of work and family, holidays allow us to take a break and enjoy something silly.
During Christmas we either celebrate the birth of Christ, or commercialism, and oftentimes both.
Easter is a celebration of eggs, chocolate, and the literal belief in...
October 2010
18 posts
6 tags
5 tags
“I make extract. That’s what I do. You know? Vanilla…”
– Joel, Extract
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Watch“It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.”
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Are Beavis and Butthead Gay?
In an interview with John Stewart that took place over a decade ago, Mike Judge told him “they’re not gay.” So that’s that? Even though they spend all of their time together, gaze longingly at the machismo Todd, and never pursue any romantic relationships with members of the opposite sex, apparently they’re just not gay.
Or are they?
The 90s’ were a tumultuous...
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follow Judge Ye Not on Twitter! →
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Huh huh. Twitter’s cool.
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Mike Judge and Mark Twain
If you’ve been trying to find someone who compares to Mike Judge’s brand of satire, I’m pleased to suggest that he may actually share the most similarities with the father of American literature—Mark Twain. Consider the following:
Humor.
Not all satire is funny. The primary intent of satire is to discredit vice or folly, but both Twain and Judge were humorists. Both men...
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“My barber Jack always says, ‘Hair grows, even during a recession.’”
– Hank Hill
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Watchunscannable
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You're A Very Bad Person, Peter Gibbons
As much as we don’t want to admit it, Peter Gibbons is a bad example. Jennifer Aniston’s character actually uttered the real moral of Office Space, and it went against Peter’s philosophy.
” Most people don’t like their jobs. But you go out there and find something that makes you happy.”
Of course her character isn’t perfect. She’s slept around,...