SurrealTube: Don't Hug Me I'm Scared "Jobs" and "Death"

Were Hello everyone, and welcome to Surreal Tube, a little thing that we're doing over here at Scary Stories. We tell I am one of your hosts, Chris Dashue, and I am joined by my good friend Emma. Hello. Hello, one of the hosts of the show, Emma, Actually, what the fuck am I saying here? And I'm joy by the other host Emma, Hello, welcome, welcome back or again we we did this areal Tube thing with Don't Hug Me I'm Scared one and two because there were only two episodes that we did, because we did the first three and second three, yes, and then kind of do you knew the show was coming out and that's the reason we did Don't Help Me I'm Scared.

I think you said it first Surreal Tub episode. Yeah, So it kind of had a resurgence recently because that this apparent series had come out of like full length episodes, which which is crazy, and like it was one of those things that like everybody was like, oh, maybe they're doing something with it, maybe they're not, and it sort of just like was off radar. But it's crazy how like it came back like like a like a fire, like a wild fire. Everybody's talking about it now, like it's like no time has passed. Um, like I saw a fan art for it.

Now I'm getting a lot of recommend dations and like I'm going out of my way to like not watch any like any YouTube videos that are coming up for it. I mean, I was at Spencer's over Black Friday, and I think I told you this there was like, I don't help me, I'm scared. Like T shirt like with the three with the three main characters Duck, Yellow Guy, and Red Guy, and you could just buy it, and I was like, oh, that's cool. Like again, like if I had not known from watching this that, yeah, I would have been like, oh, that's kind of a weird Muppet a Jason thing. Honestly seeing it there might have made me like pick up the shirt and look at it and see what it was.

Because like again I'm I'm a huge fan. I think We've mentioned it at some point during this like I am a huge fan of like muppets and puppets and like stuff like that, Like I am a huge fan of that kind of stuff. So but again, like it was just weird to like see it out in the real world because again, like a year ago, it wouldn't have been there. I don't think like this is probably because of the show having out right, So yeah, I mean, i'd be lying APIs said, I didn't want to capitalize on the resurgence of popularity. But it's also just something that like, again, it was something that I was really into when it came out, and what I brought up to you, you had no idea what it was, and I was like, there's something here that we could talk about us for sure.

Well, and again, I mean it's something that I think we're gonna talk probably of a fair amount about on this episode. This show came out six years ago, a pre pandemic time, a different time in a lot of ways for at least form. I mean, year to year, comedy is different, and what is mainstream and what is edgy and what is subversive changes pretty pretty significantly, I would say, from year to year, And so this show being six years old and it coming out six years later, it has a lot to kind of deal with in like the expectations, the times, people's wants and needs have all changed in six years pretty significantly. The world, yeah, is pretty different. So I would argue original series comes off at least to me as timeless.

There are a lot of YouTube short series that were, like, you kid tell this was made in twenty ten, you could tell that this was made in two thousand and eight, exactly. Film Cow. I love film Cow. I love film Cow. It will always it'll always have a special place in my heart.

But like and now, if you were to make a video about Lama's That Eat Hands, I don't think it would be as big. Do you know what I'm talking about when I say lamas that Eat Hands? No, But I just assume it's something to the effect of like same with like if I say happy Tree Friends in twenty twenty two, It's like, I don't think very many people would be into it after this, I'm gonna make you watch that, Like I think it's like three minutes. I'm gonna make you watch it. Just it's like again like I and frankly, even let's let's let's let's let's be honest here the show goes as far back as twenty eleven.

So the show's first episode aired in July of twenty eleven, which is an even more disparate time of comedy than now. I mean, the stuff you're talking about is twenty ten. Effectively, Charlie the Unicorn sound fingers this in twenty eleven, and the fact that we're talking about something from twenty eleven in twenty twenty two and relevant and it's relevant and people are like you said, there, people are still super into it. I mean, look, the first episode came out in twenty eleven, the second episode came out in twenty fourteen, third and twenty fourteen, fourth and fifteen, sixth or fifth and fifteen, and the last one in sixteen, and that's six years from then now, so it's almost you know, it's over a decade that people have been waiting and going on this journey.

It's been anticipated, yeah, but again people have to assume like maybe things aren't going to happen with it because this is taking quite some time. This is the biggest gap of time between anything. And there was an unaired pilot at one point that they showed its Sun Dance, but that was still three years ago. So yeah, this being where it is now, the fact that yeah, it's not technically on TV, it's on a streaming service, but it's still shocking that this thing exists at all. Frankly, I'm like the production value is insane, Like is there any way to figure out like how much one of these like episodes must must have cost?

Like I'm sure again, like I don't know a TV, it's always kind of weird it Look this is this is on Channel four, which is a British like I guess, like like British public public Access, right, I think so, right, But it's on the equivalent of their streaming service on All four, which is what it's called. So it has a budget now and what's what's call HBO like their equivalent of h so I think it's like their equivalent of I guess like public Access, but our public does I don't know if our I guess does PBS have a streaming service, because like the PBS shows are on like HBO. Now, that's what I'm saying. Stream like PBS, I'll obviously, is also very geared towards children, so I highly doubt that they were showing this on fair equivalent of PBS.

Well, it's on their streaming version. But PBS has all kinds of stuff. I mean, PBS does have like documentaries and stuff. I mean PBS on the weekends has kids stuff. But PBS has like Ken burns.

I only know PBS for like Hiu and Kaiu adjacent. Okay, well that okay, it's valid and a complete fair assumption if you have not revisited PBS as an adult. But PBS has like ken burns and all kinds. It's PBS used to be where they would show in the before times like not and I'm not talking like you know, pre pandemic like long time ago. I want to say PBS is where they were showing like BBC stuff because that because like that that and like I know for a fact that PBS had like um, like Mystery Hours was Arthur, PBS right was broadcasting like again like in this country, it has legs.

But you know this show having being on Channel four is nothing to sneeze at obviously. Oh no, definitely. Well What's Crazy is as good as the as it looks now with the budget that it has now, because like you said, it does have a budget now versus it had a budget before but it was self financed. Let's just put it that way versus right clearly, with how long it's taken in a lot of this to get to the point where at now, um, even though it has a budget, even though it's now on a network with a streaming service. The quality looks the same.

And I'm not saying that in like a derogatory way, but it's crazy to me the quality that they could get out of their own self financing. Yeah, along with what it looks like now with a budget. Yeah, I mean yeah, obviously. The I think what's more surprised zing with this first episode jobs is you can see the scope of the show. Now this show has a bigger scope.

You can have sets and multiple characters, not just you know, the three characters and weird maybe kind of sideways iterations of them. You have actual characters who are completely new to the show that don't show up again, at least not in the second episode. So it's kind of that that's why your audio just cut out by was weird. I can see where they're spending the budget. It's not on making the show look nicer.

It's on expanding the scope of the show, which I think is important as an audience member. For me, it doesn't look like they did an uptick in quality of like you know, costumes or puppets. Like you can tell that they maybe they had a chance to like clean up the puppets maybe a little bit like maybe they you know, fixed up some stuff in more of like the inner working side of things, and like other than that, for the most part, like everything looks the same, and I think I think that's for the best. I really do. And like it's very obvious that they were able to spend more on like longer cutaways and like utilizing different uh you know styles, and then obviously like all of these different set designs, and then on top of that, just like so many more assets.

And I love the fact that so many assets are also like felt and puppet when they don't need to be. And it's just it's so it's that little extra touch of like this is meant to parody a kid show. It's like that little extra like everything is soft, everything is remadem. Like they could have used, you know, an actual briefcase for the first episode, but they didn't. They could have.

I think even like all the papers in the briefcase we're also felt like and I love it. It's like that kind of stuff, Like that's that's what really gets me. It's a level of attention, right, I Mean we kind of saw it with the show on YouTube, but here it is I mean we I say it all the time in the culture cast, Like you can see the budget, like the budget is on screen, Like they're putting a lot of time and effort into really taking the gimmick or the gag of this world that exists that these characters live in. And they've gone to the complete furthest kind of point that they can with a talking vending machine. And it's just like everything And there's even a little bit of claimation in this episode like they really again they understand the mixing of the mediums and we saw that on the YouTube show, but here to see the fidelity.

Yeah, it's just it. The quality of this show has not taken a dip. It's really, if anything, just gotten that much more impressive. Yeah, So I definitely want to talk about the first episode for sure. So the first episode, like I've mentioned, is is titled Jobs, and the three characters at the beginning looking for something to do their board, they have nothing to do on their schedule, Duck, Yellow Guy and Red Guy, and at the suggestion of a talking briefcase, they go out and get jobs at a bits and Parts factory Peterson's and Sons and Friends and friends, Bits and parts where they take bits and turn them into parts, and then the parts are turned back into bits so they can make more parts with them, which when I watched this for a third time with jan I looked at him and I'm like, don't you love that metaphor?

I love And they don't even like hang a lantern on it or anything or even make light of it. Just is like this, there's a cat. You see them making the parts, the parts go into the bucket, and then they go right back into the machine and nobody says anything. One thing that I do want to point out, even like before really even getting into the episode, the opening sequence. I love the song.

I love the theme song. Yes, really hammering the whole. There's three of us, just the three of us, and I'm wondering, like, is there a hidden meaning behind that? Like I something that I was thinking about, Like, so, okay, remember how when we were watching and we noticed and the wall there was that cut out with the with the eye ye you were like, oh yeah, like we and it's pretty clear like when you pause on it, that's supposed to be Roy from the first series. We've only gotten two episodes in at this point, so we we don't know if that plays a role later on, but I'm wondering, like if that's foreshadowing that, or like if there's some weird meta theory about like this all being you know, in their heads because it's just three of us.

They really hammer home the just three of us. But I think my favorite part about the opening is how they changed that little bit at the end per episode, which we noticed because we watched the first two. Well, and that's and yeah, so you know, we we can kind of speak to They're going to be clearly using the opening as an opportunity to tell some sort of narrative, right or continue to reinforce the narrator, And I'm just really curious to see where that goes. Same again, like it was kind of subtext in the last version of the show or last iteration of the show. I'd be curious to see it.

Kind of feels like they're leaving the original iteration of the show behind. I mean, the characters are the same, but they haven't referenced the original show yet. It's one thing I've heard, and this was in passing, so I did not seek this out and I did not look into it for obvious reasons. But something that I heard floating around. It might have been like honestly, like a title to a YouTube video that I quickly scrolled past, but it said something on the lines of like that this series could be the prequel to the YouTube series, and I thought that was interesting.

So I don't know if that's like a whole other lens to look at it with. I don't know if that necessary really really affects anything, but I do thinktically, but it's interesting because it because you're right, like it's weird. They don't reference the original at all. They do and they have certain puppets that play a role. Like you could see like, um, I know, like in this and we'll talk about this smart like in another episode, but I do remember.

I'm pretty sure it's in the second episode where you where you could see like the clock that was like so important in what the third episode? Time was three, um, and like that clock is just on the wall and not moving and not talking and uh so again, like that might mean that it was before, but I mean it could be right, I mean yeah, and it would mean it would affect things. But I'm wondering if that does become clear later on, as like if there is an established timeline. I doubt it. I feel like it's not going to be what they focus on, but I am curious if if it does come back.

For me, it's not the thing that's interesting about them now. But I did want to talk about it just for the sake of oh sure, like yeah, no, I agree, Like I'm more saying like, let's not talk about it more, but just like, I hope that the show itself doesn't get bogged down in it, because for me, it's not the interesting part of the show. The interesting part of the show is the kind of weird takes on these titles of the episode. Because this is an episode called jobs, so like with time, like with dreams and health and computers and love and creativity the other titles of the previous YouTube episodes, they always tackle those subjects in an interesting way in the episode, and that, for me is more interesting than you know, who the fuck is this character hiding in the wall, which I do want to have answered.

I just hope the show doesn't get the deep lor christ. I like the deep lore. I just don't want the show to get too focused on it. And I think for me, the show has no and I think the show has done a good enough so far at leaving hints of that stuff without clock everybody, probably just for us, I feel like the deep lore at this point, I think you're right. I don't think it will play a major role.

And I think, if anything, they're doing that for us for the sake of allowing us to theorize, because I think they know that that's like half the fun for us, is that theorizing of like what it could mean and what all of these like little easter eggs could mean. But I do love the fact that when they're following the same formula in terms of, you know, the one word title and that that you know, describes the episode, and it's these like very broad topics, and they always choose a very interesting way to portray all the like the weird parts of it. And so yeah, so starting off the episode, as he said, Red Guy is just wants to do nothing, which is such a mood. And I think we're all Red Guy in episode one, at least the first couple of minutes.

And it's interesting because Duck is the one that really wants to move forward with becoming employed. And so that's when we meet the briefcase who you know, is the is roughly the teacher more of a hands off teacher. I find it interesting that he didn't have that much screen time. Usually the teachers in you know, in the original series took up the majority of the screen TIMEAD did that entire first episode. Yeah, so it's interesting.

So they're also what twenty five minutes, so they're four I think the original episode was up four minutes. So these are like six to four to six times as long as the originals because the longest was what like eight minutes, so like four to six times as long at three to six times as long. But I think that was the other thing that we both noticed. Is it because it doesn't focus on those like teacher characters, the show doesn't get bogged down. It does feel like it keeps moving.

It does feel like it's moving with purpose, and it does tell an interesting story. And I would that's what I was really worried about, is is a show that is again from some of the episodes as short as four minutes, who as long as eight will it be able to sustain for twenty two minutes? I think with this first episode, Yes, unequivocally right, Yeah, agreed completely, So kind of surprising. I don't know, is that surprising. I was worried, but I'm not surprised.

No, I'm not surprised. I mean we were talking about, like where could the series go and where where you know, what direction would it take? And I think one of our, you know, loose theories is that it would be more of the same. But they're they're doing more of the same in a more interesting way. They're doing a spin on their own formula and I love that.

And of course the humors is still on point that a lot of the like shop stuff. I mean, like obviously there are still a few gross moments. I feel like it probably wouldn't be to hug me, I'm scared without it. It's kind of comedy horror, body horror. They've done the body horror thing a couple of times now, so I would say it's like Part and Parcel if you watch this and you're not grossed out at some point.

I don't think the show's doing a very good job and being don't hug me, I'm scared, and I think it is here enough. Maybe it's a little I guess there's two a two times it's kind of gross. The thing with the vending machine and then and then at the end of the episodes kind of gnarly. Oh second vending machine. Yeah, they're watching that like two different times.

Was not not the vending The vending machine thing is the little like the non good vending machine is just it's really gross. It's also like sad too. It's kind of like it's kind of like depressing more than anything else. When I when I watched it with you on, he was like, Oh, it kind of sounds like a slightly deeper version of the Turrets from Urdle, And I was like, actually, I can hear that. It's just it asks for the lasagna back.

It's like, couldn't I have actually back? Yeah? Those a little too much funny, but that but that body horror grows out things kind of I think been there. I guess the first episode it was really light on it. It just had like the heart, but the second episode really like leaned on it really hard.

Yeah, and the original for sure. Yeah, But I mean like I think that they use it as like just the occasional punchline, which I prefer um for the most part, it's like the it's the juxtaposition, which I think is the majority of the humor is the juxtaposition of, you know, trying to tackle these subjects in a way that kids would understand, which is like the parody that they're trying to do, but like having that be so vastly juxtaposed with like the disillusionment of adulthood, which I think is like a big part of it, especially for this first episode when they brought in unemployed Brendan. I think it is actually interesting to your point, Like I think maybe this first episode does bite off a little bit more than it can chew with the whole jobs thing.

I also thought that it was a big thing to tackle first off, but I don't. I'm actually and now that you say it and put it that way, it kind of gives me a moment of pause and kind of, you know, a lateral step. I don't know how well this episode actually represents the original show. I think it represents what this show is going to be doing, but I don't know. This is a very weird way to tackle a much too broad topic for this show, and this show is tackled broad topics, but it's taken a very almost narrowly defined or even literal approach to what it is.

Because I just love. It was very literal with what I was talking about. This the jobs I think is I think to your point, it's too broad odd to work as well as maybe those I'm not sure that last episode of the original I mean so different, but I think the first three episodes are very good and more indicative of what I would want to the show than this is. Yeah, I mean I think a good like a good argument, you know, the way that they tackled it, Like obviously, they started out with the whole like you can be whatever you want except unemployed, which I think is hilarious enough in itself, but again it's like that if you can dream it, you could be it, and like you could be you know, you want to be a general, be a general.

You want to be a soccer player, be a soccer play, Like it's so it's that's so easy, you know, don't You don't even gotta gotta try, which obviously I think we were all spoon fed as children, which is like, what do you want to be when you grow up? Would you anything you want? Which is big is kind of true, but not really true. There's no it's none of it is rooted in reality. And so the moment that the teacher walks off, we are immediately dumped in like one of the most corporate healthscapes that you can imagine, which is a factory like setting.

You know, I think it's one of those jobs that like so many people do, but nobody wants to talk about. I mean, you never hear kids say I want to work in a factory because it's not glamorous. For one, it doesn't pay incredibly well for two, and like there it's not fun, Like that's the whole point, and thinking widgets for a living is not fun. It's a widget factory effectively, right, Yeah, it's quite literally that they were like, look at all these really fun jobs and then dumps them in like one of the least fun jobs you could possibly think of. And so one thing that I think is really funny about the name I was I was also like really over I was overthinking this, but I was like the name, you know, Peterson's and sons and friends part you know, bits and parts limited the Peterson and Sons, which already is like, you know, very common that you know the name and sons, but then also adding and friends, it screams nepotism.

It screams nepotism, which I think is really funny. Like they I love when they hit things home, like real hard, especially like when it doesn't even need to be, like you already know and then it's just well, And take something like Red Guy where he just wanders into an office and becomes a manager. You look like you'd be a good fit for this job. Oh your voice, it's so good. You've such a great phone voice.

Right, that's that's that reinforcement to what you're talking about. He didn't even want a job, right, He's the one who didn't want the job, and he's the one given the most responsibility at said job. But like also you know, the most power and the cushiest version of it. You can have anything you want. Salmon encrusted with diamonds immediately after this horrible vending machine scene and then the trash can that wants.

The best character I think in this episode for me is the trash can that that likes to be abused. Put put throw some trash in me. And then the printer tells Red Guy too, you can abuse him as much as you want or kill him, and he's like, hell, kill me. So it's I like those characters. I like everything about the way the show is going with introducing new characters that are clearly only going to exist within the episode that we're watching, because they're not holding over, they're not carrying over the best we can tell.

I like that they're still going with that as a concept. I do just think that, like I think it's just I think it's biting off to more than you can chew to tackle jobs. And I do think now that you've kind of again you kind of restated the way they approached the episode, I think it's a little on the nose to set it in a factory where they make bits and parts, and it's like it's kind of it feels a little low hanging fruit, doesn't it? Like this show? Yeah, does this show the way it's tackled the other six things it's tack which is a little bit more nuanced and a little bit a lot more nuanced.

But I also think that they chose that and chose to be on the nose one because they wanted to. I think they wanted to pick something that was heavily relatable, Like I think just about everybody has had like one of those, Like you know, even if it's not a full time job, you know, just having like a part time job where you've been in a warehouse at some point. I mean, even even me, like when I worked at a grocery store, like when you're in the back and it oddly is reminiscent of that same vibe back there, and that also like that fake camaraderie, just like, oh, I'm a cheeky guy, fucking gets me, I'm a builty I'm a bit of a cheeky guy. It's I use that same it's what you expect from that kind of setting, which I mean again, like I said, like that's it's a little on the nose, but it does.

It kind of work. But did it need to be more than that? Is my question? Because I kind of feel like they wanted to pick something that they knew everybody could relate to, that everybody could see themselves as understanding and like me being in like the design field, even I could understand it, even I could relate to it, even though you know, hopefully from here on out, I'm never in that type of setting except if I'm you know, going to look at a product and be like, yes, that is the product. I mean, I'm not disagreeing with you.

I think that's why it is. I think that is why obviously it is why they said it where they said it, they said it there because it is so kind of universal. We can all understand a factory. When you think of monotony, you think of a factory. There is a factory somewhere in the world that makes those little frogs that those little plastic frogs that you press on the back and they jumped.

You know what I'm talking about. There's a factory somewhere there. People are doing QC for something that ends up at Chucky Cheese in our country like it is, it is insanely depressing to think about. But at the same time, a show like this has done this more nuanced, in a more Again, this is entertaining, But I think it could have done it in a more entertaining way by doing something that I wouldn't expect them to do. If you and I sat down and said, all right, the first episode's called jobs, where do you think they go with this?

One of the things we would have come up with would have been the three of them in a factory. Oh yeah, it's not even It's like, you know, it's not maybe it's not one A, but it's one B or C. Maybe if I didn't pick factory, I was going to say office building, which it kind of also doubles as right, they the red guy kind of they get they get to have their cake and eat it too, where they get to grosst the cubicle farm thing. But honestly, I don't think again, like, I don't think either one of those are particularly original. I mean, something like office Space still exists, and I think something like office Space is still relevant in twenty twenty two as relevant as it was when it came out.

So that's more kind of my issue is the jobs that they're talking about. They don't feel of the time. Does that make sense? It feels less of the time than the other six interpretations of events and ideas that the show has gone about going through. I also think, like again, we have to remember that like oversimplification, because that's what they're parodying, Like they are parodying like you know, how this is explained to children.

It's very obvious, especially with the whole like you can be whatever you want to. I think that's the only part of the episode that maybe is feels don't hug me I'm scared of Regal. Yeah, that song and the way that song just kind of keeps going and gets more absurd and gets kind of bigger stakes and weirder, you know. And Duck at one point is sentient in the song and then he's just going along with it, and then he's pulled back into the song. Like I liked that.

Honestly, what's funny is you could take all the stuff at the factory and take it out of the episode, crunched the song together while you have an original episode of this show. I mean, yeah, but they also did do a lot of interesting things, and I'm sorry we got to talk more about unemployed Brendan. I love Unemployed Brendan, the cute see character of the episode. I wonder if there's going to be a cute character in every episode, because, like you said, we have seen episode two and there's a cute see as fuck character in the second episode. That's part.

But they have actual lore implications for this show, which again, this episode doesn't have any lore implications, and I appreciate that because if the thing that I would have hated is if you watch this episode as someone who has never seen anything else, and that's My other question to you is is this successful as something that you could watch as someone who had never seen any of this before. Yeah, I think so, I think yeah, I think I think it's very successful on its own. I mean, where else are you going to see a tiny briefcase punch a wall with its little felt hand and look like it made absolutely no contact and then just here go? But that really fucking get sweet? Like it's just that it's not a humor of just that expectation and that subversion, but like they kind of did it backwards.

I don't know. That really fucking got me. Um. I think I also just relate you like cutesy stuff. I do.

I'm not going to pretend I don't. I'm the next episode when we talk about it, it's going to be a cutesy overload fist. I'm gonna I'm gonna go off on my favorite character so far in the series. But I have a question for you, what do you think Because I don't I did not look ahead at any of the other titles, I don't know if you did. Um.

If so, if you have not, what do you think the other episodes could possibly be about? I mean, outside of what we know the second one is right, which we know is about death, which is what we'll be talking about next time we kind of come back. I would hope that they're going to cover things that are more in line with health and dreams and computers and love and time, like maybe something about like I don't know, like they have to do one of a family at some point if it's not, if they don't, you know, like because like they keep talking about the three of us, there's three of us, you know, we're they're the family that maybe they're not the family that they were born with, but they're definitely the family that they're choosing, these three living together.

I don't know. I hope stuff like that and less stuff like jobs, because that's just so too broad. Somehow jobs is too broad for religion. I think that's too broad for this show. But I think that's too broad, but I want to see how they tackle it.

I think that's more like Wonder Shows and that MTV show that I showed you. I think that's more something that like it's because you you need to be subversive, and this show is subversive, but it's not. This is subversive in a different way, like religion has to be subversion subversives, as in taking the mirror and you know, showing the mirror onto religion, right, because that's how the religious most of these religious things end up, right, Like, I don't think this show, I don't. I mean maybe it could, I don't know, that would be interesting if they could do it successfully. So obviously, like everything that they've tackled, at least, like the big overarching themes that they've tackled is stuff that children shows have tackled except for debt.

I really can't think of a single show I watched growing up that, you know, they talked about death and loss in more of just a passing like you know, like Disney, like oh no, the parents are dead, and like the gloss like it's a short scene and they gloss over it. Like how how often if ever, in one of these like shows or movies do they sit a child down and they're like, this is dealing with loss? And I mean, like now, I think with like the rise of like Netflix and a lot more like funded, you know, like personally, you know, like all of these like passion projects and movies and shows that are coming out the Netflix and other streaming services are just like picking up for ships and giggles, Like I think they're starting to like broach those types of topics because they're allowed too now.

But I mean, like you know, Discovery Kids didn't talk about death. You know, Disney Channel only talked about death if it was a parent, and it was very brief in all of their movies. Well, and you know, to your point, you know, I don't. We don't watch Sesame Street now, but I would hope that Sesame Street in twenty twenty two, being written by people our age, I would assume would have tackled it. And I know that actors who have been on the show have passed away recently, and I think they've probably had a puppet on the show that passed away to have it.

And you know, I think that the dialogue about death has changed in the last decade. It's going to continue changing here in the next ten years twenty thirty. Like a lot of things in our culture, it has a stigma attached to it that I think is being deprogrammed out of it. And those are the kinds of topics that I want to show to tackle, not jobs like this is just it's too broad, it means too much. We can't even agree on to the joke of the song's point, you can be anything you want and the fact that the direction that they went in an episode where they could do anything is by going and doing the whole factory thing that we have seen before in other things.

But I also think they did that for a reason. I feel like that's an I feel like that is possibly an excuse, though I personally think the reason is to hook people early on. I feel like if they tackled something, I think if they did the death episode first, I don't I feel like they would have lost some of the audience. You know. I can't speak to the other episodes, but I do feel like they picked the thing that they knew that their target audience would find funny, because like, that's a lot of it.

Not everybody watches it because they like the creep factor and they like the gross out humor. They like it because you know, it's shareable. They are shareable funny moments, you know, And I think that's I think that they know that that's the their core target audience, and that's what you know, this type of person who would watch this, you know, this is their humor, this is what they can relate to. This is what they'd understand immediately without us having to really overexplain our world in case if they've never seen the original. And so I mean like, maybe you would have a different opinion if you never saw the original six episodes and this was your first one, and you'd probably be like, yeah, I watch more of this, And I feel like that's that's the feeling, right, It's like you watch that first episode and you're like, I want to watch the rest of this, even though it's not.

You know, maybe they didn't do it the best. I think they did it that way for that reason, so they didn't have to over explain it. They didn't. It's and you're probably right, and frankly, I'm maybe being a little too hard here. But at the same time, they only have what six episodes, eight episodes whatever, So it's like, but they got a hook, Yeah, but they got a hook.

Ye, I'm already hot, Like that's the problem, But that's because you watched the original. I do do I believe that people could find this show without seeing the original. Sure, but this show exists because of the original. I feel like, but it's not as accessible to a slightly I say that for like the older generation, Like if I was like, hey, mom watched the six one for them, though, Like, I don't even think this would I don't even think they'd be interested in this kind of show. I wouldn't.

I would love to show this shit to my dad. I just think they would watch it and be like, man, this is whatever. This is. Yeah, you're right. No, you're right, that's probably exactly what it is.

Whatever. Like again, like it doesn't reson it resonates with a certain generation of people, and it's it's made by people our age for people our age. Then the humor has grown with people our age. I mean, the original shows humor has matured significantly into this, so it has matured with the people that is being made for, which I do appreciate that they kind of understand that the expectations as audience and viewers has changed in the last eleven years. They're not just doing the same thing.

But I think maybe this is just too much. But again, like you said, it is, there's a reason that they kind of go this big because they really want to show you, if you're a new watcher of this show, that this is going to be something worth checking out. It's going to be this weird, kind of ever expansive thing that they're just going to keep adding to, and that does come across in this first episode. I just think for me it's maybe a little bit of a misstep. Yeah that's fair.

I mean I will say there definitely are a lot of jokes that land, and I think that's what really does it for me, Like it's the way that I see it. It's like there's like the surrealist horror factor and then there's the funny relatable factor, and like either you have to do you know, a lot of one of them or a little bit of both, right, And so obviously they found that sweet spot with going back and forth between like the dark, the scary, the surreal and balancing that out with a lot of humor. And I think they do it really well, and that's what hooks me on this for like the long run. I don't know if I would like it as much if it was just one or the other, you know, if they only leaned into surrealism and didn't have any jokes, I don't think i'd like it as much, which is kind of salad fingers in a way, like I don't, I don't, I haven't rewatched it in a while, but we will be watching it, and I'm glad it's not a full length episode show type thing like there are.

They're shorter. It's similar to the original series of Don't Have Me Scared, because I don't think anybody would want to sit through, you know, six episodes twenty five minutes each of that, right, Like, it doesn't have the same legs. The concept's just not there. I think that's the thing about this show that inherently it just had more legs than most of these things. They knew that they had to mix the shock humor with like some actual commentary or subversive a different style of subversive humor or subversive commentary or pointed commentary, and that is unds itself to it too well.

The format, right, I mean, the format really does like perfect. But to be fair, like Charlie the Unicorn is just shock humor. Like there's it has no value. I mean, I'm not saying it has no value, but it has no long standing value other than you know, oh, Candy Mountain or you know. I mean if Harry Potter Puppet Pals is the same thing, it's like twenty ten, twenty eleven is the epime of lull rand humor.

Right, And that's why Creativity the first episode I think did so well because it kind of embodies that original lull random of that time period, but because the concept kept evolving and it fit in so well. Like it's not like you watched the first one and you're like, wow, this is nothing like the other five. I think if you watched the first one and then you watch the sixth one of the original series and only those two, I feel like maybe then you'd be like the little disjoints it. But I think the way that it evolved with all of the episodes over time, in the order that it did, I think it just it made a lot of sense, and it kept you know, the original episode timeless. And I think if they didn't do the other five and they just had the first one, I think it would stick in my mind as purely a little random humor.

Yeah. But yeah, they knew they had a vision, and they have done a better job at crafting this vision than so many people. Yeah, and it's Charlie the unicorn is not being talked about in twenty twenty two. It's just not even not at hot topic, even not at Spencer's even not at the darkest corners of the Internet. Nobody cares anymore.

It's just it was, you know, lull cheeseburger lull what like uh oh really like cat was here? That Shit's like, I'm so glad we're past it because it was just kind of annoying. The only people who do still talk about it, they just talk about it in terms of nostalgia. Wo, that's what that's where that's going. I mean it's oh, wo is after after twenty No, I know, but like I'm saying, like, it's that level of just like who cares anymore?

Like, no, that's not a thing anybody's into, right, Yeah, it's it's old humor. Man. Well, I still say, I know, But you say it ironically. You're not sorry? Do I to god?

You are, Chris. I'm gonna start sending you screenshots. I'm gonna I'm gonna send you screenshots in my discord chat of every time I say uhu god. It's a lot. But again, I hope you're doing it ironically.

It's more for the face, like I imagine it as the face more that I imagine it as the sound. That's fair. But no, to your point, like this show is here in twenty twenty two because they made something that had more than just making people laugh. They wanted you to think, or wanted you to go on a journey with them, for them to support your expectations about what they're talking about, or make you see something in a different lay. So, but I will agree that I feel so far, I feel like the episodes are lacking a point, and I think that's that's the only complaint I might have is you know, like obviously, like in the first series, the first one that comes to mind in terms of like what was the point is with Love?

I mean that episode at the end, it's very clear that they're trying to do a parody of how love is portrayed obviously to children, and the impact of that and like how how children interpret that and get weird complexes about it and how it really sounds when you distill it to just its values, and like with these you know, just the weird shit that people feed children, And I feel like Love is a really great example of that, and I feel like at the very least the first and second episode for me kind of lacks that same point in terms of, like, wow, this is really weird when you take it fully out of context, this is like really weird, Like I don't think we realized how weird this actually was. I think like with jobs, you know, obviously, I guess the point is like you know, all of like all the things that you could be, and this is where you're probably going to end up, which is very obviously dark, and like I get that, But at the same time, it's not the it's not the same.

It doesn't have the same impact the way that loved it for me with you, And that's what I'm missing so far. And even obviously we're not going to touch on the second episode much at all today, but the second episode did lack that for me as well, and I really hope the other four, at least in one of those, there has to be that same, like hard hitting you know, this is why we're talking about this, right, That's what it's That's what it's missing, other than just we're talking about this because you know, it's something that was talked about in the past and we're doing our own spin on it. I want to see the point of it, Like you know, when they were talking about the internet, like in the original I feel like there was a lot of there's a lot to it, A big point of like showing how repetitive and how useless the internet really is when you distill it down to its you know, core things, or at least what people use it the most for, and that to me had a point.

Jobs it doesn't really have a point. I don't think it's it's really trying to tell us anything other than what we already knew, which is be disillusioned about your adult life because you can't just be whatever you want to be, right, And that's the only thing that really falls short for me. And I'll talk about how I feel hopefully I remember, but I'll talk about how I feel about that as well with the second episode, and I'm hoping that the other four do hit that same, you know, nail on the head of just like no, this was the point of this. This episode needed to be made for to convey this very important message, which I mean, it doesn't need to be. It's amazing in it of itself.

And I don't want to knock it for lacking that. I think it's just because I miss it because of the original series so far, that's just the one thing that's lacking. But you know again, if I'd never seen the original series, I don't think I would feel this way. I agree because it stands on its own perfectly fine and is very entertaining. And I feel like you could show anybody our age the first full episode of the series the new series, and it would stand on its own just fine.

I don't think people need the entire backstory to get it. But yes, if I had to make one complaint so far, obviously, just only judging what we've seen so far, it is missing that same like gut punch of this is why we're talking about it. Yeah, I agree, And like yourself, I hope that the season maybe injects that or adds that, or we get more of it. So so the next time we talk about this, we will be talking about the second episode of this return of the show or the actual proper series in that episode, like we've kind of mentioned already, is titled death Until then, Emma, where can people find you? Right here?

Chris? Or else am I going to be? And where can you find this show? You can find this show at weirdingwaymedia dot com, along with all the other shows that I work on. Yeah, so there you go.

Weirdingwaymedia dot com. This show all the other shows. If you can't find a show listening worth listening to there, maybe you shouldn't be listening two shows. Maybe you shouldn't listen to the podcast. Maybe none of the shows you listen to are good enough.

Then I don't know. You figure it out. Yeah, let's get really bad. As for this show, scary Stories weetell dot com, Scary Stories wt on all social media. But that shit sucks, so don't do it.

So listen to the show, rate and review on iTunes. Big thanks as always to Maggie the Odd and Dustin Rutledge for the album our work for the show. You can find Maggie Odd at Dolan Museum dot com. As for the music, Alex melanaka Blondo provides the music or Blondo provides the music for the show. You can find them on the Internet and on Spotify.

Just searched Blondo. As for us, that's it for this episode. We'll let our good friend, the former host of Sightings, mister Tim White, lead us out. No mystery is closed to an open mind.