Red Letter Media

[Introvertigo]

https://www.twitter.com/redlettermedia/status/2011850123786023067

 

[Hentai-Semitism]

I watched the Jupiter Ascending/Battlefield Earth Half In The Bag from 10 years ago and it's amazing how much more articulate Like Like Stoklasa used to be. He truly was Mike Stoklasa then.

 

[Mola Ram]

I

I’ll never forget their commentary track on Robocop when Mike ponders Robocop’s faint remaining humanity, whether it’s a still functioning brain or the soul and Rich interjects “THERE IS NO SOUL. WE’RE INFORMATION IN MEAT.”
View attachment 8423091

He's welcome to believe that reductive, bleak creed if he's so inclined. But what puzzles me is that regardless of personal belief, religion as a cultural force is central to the human experience, in ways both good and bad, and DS9's examination of it as it relates to an alien race -- and let's not forget it never really comes down one way or the other as whether the Prophets are divine beings or just highly advanced nonmaterial aliens -- is one of Trek's finest storylines (well, until you get to the silliness of the pah-wraiths). Yes, the political angle is there, as Mike pointed out, but so is sincere belief -- not mocked or dismissed, merely contemplated.

And Rich reveals himself to be the sort of atheist to whom even a scholarly or artistic examination of religion is stupid bordering on offensive ... or, at the minimum, uninteresting. I just don't get that kind of psychological blinkering.

(But then I am the High Priest of Kali-Ma.)

 

[Hentai-Semitism]

He's welcome to believe that reductive, bleak creed if he's so inclined. But what puzzles me is that regardless of personal belief, religion as a cultural force is central to the human experience, in ways both good and bad, and DS9's examination of it as it relates to an alien race -- and let's not forget it never really comes down one way or the other as whether the Prophets are divine beings or just highly advanced nonmaterial aliens -- is one of Trek's finest storylines (well, until you get to the silliness of the pah-wraiths). Yes, the political angle is there, as Mike pointed out, but so is sincere belief -- not mocked or dismissed, merely contemplated.

And Rich reveals himself to be the sort of atheist to whom even a scholarly or artistic examination of religion is stupid bordering on offensive ... or, at the minimum, uninteresting. I just don't get that kind of psychological blinkering.

(But then I am the High Priest of Kali-Ma.)

Rejecting Christianity completely as a straight white guy is pretty lame. I'm an atheist and even I believe there's plenty of good stuff in the Bible. Especially if you consider how vile some other religions can be (wink wink). Anyone who loudly rebels against Christianity in the year 2026 is completely out of touch. I don't think any member of RLM has hot takes concering the current world order. That's fine. I don't expect ANYONE on Youtube to have anything worthwhile to say about race, religion, and general geopolitics. I don't think Rich is going to actively look for political dissidents and "white nationalists" on Rumble or Odysee.

 

[BlueSpark]

They get paid if they're operating the cameras, not sure about it if they're on the panel. AFAIK the Patreon is split threeways between Mike, Jay and Rich.

They're not complete idiots so I assume they have some basic bitch employment contracts for the others even if they're only paid a slab of beer for the night.

Mike, Jay and Rich are the only official employees and Jack (and presumably Beardfat, too) have never been paid. This was actually discussed in this thread a million years ago, but back then I was too lazy to make transcripts or archive the videos:

He's actually explicitly not a member of Red Letter Media (only Mike, Jay and Rich are).
He also isn't paid at all for his time on Best of the Worst (neither is Josh). They only pay him for when he does editing/VFX work for them (like with Space Cop).
He's also mentioned that he was unhappy that Jay and Mike had posters made that feature his likeness without his permission.

In that last link he jokes about having every Best of the Worst episode taken down because he never signed a legal waiver so that they could feature him (so AIDSMoby has a nuclear option over much of their content, or at least thinks he does). However, he states a little later that he probably couldn't do that because of "implied consent." So who knows.
He could probably cause them a fuckton of legal issues if he wanted.

Interesting times ahead, kiwis.

I'll rectify that, now:

Spoiler: RLM employment situation

From the video "Plinkett's Little Adventure!" on the Previous Recorded channel

44:40 to 45:00

https://youtu.be/UKgO7l7xTbg?t=2680

Transcript:
Jack (reading a question posted in the chat): "What would it take to become an employee of Red Letter Media?"
Rich: "Be our friend in 2001."
Jack: "I was gonna say it's even simpler than that, Rich - you have to be Mike, Jay or Rich."
Rich: "Yeah. Yeah."
Jack: "So, if you are, or can become, Mike Jay or Rich then you can be an employee of RLM. That's it. That's all ya gotta do. I think it's pretty simple"

Video archive of the relevant section (crop-ed to remove gameplay, potato quality):

From the video "X-ClassicNOPEcom (Part 2)" on the Previously Recorded channel

1:13:40 to 1:14:24

https://youtu.be/MBoeqJ-71pc?t=4420

Transcript:
Jack (responding to someone in the chat): "No [chat person's name, not sure of the spelling], Jack is not 'just working here'. Like, I guess I'm working here [Jack's referring to that particular PreRec stream]. But, you know, remember - I don't actually work for Red Letter Media. I just hangout. And they can't- And they're too polite to tell me to leave."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "So they just keep putting a camera in front of me and so far-"
Rich: "Like 'maybe he'll be embarrassed enough to go..?'"
Jack: "And I just haven't and so I, like, and they're really bad at confrontation, Jay and Mike. And so they just let it go and I'm OK with that..."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "It works out for everyone."

Video archive of the relevant section (crop-ed to remove gameplay, potato quality):

From the same video:
1:15:05 to 1:15:54

https://youtu.be/MBoeqJ-71pc?t=4505

Transcript:
Jack (reading a question posted in the chat): " 'Jack, I hope at least they give you free beer?' Sometimes. Sometimes there's beer here. There's no beer here today and I was kind of hoping for a beer... But uh sometimes there's beer and sometimes there's energy drinks. They used to buy me, like, lunch. But now they've stopped that, too..."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "Like, you know, you come here for a Best of the Worst... And I don't get paid to be on Best of the Worst. Literally. That's just me showing up."
Rich: "Yeah."
Jack: "And like, they used to be like 'hey, we'll get Jimmy Johns!' You know, 'we'll get you a sandwich', 'yeah that'll work for a sandwich, that's fine'. They stopped that, now. And so... I think yeah, we're getting too familial."
Rich: "You need to request a sandwich."
Jack: "I need to request a sandwich?"
Rich: "When we film our Christmas episode."

Video archive of the relevant section (crop-ed to remove gameplay, potato quality):

From the same video:
1:16:18 to 1:20:51

https://youtu.be/MBoeqJ-71pc

Transcript:
Jack: "I don't know if we, like... Have we talked about... The posters?"
[At this point Rich and Jack react to something happening in the game they're playing]
Jack: (Responding to someone in the chat): " 'Jack, you need to unionise'?" [Jack addresses Rich] "Did I tell you about the poster? The Disney poster? Have we talked about that on-stream?"
Rich: "Nnnnnnnnn- Oh! I don't know if we talked about it on-stream..."
Jack: "To give you an idea of the very casual business relationship I have with Red Letter Media... Uhhhm... Y'know that- The poster that is now for sale - the Disney-fied Best of the Worst table with my likeness on it... It is a really wonderful thing, made by a Disney animator, and uhhh... Mike and Jay decided to, you know, get prints and sell it. Which is great. Uhh, they actually didn't ask for my permission to sell that poster... Which totally has my face on it." [Laughs] [Rich seems like he's about to say something, but decides to stay silent]
Jack: "Which obviously, listen I'm here, and it's not, it's very much not a big deal. But that's, like, an idea of the casual relationship. The casual business relationship we have here at Red Letter Media."
[Jack briefly responds to someone saying something unrelated in the chat]
Jack: (responding to someone else in the chat): " 'They already own your-' They don't own my likeness! Like, I've never..."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "That's the funny thing: like, I've never signed a waiver..."
Rich: "Uhuh. Uhuh."
Jack: "So probably with a little work I could get every Best of the Worst I've been on taken down..." [Laughs] "Obviously, I wouldn't do that..."
Rich: "Yeah. The internet would turn on you."
Jack: "Huh?"
Rich: "The internet would turn on you with a fury if you tried to do that."
Jack: "Oh my god, a fury, Rich. Obviously I would never ever do that... Uhhhm..."
Rich: [References something in the game he's playing]
Jack (reading a humourous chat message): " 'It's in your contract, they also own your DNA-' That's the thing: I don't have a contract." [Responding to a chat question] "What else am I doing with my likeness? That's the real thing, I'm cool with it, man" [I think that's what Jack said there but not certain] "I'm not doing anything with my likeness so it's fine."
Rich: "Ehhh, maybe Jack wants to sell his likeness..."
Jack: "Right? I could, maybe... I don't know. [Jack reads a question from chat] " 'What's with the RLM poster with you on it?' "Right? That's what I'm saying. And so like, one night I come in here for the stream and Rich is like 'hey, check out the new merchandise!' This is before they made the merchandising video... And I was like 'oh, that's funny!' [Pause of realisation] Hey..."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "They never- They never told me about that."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "That's got my face on it!"
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "And I'm like, you know, obviously wasn't a big deal. And like a week later we're in here to shoot a Best of the Worst and Mike shows me the posters. And Mike- And then all of a sudden Mike comes up with the realisation - like, you know, 'I never asked you if we could sell this'."
Rich: "To be fair at least he though of it eventually." [Laughs]
Jack: [Laughs] "Oh yeah, he thought of it after he had them printed..."
Rich: [Laughs]
Jack: "He thought of it after they made the advertisements, selling them and already after he sold a whole bunch of them. [Laughing] That's when he thought about it."
Rich: "We- In all hones- [sic] It's great you didn't have a problem with it, 'cause we woulda had've bought a lot of Wite-Out."
Jack: [Laughs]
Rich: "A lot of Wite-Out."
Jack: [Laughs ] "It's just funny. It's just funny sometimes." [Responding to the chat]: "Implied contracts are a thing. And I probably couldn't get, you know, thinking legally... I probably couldn't get the Best of the Worsts taken down..."
Rich: "Uhuh."
Jack: "Because there is a... Uhhh..."
Rich: "Implied consent?"
Jack: "That's what it's called. Implied consent - when you know you are being filmed..."
Rich: "Yeah."
Jack: "So obviously, I'm sitting down in front of a cameras..." [Reads a message from the chat]: " 'It clearly doesn't bother Jack now that he's talking about it' no, it doesn't, so... It really doesn't bother me. It's just funny. It's just funny because, like, a lot of times we'll get, that... Like, questions, about, like... 'Oh', you know, 'you work, the work you do for Red Letter Media' and it's like... I just come here and hang out."
Rich: "Yeah. Yeah."
[They stop talking for a moment]
Rich: "I do work for Red Letter Media."
Jack: "Rich works for Red Letter Media, right. Absolutely."

Video archive of the relevant section (crop-ed to remove gameplay, potato quality):

The summary is that Red Letter Media is Mike, Jay and Rich and nobody else (although Jack weirdly mentions them having an intern at some point before Rich came and joined them, but I didn't make a transcript of that part). They sometimes used to give Jack food and drinks but they stopped bothering and he has never been paid money. Jack talks about giving Mike a finger wagging for selling posters that included Jack's face without Jack's permission and creates awkward tension with Rich by "joking" about having all of the RLM content featuring him (Jack) taken down because he never signed a contract.

If I'm not mistaken this is the poster that AIDS Moby was crying about:




Unrelated to the above, I was re-watching RLM's Freddy Vs Jason video and did at double-take when they showed this shot from the film:



I never knew that being molested by Freddy made Chris how he is, the lore deepens

 

[Hentai-Semitism]

They sometimes used to give Jack food and drinks but they stopped bothering and he has never been paid money.

That's pretty sad. It's like asking your friend who's a doctor to give you a discount just because you know them. I think it's very dishonest. Yeah, yeah, sure, you've been friends for 30 years, but at the end of the day that's the only argument you have. Just pay them the price they're asking. I wouldn't expect free labor or discounts from anyone, LET ALONE my friends. I think Like Like Stoklasa, Jay and Rich can afford to give their long time collaborators $300 per appearance. That's not much, but it's more than nothing. You can get 400+ cans of Milwaukee's Best for that!

 

[mlanguishi]

Jack's probably worth more than Doug gave his loser clingers (ie nothing like marzgurl) I assume Jack and Josh work somewhere. Tim's a failed actor I think, but I guess works at fast food or something. I wouldn't expect them to really be employed though, they only put in a few hours a year at most. Good job @BlueSpark for the info.

 

[I'm a Silly]

FreeJack -- The shitty lore deepens, indeed. Awkward as fuck.

Anyway -- they brought up compulsive singing and Muppetization, which remind me of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel respectively.
Joss Whedon was involved in the writing in whole or part w/r/t these episodes I'm ashamed of the fact that I knew these episode titles by heart, thus facilitating my search for links; I'm not a superfan, but I watched a ton of this shit in syndication during college

So who is responsible for the NüTrek singalong/puppet eps?

 

[augment]

I find Rich's atheism charming really. Had he given up on secularism and accepted fundamentalism, maybe his life would've turned out for the better, but we would not have had the Rich Evans that we know today.

He's welcome to believe that reductive, bleak creed

No, atheism isn't a creed.

 

[Mola Ram]

No, atheism isn't a creed.

Can I not be ironic here.

 

[Tablet County]

I wonder what's going on in the RLM thread these days.

AIDS Moby is a filthy serf and he does it for free.
Weird moralizing about Rich Evans being an atheist.
Jim from Canada is Lefty!Null; mild mannered in speech, inflammatory and obnoxious on the internet.
Rich had sex with Oscar Wilde.

I hate this thread.

 

[Love Is Blue]

I only ever experience nu-Trek through these reviews and I keep forgetting how embarrassing it is.

now THIS is the power of math!

 

[Protistology]

That's pretty sad. It's like asking your friend who's a doctor to give you a discount just because you know them. I think it's very dishonest. Yeah, yeah, sure, you've been friends for 30 years, but at the end of the day that's the only argument you have. Just pay them the price they're asking. I wouldn't expect free labor or discounts from anyone, LET ALONE my friends. I think Like Like Stoklasa, Jay and Rich can afford to give their long time collaborators $300 per appearance. That's not much, but it's more than nothing. You can get 400+ cans of Milwaukee's Best for that!

Yes, it's fucked up. If I had a small channel with a few thousand viewers and made $50 a stream I would invite friends to come hang out for free. If I was making hundreds of thousands a month I would feel guilty if I didn't force my friend to take at least a couple thousand for a video appearance. The fact Jack is ok with this is proof he's a cuck.

Are we sure Mike isn't a Polish Jew?

 

[mlanguishi]

Yes, it's fucked up. If I had a small channel with a few thousand viewers and made $50 a stream I would invite friends to come hang out for free. If I was making hundreds of thousands a month I would feel guilty if I didn't force my friend to take at least a couple thousand for a video appearance. The fact Jack is ok with this is proof he's a cuck.

Are we sure Mike isn't a Polish Jew?

There's no cheaper bastards than streamers and youtubers. The only cheaper people are mods like here or reddit or whatever that want 24/7 service on-call for $0 pay? That's the internet baby. Lower case i cause it's all networks and Linux weirdos too that only want perceived power.

 

[Mola Ram]

I wonder what's going on in the RLM thread these days.

AIDS Moby is a filthy serf and he does it for free.
Weird moralizing about Rich Evans being an atheist.
Jim from Canada is Lefty!Null; mild mannered in speech, inflammatory and obnoxious on the internet.
Rich had sex with Oscar Wilde.

I hate this thread.

Gasp! People are getting autistic and weird in a Kiwi Farms thread!

 

[Nosredna]

If I'm not mistaken this is the poster that AIDS Moby was crying about:

That's fan art, the one he's talking about was one they commissioned from a professional cartoon artist. It wasn't bad, but it over-caricatured them to the point of unpleasantness and they stopped selling it after a short time. I can't find an image of it anywhere.

 

[Andy Soying Out]

That's fan art, the one he's talking about was one they commissioned from a professional cartoon artist. It wasn't bad, but it over-caricatured them to the point of unpleasantness and they stopped selling it after a short time. I can't find an image of it anywhere.

Wasn't it this one? I remember there was a kerfuffle about Jack being on the poster because he wasn't officially a member of RLM and he was on the poster.

link

 

[NSA]

Holy, Rich's extreme aversion to any form of spirituality in fiction is actually insane. Like, I got bad news bro, about storytelling and the reason it exists. Even his precious TNG has a ton of spirituality, and that's a show about being enlightened by your own intelligence. If I have to listen to this nigger proclaim how disinterested he is in the main story of DS9 one more time, I swear.

It's like his insane take that Star Wars doesn't need to have Jedi or the force. Pardon? That's like saying you don't need time travel in Back to the Future or you don't need warp drive in Star Trek. You WILL enjoy the lightsaber fights. The force WILL be with you, nigger.

 

[BlueSpark]

Wasn't it this one? I remember there was a kerfuffle about Jack being on the poster because he wasn't officially a member of RLM and he was on the poster.
View attachment 8427076
link

I like how he appears to be growing out of Rich, like a tumour. Very Fitting.

 

[King Dead]

DS9 is where I gave up on TV Trek. Just couldn't get into it after TNG. I'll slog through this, they probably have more interesting takes on it than the show itself had. I know it's supposed to be the best trek after TOS/TNG, but I after a few eps I gave up.

I know that "it gets better after [x] episodes" is kind of a meme, along with "the first season of a Trek show is always the worst," but DS9 really does take a little bit to get going. In the first season, they seemed to be having some difficulty with figuring out what they wanted to do with it, so it frequently feels like TNG but with a different cast for a while. I think that's why you see a fair number of episodes of some of the crew getting on a runabout to go explore some Gamma Quadrant world; maybe some executive thought it would be too boring to spend all their time on the station. As time goes on and more serial storylines are introduced, along with a healthy dose of character development, it starts to hit its stride and set itself apart from TNG. It helps that it maintains a healthy balance of serial and episodic storytelling as well, so a lot of episodes are enjoyable on their own even if they're referencing events from earlier episodes.

I'm not saying you should drop everything and marathon DS9 right now (well, maybe), but I can understand why you were having issues with it, especially if you jumped into it straight after TNG. Hell, I'd really understand if you had problems with VOY after TNG.