Red Letter Media

[Acoustic Virgin]

What's interesting to me is the variety of what people find entertaining about RLM.
I personally can't stand the Plinkett skits on Half in the Bag, but reading here it seems that many people really love them, and they're their favorite parts of the episodes. Similarly, I can't get enough of Wheel of the Worst. Seeing the crew watch random instructional tapes, children's videos, DON BEVERIDGE, and The Geritol Follies -- things that they were never the target audience for -- just cracks me up. But many in their audience find those ones to be an unfunny waste of time.

These hack frauds have a tricky balance to maintain. If they start doing one thing more and another thing less, they're bound to please part of their audience while ticking off a different part.

 

[Jobama]

even Marty Supreme which has the biggest male star on the planet and is a star vehicle and has timmy dancing and jumping on couches and shit like that has made fuck all money.

That's actually not true at all. It's actually doing really well. It's probably going to make more than what the other Safdie brothers film made in it's theatrical run just in it's opening weekend.

This thread should be renamed to "RLM sucks", time to unwatch it.
While I agree that they aren't as consistently entertaining as they were a couple of years ago, you guys make it sound like they did a complete 180 and trooned out or something. It's just a miserable read now

Yeah I don't know why this thread is so cynical about them. Especially when the last BOTW was pretty good. I guess it's kind of the same with /tv/ but that's mostly just prequelfags hate watching them.

 

[Kether]

That's actually not true at all. It's actually doing really well. It's probably going to make more than what the other Safdie brothers film made in it's theatrical run just in it's opening weekend.

it has a budget of $70 million and an opening weekend of about $25 million, if it has legs of 5x putting it on par with a movie musical, it will have a box office of $125 million domestic, you include international and you still barely have a hit on your hands. the cinemascore of the film doesn't indicate a 5x style film and is more likely to have a $150 million globally by February. i'm not saying its a bad film, but a24 is doing the same shit that led to annapurna failing, you get some good hits then you start making movies with higher budgets and suddenly making $200 million doesn't fucking matter because the budget is $125 million.

people are going "its an awards show movie, it doesn't matter if it makes money" but it has a budget more than every a24 film from 4 years ago combined. they have been churning out quite a few $25-50 million budget flops this year. eddington and smashing machine did not hit with audiences the way they needed to.

this isn't to besmirch the movie itself but the letterboxd audience isn't going to be going 3 or 4 times the way the avatar crowd is. even if it manages to be the highest grossing a24 film (doubt) it still doesn't profit outside of them doing some cannon pictures level shady bullshit and screwing over multiple international distributors.

I have a feeling it hits 80 million by the end of its run domestically and maybe 60 million internationally? which is quite a lot of money, but really shows how little star power matters now compared to a decade ago, shia labeouf was in Eagle eye back in 08 and had similar box office and budget and everyone could admit that it was technically a flop and it showed how a c-list former kid actor wasn't "ready for the big leagues" just yet. it was also a starring vehicle but outside of his fans from the disney channel days he wasn't considered a real star to mainstream audiences. no one over drinking age would have told you Shia was an a-list star in 08, and thats with literally Spielburg doing his best to turn him into one with the transformers trilogy and indiana jones 4 pushing him

 

[TATE MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOODE!!]

We really should love On Cinema At the Cinema more, they were literally mocking Red Letter Media and lazy faggots like them way back in 2011.

Mike is friends with Tim Heidecker and he's mentioned they occasionally meet up when Tim is in town.

It seemed like plenty of people were sick of heavy metal and its image problem the same way people are sick of hollywood today

Hair metal heavily over saturated the market because every company wanted their own Ratt, which gave way to the brief flash in a pan moment for grunge (itself an evolution of metal i.e. early Sound Garden, Alice on Chains). Even the hairspray guys will admit they flooded and choked the market.

Even then, the thrash bands that continued on in that style gained solid cult followings for sticking to their guns (Slayer, Testament) and other and new genres of metal got big in the 90s like industrial, groove and death metal got big while acts like party acts like Poison fizzled out.

Oh, I guess their was also nu metal but lol except for SOAD.

tl;dr metal never dies

 

[Shartavius]

This thread should be renamed to "RLM sucks", time to unwatch it.
While I agree that they aren't as consistently entertaining as they were a couple of years ago, you guys make it sound like they did a complete 180 and trooned out or something. It's just a miserable read now

This fella announced unfollowing a KF thread because people weren't saying nice things about the thread subjects anymore...on the site where everyone makes fun of everything else. What would we all have to promise to not say about your friends for you to add the thread back to your watch list?

Could you explain what you mean by this? I'm curious about what you're trying to say here.

Same here.

Spoiler

Though both Will Schoder and David Wallace are insufferable, @The Blue Morpho's criticism *may* be referring to this increasingly common critique of humor trends couched in irony and trope deconstruction you see referenced in Youtube slop (which I don't necessarily subscribe to or care to defend - especially being as it includes NBC slop from the 2010s as examples of "good" modern comedy avoiding the pitfalls of irony poisoning):

 

[Tepes Thot]

DON BEVERIDGE, and The Geritol Follies -- things that they were never the target audience for -- just cracks me up. But many in their audience find those ones to be an unfunny waste of time.

WHAT?!

Don Beveridge is comedy gold, and one of the best BOTW moments. All panel members were firing on all cylinders for that segment. I didn’t know it was unpopular.

 

[Mussolini’s Merkin]

WHAT?!

Don Beveridge is comedy gold, and one of the best BOTW moments. All panel members were firing on all cylinders for that segment. I didn’t know it was unpopular.

The first Black Spine episode is one of my favorites, it’s right too there with the Ryan’s Babe episode, Suburban Sasquatch and Lycan Colony reviews.

All of those were 7-8 years ago though, I think that was the golden era for BOTW.

 

[Shartavius]

These hack frauds have a tricky balance to maintain. If they start doing one thing more and another thing less, they're bound to please part of their audience while ticking off a different part.

Their priority seems to be sustaining the revenue the channel brings in by censoring themselves, paying lip service to Current Year, and pretending they haven't lost their passion for movies or filmmaking (they finally went mask-off in admitting they can no longer enjoy patronizing their nigger-infested local theater - but still won't admit what their actual problem with it is).

That priority of not rocking the boat too much results in the occasional video where they've found a way to enjoy themselves - But their unwillingness to let go of Old Man Yells At Cloud Half in the Bag, excuse for celebrity guest that goes an hour too long Best of the Worst, or Josh Davis for fear it will sufficiently alienate the constituents of the parasocial house of cards they've built to an extent affecting their Patreon numbers is something I take to mean that it's not going to get any better. They're unwilling to trim the fat which went rancid years ago, for fear that everyone will see how lean the content they actually care to make is.

Cranking out a video every week or two is currently the most enthusiasm they seem to be able to fake and, for whatever reason, they're afraid of cutting back to one video per month. I'd personally prefer if they scaled back to only doing videos when they feel like it - At least we'd have fewer instances of Mike leaning his head back with his mouth open while he strains to think of something to say about some current event unrelated to the film he and Jay either didn't watch or only watched an hour of.

That they regard doing more of what they enjoy and less of what they don't as a risk is why it's become more and more apparent that they're just punching a clock at the slop factory they accidentally built around themselves.

 

[Introvertigo]

Patreon Update:

Hello all! We hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. Or not! Whatever! We're currently working on a Half in the Bag end-of-year catch-up where we talk about Stranger Things, Pluribus, and a handful of other movies and shows. It will most likely be split into two parts and we're going to try and get part 1 out before the end of the year, with part 2 coming right at the start of 2026. Rich and Mike are also hard at """"work"""" rewatching a specific Star Trek series with plans to do a new Trek-related video very soon. Happy New Year! Barf!

 

[mlanguishi]

I've given up modern tv shows and heard all pluribus is just commie take over vs 13 survivors, and mostly nothing happens.

I dourt they'll do Stanger Things which also sound woke and dumb.

 

[TerminalTryHard]

My only issue with the Christmas special was the movies were clearly hand picked before not randomly picked. I get unwrapping the movies is a long running gimmick but just drop the random shit if it's not going to be random.

 

[JayseeDenton]

You can burrow in like a tick with that kind of music and never listen to anything else because you aren't starved for choice anymore.

This really is the key thing youtube has done to fuck it all up. Music, movies, tv shows, you can get exactly what you want. Steam has done the same thing for video games. Why would I listen to the latest FOMO shit when I can explore thousands of bands in the genre i actually do like? Why watch the newest shows when i can watch the best scenes from the ones I like and read comments about other autists who always noticed the same things i did?

With AI this is even more pronounced, you can have things tailor made to your specific brand of autism.

and heard all pluribus

I love BB and BCS but I gave up on pluribus the moment the trailer made it clear i had to identify with someody who was trapped in a world full of happy people. I simply can't relate to that because imo the main problem with the world right now is that people are completely obsessed with their own misery.

 

[Zorak Prison Pod]

Patreon Update:

Hello all! We hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. Or not! Whatever!

Gentlemen
This is Gen-X humor
Manifest
GET YOUR HAND OFF MY PENIS

 

[Hentai-Semitism]

Whenever someone says "Merry Christmas", this scene instantly pops into my head. I've been obsessively saying that line to myself with that accent for a few weeks now.

 

[Count Fagula]

I've given up modern tv shows and heard all pluribus is just commie take over vs 13 survivors, and mostly nothing happens.

I dourt they'll do Stanger Things which also sound woke and dumb.

not to be fake and gay on main but I'm going to watch shit before I make opinions on it

 

[Idiotron]

I'll powerlevel a bit while typing this:
I have a background in sociology/psychology and I absolutely love to overanalyze human behavioral patterns.
What is happening to RLM is something I like to call the Chris Stuckman Syndrome.

You watch old Stuckman videos.
He is slim, he is animated, he displays emotions, he clearly has passion.
He's engaging to the audience.
Check out the first 2 minutes of this video:

As he got rich and famous, he changed.
He's now fat, very demure, almost emotionless (you could literally replace his voice with AI, it's that monotone), he looks like he doesn't want to be there.
Look how passionate he is about promoting his big cinematic debut:

The same shit happened to RLM.
To quote Mike Stoklasa himself, they got "old and bloated".
They would rather just retire and become even fatter but they like money too much.
That's the only reason they do this crap anymore.

It's sad and I honestly can't see this ever changing unless they would somehow lose all their money but even then, they could just pump out lazy content and still get views.

Creators really have to be super self aware in order to avoid this fate and most of them aren't.

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

I'll powerlevel a bit while typing this:
I have a background in sociology/psychology and I absolutely love to overanalyze human behavioral patterns.
What is happening to RLM is something I like to call the Chris Stuckman Syndrome.

You watch old Stuckman videos.
He is slim, he is animated, he displays emotions, he clearly has passion.
He's engaging to the audience.
Check out the first 2 minutes of this video:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tXqFXqs_8I4, list: PLB6N1J-D-TR4SJRgtNUreuzTvZfbS6gCG
As he got rich and famous, he changed.
He's now fat, very demure, almost emotionless (you could literally replace his voice with AI, it's that monotone), he looks like he doesn't want to be there.
Look how passionate he is about promoting his big cinematic debut:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-7Oq18yi1no, list: PLB6N1J-D-TR7zpN6FRX6Vyrd6u2LWMlpa
The same shit happened to RLM.
To quote Mike Stoklasa himself, they got "old and bloated".
They would rather just retire and become even fatter but they like money too much.
That's the only reason they do this crap anymore.

It's sad and I honestly can't see this ever changing unless they would somehow lose all their money but even then, they could just pump out lazy content and still get views.

Creators really have to be super self aware in order to avoid this fate and most of them aren't.

At least Stuckmann has a cowardly excuse; he wants to suck Hollywood dick to get his movie made. RLM act like they hate the Hollywood system and then get C-list celebrities on their shows.

 

[Hentai-Semitism]

The same shit happened to RLM.
To quote Mike Stoklasa himself, they got "old and bloated".
They would rather just retire and become even fatter but they like money too much.
That's the only reason they do this crap anymore.

Happens to everyone eventually. The Angry Video Game Nerd became completely irrelevant a LONG time ago and he used to be the trailblazer for game reviewers. I think his old videos (season 1-7) still hold up, though.

I don't think Jay changed all that much, but Like Like Stoklasa looks like he doesn't care a whole lot anymore. I've been watching RLM since the very beginning and he's noticeably less energetic and more like, like, you know. Like, you know. Like.

If I could change anything about RLM, I would:

- make them watch only movies they think have potential to be entartaining for whatever reason. Things picked at complete random are too likely to be duds. Black Spine was a terrible idea.
- shorten the videos considerably. The average BOTW episode shouldn't be longer than an hour. There's only so much you can say about about a 20 minute video about a guy who pretends to be a spiritual medium or whatever the fuck.
- stop whining about bad theater experiences. We get it, you don't like niggers niggering and teenagers using their phones. I don't care. Nobody wants to listen to other people's complaints.

 

[Count Fagula]

Happens to everyone eventually. The Angry Video Game Nerd became completely irrelevant a LONG time ago and he used to be the trailblazer for game reviewers. I think his old videos (season 1-7) still hold up, though.

I don't think Jay changed all that much, but Like Like Stoklasa looks like he doesn't care a whole lot anymore. I've been watching RLM since the very beginning and he's noticeably less energetic and more like, like, you know. Like, you know. Like.

If I could change anything about RLM, I would:

- make them watch only movies they think have potential to be entartaining for whatever reason. Things picked at complete random are too likely to be duds. Black Spine was a terrible idea.
- shorten the videos considerably. The average BOTW episode shouldn't be longer than an hour. There's only so much you can say about about a 20 minute video about a guy who pretends to be a spiritual medium or whatever the fuck.
- stop whining about bad theater experiences. We get it, you don't like niggers niggering and teenagers using their phones. I don't care. Nobody wants to listen to other people's complaints.

I'm going to do you one better and say it's not JUST niggers and teens. A surprising amount of people do not now how to act in social interactions outside of the grocery store (and even then....)

 

[Drag-on Knight 91873]

- make them watch only movies they think have potential to be entartaining for whatever reason. Things picked at complete random are too likely to be duds. Black Spine was a terrible idea.
- shorten the videos considerably. The average BOTW episode shouldn't be longer than an hour. There's only so much you can say about about a 20 minute video about a guy who pretends to be a spiritual medium or whatever the fuck.
- stop whining about bad theater experiences. We get it, you don't like niggers niggering and teenagers using their phones. I don't care. Nobody wants to listen to other people's complaints.

It also doesn't help that they pick 80s B movies like Elves or Alienator. They can mix it up with some 50s B movies like The Crawling Eye or Earth v. the Spider or Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. Sure, they're bad movies (and in the Giant Spider case, filled with stupid characters), but there's more effort and work put into them than the dreck they watch. The stuff they watch makes me think Uwe Boll was making ALL of them to exploit tax loopholes.

And yeah, they should stop complaining about the theater experience. People using their phones only distracts those with weak concentration. At $20 USD, I am focusing my attention at the giant screen I paid to see. Can't do anything about niggers, but niggers are like locusts.