As I’m sure all of you that are males between the ages of 18-35 are aware, there’s this Internet celebrity called Tucker Max. My friend Dan introduced me to his website about five years ago. I find him incredibly interesting.
![Fatty "What did you say?" Tucker "Can you not hear me? Are your ears fat too?" Fatty [Look of astonishment, stares at my friends cracking up] "EXCUSE ME?" Tucker "I'm sorry. Really I am. [I open the fridge] Would you like cheesecake or chocolate cake? Probably both, I'm guessing." Fatty [Turns and leaves in utter astonishment] Tucker "Hey Sara Lee, I was only kidding! COME BACK HERE--MY FRIEND LIKES TO GO HOGGIN. MORE CUSHION FOR THE PUSHIN! IT'S LIKE RIDING A MOPED!!"](http://mindyourowngoddamnbusiness.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/everybodyloves1-300x177.jpg "everybodyloves1")
Uh oh! Ray's been drinking again, and there's no telling what sort of mean shit he's about to say to all the people in that room before trying to put it in Deborah's butt!
The first thing I find interesting about Tucker Max is the buzz around him. There are people that love Tucker Max, and there are people who hate Tucker Max, and both sides have spent a huge amount of energy making their case on the Internet.
The people that hate him hate him really hard. There are message boards flooded with comments badmouthing him, Gawker.com has a running feud with him, there are even entire blogs dedicated to attacking him. The people that hate him completely, utterly hate him.
And the people that support him completely and utterly support him. People don’t just think his stories are funny, they talk about reading his book like it’s a life changing event. That they have trouble controlling their bowels they’re laughing so hard. The same goes for his movie. If Max’s blog and audience reaction clips are to be believed, his movie is pretty much the funniest, most brilliant thing ever filmed. Every single screening completely knocks it out of the park and everyone that sees it talks about this movie like it’s going to revolutionize film.
The truth, I think, HAS to be somewhere in the middle.
To his supporter’s credit, he has published a book that’s spent quite a bit of time on the New York Times best seller list, and, good or bad, he has a movie coming out. The people that completely hate him have to acknowledge that even if they don’t like him, and even if they think his writing is pretty weak, he’s met with some success that can’t be ignored. Hell, the fact that there are people that feel strongly enough about him that they’re willing to dedicate entire blogs to how much they hate him implies that he’s doing something right. Look at me; here I am, writing an entire post about him.
On the other hand, I’ve looked at his website, and I’ve read his book, and even though I’ve found myself vaguely entertained, I’ve never had one of those “Oh my God I’m going to pull something I’m laughing so hard” moments that he and his fans keep claiming that his projects are full of, and it weirds me out that there don’t appear to be any middle ground reviews of anything he does. As near as I can tell, I’m the only person who’s read “I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell” and said “Eh – it held my interest, but I probably wouldn’t ever read it again and I’m glad I didn’t pay money for it”. Everyone either hates it or thinks that the great American novel has finally been written. The same goes for his movie. No one appears to have said “It’s not bad,” or even “It’s really funny”. Every comment is “This movie is this generation’s ‘Animal House’” or “I will never see anything this funny again as long as I live. This is the best movie ever made”.
I don’t get it. Everybody who’s even a little bit famous has some crazy-obsessed fans but if what I’ve seen is to be believed, that’s ALL that Max has, As near as I can tell, he’s one of those Internet quasi-celebrities like the “Stuff white people like” guy or Maddox, but everyone who knows he exists either worships him or wants to murder him.
And that’s the thing that really confuses me and makes me lose sleep: I don’t really feel very strongly either way about Tucker Max, and I’m not sure why, which really bothers me.
I feel like I should like his stuff. He writes stories where the main character is convinced he’s the most awesome person on the planet. There’s lots of profanity, inappropriate, outrageous situations and dick jokes – this is the kind of stuff I normally love. I should be one of his fans. I have his blog on my RSS feeds, and when he updates with one of his “We had another screening today, and a group of feminists who originally came to protest it ended up loving the movie so much that they pissed all over their seats they were laughing so hard” posts, I go back to his website, frantically trying to figure out what I’m missing, what part of his site I forgot to read that’s giving other people laughter-induced seizures when the best I can muster most of the time is a half-grin.
I don’t know. Somebody help me out here. Why is Tucker Max funny? Or, for that matter, the devil? I feel like I should care more about him, but I just don’t. Sell me on this guy. Please. It’s killing me.
See you on Monday.
#1 by danny on August 22, 2009 - 7:54 am
Survivor bias. The people who have something to say about it are the people who either love it or hate it. Most people who say “meh” don’t care enough to write about it on the intarwebz.
#2 by myogdb on August 22, 2009 - 11:27 am
I feel like it even goes a little bit far for people who care strongly about him. People who like Maddox’s book say it’s hilarious, but the people who like Tucker Max seem to go beyond thinking what he does is good to thinking that it is the best work anyone has ever done anywhere. Here’s a quote from a fan:
“I watch a lot of movies, and I’ve been having a really hard time drawing parallels between IHTSBIH and anything else I’ve seen. All the early comparisons made by misinformed fuckheads on the internet to ‘The Hangover’ are laughably wrong. It’s just a new kind of movie.”
I don’t know. Maybe you’re right, and you just get the people who really care writing about him. But the people who love his stuff seem to care harder than the fans of other people.
#3 by bonerland on August 23, 2009 - 1:03 pm
Whatever, this blog is better.
#4 by myogdb on August 23, 2009 - 1:10 pm
You should start a personal blog called bonerland.
#5 by Bibi on August 26, 2009 - 6:22 pm
I followed the link, read the sushi and the buttsex story and thought “Johnny’s right, I was mildly amused but it doesn’t seem worth my time, I just won’t go back there or maybe I will when I’m bored.”
I was at a really boring party today (the host was constantly fighting with her boyfriend) so I had nothing better to do than to think about random stuff and I think I figured it out.
It is his tone that makes people care.
The people who are offended aren’t offended by the content (even if they think they are), they are offended by his annoying way to kill any real humour in his stories. He has no charme, no savoir faire, looking like the coolest bastard around is more important to him than telling the story.
The people who love him are either women that have no self esteem and think they have to find it hilarious in order to prove that they aren’t bitchy and thus impress guys so they will find a partner.
Or they are guys with no self respect. They wish the world was as easy as he makes it look, they feel inferior because they aren’t making money with utter bullshit, but because they want to be like him and know he wouldn’t ever admit to feeling inferior, they try their best to cover it up. The effort subsequently looks a little over the top.
Oh and what bonerland said. Btw. I know I owe you an answer to the Nazi thing, but I’m on semester break so I don’t have to procrastinate xD I will write it eventually.
#6 by myogdb on August 27, 2009 - 2:32 am
I never thought about that. The girls who want to prove that they’re not uptight, so they like to talk about how they love sports and video games. And having sex with Tucker Max. That’s an interesting point, and I have to hand it to him. If it’s a gimmick, it worked pretty damn well.