| T. Bob Tubb is... |
...the fusion of creativity and humor between
Nick Carlisle and Tim
Johnston. What started out as a friendship at the tender age of zero in Bangor, Maine, has grown into a full-fledged sketch comedy group with dozens of participants (see Bios page for more details).
In late 1999 the duo found that recorded audio snippets
could set one's bone to "funny" mode. Recorded snippets soon became skits, and Tim and Nick realized that, armed with the audio skit, they could spread their humor to
others. In its humor, T. Bob Tubb attempts to use hilarity, absurdity, and subtlety pragmacies to tickle the listener's mind.
|
 |
| tbob.net is... |
| ...more than just audio, video, and photo skits. Sure, skits are our centerpiece. But the website also contains funny photos, artwork, music, and many other creative works, most
with a humorous bent. What's more, we welcome and encourage anyone and everyone (that means you), to contribute to the website. If you have any funny ideas, writings, photos, or media, contact us! We'd be more than happy to see what we can do about getting your
work onto the website. |
| Our Philosophy(s) |
We find that most comedic media directed at American audiences today
(with the exception of a few 'cult-following' comedy groups) are fairly
insulting. Jokes are made predictable and obvious. This leaves the
viewer without having to think very much
to understand what is supposed to be funny. Such humor is
very easy, but more importantly, cheap, to create. And most Americans tend not to think unless they have
to, because it's difficult and strenuous. For years, Americans
have enjoyed shows such as
"Friends" and "Ally McBeal." Why hasn't the level of humor increased,
and why haven't references to earlier episodes been made? Because that
would be more expensive to make, and fewer people might get it,
decreasing profit margin.
Here at T. Bob Tubb, we have no money. Let's face it, the internet is
not exactly our first choice for media exposure, but it's free. We've
done everything basically at our own expense, and have made virtually no
money (the words 'basically' and
'virtually' are only there to make us feel better). Really, all we've got is
the intent of
opening more and more people up to a higher level of -- and new brand of --
comedy. OK, we can't fool anyone, what we're doing here isn't 'new'.
But it's where we think comedy
should be in this day and age, so please share with your friends. Feel
free to trade our material -- mp3s, videos, photos, whatever -- around; just
make sure to make a link to us from your site
-- or from Microsoft's, if you're that good.
Don't get me wrong, we're not saying we think we're the funniest thing
out there. We're willing
to admit that we may not be as funny as "Friends" or "Ally McBeal," but
that's why we're still making new
stuff. We're leaving room to improve. And we're leaving room for
anyone to contribute. Please submit your ideas to the
Audience Participation section of our site. Feel free to sniff
our chutes by adding references to our
material in your contributions. It means a lot. Thank you.
Much Love,
Nick, Tim, and the Gang |
|
The Founders Sound Off: |
Nick Carlisle:
So, as hard as T. Bob Tubb is to define, I think its humor (which, of course, is central to its
existence) is all about Layers (as Mr. Stemple touches on below). There is, in the hierarchy of funniness, the ultimate humor in the
misfortune of others. This sounds terrible, but let's face it. Well, let's actually not face it for now.
The level of humor directly underneath "pain humor" is "toilet humor." A major characteristic of "toilet humor" is its
tendency to mock natural and bodily functions. For me, this is the "forbidden" or "hated" brand of humor. It's just too
easy, and too immature. I take great pride in knowing you'll never hear a flatulation sound or the word "menstruation" in
our skits. Although you damn well might hear a bit about toilets. My point is, the humor should be in the subtleties of a skit,
not it's passing of gas. You sure won't hear what you think you're going to hear.
Instead, you'll hear the unexpected. Walter and I like to play on words, mock the ordinary, and subvert the sub-extra-ordinary. Listen to each audio skit,
and when you're done, listen again. And again. We love to hide hidden gems in everything we do, be them repeated phrases or subtle delicacies. As for our
SmorgasBaird materials, be sure to thoroughly digest all of our work. You'll not only laugh, but also laugh harder. Or maybe even pee your pants.
|
Tim Johnston:
I think you have to be a very special type of person, with a very
special type of sense of humor to enjoy the works of T.Bob Tubb.
In
most, all, or "some" of our work, there's a lot there waiting to be
discovered as humorous. There are many
different layers of humor crammed into these skits, so that this stuff
is interesting to experience more than just one time.
Just as an
example, it took me until about the 20th listen of "Space Talk 1" (which
Mopitus both wrote and produced on his
own) before I realized that "...Mrs. Criggle's 3rd grade sociology
class..." was a funny line. I think as the top, or most obvious layer
of our work, we usually have a funny idea or plot going on. Then, as
you work your way down, you may catch on
to the inherent irony of a certain situations, and then to the many,
many references that we make (usually to ourselves). As you work down
to detail level, you may pick up on the line-by-line humor that we put
into the language and phrases, such as
"short attention spandex," or "personal PIN number," the latter being a
perfect example of luttrelism (ah, the gift of context clues!).
I think
that you have to be very, very smart, and very, very quick in order to
pick up on everything on the
first listen.
But I guess that's what I'm trying to say -- our target
audience is people who either are very, very smart -- or just have a lot
of time on their hands. |
|
|
