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This episode of Angry Video Game Nerd had me in stitches last night

S

ScOULaris

Member
While Angry Video Game Nerd's shtick isn't for everyone and can be hit-or-miss from episode to episode, I've always felt that his best work stands out from the many imitators that followed his debut many years ago. I think what puts AVGN above the other "angry gamer" streamers and YouTube creators is the creative, slapstick-y comedy that he throws into the mix. Sometimes that aspect of his episodes falls flat in terms of comedic effect, but I stumbled upon a somewhat recent episode last night that had some of the best physical comedy I've seen in a gaming YouTube video.

Sega Activator Interactor Menacer - Angry Video Game Nerd (Episode 143)

giphy.gif


Holy shit did this episode have me in laughter-fueled tears. I was watching my three-month old son last night while my wife was out to dinner with friends, and I started casting some AVGN to my TV while I bottle-fed him. When it got to this episode, I was laughing so damn hard with tears streaming down my face, and then I looked down to see my baby boy laughing as well. He saw how hard I was laughing and couldn't help but spit out his pacifier and giggle in my arms.

That was an awesome moment, and all credit goes to both James Rolfe and his guest star in this episode. Keith Apicary co-stars in this one, and while I don't know who he is I will say that he really kills it here. The two of them start utilizing various Sega Genesis VR-style peripherals from the 90's, and the physical comedy just escalates with each successive piece of hardware.
 
T

TheAdmiester

Member
I used to love AVGN but kinda fell out of touch with it over a while, for no particular reason. I should really catch up one day.
 
M

MattAces

Member
TheAdmiester said:
I used to love AVGN but kinda fell out of touch with it over a while, for no particular reason. I should really catch up one day.
Click to expand...

Same, but a month ago, for some reason I began watching it again.
I've been watching everything from the start everyday including his movie reviews.

Recent Megaman episode is great, my favorite is still Jekyll and Hide
 
uncleslappy

uncleslappy

nethack is my favorite dark souls clone
I have a ton of respect for James' passion, commitment and production values he puts into AVGN, but the comedy sometimes doesn't land. Keith on the other hand is an outstanding physical comedian and his comedic timing is spot on.
 
B

ButteryPie

Member
This is perhaps actually one of my least favorite AVGN episodes. I enjoy the ones where he's more "Video Game Nerd", and less "Angry".

The most recent one comes in mind, and I really enjoyed it.
 
O

Omegasquash

Member
I only began watching AVGN a few months ago, and I'm fairly certain I've caught up.

I have to admire the guy for sticking to what he does, and he has me laughing pretty much every episode. This episode in particular felt out of place, but in a good way. It was hilarious.
 
C

CrashPrime

Member
I felt like that episode was basically "lets see how many lower than low budget 1 room sets we can destroy by jumping around like idiots".

My opinion of course.
 
R

RionaaM

Unconfirmed Member
Can't say I agree. In fact, to me this was one of his worst episodes. Couldn't stand the guest nor the physical comedy, and I didn't find jokes funny either.

ButteryPie said:
This is perhaps actually one of my least favorite AVGN episodes. I enjoy the ones where he's more "Video Game Nerd", and less "Angry".

The most recent one comes in mind, and I really enjoyed it.
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Same here. I never rewatch the ones where Mike acts as game characters; meanwhile I have seen Action 52/Cheetahmen, Swordquest, Dick Tracy, Star Wars, Silver Surfer and Bible games (among others) countless times. Guess I'm not a fan of his slapstick humor.
 
V

valkillmore

Member
A few years ago I went on a tear w this series and watched maybe 20 episodes in a row, I was crying with laughter at some of the bits. Very funny shit indeed.
 
Revolutionary

Revolutionary

Member
Dark_castle said:
Funny enough, that's one episode I didn't really like.
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Yeah, probably the worst episode in recent memory. Expected more from the union of the Nerd and Keith. This episode actually made me think he might be losing his touch, but then he put out the Planet of the Apes masterpiece and I realized I was dead wrong - he's still got it.
 
F

Flagship

Member
My favourite episodes were Hydlide, Plumber's Don't Wear ties and the Godzilla Retrospective. I've always been meaning to play Monster's Melee since I first saw gameplay of it from one of those 'gamer channels' on cable as a kid, it looked so good. Both that and Gladius lol.
 
Alexander DeLarge

Alexander DeLarge

Member
uncleslappy said:
I have a ton of respect for James' passion, commitment and production values he puts into AVGN, but the comedy sometimes doesn't land. Keith on the other hand is an outstanding physical comedian and his comedic timing is spot on.
Click to expand...

James Rolfe is a national treasure. Probably one of the most driven content creators out there. Off topic but it was a fucking shame to see how he was treated by the media over his stance on the Ghostbusters remake (which was why support a shitty movie? A good portion of Transformers tickets are sold to people who want to "make fun" of those movies and it's partially contributing to why they're so damn successful. Why do the same with Ghostbusters despite those awful trailers?)
 
B

Big Nikus

Member
I like James and Keith Apicary, but this is the only episode I didn't like these past few years :|
It's cool that you had a fun moment with your son though :)
 
Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Member
I admit I ctrl +f'ed "tryhard" after entering this thread.

It was the most tryhard cringeworthy episode he did, in comparison the Seaman episode should get an independent award.
 
S

Sgt. Kabukiman

Banned
Keith Apicary is just too weird for me. I don't care much for that episode but most of the time, I really like James' work, this was a rare miss for me.
 
P

PsihoPerihelion

Member
Flagship said:
My favourite episodes were Hydlide, Plumber's Don't Wear ties and the Godzilla Retrospective. I've always been meaning to play Monster's Melee since I first saw gameplay of it from one of those 'gamer channels' on cable as a kid, it looked so good. Both that and Gladius lol.
Click to expand...
That Plumbers Don't Wear Ties episode should be preserved by the Library of Congress.
 
Roufianos

Roufianos

Member
I haven't seen much from him but his video on Metal Gear is probably the funniest gaming related video I've seen.

"Who the hell punches dawgs anyway?"

"Solid Snake? Might as well be Erect Cock!"

"It slurped anal grease through a warthog's dickhole".
 
sotojuan

sotojuan

Member
James' latest videos seemed a bit forced. Before, he'd start calm/sarcastic and gradually get angry. Now he (character, not person) just sounds too jaded and cynical. He's also spending less time talking about the games (the latest wrestling episode was like 1 min of discussion per game). Still enjoy his content as he's an awesome person!

Imp the Dimp said:
How is James these days? I quit watching his show in ~2010 or '11 and haven't really gotten back to it.
Click to expand...

You have a few years of good content. Lately it's been decent. Just check out what looks interesting.
 
O

Octavia

Unconfirmed Member
His absolute best episodes are Batman part 1, and Silver Surfer. The comedy is increadible, the anger believable and justified, and it reads less scripted and more impromptu. Those make me laugh every time and it really reminded me on recent rewatches that James can legit get comedy.

I dont know what happened with his more recent stuff but the anger sometimes is increadibly fake and overdone. Like, he has to know how fake it acts out? There's no flow. There are some decent episodes, I liked the PowerRanger one but the most recent was like a parody of itself without being self aware.
 
O

OfTheOverflow

Member
I love the stuff James does around Christmas times, very light-hearted and good fun :) Had forgotten about this epic, it's a good laugh. Thanks OP!
 
CoolZombie

CoolZombie

Member
Alexander DeLarge said:
James Rolfe is a national treasure. Probably one of the most driven content creators out there. Off topic but it was a fucking shame to see how he was treated by the media over his stance on the Ghostbusters remake (which was why support a shitty movie? A good portion of Transformers tickets are sold to people who want to "make fun" of those movies and it's partially contributing to why they're so damn successful. Why do the same with Ghostbusters despite those awful trailers?)
Click to expand...

I think some people were trying to insinuate that he didn’t want to watch it because it was a female cast, when in reality it was cos the film is shit. God that movie was dreadful :-/
 
B

big_z

Member
Dark_castle said:
Funny enough, that's one episode I didn't really like.
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same. both James and Nathan do good stuff but this was so over the top stupid. The Keith character is at his best when doing the awkward home videos. Nerd at his when a game legit dicks him over.
 
Sapiens

Sapiens

Member
Oh, Christ, why does anyone care that he was shitting on Answer the Call? Why is it that we must run AVGN through the "Problematic" machine?
 
D

Dark_castle

Junior Member
sotojuan said:
James' latest videos seemed a bit forced. Before, he'd start calm/sarcastic and gradually get angry. Now he (character, not person) just sounds too jaded and cynical. He's also spending less time talking about the games (the latest wrestling episode was like 1 min of discussion per game). Still enjoy his content as he's an awesome person!



You have a few years of good content. Lately it's been decent. Just check out what looks interesting.
Click to expand...
His last two episodes were weak, but before that they're quite high quality, even better than the many of the older stuffs he put out before. It seems like when he takes a longer time to release an episode, the quality tends to be higher.
 
D

Devilgunman

Member
Still big fan of James. He puts works into production of every AVGN and that's what sets him apart from other "Angry gamers" on YT. His hardware episodes are always funny and informative.
 
T

Triforce141

Member
Devilgunman said:
Still big fan of James. He puts works into production of every AVGN and that's what sets him apart from other "Angry gamers" on YT. His hardware episodes are always funny and informative.
Click to expand...
Tiger Electronics is the best episode in recent years

64 bits... 32 bit, 16 bit, 8 bit, 4 bit 2 BIT ONE BIT HALFBITQUARTERBIT

THE WRIST GAAAMMMMMMEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!
 
P

PSqueak

Banned
I watched this, along several other episodes, recently after several years of not watching him and i gotta say, he's the only "angry reviewer" schtick show that actually has gotten better over the years.

James understands what he needs to do to stay likable, he's toned down the cursing and gross out a bit without losing his identity and tends to be much more informative than other reviewers.
 
P

Patison

Member
i cannot recommend board james enough - it is the best content Rolfe has ever put out. it's funny as hell, it has overarching story with twists, great characters and catchy original songs paired with amazing montages. even if you aren't interested in board games (i am not) give it a try, you will probably end up binging it.
 
S

Star Orpheus

Member
Patison said:
i cannot recommend board james enough - it is the best content Rolfe has ever put out. it's funny as hell, it has overarching story with twists, great characters and catchy original songs paired with amazing montages. even if you aren't interested in board games (i am not) give it a try, you will probably end up binging it.
Click to expand...

I legit want to buy almost every game he's shown despite having almost no one who would play them with me.

And yeah I was suprised that I actually liked the story arc who would have thought about turning a series about board games
into a Inception metaphysical horror murder story.
 
S

Scalpel Knight

Member
This was a decent episode. I think Action 52 may be overall one of my favourite episodes.

And I agree with the post above, Board James is great.
 
C

Chessr

Member
The turtle one is also gold.
It was a whole other setup.
I love when he finally finds out that he could just
walk over that little hole in the ground
 
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