For what it is, "A YouTube Carol", a low-budget spoof of the classic "A Christmas Carol", is entertainingly edgy, hilarious and even touching. The touching part is probably due mainly, if not entirely, to the source material. No matter how Steven Crowder and company try to step on the pathos with comedy, Tiny Tim's message, "God bless us everyone!" comes through - even though there is no such line in this script and even though Tiny Tim has been usurped by Tiny Not Gay Jared - whose fabled illness has somewhat paradoxically been updated to AIDS. (I presume that the reader has seen one or more of the many versions of "A Christmas Carol", if not read the book.)
Using Charles Dickens' original text as a model, Crowder and his sidekick, known only as Not Gay Jared, have crafted their satirical script as a pointed vendetta against YouTube, the social media platform they have had a love-hate relationship with for many years.
Instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, we have Ebenezer YouTube, and this personified YouTube is every bit as mean as Mr. Scrooge. He berates his "partners" who submit videos to his platform, denies them the advertising rewards they are due based on number of plays ("demonetization"), and bans them arbitrarily, apparently just because he takes a dislike to them or to their political leanings.
The production is remarkably good despite glitches. I have seen an out-take that showed that one scene took many, many takes because the actors kept breaking up. This must explain why there are occasional errors that were apparently passed on as good enough. For example, the conceit of this video-play is that the ghosts of Christmas are redubbed the Ghost of YouTube Past, the Ghost of YouTube Present, etc. But Crowder, as Ebenezer YouTube, greets the Ghost of YouTube Present with the words, "Are you the Ghost of Christmas Present?" It not being the worst flub in the production, this is allowed to stay. There is no director listed for this production, BTW, so I am impressed that this program is as good as it is without one.
The viewer who has not watched "Louder with Crowder" before may enjoy this offering for its universal gags. There is a lot of humor surrounding Ebenezer's nastiness. Several characters admonish him to "Stop being a dick." Dickens, himself, might have called Scrooge that, or its mid-nineteenth century London equivalent, if standards had been different back then.
There are several low jokes as when the Ghost of YouTube Present urges Ebenezer to "touch my robe" and later asks, "Do you want to see under my robe?"
There is a savagely slapstick video-within-the-video about how, ten years earlier, Ebenezer YouTube posted a video compilation of his own antic skits with singing, dancing and impressions. Then we see the computer screen scroll down to comments from viewers with screen names like akaJimmyLeach, BlueOceanMist, KarelessFeline, and FartyMeldmanEyz, saying things like, "Get cancer, hack", "What did I just watch? Kill me now", and "This is why we need fascism". So this satire not only skewers YouTube but also the kind of anonymous lurkers who seem to live just to rain on the parade of anyone who puts him- or herself out on the internet.
There are a ton of in-jokes, as well, that the uninitiated might not get. Take, for example, this exchange:
Ebenezer YouTube: Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold? Ghost of YouTube Past: I am. Ebenezer YouTube: But you're just a girl. Ghost of YouTube Past: Oh, you're so sweet. I can remember more than fifteen years. I'm the Ghost of YouTube Past.
The actress who portrays this ghost, Blaire White, is a transgender woman, so she is pleased with Ebenezer saying, "you're just a girl." (And, once again, explaining a joke does not make it funnier - or funny at all.) A bit more accessible, but just as much of an in-joke to the viewer who is less than familiar with YouTube, is the fact that the Ghost of YouTube Past would naturally remember no further back than fifteen years because YouTube only came into existence in 2005.
What is more, White, like other participants in this episode, has had her own disputes with YouTube over content and advertising revenue. So have the Hodgetwins (Keith and Kevin Hodge) and Gavin McInnes, not to mention the staff members of "Louder with Crowder" who participated. The Ghost of YouTube Present, for example, is portrayed by Bill Richmond, Crowder's attorney, who has brought legal actions against YouTube on his client's behalf. This character's portrayal by a lawyer explains the running gag about the Ghost of YouTube Present correcting Ebenezer for misusing the word "precedent".
Gavin McInnes, in a small role as the Boy in the Street, steals the show with his Scots accented, scrappy insouciance. The actors in this production all attempt British accents but most end up doing bad Cockney accents. Crowder, himself, though fairly consistent throughout, sounds as if he is trying to channel Michael Caine. But McInnes, who was born in Scotland and whose father evidently still speaks with a brogue, hilariously punches up his repartee with Crowder's Ebenezer:
How am I meant to do that? I have no money. Look at me. I'm a wee lad. I'm a tiny bearded boy with no money.... It's your only hope. Throw me a credit card. I'll blind trust it and hope I come back. That's all you got me.... That'll do it. But just to be on the total up and up, mate, I'm gonna get myself something with that.... I'm gonna get... well, not that it's any of your business (pronounced "buzz-ness"), but here's the deal. I'm gonna get me a Bluetooth keypad and one of those Magic Trackpads.
This special edition of Crowder's show is barely more than a half-hour in length, which bespeaks an impressive editing job. Much is left out, but the highlights of the original story are preserved if mainly in parody. One revealing change, for example, is that when Ebenezer YouTube finds himself back in his rooms on Christmas morning, he cries, "It's all still here!" as he accounts for his curtains and other furnishings. In the original story, this was because the Ghost of Christmas Future had shown Scrooge a vision of the harpies who would take apart Scrooge's unclaimed possessions after his death. Here, that echo from the original makes no sense because the satirists have substituted a scene in which future social media users discuss how nobody uses YouTube any longer.
Using Charles Dickens' original text as a model, Crowder and his sidekick, known only as Not Gay Jared, have crafted their satirical script as a pointed vendetta against YouTube, the social media platform they have had a love-hate relationship with for many years.
Instead of Ebenezer Scrooge, we have Ebenezer YouTube, and this personified YouTube is every bit as mean as Mr. Scrooge. He berates his "partners" who submit videos to his platform, denies them the advertising rewards they are due based on number of plays ("demonetization"), and bans them arbitrarily, apparently just because he takes a dislike to them or to their political leanings.
The production is remarkably good despite glitches. I have seen an out-take that showed that one scene took many, many takes because the actors kept breaking up. This must explain why there are occasional errors that were apparently passed on as good enough. For example, the conceit of this video-play is that the ghosts of Christmas are redubbed the Ghost of YouTube Past, the Ghost of YouTube Present, etc. But Crowder, as Ebenezer YouTube, greets the Ghost of YouTube Present with the words, "Are you the Ghost of Christmas Present?" It not being the worst flub in the production, this is allowed to stay. There is no director listed for this production, BTW, so I am impressed that this program is as good as it is without one.
The viewer who has not watched "Louder with Crowder" before may enjoy this offering for its universal gags. There is a lot of humor surrounding Ebenezer's nastiness. Several characters admonish him to "Stop being a dick." Dickens, himself, might have called Scrooge that, or its mid-nineteenth century London equivalent, if standards had been different back then.
There are several low jokes as when the Ghost of YouTube Present urges Ebenezer to "touch my robe" and later asks, "Do you want to see under my robe?"
There is a savagely slapstick video-within-the-video about how, ten years earlier, Ebenezer YouTube posted a video compilation of his own antic skits with singing, dancing and impressions. Then we see the computer screen scroll down to comments from viewers with screen names like akaJimmyLeach, BlueOceanMist, KarelessFeline, and FartyMeldmanEyz, saying things like, "Get cancer, hack", "What did I just watch? Kill me now", and "This is why we need fascism". So this satire not only skewers YouTube but also the kind of anonymous lurkers who seem to live just to rain on the parade of anyone who puts him- or herself out on the internet.
There are a ton of in-jokes, as well, that the uninitiated might not get. Take, for example, this exchange:
Ebenezer YouTube: Are you the spirit whose coming was foretold? Ghost of YouTube Past: I am. Ebenezer YouTube: But you're just a girl. Ghost of YouTube Past: Oh, you're so sweet. I can remember more than fifteen years. I'm the Ghost of YouTube Past.
The actress who portrays this ghost, Blaire White, is a transgender woman, so she is pleased with Ebenezer saying, "you're just a girl." (And, once again, explaining a joke does not make it funnier - or funny at all.) A bit more accessible, but just as much of an in-joke to the viewer who is less than familiar with YouTube, is the fact that the Ghost of YouTube Past would naturally remember no further back than fifteen years because YouTube only came into existence in 2005.
What is more, White, like other participants in this episode, has had her own disputes with YouTube over content and advertising revenue. So have the Hodgetwins (Keith and Kevin Hodge) and Gavin McInnes, not to mention the staff members of "Louder with Crowder" who participated. The Ghost of YouTube Present, for example, is portrayed by Bill Richmond, Crowder's attorney, who has brought legal actions against YouTube on his client's behalf. This character's portrayal by a lawyer explains the running gag about the Ghost of YouTube Present correcting Ebenezer for misusing the word "precedent".
Gavin McInnes, in a small role as the Boy in the Street, steals the show with his Scots accented, scrappy insouciance. The actors in this production all attempt British accents but most end up doing bad Cockney accents. Crowder, himself, though fairly consistent throughout, sounds as if he is trying to channel Michael Caine. But McInnes, who was born in Scotland and whose father evidently still speaks with a brogue, hilariously punches up his repartee with Crowder's Ebenezer:
How am I meant to do that? I have no money. Look at me. I'm a wee lad. I'm a tiny bearded boy with no money.... It's your only hope. Throw me a credit card. I'll blind trust it and hope I come back. That's all you got me.... That'll do it. But just to be on the total up and up, mate, I'm gonna get myself something with that.... I'm gonna get... well, not that it's any of your business (pronounced "buzz-ness"), but here's the deal. I'm gonna get me a Bluetooth keypad and one of those Magic Trackpads.
This special edition of Crowder's show is barely more than a half-hour in length, which bespeaks an impressive editing job. Much is left out, but the highlights of the original story are preserved if mainly in parody. One revealing change, for example, is that when Ebenezer YouTube finds himself back in his rooms on Christmas morning, he cries, "It's all still here!" as he accounts for his curtains and other furnishings. In the original story, this was because the Ghost of Christmas Future had shown Scrooge a vision of the harpies who would take apart Scrooge's unclaimed possessions after his death. Here, that echo from the original makes no sense because the satirists have substituted a scene in which future social media users discuss how nobody uses YouTube any longer.
