I was paging through coloring books while clearing out old stuff and rediscovered this AL masterwork.
Standard response from Futurama‘s hedonistic robot, Bender: “Bite my shiny metal ass!”
Point taken: Futurama might have a slightly corrupting influence on 5-year-olds.
I tend to overthink, so I’ve been examining why I find things in this vein so particularly funny. It’s the tension between the situation and the words being said that seems to have the most impact on me — timing, the irony created by the contrast between a statement and the context in which it’s made, the degree to which what’s said is unexpected. Oh, and there’s the aspect of inappropriate humor, the childish script and spelling contrasted against what’s being said.
What were the racehorse and rider discussing prior to this scene? Are they both grumpy and annoyed by the cheerfully authoritative voice of the history of Thoroughbreds? Does the horse speak first in a fit of egomaniacal winner’s-circle gloating, then the rider tries to squash his bad behavior? Or is the rider shutting down a previous conversation, and the horse slips in the last word?
AL seems to have been born understanding subversive humor. No whys or wherefores necessary, this one’s just plain weird and funny.
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