Caroling For Pop Culture: Sing Along With “Nuckin’ Futs” By JibJab
Natali Del Conte
35 comments »
Warning: this post is not for my readers without a sense of humor. If you have no sense of humor, skip to the next story post haste. If you have a sense of humor, please treat yourself to some nightcap entertainment by way of JibJab’s latest release, “Nuckin’ Futs.”
JibJab, a digital comedy network, is known for its parody cartoons, such as “This Land,” the Bush/Kerry cartoon that circulated the Web during the 2004 presidential elections. “Nuckin’ Futs” is a tongue-in-cheek look at world culture from 2006. In case you missed it, Lance Bass is gay, Britney Spears is divorcing and flashing her private parts, Mel Gibson is a drunk bastard, and Fidel Castro is barely alive. All of these points and more are covered in the melody, set to the tune of Jingle Bells. It’s not PC. Not even a little.
“The Web gives us the creative freedom to make videos we think are funny without having to worry about what a studio executive is going to think,” said Gregg and Evan Spiridellis, co-founders of JibJab, in a statement sent to TechCrunch on Monday. “We are in the midst of a media revolution where mega-media conglomerates are losing their grip on the audience and new brands like JibJab are being born. It’s a very exciting time to be creative entrepreneurs.”
TechCrunch reviewed some JibJab videos in October. Not only did we LOL, we maintained that JibJab has some serious market potential in the online content channel space.
“Nuckin’ Futs” will premiere tonight on the “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” making it the eighth JibJab video to appear on the show. It is now available for free on JibJab’s site, or MSNVideo.
“Nuckin’ Futs” is nuckin’ funny! Our only complaint is that TechCrunch was left out of the parody. I mean, what says pop culture more than a tech blog/news site!?
“Funny that you say that but I mentioned to Gregg that we need to figure out how to do that in a future release,” said Dave Schappell, vice president of marketing for JibJab. “We actually worked in Google/YouTube. Thought everyone in the Bay Area would get a chuckle out of that.”
Natali, are you afraid of losing your job for posting this or something? We’re not a bunch of religious zealots. Funny shit!
I’m not afraid of religious zealots. I’m just trying to cut off the squares who commented on Wordie: http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....he-photos/.
Glad you like! Happy Holidays!!!
Jib Jabs success is like Michael Jacksons, they peaked early with their Bush vs Kerry which was a pure stroke of genius and ever since then, have struggled to produce something equaling it.
Jon
“The Adventures of Stinky and Sticky” Comic Strip Artist
Jib Jabs success is like Michael Jacksons, they peaked early with their Bush vs Kerry which was a pure stroke of genius and ever since then, have struggled to produce something equaling it.
Jon
I kinda agree with Jon, the Bush/Kerry video from 2K4 was funny but everything else I’ve seen by JibJab has been boring. This video seems like it’s trying way too hard to be funny, which makes it very not funny. I’m not complaining that this doesn’t belong on TC, after all ’tis the holidays, but, it’s just that I don’t think it’s that funny
Never heard of Jib Jabs until Tech Crunch…but since they are being mentioned here they must be good…..
What a waste of VC money
Natali - I love how quickly you have become “we”
Jib Jab is great, but I don’t see this video propelling them to new heights. Check out their traffic chart on Alexa. Assuming it’s directionally accurate, Jib Jab has seen the exact same visitor behavior since 2004 … basically they release a video, there’s a spike based on the quality of their video, and then it goes back down to a level that certainly doesn’t warrant heavy investment.
Even relatively new, good, blogs are getting as much traffic or more than Jib Jab on an average day. Great blogs (such as Techcrunch), blow the pants off it. Compare it to any popular video site, and the reach and pageviews per visit are just poor.
If JibJab is ever looking to sell, my advice to them is make a HUGELY popular video, and sell right on the heels of it … I don’t see how they could become anything more than a niche player given their history.
GAY. If you got through the first 5 seconds you must be an idiot.
BE MORE FUNNY
jibjab is your dorky uncle’s idea of funny
where is the crunch
I enjoyed the newest JibJab paroday, always look forward to seeing what they put together. I agree, its definitely been tough for them to top their early success, but the work remains great in my opinion.
Since the JibJab content was an end of the year wrap up, I’d like to invite all of you still needing your Holiday / New Years Eve Champagne to steal a great deal from Wines ‘Til Sold Out (http://www.winestilsoldout.com). The site offers one great wine deal a day at 30% to 70% off. The only catch is… the product us only available in limited quantities until it sells out. After that, thats it. Next item!
Steve
LAME. They worked in YouTube/Google, but they did it wrong. There were three YouTube founders, but the animation only showed two. What the hell? Try again.
LOLOL, love how Steve Chen has that big grin on his face and Chad looks like a mad balding dude. That made me laugh.
Kevin, there were only 2 youtube founders.
found it very interesting and relevant to life as it is…..I’ll have to see Jay….
without knowing too much background about jibjab, I am loving this video.
this video was rather funny …i haven’t even seen the other video everyone is speaking of the bush bit
I find it very funny! thank you for suggesting that.
See, I disagree. I think JibJab is TOTALLY PC, which is reflected in the fact that they show on Mr. Milquetoast himself, Jay Leno’s, show. They are totally middle of the road, don’t want to offend anyone, and make broad sweeping jokes. They don’t take a side and they don’t truly skewer. Look at the Team America movie which took an equally non-partisan stand but had to go that extra mile to be truly offensive…this made it funny. Or the Daily Show, which takes one clear side and is able to make less offensive jokes. You can’t not take a side and make Leno-style jokes that hope will play in peoria. I agree 100% with the comment “JibJab is something your wacky uncle would enjoy”
I didn’t even find the Kerry/Bush one that interesting. I think it missed an opportunity to skewer the hell out of Bush.
Great Post.
@Matt, even at the Steven Colbert’s Roast of President Bush he dare not say anything to offend him.
Humor is fun, but just taking it too far is fun for no one except those extremist. This type of humor trys to target even those involved.
Its a great Example of why I say good riddens to 2006.
Wow. That was amazingly unfunny. So far there has only been one good JibJab video: their first one (the 2004 political one).
Roy T, nope there are 3 founders. Check out YouTube’s About page.
LOL…definitely some quality entertainment. I must admit though that I didn’t expect it to show up here on the Crunch.
Mike
http://www.thosestupidgames.com
I’m with Eric B - it was pretty u-n-f-u-n-n-y. Sure, they got all the big news names and such, but the 2004 Bush/Kerry video was funny. This one is just awash in its own tempered smart-aleckness for middle america.
Saw Futs on Leno last night and laughed my *%$ off!
I’m glad Jibjab stays unbiased and lets us make our own conclusions. No other entertainment or media groups allow us the same leisure- Fox, CNN, South Park (although they are $*%-ing funny too!), talk shows, you name it. People have been told what to think for the last 50 years and look at this country now. And don’t you think it’s idiotic that the Brangelina clan makes bigger news than the crisis in the middle east? That’s one of my favorite jokes in Futs.
Hands down best Jibjab yet. Thanks for the laugh. Peace out.
Should have replaced Britney Spears with Lonelygirl15, at least that is someone who deserves a little hype.
Excellent. I like their style but taking shots at both sides of the political isle is a no-no. To the sanctimonious secular fanatics that is pure blasphemy. How dare they make a video that all Americans can enjoy? Not when Chimpeachment abu Hitlerstein is still in office. “Dude, it’s all so unjust!”
Errr… I’ll agree with the commenters that JibJab is PC; their “edgy” meme references all went mainstream months/years ago. Still worth a watch / chuckle though…
““Nuckin’ Futs” is a tongue-in-cheek look at world culture from 2006.”
That’s American culture. Very much so. Nothing to do with the world at large.
How can you not take a shot at both sides of the isle? Just look at us!