There’s a wonderfully nerdy type of comedy on the internet you won’t find anywhere else. There are dozens of comics that are far better than anything that crops up in the newspapers and nowhere else can you find humour as immediate and quirky as memes. But my personal favourite are what I like to call anti-essays; long and detailed deconstructions of things that aren’t very good. Check out this epic and hilarious stab at the Phantom Menace, it’s worth the long time it takes to watch.
The Spoony Experiment does this kind of thing exceedingly well. Whether it be because of access to some great material (Zombie Samurai Nation is funny without narration) some tight writing or Noah, aka The Spoony One, who is an immediately likable, floppy haired nerd. The tone is spot on, it doesn’t get venomous like the Angry Video Game Nerd but stays energetic and mad. I recommend starting out with his reviews The Thing and Samurai Zombie Nation, I say this because these are half an hour a piece and are short for this website, before moving onto the epic 3 hour Final Fantasy VIII routine, which is one of my picks for best thing on the internet ever.
On top of this the site has some great Let's Plays!, which may not be as fun now they're all available in one hit, but as a weekly series it was something I sincerely enjoyed. Noah also has an encyclopaedic knowledge of his subject and is no fool, I've learnt more about journalism and cinema from him than anywhere else.
The one problem is Noah can be a little poor with time management; quality stuff can be months apart. In his defence the writing and production on his stuff utterly puts the rest to shame, this isn’t shaky YouTube cam and borders on professional, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. On the other hand The Spoony One spreads himself very thin, he does commentaries, amateur journalism and so many collaborations. I appreciate these must be more fun than toiling away in a hot Arizona bedroom, but I cannot stress how much higher Noah is above his peers. He is the star of this show, and while I’m grateful for anything I get, this is all free after all, seeing him fly out to some hotel to let an unfunny brat whine in his spotlight seems like a tragic waste of time.
I say this all though because the site is more than just content. Noah is charismatic and the personal, DIY aesthetic of the site gives it a really homey feel. As much as I want to be entertained I want to see the man do well, I’d buy him a beer sometime if I could. The community is strong here too; the forums are exceptionally good and broad if you’re bored of your personal message board.
The Spoony Experiment offers hours of grade A comedy and might just introduce you to your new favourite comic, I strongly recommend it.
