The Electronic Wireless Show podcast episode 187: the funniest games special
Eggs is eggs
After some of the stuff we talked about in last week's episode, I decided to take us further down the giggle chute to talk about funny games in general. What games are funny? Why, and how? Is it easier for games to be funny when they're not trying to be? Should self-described funny games be avoided entirely?
Because of this, we end up talking about Blorko again. We also nearly come to war about the difference between randomly improvising funny stuff and deciding that saying 'egg' a lot of is funny. There is a difference, but you know it when you see it. Matthew's life is like a sitcom, and also we apologise to Henry Cavill for forgetting his birthday. Sorry Henry. Please come on the show.
You can listen above, or on on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher, or Pocket Casts. You can find the RSS feed here, and you can discuss the episode on our Discord channel, which has a dedicated room for podcast chat.
Music is by Jack de Quidt.
. Music is by Jack de Quidt, who is very funny.Notes
We talk kind of broadly about Physics Wonk Games as a whole - Totally Accurate Battle Simulator, Surgeon Simulator, I Am Bread, Octodad and the like. Wibbly physics make you go lol.
To kick things off there's a talk about Tales From The Borderlands, a very funny game, vs. Borderlands proper, games that are not as funny. To be fair, it's a lot easier for TFTB to be funny because there are a lot more verbs beyond "shoot" and "loot" for the devs to play with.
Matthew really liked The Magic Circle. I compare it to There Is No Game, which I ended up thinking was quite smug, but which Matthew did.
Nate, in characteristic Nate style, likes when games go wrong. Like, you're in a serious cutscene and then the dead body of a soldier you killed before wiggles the wrong way up a hill. He thinks Ark: Survival Evolved is funny for related reasons.
He does not like Monkey Island, although I think Monkey Island is very much an example of a game being funny. We broadly agree that being too internet-y and reference-y is bad, and yet I also think Turnip Boy Does Tax Evasion is really funny.
Also, the goose.
Recommendations this week are the TV show Tokyo Vice, the A&F documentary White Hot, and Graze's Lemon and Bluberry Oat Squares.