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 I was going to save this till danny’s actual birthday, but I realize how little stuff like that matters, especially now. I take it one day, one hour, one minute at a time. Something is cooking in me, I don’t know what – but apparently after all this time, one of the ingredients is still the inspiration I get from this goofy ass youtuber. Hbd bitch gecko. 

One of my dad’s interests is Gilbert and Sullivan – an English playwright/composer duo that wrote comedic operettas in the late 1800s. We went to England when I was 6 or so, and got to see “The Pirates of Penzance”. Even at such a young age, I could tell it blew any American performance out of the water. I asked my dad why, and he said, “It’s because they understand that the straighter you play the characters, the funnier the absurdity of the situation is.”

It was something that came to mind when watching Danny’s videos about Zach King and Guava Juice. Especially in the Zach King video, he knew something was off and the appeal didn’t make sense to him, but he never really got to the core of why. My theory, based on his own work and the fact that I vibe with it so much (as someone who grew up almost exclusively on British comedy) is it’s the American Gilbert and Sullivan problem. A lack of tension. They play up the comedy characters just as much as the situation. In a weird way, those off the wall characters fit in the off the wall world, and so there is no subversion or dissonance that would make it funny. 

I think that’s why Spinal Tap is a point of reference for my conception of Fox Szn. For a long time I thought that movie was British because the humor is so incredibly dry. It reminded me of the UK version of The Office (all though it predates it) in that the documentary framing is made to be as grounded and realistic as possible. That way, David Brent’s insane antics feel insane, and we relate to Tim when he does the now infamous look to camera. 

Someone did a cover of Nepo Baby on TikTok and, Ned’s comment was, “your voice is not as good as mine but I really liked it other than that! Thanks for the support 👍” It was so fucking perfect. I love the ambiguity of his self awareness – is it meant to be playful sarcasm? is he genuine and oblivious? is it negging because he’s insecure? Who can really say what’s going on behind those opaque sunglasses. But he’s exactly the kind of character who would fit in that genre of media. 

One more thing thing that gave me that feeling – In the last night music video, Ned is walking towards the camera down the city street, sees an ATM, gives a devilish look over his glasses and tries to…hack it, I guess? It so reminded me of watching Danny play Minecraft – as soon as I saw him start to get bored, I knew he was going to make trouble. He would razz any and everyone just for the chaos of it. That’s why I liken Fox Szn to a character actor playing a villain in Disneyland – They can be a scoundrel and lightly tease people, and there is no hard feelings because of the context. It seems like Danny can channel that mischievous side a bit more when he isn’t being Danny Gonzalez the youtuber, with his established brand. 

I’m not sure where I was going with all this, other than I sometimes like to ponder how an American youtuber got his comedy hooks in me so bad. Maybe that year in England really did a number on him…or maybe he also has a dad with a dry, sarcastic sense of humor. I wonder if he ever begrudgingly tolerated Victorian light opera as a kid. 🤔