How to Make a Stale Joke Fresh
(From PvP, by Scott Kurtz)
Been busier this weekend than I anticipated. So I decided to do a little postlet until I can give you some meatier stuff on Monday. But for now, it’s late, I’ve got that great pre-sleep delerium going on, and I’m feeling very talkative (typative?).
Truth be told, I never found the Panda Attack gag all that damned funny. Yes, it was amusing, in the random violence sort of way. True, who doesn’t like Mac users mauled by animals that aren’t well known for habitual maulings. Indeed, if there ever was a decent running gag in a webcomic series, Panda Attack would be it.
The act of the Panda gnawing on Brent’s skull (his cranium, not his troll) is glorious to behold. Brent’s a jerk. A friendly, mostly benign jerk, but still a jerk. His dry wit cuts through the pride of any mortal man. And he’s a Mac elitist. Also, a notorious Humbug. So if there was ever a webcomic character of the non-evil variety that deserved to be the victim of Ling-Ling’s mastication, there would be no better than Brent.
The thing that never truly sat with me as far as the execution of a Panda Attack joke was the setups. I mean, as soon as someone utters the word “Panda” in any context, Brent will get mauled by a Panda. Even baby Pandas, it seems. Odder still, is the fact that the others are aware of this phenomenon. That apparently the Panda Attacks are so frequent they’ve been rendered mundane in perception (to all except Brent of course).
Panda Attacks are nearly integral to the universe of PvP. Their frequency, however, is what made them decreasingly less funny. After a while it seems that the Panda Attack is merely an attempt at filler, and the process of getting the Panda to Attack involves scrounging up a new way to use the word “Panda” in an acceptable context.
Perhaps Kurtz recognized that the Panda Attack gag has been growing stale. This is when as a creator he must either put a new and unique spin on the joke, or cease to use them entirely.
Turnabout is fair play it seems. Cut to an alternate universe, and alternate PvP (Panda vs. Panda, if you will). Now, in this universe, in a sort of extra-dimensional-karmic revenge, when a Panda says “Brent,” he is viciously mauled by Brent Sienna!
lol
34 Awesome Points™ for Scott Kurtz. For freshening things up.