It actually never occurred to me that the nostalgia critic is still a thing that happens in real time everyone always talks about him in the past tense I guess I just assumed the channel was dead
me relating to this comment paired with seeing his current videos and having them be in the exact same style as they always were (from what i can see here anyway) made it feel like i was peeking into an alternate universe for a second
I knew it wasn't "dead," but I thought it was basically a thing that you reach eventually if you're in middle school or high school and you leave UA-cam's autoplay setting on, and that was basically the only people watching it; maybe a few very nostalgic (no pun intended) and red-pilled millennials who grew up watching CA/NC too and just have 0 concern for workers or sexual harassment allegations or anything, Idk.
@@sholem_bond I used to watch CA stuff until creators started leaving them in droves, and then the allegations and document came to light and was real glad I stopped watching before that too. I'm glad all the legitimately good creators from them eventually found success on UA-cam. The rest fell into obscurity.
If anyone ever farted then just stared at me in complete silence like that I'd just assume they had shit themselves and were waiting for me to leave to deal with the situation.
Doug Walker is top of my list of internet entertainers where l ask myself "Was he always this unfunny, and l was just too much of a know-nothing teen to notice?" Close behind is Spoony, of course. Then Jim Sterling.
@@kostajovanovic3711 tbf Jom Sterling always had a very loud, melodramatic persona that always seems to pop up when teen audiences on youtube. They definitely knows their stuff, basically made trolling the copyright abusers with their video formats an art form
Dude, the worst part of his awkward pauses are that they last for just long enough to be uncomfortable, but never long enough that it feels like it's a deliberate joke. I know Doug's style is to be uncomfortable, but that's so much I can't see it as on purpose.
Yeah when I think of "uncomfortable on purpose" I feel like I still think of a lot of Phelan and Allison's jokes. Imho they worked better because neither of them seemed afraid to come off as legitimately awkward, so they could commit to the bit better.
Non of these were even a second long. It was barely weird having them all cut together, I don't think it's disrupting in the actual video. I found the way he talked without knowing the context mcuh weirder than the short pause after the joke wich is just a normal thing imo.
@@christopherstein2024 nah i used to notice those pauses even as a kid & it always felt just a beat too long & made even the funny jokes feel weird & awkward
I imagine it'd be like those compilations that consist entirely of wrestlers taking huge breaths in the middle of their promos, except with an eerie silence.
It’s like they’re putting together 90’s game FMV sequences and he’s just pausing to have a good expression for the clip to end on. It feels exactly like that to me.
I was going to make this exact same comment. That weird pause at the end for the freeze frame while it loads the next clip from the CD… it’s the exact same pause
It's even worse between commercial breaks. He'll end section one of the video, then the theme music will come in, and the screen will slowly fade to black with him staring at you the entire time. It's great. What's even better is when he's doing some kind of motion with his joke, like a finger wag or headshake, and he just idles in that movement like a video game character, until the camera finally cuts. Honestly though, I think he does it because he thinks that's how comedy videos need to be paced. With a moment to breathe or something. He even does this sometimes when he's editing the movie clips. He'll like play a short scene, and then immediately reverse the very end of the clip so it looks like the characters are still in motion. Impossible to describe unless you know what I'm talking about. It's so odd.
it looks like he's planning to edit in a laugh track, but understands that laugh tracks aren't funny so he doesn't actually put it in structuring his videos like "big bang with laugh track removed" is a bold move but hey ig that's a choice
@@hauntedsunsets It's funny because the whole point of those "Big Bang Theory Without the Laugh Track" videos is to demonstrate how awkward it is. A bold move indeed
@@hauntedsunsets Doug is incompetent enough I can imagine he edits in a laugh track but he doesn't export the audio channel its on and he's never realised his mistake
@@hauntedsunsets It's weird though because the pauses aren't long enough for an actual laugh/laughter-track to fill up. It's about as long for a quick chuckle or a nose exhale I guess, maybe that's what he's going for?
Its weird, i get the impression he thinks he needs to give people a moment to laugh? Does he think every joke he tells is so funny it triggers full on laughing out loud every single time?
Showing one his videos to a friend literally killed his comedy for me. When I was watching them insulated in my alone time, they felt hilarious, but seeing somebody point out his whole schtick is shrill yelling, it completely shattered the illusion. I'm happy to say that I've never gone back.
Yes! I've felt this too! The other day I was thinking about the Top Ten Christopher Walken Moments video and I wanted to show it to my partner, and we couldn't even get through a quarter of it before I stopped it because it was so much worse than I thought! It was embarrassing!
When I enjoyed them it was on the premise that it was just some dorky friends having low budget DIY fun and it was corny and cringe but it was just some UA-cam nonsense. finding out it was a toxic gift suddenly made the amateurity of it so much less fun
I have the dubious honor of having watched him in the early days, and yes, he has always done the "mug to camera" thing. It's probably completely unconscious by now.
Yeah he always mugged for the camera. But I guess it could be different/more so now; it's been awhile since I watched any of his pre-To Boldly Flee videos.
I think that pause is probably always how he's filmed it, because the whole script is just him saying one-liners after clips; but whoever'd editing now doesn't know when to cut him off
No, he’s always structured his videos like this. He goes out of his way to edit pauses like, into film clips he’s showing?? If he finds them funny?? It’s hard to explain but it’s very strange and obviously intentionally edited that way
One plausible alternative to his sincere belief that this pause stuff is an improvement in quality is that he started aiming to pad the runtime for algorithm reasons and just never stopped.
Maybe as a kid he saw that scene from Man on the Moon where Kaufman is told comedy is all about timing, followed by his SNL performance, and just... took that at literal face value? Like, instead of trying to find the timing that actually makes something funny, he just heard it as "insert silence into your performance and it becomes funnier."
One of my old coworkers had mannerisms, jokes and speech patterns exactly like Doug and let me tell you working with him was an absolutely surreal and infuriating thing to experience.
I keep coming back to that video every couple of months and rewatch the entire thing I don't know exactly what it is, but it's just so unbelievably satisfying
Folding Ideas actually goes too hard on Doug..Like Doug Walker is just a shitty UA-cam film reviewer, he's really not noteworthy or interesting enough for a 4 hour video esssay
As, unfortunately, an ex-NC fan (don't worry, I've made a full recovery,) I would actually say that he totally has always done this, or at least this started a good while ago. I think it's just more noticeable because the pauses are a beat or so longer than they used to be.
Yes. I would, however, not compare that to anything Shyamalan has done. You don't have to have naturalistic or realistic dialogue in everything, but I disagree with Little Joel's take here: pointing out the awkward dialogue IS a valid criticism, because just because it's his style, and just because it's different from what most directors do, doesn't mean it suddenly works or has suddenly become artistically interesting. It's still just weird and dumb. In a kinda fun way, sure, but not in a GOOD way.
My theory is that the pause exists to make editing easier. Doug is sitting there repeating his line multiple times with different inflections With a good 5 second pause between takes so an editor can later take that raw footage pick the best take and edit it into the video. But his editor isn’t the best so they leave in a small snippet of these pauses each time. I imagine before he recorded things in a more stream of consciousness style
As someone who unfortunately grew up watching this guy as he gradually dove into a downward spiral, I do not think he's always done that. His editing in the early days had a more unscripted, authentic vibe. Even the goddamn intro was better, they become worse every time. I don't know who watches him anymore.
This Doug Walker technique reminds me of The Office. There's a mockumentary codified toolset of zooms on faces and reaction shots to things that happen. And I think Walker has his own comedy editing where he says the joke, and it's the Office nerd character doing something silly, then he does the slight pause of eye contact which is the Office cool guy reaction shot looking at the camera. I've always found the Nostalgia Critic to be unbearable and I suspect you do too, so it doesn't reach us in the same way he wants.
THANK YOU, I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE NOTICING THIS. and he always makes sure he's making a silly face every time he ends a sentence. it would be better if the editor just cut every scene earlier, idk why they don't just do that. i think the worst ones are the ones where he's nodding even after finishing a sentence
It feels like it's a weird editing thing where whoever is cutting the videos just doesn't understand snappy editing. Beats are good because it gives jokes or ideas time to land and sit with a person but they quickly lose their meaning when its used for EVERY joke or comment in a video or when it doesn't feel like someone is pausing for dramatic effect but rather just pausing so that they can remember their next line/wait for the camera to cut to it.
It's draining to see how little Doug has grown as a creator. I haven't watched any of his new videos, but this clips I just saw could have been from ten years ago and I wouldn't have noticed
For a second there I thought you were referring to him as Little Doug, but the sarcasm didn't make sense with the "it's draining" part. This comment section has absolutely ruined me.
@@kylezo Yes, it's totally ok to say "hm, that's interesting." This is a perfectly valid statement. It's also perfectly valid to express having similar thoughts to someone else, and to give them credit for expressing such thoughts. Thanks for clarifying 👌
@@CynicalScorpio yes that's why I said "also" yet you felt the need to say "also also" which is totally fine and valid and not redundant. Where was the credit given again, I missed that part entirely
@@kylezo When you respond to my first comment with "well you could have just said blank," You're implying that there was something wrong with my initial comment, in a passive-aggressive way. And when you make passive-aggressive comments, expect that energy to be matched. And the credit was given when I said "this channel is like" and proceeded to describe what I feel like this channel is
@@CynicalScorpio it's big crazy ex gf Greg "I could if I wanted to" energy, I'm just "matching that" lmao. Anyways, it was really humble of you to say the words "this channel is like" at least, that's a huge...hm, compliment is not quite the right word for it. I guess comparison in reference to yourself is the right phrase here.
Maybe he thinks the illusion of intimacy will nudge the audicence to share his opinion. Like that one IRL dude we all know that stares you awkwardly till you half-heartily agree or something else breaks the spell. Add those intense cartoonish eyes, like a discount Rasputin, and you get the formula.
The way he speaks reminds me of those cutscenes you'd get in between levels in the Pepsi-man video game, the ones with the sweaty guy that would do quirky one-liners and stay on screen for a few seconds too long
0:41 Obviously Doug pauses awkwardly long, but that's a huge part of his voice. You can say that that's not to your taste, that's completely normal, but to me, just saying that he pauses awkwardly long isn't really a video subject
Yeah, I think it’d be one thing if m’night demonstrated that his stilted dialog and the wooden performances he directed were intentional. He’s not David fucking Lynch; it seems to be an accident rather than an intended voice.
The Lobster showed you can make stiff, stilted dialogue hugely funny and engaging while also being very alienating. It's a great if wou can youuse it well.
I'm pretty sure he didn't have those pauses before (it's been a long time since I've watched him) except for times it was part of the joke. It looks to like whoever is doing the editing now isn't cutting at the right moment and throwing the timing all off, but no one at CA either notices or cares.
I remember UA-camrs that behaved how Doug behaves, when I was in middle school, If I was in a group of friends I enjoyed them somewhat unquestioningly. It's weird to see, so many layers of rethinking what kind of things I spend my time watching and engaging with, there's still just like a weird guy out there doing the same thing. Like he just never left. Like the whole office went home and turned off the lights and you forgot your keys and you come back and he's just sitting in the dark in there. He's not necessarily doing anything creepy..but just like...why is he still there in the dark?
Not really familiar with the nostalgia critic, but my personal - potentially perverse - appreciation for awkward discomfort, and for the uneasy humor in having moments of unearned, parasocial intimacy thrust upon me by a person on a media-critique-adjacent youtube channel, is the biggest reason I'm subscribed to both of the Joels.
Was a fairly well-known internet celebrity at his peak. And he was actually funny then - his focus was on comedic reviews of somewhat-dated media. Built up a little media-empire called Channel Awesome with a number of lesser-known but also very funny performers. But that was in the past, ten years ago, and things went downhill since then. Scandals and disagreements behind the scenes - mostly known to the public through unreliable rumors, but they suggest that the man behind the persona was egotistical, demanding, and pressured his co-stars into crude sexual humor that they were not comfortable with. As more and more of the site's other contributors quit in disgust, the Critic himself struggled to update his act to follow changing audience expectations and social trends, the popularity plumetted. He's still at it, but both the person and and site are pitiful shadows of what they were. He's basically the textbook example of a has-been. Once a figure who was guest of honor at cons, now a washed-up Z-lister trying to cling on to long-faded glory.
He crashed and burned hard because he never grew or improved as a creator, and many of his former employees became big UA-camrs on their own; There's a consensus among a lot of them that he was an egotistical, domineering ass. Folding Ideas goes into some detail on that in his video critiquing Doug Walker's "review" of "The Wall".
@@vylbird8014 I used to watch him quite a bit for a few years I honestly really liked Nostagia Critic but then I started stoped watching him bit by bit then the Scandal happen and I stoped watching him after that.
these short videos are so good that I genuinely can't remember how life was like before these. I can not imagine a future without these either. never stop making content for this channel joel, seriously, my life depends on it now.
The pauses remind me of when a TV news network is interviewing a reporter on location, and the reporter's silent for a few awkward seconds to make sure they're not talking over the host.
My consciousness is now 80 years old because when I stared into Joel's eyes after his big fart beat, he locked me in a mental prison in which time passed normally while reality outside my head stood still relative to my experience.
there was a kid at school that was like this. he would say a joke and then just kinda look around at anyone around the room to see their reaction, and sometimes he would repeat it to make sure everyone heard it. i think he's dead now or something
I could swear that his jokes have always ended with atleast one extra beat of silence, like he's waiting for the canned applause to come through his camera
Everyone knows Doug does this. It's a huge part of his voice. You can say that's not to your taste. That's completely fine. But, to me, just having that be your review, just saying he acts awkward or stilted? It's not very compelling to me, because we all already know that.
I saw someone making videos parodying types of people on instagram but instead of taking a picture she'd just hold the camera still and film her holding a pose and it gives the same vibes, a momentary recognition that this is someone consciously aware of how they look on the camera
Yorgos Lanthimos is known for purposefully making all his characters talk in emotionless and stiff ways, and I never saw anyone complain about that, why is it always the criticism for Shyamalan?
Lanthimos and Wes Anderson movies usually have deadpan comedy and ironic sensibilities. M Night makes thrillers with scifi or horror elements. The argument against M Night is that the wooden acting doesn’t add an eerie or surrealistic quality but rather makes the characters seem less real and less worth caring about.
@@joefission7179 Ah yes of course, the comedy Dogtooth, the comedy The Killing of a Sacred Deer, how didn't I see this, duh. It's the oldest trick in the book, when the director I like does it he has intentional comedy in mind, but when the one I don't like does it it was unintentionally comedic.
@@nattmazzoni Notice I didnt say all of Lanthimos movies are comedies. I’m more familiar with The Lobster and The Favorite, which is like half of his filmography. And I assume the wooden acting in his other movies create an eerie or surrealistic mood, which is why I said that most critics of M Night say that is not the case for his movies. That style of directing isn’t applicable for every movie. Idk, I guess I find it odd that the wooden acting has never been a point of praise for the M Night movies that are well received (whereas for Wes Anderson or Lanthimos it is a point of praise) but for M Night’s movies that people are less keen on the defenders of him like to say its some sort of bold stylistic choice. I think the most charitable view on his direction for actors is that he likes understated performances that is cohesive with the serious tone of his movies. And that style of directing is going to backfire if its too restrained for the context, making it seem awkward, or if the caliber of acting fails to meet the ridiculousness of the rest of the movie.
@@plumenommershpadoinkle7575 Here's the thing, though: isn't the dialogue being stilted and unnatural more of a writing issue, not a directing issue? The director's just going off what's written in the script, and telling the cast and crew *how* to carry it out.
As someone who watched Doug for a decent period of time, yes he's just about always been like this. The tone has been repetitive for years now, and the awkward pauses to make every quip feel like a canned voice line have been there since years ago when I was watching.
Omg thank you! I’m so happy someone finally pointed out the weird editing of Doug’s videos. It bothers me the most when he does that linger thing at the fade to an ad break, where he tells a mediocre-at-best joke and then we just stare at each other for what feels like months as he slowly fades into nothingness…
"That's like a huge part of his voice" yeah that often doesn't fit at all. The Avatar movie is a perfect example. That being said I haven't seen the movie NC is talking about, don't like NC etc just talking about that specific point.
Omg yes, people used to recommend his videos to me back in the day and that thing always annoyed so much, I was always surprised that I was the only one noticing it
"Undesired intimacy with Doug Walker" is the vilest phrase I've ever heard
it’s absolutely real though he hit the nail on the head
yes. it made me actually wince and turn away from the screen
“Desired intimacy with Doug Walker” being a close second…
Title of his sex tape.
My very soul flinched when I heard that string of words.
i can assure it was, in fact, always like this
I did not expect to see this comment but I'm very glad that I did
he do be an it
LINDSAY
Not really you would know cuz you were in them to be honest even if you watch his 2013 stuff you didn't see his face that much
We miss you
It actually never occurred to me that the nostalgia critic is still a thing that happens in real time everyone always talks about him in the past tense I guess I just assumed the channel was dead
He's a lot like cinema sins that way
Same, I thought that dude was long gone.
me relating to this comment paired with seeing his current videos and having them be in the exact same style as they always were (from what i can see here anyway) made it feel like i was peeking into an alternate universe for a second
I knew it wasn't "dead," but I thought it was basically a thing that you reach eventually if you're in middle school or high school and you leave UA-cam's autoplay setting on, and that was basically the only people watching it; maybe a few very nostalgic (no pun intended) and red-pilled millennials who grew up watching CA/NC too and just have 0 concern for workers or sexual harassment allegations or anything, Idk.
@@sholem_bond I used to watch CA stuff until creators started leaving them in droves, and then the allegations and document came to light and was real glad I stopped watching before that too. I'm glad all the legitimately good creators from them eventually found success on UA-cam. The rest fell into obscurity.
Just mad he failed no nostalgia critic november
Does watching this video mean I failed too
@@70sman Of course. There will be consequences.
Don’t worry, soon it’ll be Destroy Doug December
@@TheSpaceCommunist that can't be right. how can Destroy Doug December come before Jettison Jug January?
terminally online people try not to think about doug walker memes for 24 hours challenge (impossible)
I very much enjoyed this love letter to the Nostalgia Critic
Just like how his cover of Pink Floyd’s the Wall was such a love letter to the original album
@@directorforplastic7929 you Just don't understand his art
@@riccardogreggio3242 You just dont understand capitalisation.
I understood this reference.
Hat Dan, the Dan with a Hat!
@@itcouldbelupus2842 **finger guns**
If anyone ever farted then just stared at me in complete silence like that I'd just assume they had shit themselves and were waiting for me to leave to deal with the situation.
Depends on if they smiled or not imho
@@sholem_bondright. If they frown, they accidentally shit themselves. If they smile, they shit themselves as a power move.
its comments like these that make me wish youtube had a save comment feature so i could easily come back to this written masterpiece
@@keywestbabe2well here’s a reply to bring u back a year later
i love these second channel videos. it’s like eating a pack of assorted flavored fruit snacks
this is such an apt comparison. big joel is a hearty meal and little joel is a pack of fruit snacks and a box of apple juice
@@noellesears10 it's a little joel, as a treat
so real lol
yesssss
Ow my teeth
i prefer how joel giggles at his own jokes, instead of over inflecting them and staring awkwardly like doug. wtf doug
I still like him but he has a very stereotypical inflection. It never feels genuine.
Doug be like "You see the thing I don't like about this movie is how it does the poopies💀"
I don’t think he thinks they’re funny lmao they’re very Weird Kid in 2008 doing the Weird Kid inflection
Big Jug's iconic fart has me intimately looking into his soul.
And they say romance is dead
Wee Joel's smile afterward is pure and full of light
I cant believe little Joel revealed he was big Joel the whole time
It wouldn't really be a Big Jug video without it.
But what about the oompa loompas?
What about the Oompa Loompas John?!
John Oliver is obviously part Oompa Loompa so he’s off the hook in my book.
WhaT about the loompa oompas John
Yeah, what about the oompa loompas joel?
What about the Oompah Loompahs Little Joel? Big Joel would give us the answers we deserve.
“So I was watching the Nostalgia Critic’s review…”
Terrifying way to start off any video.
Doug Walker is top of my list of internet entertainers where l ask myself "Was he always this unfunny, and l was just too much of a know-nothing teen to notice?" Close behind is Spoony, of course. Then Jim Sterling.
@@TheDanishGuyReviews the third one stands out
@@kostajovanovic3711 tbf Jom Sterling always had a very loud, melodramatic persona that always seems to pop up when teen audiences on youtube. They definitely knows their stuff, basically made trolling the copyright abusers with their video formats an art form
@@Rynewulf *they
@@DoubleDHarvey huh, I had no idea I hadnt watched them in years. Edit time!
little joel is tired of people telling him they want a larger joel, so he filled the entire frame with his face
Jokes on him I watched this vertically on my phone so he looks tiny
cant wait for nostalgia critic to clap back on his second channel, the little critic
Edit: i mean little jug walker, un-intimate nostalgia critic
the ambition critic (i couldn't find a better antonym to nostalgia)
@@Gis_Animations the modern critic
@@Gis_Animations Critic of Tomorrow
Melvin: The Brother of the Joker
@@Gis_Animations futurism critic
Dude, the worst part of his awkward pauses are that they last for just long enough to be uncomfortable, but never long enough that it feels like it's a deliberate joke. I know Doug's style is to be uncomfortable, but that's so much I can't see it as on purpose.
Yeah when I think of "uncomfortable on purpose" I feel like I still think of a lot of Phelan and Allison's jokes. Imho they worked better because neither of them seemed afraid to come off as legitimately awkward, so they could commit to the bit better.
@@sholem_bond If there's one thing that I have to give Doug and co. credit for, it's giving a platform to creators who are more talented than him.
I’d very much like a longer compilation of every post-joke pause Jug does in his videos. I always found it so uncomfortable.
Hey man, your Easter egg vids are the tits 👍
Non of these were even a second long. It was barely weird having them all cut together, I don't think it's disrupting in the actual video. I found the way he talked without knowing the context mcuh weirder than the short pause after the joke wich is just a normal thing imo.
@@christopherstein2024 nah i used to notice those pauses even as a kid & it always felt just a beat too long & made even the funny jokes feel weird & awkward
love your vids, cool to see that you’re a big joel fan as well
I imagine it'd be like those compilations that consist entirely of wrestlers taking huge breaths in the middle of their promos, except with an eerie silence.
It’s like they’re putting together 90’s game FMV sequences and he’s just pausing to have a good expression for the clip to end on. It feels exactly like that to me.
This is a great pull and you're absolutely right
I was going to make this exact same comment. That weird pause at the end for the freeze frame while it loads the next clip from the CD… it’s the exact same pause
which is weird cause around the time of Kickassia he was very firm about "1 extra frame can ruin the edit"
I remember sometimes they went on for longer if they needed to fade out to do an ad break
I couldn't possibly solve this mystery. Can you...?
It's even worse between commercial breaks. He'll end section one of the video, then the theme music will come in, and the screen will slowly fade to black with him staring at you the entire time. It's great. What's even better is when he's doing some kind of motion with his joke, like a finger wag or headshake, and he just idles in that movement like a video game character, until the camera finally cuts.
Honestly though, I think he does it because he thinks that's how comedy videos need to be paced. With a moment to breathe or something. He even does this sometimes when he's editing the movie clips. He'll like play a short scene, and then immediately reverse the very end of the clip so it looks like the characters are still in motion. Impossible to describe unless you know what I'm talking about. It's so odd.
it looks like he's planning to edit in a laugh track, but understands that laugh tracks aren't funny so he doesn't actually put it in
structuring his videos like "big bang with laugh track removed" is a bold move but hey ig that's a choice
@@hauntedsunsets
It's funny because the whole point of those "Big Bang Theory Without the Laugh Track" videos is to demonstrate how awkward it is. A bold move indeed
@@hauntedsunsets Doug is incompetent enough I can imagine he edits in a laugh track but he doesn't export the audio channel its on and he's never realised his mistake
@@hauntedsunsets It's weird though because the pauses aren't long enough for an actual laugh/laughter-track to fill up.
It's about as long for a quick chuckle or a nose exhale I guess, maybe that's what he's going for?
Its weird, i get the impression he thinks he needs to give people a moment to laugh? Does he think every joke he tells is so funny it triggers full on laughing out loud every single time?
Showing one his videos to a friend literally killed his comedy for me. When I was watching them insulated in my alone time, they felt hilarious, but seeing somebody point out his whole schtick is shrill yelling, it completely shattered the illusion. I'm happy to say that I've never gone back.
Yes! I've felt this too! The other day I was thinking about the Top Ten Christopher Walken Moments video and I wanted to show it to my partner, and we couldn't even get through a quarter of it before I stopped it because it was so much worse than I thought! It was embarrassing!
When I enjoyed them it was on the premise that it was just some dorky friends having low budget DIY fun and it was corny and cringe but it was just some UA-cam nonsense. finding out it was a toxic gift suddenly made the amateurity of it so much less fun
Big Joel reacting to The Nostalgia Critic is like two aliens from wildly different but equally surreal dimensions observing each other.
I have the dubious honor of having watched him in the early days, and yes, he has always done the "mug to camera" thing. It's probably completely unconscious by now.
I don’t remember him doing that for some reason. Brain editing maybe -.-
@@Nortarachanges he's always done that
Yeah he always mugged for the camera. But I guess it could be different/more so now; it's been awhile since I watched any of his pre-To Boldly Flee videos.
I think that pause is probably always how he's filmed it, because the whole script is just him saying one-liners after clips; but whoever'd editing now doesn't know when to cut him off
No, he’s always structured his videos like this. He goes out of his way to edit pauses like, into film clips he’s showing?? If he finds them funny?? It’s hard to explain but it’s very strange and obviously intentionally edited that way
One plausible alternative to his sincere belief that this pause stuff is an improvement in quality is that he started aiming to pad the runtime for algorithm reasons and just never stopped.
Maybe as a kid he saw that scene from Man on the Moon where Kaufman is told comedy is all about timing, followed by his SNL performance, and just... took that at literal face value? Like, instead of trying to find the timing that actually makes something funny, he just heard it as "insert silence into your performance and it becomes funnier."
One of my old coworkers had mannerisms, jokes and speech patterns exactly like Doug and let me tell you working with him was an absolutely surreal and infuriating thing to experience.
Were you working with a thirteen year old? If so was that me?
I'm so sorry. That must have been insufferable
@@guybrush1701 No worries, he eventually got fired for sleeping at his desk constantly LOL
@@ursidae97 it was a grown ass man if you can believe it
@@WalrusNoodles that's a shame. At least he was quiet during those times. Lol
From what I remember about NC, he does those pauses all the time. It's almost like he meant to put in a laugh track and forgets every time
#GetTheNostalgiaCriticALaughTrack2023
Folding Ideas' criticism of Nostalgia Critic is one of the best pieces on youtube. He's so on point with this guy.
That video alone made me subscribe to him
Completely agree
I keep coming back to that video every couple of months and rewatch the entire thing
I don't know exactly what it is, but it's just so unbelievably satisfying
@@Faygris it bring incredible film analysis mixed in with the calmest, most soul piercing creator criticisms, it is perfect!
Folding Ideas actually goes too hard on Doug..Like Doug Walker is just a shitty UA-cam film reviewer, he's really not noteworthy or interesting enough for a 4 hour video esssay
As, unfortunately, an ex-NC fan (don't worry, I've made a full recovery,) I would actually say that he totally has always done this, or at least this started a good while ago. I think it's just more noticeable because the pauses are a beat or so longer than they used to be.
One of the best things about Twin Peaks is the awkward, unnatural dialogue. It adds so much to the surreal, unsettling feel.
David Lynch is one of my favorite weirdos
Yes. I would, however, not compare that to anything Shyamalan has done. You don't have to have naturalistic or realistic dialogue in everything, but I disagree with Little Joel's take here: pointing out the awkward dialogue IS a valid criticism, because just because it's his style, and just because it's different from what most directors do, doesn't mean it suddenly works or has suddenly become artistically interesting. It's still just weird and dumb. In a kinda fun way, sure, but not in a GOOD way.
Wes Anderson. Any musical. Shakespeare.
please do not compare Old to Twin Peaks
Bro you cant take Big Joel's iconic Big Joel Farts bit, thats plagarism
Bro you can't take away Little Joel's iconic "Big Joel's iconic Big joel's farts bit" bit, that's fascism
no it's fair use under the Satire And Parody Clause (TM)
My theory is that the pause exists to make editing easier. Doug is sitting there repeating his line multiple times with different inflections With a good 5 second pause between takes so an editor can later take that raw footage pick the best take and edit it into the video. But his editor isn’t the best so they leave in a small snippet of these pauses each time. I imagine before he recorded things in a more stream of consciousness style
Idk the stare at the end did kinda make me laugh at the fart joke
Nostalgia Critic videos are like those episodes of Big Bang Theory with the laugh track edited out
If memory serves, yes he’s always done this. At the very least he’s done this since he came back.
Also I agree it’s very off putting
As someone who unfortunately grew up watching this guy as he gradually dove into a downward spiral, I do not think he's always done that. His editing in the early days had a more unscripted, authentic vibe. Even the goddamn intro was better, they become worse every time. I don't know who watches him anymore.
I still love the ___ in 5 seconds vids. Haven’t watched them since college, but they were exactly my humor
Maybe you just weren't as critical a viewer when you were little?
idk, Big Joel I guess
There are still people watching and enjoying him, and will defend him as much as possible
I have fortunately watched him for some time now.
This Doug Walker technique reminds me of The Office. There's a mockumentary codified toolset of zooms on faces and reaction shots to things that happen. And I think Walker has his own comedy editing where he says the joke, and it's the Office nerd character doing something silly, then he does the slight pause of eye contact which is the Office cool guy reaction shot looking at the camera. I've always found the Nostalgia Critic to be unbearable and I suspect you do too, so it doesn't reach us in the same way he wants.
THANK YOU, I THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE NOTICING THIS. and he always makes sure he's making a silly face every time he ends a sentence. it would be better if the editor just cut every scene earlier, idk why they don't just do that. i think the worst ones are the ones where he's nodding even after finishing a sentence
Those clips felt like you were pulling a string on his back
I can’t wait until Size Joel is old, because he’s already a crazy young man, and I really really want to see what he’s like as a crazy old man.
It feels like it's a weird editing thing where whoever is cutting the videos just doesn't understand snappy editing. Beats are good because it gives jokes or ideas time to land and sit with a person but they quickly lose their meaning when its used for EVERY joke or comment in a video or when it doesn't feel like someone is pausing for dramatic effect but rather just pausing so that they can remember their next line/wait for the camera to cut to it.
i always thought the awkward pauses in his videos were like him leaving air for editing and just not cutting it down enough
It's draining to see how little Doug has grown as a creator. I haven't watched any of his new videos, but this clips I just saw could have been from ten years ago and I wouldn't have noticed
People tend to stop developing once they hit success. It's the "child star syndrome" but it affects many people.
I feel like this isn’t the best example since a lot of his stuff outside of the critic are pretty alright and besides he’s also on twitch now
For a second there I thought you were referring to him as Little Doug, but the sarcasm didn't make sense with the "it's draining" part. This comment section has absolutely ruined me.
I mean why should he if he likes it and ppl like it who cares
This channel feels like a compilation of a bunch of thoughts and opinions I've had in the back of my head, but never thought to say out loud.
It's also totally ok to be like "hm that's interesting" rather than "just know that I thought of this first but I didn't say anything for reasons"
@@kylezo
Yes, it's totally ok to say "hm, that's interesting." This is a perfectly valid statement. It's also perfectly valid to express having similar thoughts to someone else, and to give them credit for expressing such thoughts. Thanks for clarifying 👌
@@CynicalScorpio yes that's why I said "also" yet you felt the need to say "also also" which is totally fine and valid and not redundant. Where was the credit given again, I missed that part entirely
@@kylezo
When you respond to my first comment with "well you could have just said blank," You're implying that there was something wrong with my initial comment, in a passive-aggressive way. And when you make passive-aggressive comments, expect that energy to be matched. And the credit was given when I said "this channel is like" and proceeded to describe what I feel like this channel is
@@CynicalScorpio it's big crazy ex gf Greg "I could if I wanted to" energy, I'm just "matching that" lmao. Anyways, it was really humble of you to say the words "this channel is like" at least, that's a huge...hm, compliment is not quite the right word for it. I guess comparison in reference to yourself is the right phrase here.
As someone who doesn’t laugh out loud easily, this seems like the normal amount of being stared at until you acknowledge a joke.
As someone who regularly tells jokes that don't land, I can confirm that this is correct.
sounds like you've been abused your whole life, might want to discuss this with a professional
Probably! 🤪
as someone who both regularly tells jokes that don't land and also doesn't laugh out loud easily, I can additionally confirm that this is correct
@@canalsincontenido tf
Maybe he thinks the illusion of intimacy will nudge the audicence to share his opinion. Like that one IRL dude we all know that stares you awkwardly till you half-heartily agree or something else breaks the spell. Add those intense cartoonish eyes, like a discount Rasputin, and you get the formula.
I think that’s giving him too much credit by implying he has any sort of thought process or specific intent behind his speaking style.
"discount Rasputin" made me laugh 🤣
Saving this to watch later, hope Joel does one of his iconic Big Joel farts in this one 💨
The way he speaks reminds me of those cutscenes you'd get in between levels in the Pepsi-man video game, the ones with the sweaty guy that would do quirky one-liners and stay on screen for a few seconds too long
This thumbnail was a jumpscare, I thought youtube was recommending me nostalgia critic 💀
0:41 Obviously Doug pauses awkwardly long, but that's a huge part of his voice. You can say that that's not to your taste, that's completely normal, but to me, just saying that he pauses awkwardly long isn't really a video subject
The funniest part is that he's right about doug but just wrong about the others point
Yeah, I think it’d be one thing if m’night demonstrated that his stilted dialog and the wooden performances he directed were intentional. He’s not David fucking Lynch; it seems to be an accident rather than an intended voice.
@@FerHivore Most people aren't David, regardless of who he's fucking
"People are deevolving"
Yikes, Doug. That's not a joke, that's eugenics.
As someone who was there since the late 2000’s, I assure you it was always like this.
The Lobster showed you can make stiff, stilted dialogue hugely funny and engaging while also being very alienating. It's a great if wou can youuse it well.
I hated that movie so much I can't restrain myself from saying so
@@LimeyLassen Entirely fair
Oh my God I hated that movie so much. The person I watched it with gave it a 10 though
For a moment I thought "The Lobster" was a nickname for Jordan Peterson and not an actual movie.
yeah the lobster came to mind for me as well here
I'm pretty sure he didn't have those pauses before (it's been a long time since I've watched him) except for times it was part of the joke. It looks to like whoever is doing the editing now isn't cutting at the right moment and throwing the timing all off, but no one at CA either notices or cares.
I remember UA-camrs that behaved how Doug behaves, when I was in middle school, If I was in a group of friends I enjoyed them somewhat unquestioningly. It's weird to see, so many layers of rethinking what kind of things I spend my time watching and engaging with, there's still just like a weird guy out there doing the same thing. Like he just never left. Like the whole office went home and turned off the lights and you forgot your keys and you come back and he's just sitting in the dark in there. He's not necessarily doing anything creepy..but just like...why is he still there in the dark?
Not really familiar with the nostalgia critic, but my personal - potentially perverse - appreciation for awkward discomfort, and for the uneasy humor in having moments of unearned, parasocial intimacy thrust upon me by a person on a media-critique-adjacent youtube channel, is the biggest reason I'm subscribed to both of the Joels.
Protip: stay unfamiliar. you are so blessed. 😂
Was a fairly well-known internet celebrity at his peak. And he was actually funny then - his focus was on comedic reviews of somewhat-dated media. Built up a little media-empire called Channel Awesome with a number of lesser-known but also very funny performers. But that was in the past, ten years ago, and things went downhill since then. Scandals and disagreements behind the scenes - mostly known to the public through unreliable rumors, but they suggest that the man behind the persona was egotistical, demanding, and pressured his co-stars into crude sexual humor that they were not comfortable with. As more and more of the site's other contributors quit in disgust, the Critic himself struggled to update his act to follow changing audience expectations and social trends, the popularity plumetted. He's still at it, but both the person and and site are pitiful shadows of what they were. He's basically the textbook example of a has-been. Once a figure who was guest of honor at cons, now a washed-up Z-lister trying to cling on to long-faded glory.
He crashed and burned hard because he never grew or improved as a creator, and many of his former employees became big UA-camrs on their own; There's a consensus among a lot of them that he was an egotistical, domineering ass.
Folding Ideas goes into some detail on that in his video critiquing Doug Walker's "review" of "The Wall".
@@vylbird8014 I used to watch him quite a bit for a few years I honestly really liked Nostagia Critic but then I started stoped watching him bit by bit then the Scandal happen and I stoped watching him after that.
Well today’s a great day to rewatch The nostalgia critic and the wall by folding ideas
I feel like you've seen straight into my soul and expressed my own heart aloud. I'm so glad I'm not the only one who noticed.
Looks like you failed no nostalgia critic November
it's a good way to win no nut November though
I'm glad Lindsay is in the comments assuring me my memories of dougs awkward pauses are real.
One of my favourite movies of all, The Killing of a Sacred Deer, has some of the most unnatural dialogue I’ve ever experienced and I love it.
Your voice makes my soul happy, I hope you are well sir!
these short videos are so good that I genuinely can't remember how life was like before these. I can not imagine a future without these either. never stop making content for this channel joel, seriously, my life depends on it now.
he's like a 90's fmv game where the last still of the cutscene just lingers on screen while the game loads
I want a "only breaths" style edit of every time Jug Walker does this but only the staring sections not the buildup.
The pauses remind me of when a TV news network is interviewing a reporter on location, and the reporter's silent for a few awkward seconds to make sure they're not talking over the host.
Doug criticizing anyone else for talking in a strange voice is funnier than anything he's ever written
My consciousness is now 80 years old because when I stared into Joel's eyes after his big fart beat, he locked me in a mental prison in which time passed normally while reality outside my head stood still relative to my experience.
there was a kid at school that was like this. he would say a joke and then just kinda look around at anyone around the room to see their reaction, and sometimes he would repeat it to make sure everyone heard it. i think he's dead now or something
😂 okay dude you made me laugh with that detail at the end
I'll have you know I am not dead, but I am also still not funny.
That ending left me howling in laughter, i felt like you really gave us the chance to share this moment of comedy with you. Bravo Littlest Joel!
The way he pauses kind of feels like watching a sitcom with the the laugh tracks taken out lol
I could swear that his jokes have always ended with atleast one extra beat of silence, like he's waiting for the canned applause to come through his camera
And I mean like even in the super early videos
As someone who's been watching Nostalgia Critic for a long time, yes I'd say he's always been like this.
Everyone knows Doug does this. It's a huge part of his voice. You can say that's not to your taste. That's completely fine. But, to me, just having that be your review, just saying he acts awkward or stilted? It's not very compelling to me, because we all already know that.
the pause reminds me of old FMV cutscenes. it's like they'd be a bonus between levels
After the ad I got a single frame of the Nostalgia Critic staring into my soul and it was a legit jumpscare.
Isn't looking at us after he makes a joke Doug Walker's style same as wooden acting is Shyamalan's style?
Little Joel is easily my new favorite short form content to consume
I really liked the part at the end where we looked into each other’s eyes. Please do that in more of your videos
I saw someone making videos parodying types of people on instagram but instead of taking a picture she'd just hold the camera still and film her holding a pose and it gives the same vibes, a momentary recognition that this is someone consciously aware of how they look on the camera
Definitely some artistic value in making someone uncomfortable
little joel is having nostalgia for old nostalgia critic
I love this content Joel im so glad you were able to put into words my feelings on that second long pause of the nostalgia critic kubrick gaze
The end of that video is pure ART
wait till he finds out about scott the woz
Yorgos Lanthimos is known for purposefully making all his characters talk in emotionless and stiff ways, and I never saw anyone complain about that, why is it always the criticism for Shyamalan?
Wes anderson famously uses the most stilted, robotic dialogue & i’ve also never heard anyone complain about it. He’s held in super high regard
Lanthimos and Wes Anderson movies usually have deadpan comedy and ironic sensibilities. M Night makes thrillers with scifi or horror elements. The argument against M Night is that the wooden acting doesn’t add an eerie or surrealistic quality but rather makes the characters seem less real and less worth caring about.
@@joefission7179 Ah yes of course, the comedy Dogtooth, the comedy The Killing of a Sacred Deer, how didn't I see this, duh.
It's the oldest trick in the book, when the director I like does it he has intentional comedy in mind, but when the one I don't like does it it was unintentionally comedic.
@@nattmazzoni Notice I didnt say all of Lanthimos movies are comedies. I’m more familiar with The Lobster and The Favorite, which is like half of his filmography. And I assume the wooden acting in his other movies create an eerie or surrealistic mood, which is why I said that most critics of M Night say that is not the case for his movies. That style of directing isn’t applicable for every movie.
Idk, I guess I find it odd that the wooden acting has never been a point of praise for the M Night movies that are well received (whereas for Wes Anderson or Lanthimos it is a point of praise) but for M Night’s movies that people are less keen on the defenders of him like to say its some sort of bold stylistic choice. I think the most charitable view on his direction for actors is that he likes understated performances that is cohesive with the serious tone of his movies. And that style of directing is going to backfire if its too restrained for the context, making it seem awkward, or if the caliber of acting fails to meet the ridiculousness of the rest of the movie.
@@plumenommershpadoinkle7575 Here's the thing, though: isn't the dialogue being stilted and unnatural more of a writing issue, not a directing issue? The director's just going off what's written in the script, and telling the cast and crew *how* to carry it out.
i fucking love these videos dude theyre like a genuine breath of fresh air. you're killing it
They way your face fully relaxes while projecting an unwavering in my direction at the end is so threatening. Douglas would be so proud
i love that Little Joel uses this channel to talk about just about anything that comes to his mind
I love how when a joke ends with a big physical gesture he'll keep doing the gesture continuously until the camera cuts
That mini montage genuinely hurt my brain to watch.
i cant believe i missed this one it deserves a medal
The last 5 seconds had big Liz Truss energy.
As someone who watched Doug for a decent period of time, yes he's just about always been like this. The tone has been repetitive for years now, and the awkward pauses to make every quip feel like a canned voice line have been there since years ago when I was watching.
Thanks for the intimacy. I needed that today.
Omg thank you! I’m so happy someone finally pointed out the weird editing of Doug’s videos. It bothers me the most when he does that linger thing at the fade to an ad break, where he tells a mediocre-at-best joke and then we just stare at each other for what feels like months as he slowly fades into nothingness…
It’s been way too long since we got an iconic Big Joel fart. Thanks for that.
*little Joel
@@CynicalScorpio *Little Joel performing an iconic Big Joel fart
@@caseymckenna7111
👌
"That's like a huge part of his voice" yeah that often doesn't fit at all. The Avatar movie is a perfect example. That being said I haven't seen the movie NC is talking about, don't like NC etc just talking about that specific point.
Ok that moment at the end really drives the point home lmao!
thank you little tiny joel for this insightful critique of nostalgia critislc
Doug Walker critiquing wooden dialogue is peak lack of self awareness
I find the ending of this video legitimately terrifying. It’s perfect.
These short quippy videos make me so happy
Omg yes, people used to recommend his videos to me back in the day and that thing always annoyed so much, I was always surprised that I was the only one noticing it