funny videos of the month

‘Mo & Bert,’ and February’s Other Must-See Comedy Shorts

Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: @deadeyebrakeman, Sam Baron, @itscourtneymichelle, Hatched, @K_A_N_D_E_L, @zachariahporter, @nicoleolive, Carmen Christopher, @truewagner, @JackBensinger

Each month, many funny videos are posted to every corner of the internet — from Twitter and Instagram to Vimeo and sometimes other weird places we’ll have trouble embedding. Because you’re busy living your life, you might miss some of these funny videos and feel left out when others bring them up in conversation. Well, worry not! We’re here to make sure you’re not listening in on conversations but leading them … as long as those conversations are about funny internet videos. Here, our favorite comedy shorts of the month.

“I Never Heard of This Game, Did You?” by Alan Wagner

A retro gamer stumbles upon Stump Daron! and is compelled to check out this obscure footnote in PlayStation history, only to find it a more emotionally taxing experience than he bargained for. The rendering of the game itself is fantastic, but the attention to detail (he went ahead and sealed that sucker in plastic wrap) is where this video really goes above and beyond the call of duty.

“Moms on a Cruise,” by Zachariah Porter

Zachariah Porter has walked the ground that John Roberts so beautifully paved, and now, we watch with awe as he expands the oeuvre of Long Island–mom imitations beyond our wildest imaginations with this, “Moms on a Cruise.”

“Nonprofit Boss Live: Will I Be Compensated for My Promotion to Leadership?” by Nicole Daniels

No one does ill-intentioned and opportunistic nonprofit head like Nicole Daniels. This month, she’s back with a “livestream” where she answers an imaginary employee’s question about whether being promoted to the upper rungs of her character’s nameless charity will come with — wait for it — a pay bump. Her response deserves to be transcribed, printed, framed, and hung in a museum of passive aggressiveness.

“Mo & Bert,” by Whit Conway, Carmen Christopher, Bardia Salimi

Carmen Christopher is probably the closest thing the modern alt-comedy movement has to Andy Kaufman. He’s so incredibly unsettling to watch and so masterful in his lampooning of everyday life. And Bardia Salimi fucking keeps up! The two tackle very real, very rampant racism as they simultaneously roast mealy-mouthed virtue signaling. “Mo & Bert” may be an acquired taste for some, but we think it’s a delight!

“My Review of the Apple Vision Pro,” by Hotel Art Thief

The Apple Vision Pro has already started popping up in public life, yet the shitty Blade Runner–ness of it all is almost made worth it by this sketch from Hotel Art Thief in which the goggles give a man suffering from extreme depression a necessary outlet for his sadness. The video also marks the coining of the phrase “a Manchester by the Sea” to refer to something that could happen to any of us on a bad enough day, really.

“Surreal Wedding Invite, Probly Won’t Care Tmrw,” by Jack Bensinger

Jack Bensinger puts his extremely compelling infinite sadness to great use in this hyperspecific parody of a “weepy parked car” video (if that’s what you call this subgenre) in which a man is stunned by what he thinks is a stunning display of grace and forgiveness: a wedding invitation from his former bullying victim. You don’t have to be a longtime fan of Bensinger to get the sense that it’s probably not.

“Tall, Dark, and Handsome,” by Sam Baron

We must complement our proclivity for the silly with a deference to that which is a bit more … elevated. In Tall, Dark, and Handsome, writer-director Sam Baron delivers a deft commentary on what it means to have very rational fears about a relationship you’re in, act on those fears, and then regret it horribly. Ah, life.

“The Wall Street Journal Has Disputed the Accuracy of My Chex Mix Data,” by Kylie Brakeman

So what happened was Kylie Brakeman began crowd-sourcing the prices of Chex Mix at various airports around the country after purchasing a $10 bag of the stuff at New York’s La Guardia airport. Then, after her data-gathering mission had really taken off and captured the popular imagination, the no-fun Wall Street Journal had to chime in with its take. Now, I don’t subscribe to The Wall Street Journal, so I’ll admit there’s a blind spot in the middle of my reporting here. But Brakeman’s response communicates a hardly necessary but very entertaining rejoinder to the effect of “I was not particularly serious about crunching these numbers, guys.”

“Your Friend Who Has an Interesting Relationship With Their Parents,” by Courtney Michelle Dlugos

We all know this person. They take many forms, but they share one common, somewhat stunning trait: the ability to speak to their parents with the unfettered inappropriateness of a drunken college freshman during orientation week. Stunning still: They’re almost always sober when they do it.

“Zeke With a Beak,” by Nick Mestad & Hatched

Nick Mestad has partnered with his frequent collaborators at Hatched to give his character Zeke — just your average teen harboring an embarrassing secret — his own Disney Channel original show, and it’s a pretty glorious thing to behold. Mestad’s physical commitment is second to none, and the tween sitcom tone is so perfectly preserved that you may very well forget you’re not watching this while home sick from middle school in 2006.

Like what you saw? Want to be on this monthly roundup? Show us your stuff! 

Luke Kelly-Clyne is a co-head of HartBeat Independent and a watcher of many web videos. Send him yours at @LKellyClyne.

Graham Techler has contributed writing to The New Yorker and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency. Send him your videos at @gr8h8m_t3chl3r.

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