Law Revue Video Contest 2015: Dishonorable Mentions
Were these submissions the worst of the worst?
ELIE: Welcome to the part where trying hard gets you mocked and ridiculed. Some call it “life,” I call it “Law Revue Dishonorable Mentions.”
This year was hard, not because there weren’t bad entries, but because there was real disagreement about what constituted “bad.” So this year I’m bringing in Joe. He wants to defend some of the worst. Or, I don’t know, maybe I want to tear down some of the best. Either way, this is a good lesson for law students: crappiness is in the eye of the beholder. It only takes one white man to believe in you.
In any event, let’s start with the one video I think we all agreed was the worst.
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
ELIE: Yeah, this is bad. Really bad. It’s not funny, or cool, and the last rapper to pull off the slow, low monotone was Tone Loc (ask your parents).
JOE: “I’ve been on the court for 10 years writin’ majorities.” Like… that’s just factually incorrect. Maybe “29” doesn’t flow, but why even put in a number? Wait! Elie, maybe this video is from 19 years ago when it was f**king accurate. That would explain the Tone Loc thing! And why we’re listening to a parody of a song from 1995! It’s all coming together. We’re through the looking glass here, people.
ELIE: Moving on: Did you watch The Office? The Office and Seinfeld are two shows the exist entirely in the consciousness of white people and nowhere else. Major League Baseball has more minority viewership. Yale Law School did not get the memo:
Sponsored
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
Profit Powerhouse: Elevating Law Firm Financial Performance
Are Small Firms Going Big On Legal Tech?
Early Adopters Of Legal AI Gaining Competitive Edge In Marketplace
ELIE: Actually awkward people intentionally being awkward is just awkward. And 4:58 of people talking? No singing or dancing or animal tricks or explosions or T&A… just words. Really this video could replace the LSAT: if you can pay attention for the five full minutes you can do well in law school.
But that’s just me. Joe is white and I bet he loves The Office. And Seinfeld. And mayonnaise or some sh*t.
JOE: First of all, mayonnaise is awful because it looks like you’re eating smegma. Second of all, I enjoy when I get lessons in being stereotypically white from a guy who sings Andrew Lloyd Webber standards and literally asked me while writing the Cardozo comment, “I need to ask a question about rap.” But yes, The Office was funny for a season or two. And your “Harvard Law isn’t Yale Law inferiority complex” aside, this is not a terrible skit. It’s not great. Michael Scott Shapiro was a competent take on the character, and there are a lot of tropes taken directly from the show, which is cute, but not enough to cut exacting ATL standards. Or I would have thought so before I saw some of Elie’s picks for Finalists.
ELIE: Finally we come to the most polarizing video in this year’s contest. Boston University’s “House of Flash Cards”
Sponsored
Document Automation For Law Firms: The Definitive Guide
How AI Is The Catalyst For Reshaping Every Aspect Of Legal Work
ELIE: I get it, I guess. Kevin Spacey has a “bad” accent so he has a “bad” accent. Chortle. But the guy doesn’t sound like he’s doing an intentionally bad Southern accent so much as… blathering. And the “joke,” oh, they can hear the asides, okay, sure. Don’t look now, but there’s a 15-year-old at Phillips Andover who just made the same freaking joke after his “Introduction to Shakespeare” class.
All that said: I mean, it’s not terrible. We received far worse efforts. My issue isn’t even with BU’s video, it’s with Joe’s endless love for it. I’m basically Klingon Christopher Lloyd right now, I hate this video because Joe likes it.
JOE: Not only was this undeserving of the Dishonorable tag, it was the best submission we got. That the character has a Southern accent only while breaking the fourth wall is a hilarious commentary on d-bag law students who think they are friggin’ geniuses only in their own minds. Perhaps this hit a little too close to home for Elie.
The Southern witticisms show actual comedy writing as opposed to making the same jokes everyone else makes to the tune of a different s**tty rendition of a popular song. “Hey, there are layoffs! [spins the wheel] Let’s do ‘This Girl Has Been Fired!’ We’re F’ING GENIUSES!!!” Instead, they take Frank’s similes and take them to absurdist levels. “He wants it more than a cat wants to lick your eyeball while you’re sleeping.” I mean, that’s amazing. And while the “people can actually hear the soliloquies” premise is obviously low-hanging fruit, it was pulled off perfectly. Also, no single gag went on too long — which, trust me is the worst part of judging these things as people bleat out the same chorus over and over because “you have to say ‘Shake It Off’ 55 times just like in the song” even though there’s no new gag. And the kicker was solid. Everything about this was great.