Earlier this week, television host Jimmy Kimmel aired a skit that made fun of YouTube’s big new gaming-centric service. This clip then got uploaded to YouTube… and the results are not pretty.
The footage, which you can see above, is not surprising in the least. There are (bad) jokes about people who like watching other people play video games. Kimmel also takes jabs at the value of this form of entertainment, which is particularly ironic given how badly traditional TV is struggling to retain viewers. The entire thing sounds super out of touch — I mean, we live in a world where ESPN airs video games and PewDiePie is on the cover of Variety. Is the phenomenon of people wanting to watch video games really that arcane, still?
It’s probably not surprising at all to hear that the video was received poorly. At the moment, the the like/dislike ratio is as follows:
And the comments are kind of eviscerating Kimmel, too. That’s not out of the norm on YouTube; comments can get ugly. Thing is, many of these comments are actually on-point. Many articulate pretty well why, exactly, someone would want to watch someone else play a video game, or why Kimmel is so off the mark here:
I think the worst part of this is that it wouldn’t be difficult to make fun of gaming YouTubers — it’s not like the subject is sacred or anything. The scene is pretty silly, all things told. But you’d have to actually know what you’re talking about to make better jokes!
Comments
21 responses to “Jimmy Kimmel’s Jab At YouTube Gaming Backfired”
I’m more concerned about the amount of people that seemed to think Jimmy Kimmel was funny.
I’m surprised people got so worked up. He is 47 years old. Its a generational thing, every generation mocks the newer generation in some way shape or form, in the 70’s 80’s and even 90’s it was music, while music is still big video games are starting to take center stage, meaning everyone does it.
Jimmy Kimmel takes a Jab at youtube… people get so worked up. 47 year old man takes a jab at youtube, no one would care.
I don’t get lets plays I watch one or two every now and again but I don’t get it… and that is fine, my much older brothers don’t get how I can play games so much and have a very different view of fun, they even mock me about it, but I just mock them back when they ask me to fix their computer.
The other thing to note is Jimmys audience is 30+ so of course he is going to say something like that, they are going to agree. if he was doing a show aimed at 20 something he would endorse it.
Yea agreed. And really he wasn’t “attacking” anyone or anything. If people actually found this offensive then… there is no hope for humanity…
oh good grief if you cant laugh at yourself or how others PERCEIVE what they think we do, why bother breathing.
I think it is hilarious that so many people stream themselves playing games, its a massive vanity thing. Everyone wants to be the next big thing, But at what point is it too much? And I say that as a person who enjoys watching things like Starcraft 2 type things because I have a lot of free ‘trapped’ time at work. But beyond that the whole idea of watching someone else playing a full lets plays live when I could be playing a game myself, is just silly, its laughable. Doesnt mean I dont enjoy doing it sometimes. He is right on some level, at sometimes it is like watching someone else eat my food for me. Hell isnt that why we watch pre-release live streams, cos we cant play those games ourselves.
Lighten up.
PS nasty youtube comments as proof of anything, HAH, please… I would be far more worried if there was nice comments
I can laugh at myself no worries, but at least be funny.
well given ‘reaction’ videos are a thing on youtube and actually exist in this world, I say the ending of this video is pretty much spot on with the state of world, no humour needed
I agree. I thought it was funny* (at least not out of place in regular TV chat show style stand up – not a high bar to be sure) and I have no problem watching or playing video games. I dont think its disrespectful, comedians joke about anything, including themselves.
Its not the subject matter that gets me, its just the amount of effort he put into a terrible joke.
I’m impressed there wasn’t a cheetohs or living in the basement joke.
Yes.
I just watched the clip and thought it was amusing enough. And pretty funny for a Jimmy Kimmel clip 😛
Really it’s a criticism of the idea of watching rather than doing. In itself it’s a fair call, but he fails to see that (1) he’s implicitly criticising his audience, who are also passively watching somebody else who is actively doing something, and (2) the whole spectating thing is nowhere near unique to gaming.
If paying money to go to a baseball (or soccer, or …) game is OK, why is watching somebody else play games online (for free!) somehow not OK?
I’m not a big fan of spectating in general myself, but watching and appreciating excellence (or, on occasion, true woefulness) has an extraordinarily long tradition.
Yep the sport comparison is spot on.
not really “spot on”, more like slightly similar. there is a different skill set and engagement used between watching and playing something. That said like in sports viewing gaming is full of entitled people commentating with things they do want to experience for themselves EG “omg did you see that ludicrous display last night?” then go on length how the ref’s were wrong, the players were wrong, team management was wrong and if they controlled the team they be winning… where as gamers its all like “the developers touched me in a bad place, they ruined everything, its all a conspiracy, omg that comedian told a joke on his show I was the butt of it, lets vote him down on youtube that will make us feel powerful”
I watch gaming online sometimes, and sometimes it feels like the lamest thing in the world to me, yet I still watch it and I am still capable of laughing along with a comedian mocking me… if only they would mock us on how entitled we all are, the internet would melt down with digital rage, it wouldn’t make it any less true
I’d argue there’s a difference there. He’s delivering content to the audience, interviews and comedy (however loosely you wish to define it :P) which they can’t necessarily get themselves. Someone on youtube doing a review of a game is doing the same thing, delivering an overview of the game in a short amount of time to give their opinion on it. But someone doing a let’s play is just… doing exactly what the audience would be doing themselves if they were to go and get the game themselves. (rushed comment, being yelled out the door)
Man, who pissed in your cornflakes today Kotaku? Kimmels been a huge supporter of videogaming over the years, it’s not like the guy’s out of nowhere criticising this stuff? Personally I think the whole ‘watching others play games’ fad is f***ing stupid too… but hey, people CAN have opinions… but then I’m also not the kind of person, as stated above, to go pay to watch Football, Baseball or any other sport realistically.
While I don’t find Kimmel very funny at all (fuck Adam Carolla), this whole deal reminds me very much of when The Simpsons released their classic Australia episode. Most of Australia went crazy because “thats not what we are”. Well guess what, the Simpsons (and Kimmel) are making fun of how we project and diseminate what we are. Yes watching other people play games can be fun as fuck, but the prevailing aesthetic of some pale dude with regretable facial hair in a darkened room is one that is very, very easy to skewer. And it’s the same with the image Australians present to the world. Don’t want people to think you are a bunch of Kangaroo-riding racist convicts? Then stop fucking making tourism adverts with that shit in it, and stop vicitimising brown people (passport checks smh)
Maybe Jimmy can take a jab at people watching a TV show that is just a collection of cat, dog and animal youtube videos (some animal makes you laugh out loud, channel 7).
That really wasn’t that bad at all, sure it was badly written and looked like it was thrown together in 20 mins but still.
When if comes down to it the concept of watching someone else play games must seem pretty silly to anyone that hasn’t gotten sucked into that dark vortex of time wasting before. (Because you absolutely need to watch 50+ episodes of the game grumps playing sonic 06 right? Riiiiiighhhhttt??)
Makes sense…
1st video = Let’s Play video
2nd video = Reaction video of Let’s Play
3rd video = Trolling response of reaction video
4th video = Defenders of original reaction video disagreeing with aforementioned troll
I think it just isn’t funny. The best comedy often comes from a person’s subjective experience, ‘looking in’ only goes so far before it stops being funny fairly quickly. What’s funnier? A comedian’s experience as a patient in a hospital or what they think it would be like to be a patient? Which one will generally produce more laughs?
This whole skit was from someone looking in. It started as somewhat funny but it just descended into what I would describe as sneering condescension. Maybe Jimmy shouldn’t have repeated the same joke 4 times.
south park did it