Handy

[heyheybobbyj]

I don't think this video will go as wildly viral as the other videos have gotten. Mainly for the reason that it is on Yahoo. When is the last time anybody went on Yahoo to watch a video? "Word Crimes" and "Foil" were on YouTube, which I think firmly helped with the share ability of the video. YouTube is so easy to use and everybody knows how to work it.

But I'm surprised with how many views "Tacky" got on Nerdist.com, so who know, maybe this'll work.

[OneWAY]

I dunno. The video for Word Crimes isn't exactly what I call pushing the envelope, even though it was probably the most clever way of pulling it off. Word Crimes seems like the biggest hit of the album, despite the video not being some big-budget masterpiece that directly parodies the original video in every way.

I don't really think the videos factor popularity inasmuch as far as quality goes; I think it's just fact that they are pretty much the reason the songs go viral to begin with.

[Just a Bill]

This also reinforces just how freaking awesome Al's original work is. To some degree, he has to parody currently popular stuff to meet the expectations of the record label and/or the casual fans, but holy cow just look at the difference in musical quality between some of the source material out there and gems like Your Horoscope, Stop Forwarding, Don't Download, and even The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota. Heck, I'll take just about anything on the UHF album over that Iggy rubbish.

Handy just makes me realize I need another Hardware Store fix.

[jacobpacek]

The reason he's doing videos with different businesses (College Humor, Nerdist, Yahoo) is so he can get a free video out of it. He talks about it in his interview with Stuart Varney.

[Bruce the Duck]

Teaming with different sites to produce the videos was a smart way to go, definitely. But the end results are looking like a mixed bag. I have high hopes for "Lame Claim to Fame" though.

[Wizzerkat]

Was disappointed at first that it seemed to be a mostly green screen thing but this video had me laughing hard with the dancing. Possibly will grow on me. Still hoping for a more big budget W&N kind of video which I thought this would be. Tacky still my favorite so far

There will not be a big budget video. I think those days are over unless Al has a Kickstarter campaign or something.

Let's remember that he got no money from Sony/RCA and he had to go out asking for people financially to help him make these videos. He is not going to ask these people to spend a ton of cash on him.

For this video, he had a good idea-parody a cheesy local business commercial. This idea not only gets the parody across but also brings costs down.

[darkhornet]

I dunno. The video for Word Crimes isn't exactly what I call pushing the envelope, even though it was probably the most clever way of pulling it off. Word Crimes seems like the biggest hit of the album, despite the video not being some big-budget masterpiece that directly parodies the original video in every way.

I don't really think the videos factor popularity inasmuch as far as quality goes; I think it's just fact that they are pretty much the reason the songs go viral to begin with.

The thing about Word Crimes is it hits a nerve. It hits on something that makes lots of people yell, "Yes!" This song just doesn't. It's a rather mundane subject that not very many people 'connect' with. The best thing is has going for it is that it's a parody of an insanely popular song. For "Foil", the video took what lots of people saw as a "meh" song and gave it a new perspective. I had hopes that "Handy" would do the same, but it just fell short of that. And that really has nothing to do with the budget spent on the song.

[jacobpacek]

I'm nervous for the rest of the videos, people were saying they looked really low-budget. I know all 4 of them leaked, but I haven't watched them cuz I like the surprise...but I'm worried haha. I'm sure they'll be good though. LCtF is the one I'm most looking forward to.

[Bruce the Duck]

The thing about Word Crimes is it hits a nerve. It hits on something that makes lots of people yell, "Yes!" This song just doesn't. It's a rather mundane subject that not very many people 'connect' with. The best thing is has going for it is that it's a parody of an insanely popular song. For "Foil", the video took what lots of people saw as a "meh" song and gave it a new perspective. I had hopes that "Handy" would do the same, but it just fell short of that. And that really has nothing to do with the budget spent on the song.

Another good point. "Word Crimes" is popular in an age when people who care about proper grammar are more and more annoyed with the misuse of language, just as "White & Nerdy" became popular during a time when nerd culture as a whole was growing more and more popular.

[Bruce the Duck]

I'm nervous for the rest of the videos, people were saying they looked really low-budget. I know all 4 of them leaked, but I haven't watched them cuz I like the surprise...but I'm worried haha. I'm sure they'll be good though. LCtF is the one I'm most looking forward to.

Well, I haven't seen all of them. But "First World Problems" is low budget, but actually really funny and well-made. At least compared to "Handy" or any of the animated videos from the previous two albums. (And he thankfully left his background vocalist out of it!)