Line #14 WebVideo/KRAZAM


1	[[https://www.youtube.com/@KRAZAM/videos KRAZAM]] is a comedy duo based in Brooklyn, New York, consisting of Shiva Kilaru and Benjamin Burke. Their [[IrregularSeries sporadically-updated]] [=YouTube=] channel consists of sketches combining grotesque, absurdist humor with [[TechnoDystopia technological anxiety]] to produce a pointed {{satire}} of the tech industry, modern alienation and corporate life in general.
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3	!! Their channel provides examples of:
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5	* {{Absurdism}}: Absurdist themes recur in many of the sketches ("The Hustle", "Microservices", "Notifications" or "I Have Delivered Value... But At What Cost?"), but by far the most explicit is the [[https://twitter.com/krazamtv/status/1114277961144909824 GIF with an alternative version]] of a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJwPb_76jqU&t=2m7s fragment of their "Notifications" sketch]] pinned on their Twitter feed; the GIF has Ben’s character cheerfully dismiss a notification reading "EXISTENCE IS MEANINGLESS".
6	* AchievementMockery: Gamification of non-gaming spaces is [[DeconstructiveParody ridiculed for all it’s worth]] in "Virtual Coachella": after the protagonist’s account is terminated, we see a list of achievements he has managed to earn, most of which relate to being subjected to advertising in one way or another: "Meme God" (consenting to using his personal data for some vaguely-defined data mining, then looking at memes that disparage privacy and promote advertising technology), "[=DoorDash=] Superstar" (participating in an interactive advertisement), "Hookup Zone Heartthrob" (being approached by a spambot promoting the product of the Hookup Zone’s sponsor).
7	* ActorAllusion: "AI Boyfriend" mentions that Ben's RacistGrandpa character used to work at Amazon. This is actually true of Ben himself.
8	* AmbiguousSituation:
9	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHW58D-_O64 "Developer Platform Update"]], a parody of corporate ‘developer relations’ content, has Shiva’s visibly uncomfortable Ross [=LeFontaine=] try to talk about his [[BlessedWithSuck accomplishment of slowing down an API]]. It’s up to interpretation whether it was genuinely being presented as a good thing and his anxiety was just [[ShrinkingViolet a personal issue]], or whether he was actually being punished (by public shaming) for causing the performance degradation.
10	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqjUlmkYr2g "Designer's Table"]] has a number of characters speculate on what Gianni Roberto, the eponymous designer of Picchi, a standing desk mat, is up to, and whether he’d be willing to create a successor to Picchi. At the end, [[spoiler:the long-awaited product is delivered to the doorstep of Shiva’s character Sajib, with a note reading [[IceCreamKoan "A man who sits for something stands for nothing"]], and is revealed to be a sack of pretty ordinary-looking soil]]. Does that mean that Gianni is a TrollingCreator, or is he just as crazy as the rest of them?
11	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQyMrmRBsk "Content Moderation"]] has Ben’s character Tim being flagged as a potential future offender based on a seemingly innocuous social media post about getting mustard on his pants. He spends the rest of the video obsessing over what exactly was wrong with the post, and trying to run away from a [[StealthPun smear campaign]] and ostracism against people covered in mustard. Whether that last one was real or [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness just in his head]] is not made very clear.
12	** The same sketch also raises the question of where the association of mustard with (presumably) far-right extremism ultimately came from. Was the AI [[AwesomenessByAnalysis just that impossibly good at spotting trends]] or [[AIIsACrapshoot was it flagging mustard as extremist content spuriously]], which led to it being noticed by extremists, then to mustard stains becoming an extremist shibboleth, ultimately making the AI prediction a SelfFulfillingProphecy?
13	* BlackComedy: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJwPb_76jqU "Notifications"]] has Ben’s character take Shiva’s character Gary to a bridge and throw him far away. And then disable all notifications about Gary.
14	* BlandNameProduct: Completely {{Averted}} in "Virtual Coachella", which references existing brands and services; this actually got the duo in some legal trouble, from which [[https://www.eff.org/files/2021/03/19/eff_ltr_to_rico_mgmt_re_krazam_llc.pdf they got defended by the Electronic Frontier Foundation]]. For the most part averted in "Content Moderation" as well (which name-drops real media publications like Vox and The New York Times); however, the protagonist is identified as working for ‘[=FaceGoog=]’ in [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2024]].
15	* CallBack:
16	** In the first MAKRO sketch, the protagonist has a framed Richard Stallman picture just like Gooch Lawrence. "Videochat" also has Shiva’s character looking at pictures of Stallman on his laptop.
17	** In "Virtual Coachella", a [=BallmerCon=] advertisement is visible in the background, referencing MAKRO.
18	* CaptainOblivious: Ben’s character in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U "The Hustle"]] leads a pretty boring and lonely existence, from which he distracts himself by social media and obsessing over productivity. His obliviousness is probably the only thing preventing him from breaking down in despair over his life.
19	* {{Catchphrase}}: The turn-of-phrase "[take it to the] next level" recurs in a number of otherwise-unrelated sketches: "Developer Platform Update", both MAKRO sketches and "Microservices".
20	* ComedyHorror: The "Computer Time" series, and the "Paranormal Hardware" sketch.
21	* {{Cyberpunk}}: {{Downplayed}}. A number of sketches ("Videochat", "Virtual Coachella", "Content Moderation", "The Hustle", but most visibly "AI Boyfriend") explore themes familiar from cyberpunk works (alienation, corporate overreach, TechnoDystopia), without necessarily falling into all the aesthetic and worldbuilding trappings of the genre. The whole channel could be summarized as "the world as if about to become cyberpunk, except done as comedy-drama instead of a thriller".
22	* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Particularly visible in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYvhC_RdIwQ "I Have Delivered Value... But At What Cost?"]]
23	* DownerEnding: pretty much every sketch end either in this, or in a GainaxEnding.
24	* FreezeFrameBonus:
25	** When the protagonist of "Virtual Coachella" receives a notification about being matched with a date, he is standing in a queue for a free [=iPhone=].
26	** When he later purchases an energy drink by the spambot he matched with, at the bottom of the order form there is a marked checkbox labelled "YES! Make this a recurring purchase every month"
27	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xubbVvKbUfY the first MAKRO sketch]], Ben’s eponymous character has a framed picture of Richard Stallman in the background. MAKRO’s whole shtick is basically based on promoting and supporting Microsoft Excel, while Stallman is well-known for being opposed to Microsoft’s office suite and promoting alternatives instead.
28	* IneffectualLoner: Alienation is a recurring theme for Ben’s characters, though usually not for lack of trying; it is explicitly mentioned in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ "Microservices"]] (where his character speaks of DyingAlone), but also visible in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U "The Hustle"]] (where he plays a productivity-obsessed social media addict), [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp2-EUKQAI the second MAKRO sketch]] (where he shows some mostly empty birthday party attendance spreadsheets) and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQyMrmRBsk "Content Moderation"]] (where he tries to strike up a casual conversation with remote workers to dead silence). The grandpa in [[https://youtu.be/KiPQdVC5RHU "AI Boyfriend"]] also lives alone, and though he seems to be still on speaking terms with his granddaughter, their relationship is rapidly deteriorating.
29	* TheMetaverse: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67sfZfreOrU "Virtual Coachella"]] presents a DeconstructiveParody version of virtual reality, full of [[StylisticSuck underwhelming graphics]], [[AnnoyingPopUpAd omnipresent sponsorships and advertising]], [[BigBrotherIsWatching corporate surveillance]], [[ForcedMeme unfunny memes]], [[ComicallyWordyContract unreadably long terms of service]], [[ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet spambots pretending to be hot girls]] and [[DisproportionateRetribution excessively enforced]], [[ObstructiveBureaucracy Kafkaesque moderation policies]].
30	* MindScrew: Though many sketches are pretty straightforward {{satire}}, some of them are fairly abstract and hard to interpret, balancing on the line between SurrealHorror or SurrealHumor (depending on your disposition); particularly "Notifications", "Senior Engineer" and the "Computer Time" series.
31	* MoodDissonance: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U "The Hustle"]] portrays [[SoulCrushingDeskJob a pretty boring life]] of the main character with upbeat, rhythmic drums, dynamic cuts and fragmentary, stream-of-consciousness narration.
32	* MoneyDearBoy: In-universe in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHW58D-_O64 "Developer Platform Update"]]: though he may [[StepfordSmiler appear cheerful on-screen]], Ben’s character Orange [=DeLonge=] is not particularly happy to be shooting glorified corporate commercials, but he is at least satisfied with the pay.
33	* MundaneMadeAwesome:
34	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U "The Hustle"]], a DeconstructiveParody of productivity culture, has the protagonist [[SliceOfLife narrate his typical day]] in an [[MoodDissonance excited, self-satisfied tone]], despite apparently not accomplishing anything of substance.
35	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqjUlmkYr2g "Designer's Table"]], a mini-{{mockumentary}} about a plastic standing mat (and also the mat’s [[ReclusiveArtist designer]] and [[{{sequel}} successor]]), talks about its subject as if it’s a work of [[TrueArt high art]].
36	* NewMediaAreEvil[=/=]OldMediaAreEvil: One way of reading "Content Moderation" is that it doesn’t really make sense to pit old(-ish) news media against social media, as [[MirroringFactions both reinforce each other’s biases and prejudices]] resulting in a ViciousCycle of extremism that doesn’t care how many lives it ruins.
37	* NoNameGiven: Surprisingly often {{averted}}: in most sketches, at least the protagonist’s name is revealed, if only via a FreezeFrameBonus. However, in "Virtual Coachella", the protagonist is known only as [[YouAreNumberSix "user #290066"]], and in sketches like "The Hustle" or "Microservices", the protagonist’s name is not revealed at all.
38	* RacistGrandpa: {{Parodied}} in [[https://youtu.be/KiPQdVC5RHU "AI Boyfriend"]], where Ben's character is depicted as prejudiced against… an artificial intelligence dating his granddaughter.
39	* RubeGoldbergDevice: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8OnoxKotPQ "Microservices"]] gives us an IT version of one, satirizing the byzantine complexity of modern technology stacks.
40	* ShrinkingViolet: Ross [=LeFontaine=] in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHW58D-_O64 "Developer Platform Update"]] is extremely shy, to the point of hiding his head behind a monstera plant. He doesn’t even bother correcting the host when the latter mispronounces his name as "Ross Elephant".
41	* SliceOfLife: "The Hustle" is essentially a DeconstructiveParody.
42	* SmartPeopleWearGlasses: {{Parodied}} in "Designer's Table", where the furniture critic Sajib wears [[PurelyAestheticGlasses glass frames without any spectacles]].
43	* SocialMediaIsBad: {{Downplayed}} in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o7qjN3KF8U "The Hustle"]], where it serves to [[CaptainOblivious blind the main character]] to his loneliness. More pronounced in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8F1zoTeHqU "Posting Online"]], where the spread of social-media extremism [[spoiler:drives Seattle to bankruptcy]]. Also visible in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQyMrmRBsk "Content Moderation"]].
44	* SoreLoser: The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICp2-EUKQAI second MAKRO sketch]] has the protagonist (a parody of competititve gaming streamers), half-heartedly congratulate [=V1K4S=], his opponent from the Ballmercon tournament, and then indirectly [[NeverMyFault blame jet lag, flu, cramps, not having eaten, emotional disturbance from reading a news article, and later even Microsoft]] for his failure; anything to avoid admitting he failed at keeping up his skills at a competitive level.
45	* SpecialGuest: [[https://youtu.be/KiPQdVC5RHU "AI Boyfriend"]] stars Alexis Gay as the granddaughter Alice, and Nikhil Krishnan (who previously appeared as the product manager in "Microservices", and cameo'd in "IETF Celebrates the Standards") as the eponymous boyfriend.
46	* SpiritualAntithesis: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQyMrmRBsk "Content Moderation"]] plays on similar themes as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8F1zoTeHqU "Posting Online"]], but where the latter satirized what looks like grassroots, vaguely right-wing libertarian populist "MAGA" culture, "Content Moderation" focuses on institutional liberal cancel culture that constantly looks for dog whistles and targets to vilify, and if one is not found, [[CreateYourOwnVillain makes one up]] from among their own ranks.
47	* StepfordSmiler: Quite a few of them: Gooch Lawrence from the "Computer Time" series, Orange [=DeLonge=] from "Developer Platform Update". The protagonist of "The Hustle" can be read as this, ThePollyanna, or CaptainOblivious.
48	* TechnoDystopia: PlayedForLaughs for the most part in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67sfZfreOrU "Virtual Coachella"]]; [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQyMrmRBsk "Content Moderation"]] presents a more straightforward example.
49	* ThenLetMeBeEvil: {{Implied}} in the ending of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrQyMrmRBsk "Content Moderation"]], in which the protagonist, now branded a pariah, looks at a distance with a [[MirthlessLaughter smirk]] and a KubrickStare.

Context WebVideo / KRAZAM