Line #28 WebVideo/AgentsOfCracked


1	[[quoteright:348:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cracked2_2155.jpg]]
2
3	->'''Dan''': What have you been doing in here?
4	->'''Michael''': Allow me to answer that question with a meth lab.
5
6	''Agents of Cracked'' is a WebOriginal comedy miniseries that, as the name would suggest, is produced by ''[[Website/{{Cracked}} Cracked.com]]'', and ran in three "seasons" from 2009 to 2011. Michael Swaim and Daniel O'Brien star as AlterEgoActing versions of themselves; the former a sociopathic {{Cloudcuckoolander}} and the latter [[StraightMan his much more down-to-earth partner]] who write articles for Cracked.
7
8	Watch it [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18099_the-end-beginning.html here. ]]
9
10	----
11	!This webseries provides examples of:
12
13	* AcquiredPoisonImmunity: Michael has built up an immunity to "pills" of all varieties as a result of taking too many this one time.
14	* AesopAmnesia: DOB acknowledges he has some sort of amnesia that causes him to forget to never, ever go along with anything Swaim wants to do.
15	* AncientConspiracy: The Chief is part of one.
16	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: Apparently, Michael mails heroin to kids, makes bald eagle egg omelettes that he doesn't even finish, and rents video games, then keeps the manuals.
17	* ArtificialLimbs: Sarge has a prosthetic nose.
18	* AxCrazy: Several characters but Swaim takes the cake!
19	-->''Swaim'': Deal? (calling off the 'prank war')
20	-->''D.O.B'': (reaches towards Micheal before recoiling)
21	-->''Swaim'': (Holding a ''very'' large butcher's knife) Ah! It was a knife...the ''whole'' time...
22	* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler: T-Bone]]. Then immediately subverted that its revealed its actually [[spoiler: B-Tone, his twin]].
23	* BrickJoke
24	** Michael Swaim used to be a judge. This comes up again during the goat sex case.
25	** Ricky was blinded by one of Michael's 'pranks', in the Christmas Special, blinded Ricky is seen trying to feel his way out of the Cracked offices, along with DOB and Michael.
26	*** B-Tone is also reprogrammed by Sarge (after being blinded in both eyes) to fill in for "some employee who hasn't been showing up. Robby ... Rachel ... Ri-Ri ... Ricky ... some worthless piece of shit."
27	** Mike meets DOB when he throws a bottle of booze off the roof of Cracked's offices. In the last episode of season 1, this is how DOB finds the presumed dead Mike.
28	** Also, BEST FRIENDS THREESOME! (''The Tragedy of the Fightin' Hogs'' in Season 1, and ''F.U.B.A.R.-king Up the Wrong Tree'' in Season 3)
29	** In an earlier episode Chief tells Mike a story about how he cut off his third testicle with a corkscrew [[spoiler: In the final episode, it's revealed that because of this, Mike, his only child, came out mentally challenged.]]
30	** Another one that's easily missed; in one of the season one episodes during Dan's performance review with the Chief, he is forced to [[spoiler: enter the Cave of Trials and fight himself in a Darth Vader costume.]] In the final episode of the series, it's revealed that the Chief is capable of [[spoiler: cloning people.]] Evidently he [[spoiler: cloned]] Dan twice.
31	** All the way back in the third episode, Michael has a drawing of a dog labelled "BONERZ" at his desk, who he insists on introducing to Dan in the season 2 finale.
32	** Among the various misconceptions about the East Coast that Michael states when about to meet/first meeting Dan, one is people on the East Coast traveling by hot air balloon. [[spoiler: When Kelly comes to visit, she adds at the end of one sentence that she'll be taking the next zeppelin back east.]] This one comes back even later in the series finale [[spoiler:when Michael and Dan are making their final escape in a hot air balloon.]]
33	** No one remembers Stuart's name. Not even Stuart's mother.
34	* BestialityIsDepraved: Swaim claims Walter Anderson "totally fks goats because he believes it gives him super powers - specifically, powers which allow him to fk more goats" in Season 2. This is why Cracked gets sued
35	* {{Bunny Ears Lawyer}} (see Idiot Savant) Although Michael has quirky bouts of ruthless anger, heroin-mailing and down right insanity, he is a great writer, so these oddities are overlooked.
36	* CampGay: Benedict Arnold. No, not [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution that one.]]
37	* CandidCameraPrank: Mentioned by DOB in the face of Swaim's... Swaim-ness. "I'm not convinced that you aren't part of a reality show that I forgot I was on."
38	%%* CatchPhrase: GASP!
39	* ChekhovsGag: In a first season episode, Michael mentions his belief that everyone on the east coast goes to work in hot air balloons and sleeps in grain silos; in the series finale [[spoiler: Dan and Michael go to the east coast by way of a hot air balloon, and DOB mentions (possibly jokingly) that Michael's going to have to sleep in a grain silo because "That's where we all sleep, back east." And a few episodes earlier, Kelly mentions having traveled to California via zeppelin, confirming another of Michael's crazy cultural perceptions.]]
40	%% (Insufficient context. Please reword the example so it does not link to a YMMV trope and actually explains things)* ChekhovsSkill: In Agents of Cracked, there is a running gag throughout the first season that Michael, the resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, used to be a judge. This is mostly passed off as nonsense. In Season 2 Episode 4, that experience gives Michael the series's [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments Crowning Moment of Awesome]]
41	%%** This might also count as a BrickJoke.
42	* TheChewToy: Not only is Dan an example, the final episode reveals this is his ''actual'' job title. Chew Toy #8, to be precise.
43	* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: '''Swaim.''' Also Crazy Raoul, and at least one of Swaim's homeless wives.
44	** Michael cries out his own name during sex.
45	* ComedicSociopath: Michael. See LaughablyEvil below.
46	* CrazyCulturalComparison: Michael believes that the "East Coast" is a foreign country where, among other things, everyone rides hot air balloons to work and sleeps in grain silos, "fag" is just a fancy word for "elevator", and the best thing Dan could hope for is to marry a soapmaker and sell scrimshaw scenes of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar to passing cattlemen until the day he dies of "heartstop".
47	* CrazyPrepared: Swaim has ''thousands of knives'' hidden all around the world, including ''on the persons of Secret Service agents'', in case he ever needs one.
48	* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: "Ever been killed with a doorknob before?"
49	** "I'll gouge eyeballs out of places you didn't even ''know'' you could see from!"
50	* DangerousWorkplace: Half of the time, really. It's run by the Chief, a badass [[FaceFramedInShadow who spends most of his time in the shadows]]. The requirements for employment include killing a man. Also, [[PsychopathicManchild Michael]] works there.
51	* DepravedBisexual: Swaim. He seems [[HoYay very]] [[{{Yandere}} attached]] to [[ButtMonkey DOB]], but he also has multiple wives, and he claims to have had sex with Mandy at least twice. In season 3, he orders a group of drunken bar patrons to line up in accordance with their positions on the Kinsey scale, and tells them that he intends to have sex with ''all of them''.
52	** Not just "all of them", "every part of them, in alphabetical order".
53	** Don't forget the barstool. They're going back to his place. Perhaps making Swaim a Depraved [[IncrediblyLamePun Pansexual]]?
54	** In series 3, Swaim fulfills his pledge to have a [[BrickJoke BEST FRIENDS THREESOME!]] with DOB.
55	* DrugsAreBad: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]]. Swaim has a heroin addition and gets Dan to try it in "The Least Effective Drug Intervention Ever" ("A hit a day keeps the tremors at bay!"), and Swaim implies he's done crack in "Adpocalypse Now":
56	-->'''Swaim:''' Dude, I'm tellin ya, stuff is way funnier.
57	* EarlyBirdCameo: Cody Johnston appears in the background of some shots, but just seemed to be an EasterEgg. [[spoiler: In the final episode, we find out he's the Chief, who's been watching over Mike the entire time.]]
58	** When DOB and Michael sneak into Broked Offices and crash the surprise party, [[spoiler: B-Tone immediately leaves.]]
59	* EscalatingWar: In one episode, Swaim ''thinks'' that he and DOB are in one--and that Dan started it--but Dan's "pranks" are entirely in Swaim's imagination.
60	-->'''DOB:''' Michael, I have never played a joke on you, alright? I need you to believe that we are not in some kind of trick murder contest.
61	-->'''Swaim:''' ''Prank'' murder contest.
62	-->'''DOB:''' I really wish murder was the word we were arguing over in this sentence.
63	* EvenTheGuysWantHim: B-Tone.
64	-->'''Swaim:''' You're-
65	-->'''B-Tone:''' Gorgeous?
66	-->'''DOB and Swaim:''' Well, yeah.
67	* ExoticEquipment: Michael has a "weird-looking dick" as the result of [[spoiler: being the son of a demigod with corkscrew-shaped testicles]]. His member is apparently prehensile and can be used to type and hold up large signs.
68	* ExtremeOmnisexual: Michael Swaim. He tells people to bring "that hot ass bar-stool" back to his house for an orgy and got kicked off Dan's site/blog for constantly trying to debate which horse had the longest slong.
69	* EyepatchOfPower: The Sarge, whose patch has been noted to move from one side of his face to the other between cuts. The patch even briefly migrates onto Michael's face when he pretends to be Sarge, forcing Sarge to cover his eye with his hand. In the episode with the failed heist, Sarge is seen wearing two eyepatches, one of which covers a regular eye. B-Tone ends up with two as well.
70	** It's mentioned Sarge wears it because of "redundancy".
71	* EyeScream: "I told him just to dot the I's!"
72	** And the pencils DOB threw at B-Tone. It was meant to be coffee.
73	* FaceFramedInShadow: The Chief, due to inadequate lighting in his office
74	%% commented out as Administrivia/ZeroContextExample after removing violations of Administrivia/HowToWriteAnExample * {{Flanderization}}:
75	* ForcefulKiss: Between [[spoiler:Dan and Mike]] in the finale.
76	* {{Foreshadowing}}: In the second episode, Dan insists to Michael that they're partners as in "co-workers", not as in [[spoiler: "gay guys"]].
77	* FreakyFridayFlip: Swaim takes "bear Ritalin" and becomes more like DOB. In order to save his job, DOB becomes like Swaim. He becomes instantly more likeable to the entire office, forcing Swaim to admit he was faking it the whole time. Also, he's immune to pills. All pills.
78	* GainaxEnding: Boy howdy. [[spoiler:B-Tone, T-Bone's brother, comes to Cracked to kill Swaim, who it turns out is the Chief's son, and, since the Chief, who is revealed to be played by Cody Johnston, is a god, Swaim is a demigod. Swaim is his only son due to penile problems, and due to those same problems he came out mentally retarded, thus, Cracked was created to hide his existence, Broked as a fake enemy for the site, and T-Bone as a robotic infiltrator who was supposed to watch him but instead went all turncoat on Cracked. After this revelation, B-Tone, who is also a robot, has a huge offscreen fight with DOB, Swaim, the Chief, and Sarge, leading to DOB and Swaim having to drop off the map for a while because it will be made publicly known that they are dead. They then fly back to the East Coast in a hot air balloon and start making out.]] Roll the credits!
79	* GargleBlaster: Requested: When Dan finds himself in the bar in season 3, he asks the bartender to serve him the most noxious, poisonous, self-destructive drink she can think of. He gets apricot brandy and Clamato.
80	* {{GASP}}: Swaim's favorite exclamation seems to be [[SayingSoundEffectsOutLoud the word "Gasp!"]] (see Catch Phrase).
81	** And then there's Swaim's clone: "Sharp intake of breath!"
82	* GiverOfLameNames: Swaim spends an entire episode giving DOB terrible and insulting nicknames, though the lameness of the names could have been intentional.
83	* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Even when DOB spends months researching his article, it can't match the popularity of one that Michael wrote an hour before his deadline. In his sleep.
84	* HeadsUpDisplay: Swaim sees the world by way of an [=HUD=] that is half ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'' and half ''VideoGame/RobotUnicornAttack''.
85	* HiddenPurposeTest: Dan's performance review has nothing to do with his work, and was actually the Chief trying to figure out why his crazy partner Michael could work with him. After a torturous gauntlet of random and insane tasks, the Chief still has no idea.
86	* IdiotSavant: The Chief actually calls Swaim this, and it's shown that he is actually an excellent writer and an excellent judge.
87	* ImpossibleTheft: A girl Dan had a crush on steals the clothes off Dan and Swaim backs and swaps them around. And then when leaving steals a bunch of office supplies and the ice cream off an ice cream cone Swaim was eating.
88	* ImmuneToDrugs: Swaim, who built up an immunity to "pills"
89	* IndyPloy: Apparently a lot of articles from Michael are made on the spot.
90	* InitiationCeremony: Apparently one of the requirements put on Dan to join the Cracked staff was to kill a man.
91	* TheInternetIsForPorn: Swaim's immediate conclusion upon discovering Google. "I typed in 'porn' - and porn came up! I typed in 'breakfast' - and '''porn''' came up!"
92	* KavorkaMan: Though not physically unattractive (with the arguable exception of his clothes), Michael's [[PsychopathicManChild personality]] would seem to make him an unlikely lady's man. But almost all the women on the show, and quite a few of the men, are attracted to him. [[spoiler:Including Dan.]]
93	* KonamiCode: "A man has to have a code, Daniel! And mine goes up, up, down, down, left, right, A...I'm sorry: up, up, down...F[[SoundEffectBleep ***]] me, I think I recorded it..."
94	* LampshadeHanging: Throughout the body-switching episode, constant reference is made to, well, body-switching.
95	--> '''Dan:''' Really? I mean, I can't believe we're stooping to that... as a website.
96	** Also Lampshades Swaim's Hammerspace.
97	* LastMinuteHookup: Played completely straight by [[spoiler:DOB and Swaim in the finale.]]
98	* LaughablyEvil: Swaim. He drops empty liquor bottles on pedestrians from the roof of Cracked's offices, keeps his multiple schizophrenic "wives" imprisoned in his house and car for six years, has crippling addictions to heroin and jetski polish, wears skin suits, and '''is the Zodiac killer''', but he's a deranged, comedic savant and all of it is [[BlackComedy played for laughs]].
99	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: In "F.U.B.A.R.-King Up the Wrong Tree":
100	-->'''Kelly:''' I'm a huge fan of AOC.
101	-->'''DOB:''' blank stare
102	-->'''Swaim:''' A-O-what?
103	* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Dan becomes one of these for Mike:
104	-->'''Micheal:''' "But that's what would happen if you left, Dan. I'd miss you a lot, and then ''I'd die''. Is that what you want?!"
105	* LiteralMinded: Michael is told to make a "Facebook" for Cracked and assumes he's literally supposed to make ''a book out of people's faces''. Terror ensues.
106	--> '''Michael:''' "It got easier when I remembered the ''children's cemetery''."
107	* LukeIAmYourFather: Subverted, because Sarge is not Swaim's father...son.
108	** [[spoiler:Played straight, because The Chief is.]]
109	* MadGod: [[spoiler:Swaim is revealed to be one.]]
110	* MeaningfulName: In [[http://www.cracked.com/video_18281_most-poorly-planned-heist-ever.html Tactical Asset Liberation]], there's a character called [[spoiler:Benedict Arnold who betrays Mike and Dan]].
111	* {{Metaphorgotten}}: "I'll tell her the deal's off. ...''Then'' I'll tell her my ''pants'' are off! Then I'll tell her there's a new deal! And then I'll tell her 'Frankly, I'm about to Delano all over your Roosevelts.'"
112	-->'''Dan:''' That kinda got away from you, huh?
113	-->'''Michael:''' I don't think it did.
114	* MistakenForPedophile: When Mandy calls Dan's choice of drink "juvenile yet mature", he quips "I love combining my man-parts with those of a child."
115	* TheMole: [[spoiler:T-Bone]], subverted when it's revealed in the finale that he's actually [[spoiler:a glitching robot]].
116	* MrFanservice
117	** DOB and Sarge (Dylan Seaton).
118	** T-Bone (Soren Bowie) is [[StupidSexyFlanders simply gorgeous]]. So is his twin brother, B-Tone. Swaim counts too for his [[ShirtlessScene occasional lack of a shirt,]] and his dimples.
119	** Benedict Arnold.
120	* NerdGlasses: DOB.
121	* NoAccountingForTaste: Dan seems to have a thing for [[spoiler: people who drug him, outright ignore him, try to ''kill'' him, or otherwise treat him like dirt.]]
122	* NoodleIncident: "So I've got a ruined wedding cake to my left side, one pissed off ambassador to my right, and the only way out...water slide."
123	* NoOSHACompliance
124	* OddCouple: DOB and Michael.
125	** They [[spoiler: become a real couple]] in the finale.
126	* OrSoIHeard: A running gag from Swaim about the Chief in Season 1.
127	** Given a nod in the first episode of the second season. The Sarge is convinced that if he refuses to take the position The Chief will shrink down, climb into his brain and force him to do it. And when that's debunked, he thinks he'll go back in time.
128	* PsychopathicManchild: Swaim, beyond all belief:
129	-->'''Daniel:''' You must understand, our entire editorial process is basically a toxic containment system meant to prevent Michael's real personality from ever leaking out into the world...
130	** Canonized when it is revealed that [[spoiler: the entire Cracked website was created to keep Swaim occupied and distracted.]]
131	* RashomonStyle: The plot of the fourth episode of the third season, told to The Chief from the perspectives of Mandy (who is physically incapable of noticing Dan's presence), DOB (Who, despite arguably having the most accurate flashback, tends to see the world as a depressing black void), Swaim (who sees the world as a psychedelic nightmare), and Sarge (who is constantly living out a Vietnam flashback).
132	* RetiredBadass: The Chief's current replacement since he decided to take some time off in Season 2. The Chief had to find him by hiring the world's best assassin and then following that assassin.
133	* RunningGag: Very subtle, but Sarge's eye patch is constantly switching eyes. In a later season 3 episode, it switched entire bodies.
134	** Also: HORSES??!!
135	* RummageSaleReject: Swaim dresses like this in every episode. DOB runs off to "the thrift store in the gay neighborhood" during the body-switching episode to procure a similar outfit.
136	* SelfDeprecation: "So what're you gonna do with the company now that it serves no purpose beyond compiling lists of infantile dick jokes?"
137	** Another possible one: "Are you just stuck in a loop ''listing'' things? Because I can talk you through that." Cracked.com is famous for list-based articles.
138	** When Michael is presumed dead, a radio host starts listing "The Top Ten Deadest Things About Michael Swaim."
139	* ShirtlessScene: Swaim's had a couple.
140	** Sarge gets a brief one when he and [[spoiler: Mandy]] are shown in bed together.
141	* SimilarSquad:
142	** Swaim and Dan are caught sneaking into Broked.com's office, and are interrogated by an identical team played by themselves. Much to Dan's dismay, this leads to ScrewYourself.
143	** Same episode, a blink and you miss it appearance of T-Bone's robot double, B-Tone.
144	** It turns out that Broked.com is staffed by clones of everyone at Cracked.
145	* SoundEffectBleep: Done intermittently. The final episode features a montage of all instances of this. Probably due to RuleOfFunny, sometimes "shit" and "fuck" will be bleeped out, and other times not.
146	* StartMyOwn: The second to last episode of the first series has a case of this. After [[spoiler:Swaim gets fired for supposedly leaking Cracked secrets to their rival Broked]], Dan asks him what he's going to do. Swaim intends to make his own version of Cracked, completely by himself. Considering that he's an idiotic, comedic savant who is literally homeless from this incident, Dan has his doubts.
147	-->'''Swaim:''' I'm going full ronin on this one. I'll wander from town to town starting my own multinational humour outlets.
148	-->'''DOB:''' ... That is a big process, and I don't think you're qualified for any... ANY one aspect of it. I don't believe there is a single step you could handle. I mean, do you even have a place to stay?
149	-->'''Swaim:''' I've got a few places in mind.
150	-->'''DOB:''' I changed the locks in my apartment.
151	-->'''Swaim:''' Why would you-?! Alright. Fuck. FUCK!
152	* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: "Michael Vision" in the 4th episode of season 3.
153	* ThrowTheDogABone: [[TheChewtoy DOB]] is shown to be terrible with women in most instances, so it was a pretty touching moment when an episode--which started with Dan despairing over his recent break up--ended with him happily chatting with the lady bartender who [[GeekyTurnOn likes Spider-Man]] (even though [[StatusQuoIsGod she was never mentioned or seen after that episode]]). Also counts as a PetTheDog for Michael, who orchestrated their meeting.
154	* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:The function of Dan's 'Failsafe Device'. Apparently it's not lethal.]] This may be due to Michael's apparent immortality, as he later claims that if Dan kills him, he'll come back 'so hard'. Later, this is revealed to be because [[spoiler:he's a demigod]]
155	* {{WHAM Episode}}: Ohai finale! Where should we begin? Well the Chief turns out to be [[spoiler:Cody]], who is also [[spoiler:[[LukeIAmYourFather Michael's father]].]] Because [[spoiler:the Chief is part of a ancient order of demigods]], and [[spoiler:Michael is too "retarded as balls" to be his offspring]], [[spoiler:the order would want Michael killed if they found out.]] After all, [[spoiler:"you can't have a retarded demigod running around."]] So the Chief [[spoiler:created Cracked as a way to keep Michael occupied and hide him from the other chiefs.]] In other news, Cracked's rival Broked is staffed by [[spoiler:clones of the Cracked staff (oh yeah, the Chief also created cloning)]], the articles and videos on Cracked.com are [[spoiler: encoded with the ultimate truths about the nature of life, the universe and everything, which can be decoded (or, if you will, "cracked") by anyone who reads every single article and buys the right merchandise]] and T-Bone [[spoiler:(and B-Tone)]] are [[spoiler:robots reprogrammed by the other chiefs to kill Dan and Michael]]. So of course, [[spoiler:Dan and Michael fake their own deaths]], and they all live happily ever after. Am I missing something? Oh, yeah, [[spoiler:Dan turns out to have [[HoYay been in love with Michael all along.]]]] All this in 12 minutes and 40 seconds. Whew.
156	* WhatNowEnding: The situation Cracked.com finds itself in at the end of the finale.
157	-->'''Sarge''': "So, what are you gonna do with the site now that it has no other purpose than as a repository for dick jokes?"
158	-->'''Chief''': "I don't know. Sell some hats?"
159	* WunzaPlot: One's a sociopathic {{Cloudcuckoolander}}. One's a StraightMan. They write articles for Cracked.
160	* {{Yandere}}: Swaim is alarmingly attached to DOB, and genuinely seems to consider him his best friend. However, this won't stop him from unthinkingly ruining anything positive in DOB's life if it will bring Swaim personal pleasure.
161	-->'''Swaim:''' One day we will be best friends, ''or die trying.''

Context WebVideo / AgentsOfCracked