DATELINE: November 2008, location unknown — From one of the deepest, farthest-flung corners of the internet, a man emerges. His name is Das Bo Schitt, and he holds the power of Garry's Mod at his fingertips. His mission is simple:Blow.Your.Mind.Thus, The Gmod Idiot Box is born.Bo Schitt's acclaimed Youtube series, described by some as "Valve meets Robot Chicken meets explosions", consists of a mashup of skits per episode that runs the gamut from awesome to hilarious to just plain absurd; they're created using the titular video game mod and set to all manner of wonderful sound clips and effects. Recurring favorites include:
The episode intros: Das Bo Schitt and his Metrocop fan #1 deal with such problems as DBS slacking off on new episodes and various Youtube annoyances.
Harmless Shenanigans(?) with Chuckles the Cheat: Chuckles tries to play a prank, which somehow causes far more harm than intended.
Pet Peeves The Aggressive Way With Father Grigori: The good priest deals with common grievances in a completely audacious manner.
As of October 3, 2011, the Idiot Box clocks in at ten full installments, and aside from the series proper, Bo Schitt has created a metric crapton of video shorts that either tie in with the main episodes or simply stand alone. You can watch his works in chronological order here.
This work provides examples of:
Actor Allusion: Chuckles the Cheat uses quotes from the crazy "Better Safe than Sorry" guy in Left 4 Dead as well as Scout from TF2, both played by the same actor.
Art Evolution: The author has made better use of Garry's Mod throughout the series. It definitely shows. Compare the first episode, which has the HUD and death messages showing, to the latest, which not only has those addressed, but also features stop-motion style lip movement with other stuff going on in real time, a major feat when it comes to a Gmod video.
Ascended Meme: Sort of. Dr. Hax is available to download into your own game via the Garry's Mod Toybox, and will punish you if you attack him or cheat. As Kit Harrison found out to his infinite dismay in A Smooth Introduction to Garry's Mod, he is near-completely invincible, even to the undo button.
Ass Kicks You: This is what I do I sit on you, sit on you, sit on you...
Atomic F-Bomb: Das Bo Schitt himself does this upon finding out his computer's dead and gone in Computer Quest.
Author Avatar: Sort of. The author's appearances consist of him sitting either getting nagged by Metrocop #1 to create another episode, or getting his butt handed to him by said Metrocop. Otherwise, he doesn't do much.
Notable in that standing away from the door won't help. More often than not, he breaks it off its hinges so that it flies directly into whomever he's chasing.
Double Entendre: The RED Heavy slams his fist into the bottom of a table repeatedly, trying to hit a button. From Max's point of view... it looks like something completely different.
Enemy Mine: DBS and #1 spend most of the Chaotic 50,000 Subscriber Milestone video fighting each other, until they see Francis videotaping the whole thing, and gang up on him.
How We Got Here: Update Day starts with a glitchedTF2 game with strange things happening to the BLU team, and an explosion at the RED base; the rest of the episode is Mr. Goldblum reviewing the game to fix the problem.
Metaplot: The intros from Episode 2 onward. The blog explains that the Idiot Box started as a pirate television show airing in City 17 created by Das Bo Schitt. One of the Combines discovered it, but it got such great response from them that Dr. Breen allowed Bo Schitt to return to his own home outside of the jurisdiction of the Combines so he can continue making episodes. To see to it that he does on a regular basis, Metrocop #1 is quartered in his home.
My Car Hates Me: Parodied in Episode 7. A guy tries to escape from #1's wrath, only for a car, a doorknob, and a telephone to all produce the "failed ignition" sound.
"Old Spice body wash can't block odor for sixteen hours!" "WHAT?!" *BLU Demoman punches off the right side of the screen, which loops around and punches his own head off*
Oh Crap: The Scout has a few since he has an "Oh Crap" voice sample, but there are other moments.
Pressure Sensitive Interface: To make the elevator come down faster, not only does #1 press the button by launching at it with his head, he then wails on it with his crowbar.
Quip to Black: Sent up and played with throughout the series.
Rage Quit: A Boomer gets frustrated while playing Left 4 Dead (as a Boomer) and tries to commit suicide, with "RAGEQUIT" appearing on screen.
Reality Warper: Chuckles the Cheat has discovered how to warp reality using a cell phone, according to Word Of God. Dr. Hax is the only man keeping him in check.
The recurring appearances of Dr. Hax. If you're hacking something, he'll find you no matter where you are, yell his catchphrase, and smash you with a computer monitor.
Louis chasing after a jar of pills.
The DBS Author Avatar is nagged by #1 to make the next installment. This carries over into non-Idiot Box works.
Shoot the Shaggy Dog: A running plotline in Episode 4 involves Chuckles being trapped in an elevator. He tries many different ways of getting out of it and tries to attract the attention of the security camera all to no avail. He finally makes it out via hacking, only to take a computer monitor to the head from Dr. Hax.
Shout Out: Episode 8 features a certain oft-quoted line from Troll 2.
From the beginning of the same episode, we have #1 channeling his inner Kenshiro. With a crowbar.
The Stinger of episode 9 gives one to the unrelated Garry's Mod series The Adventures of Coach.
Shut Up, Hannibal!: In episode 6, the "I'm a Mac" segment leads to the Mac bragging about how much better he is than the PC. PC's response?
iDON'T GIVE A SHIT*explodes*
Sophisticated as Hell: In the Update Day video, Duke Nukem (yes THAT Duke Nukem) says "TF2 is broke as Hell" due to "Unwanted Software Tampering".
Take That: Fred is actually a real YouTube user who posts videos of himself with his voice sped up. This video was the basis for the scene in episode 8, where Das Bo Schitt apparently found Fred quite annoying.
Take That, Critics!: Negative comments about the "misuse" of Renamon in Episode 8 prompted the creation of this. The description says it all.
Understatement: The Medic's reaction to accidentally blowing up the Soldier and the Scout? "How embarrassing!"
Use Your Head: Only #1 would think to open an elevator door this way.
Viewer-Friendly Interface: Played straight and averted, usually with YouTube pages. Some occasions involve close-ups of YouTube pages while others rely on overlays of large text.
Viewers Are Morons: Parodied in the Cold Open of Episode 7, where an unscrupulous YouTube user asks about a song in an Idiot Box episode, despite the very clear notice that songs are listed in the description. #1 is quick to express his disapproval.
Weapon of Choice: #1 uses a crowbar instead of the stunsticks normally carried by Metrocops.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: DasBoSchitt himself. He has been accused as being a Renamon hater due to repeatedly killing her in his videos as well as other offensive portrayals in The Tale of Dirty Renamon, but his reasons for doing this are to use her as a vessel against those who use her for porn, making him more of a Renamon defender.
What Do You Mean, It's Not Awesome?: In Episodes 4 and 5, Hax in the real world of the series are triggered with a cell phone; a dramatic camera effect declares what was just turned on in big, epic letters. Other episodes employ this trope in spades: we have Das Bo Schitt getting hit by a car, Francis tripping over a teddy bear...the list goes on.
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