Line #39 WebVideo/MrDeity


1	->''Yeah, if I could stop all of these things! Everybody says, "if you could stop all of these things, why don't you just stop them?"... I got things to do, okay?''
2	--> '''Mr. Deity'''.
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4	''[[http://www.mrdeity.com/ Mr. Deity]]'' is a series of short comedy films that premiered on [[https://www.youtube.com/user/misterdeity YouTube]] before moving to [[http://crackle.com/members/2119977 Crackle]] and then moving ''back'' to Website/YouTube again.. They concern the daily existence of the titular Mr. Deity (Brian Keith Dalton), [[{{God}} the Creator of the Known Universe]], who is presented here as a slightly vague, thoughtless and temperamental Hollywood Executive type (with a startling resemblance to Creator/GeorgeLucas) who, although basically well-meaning, has an [[GodIsEvil alarming tolerance for various evils and unpleasantness]] in his creation. Assisting him in creating and maintaining all existence is Larry (Jimbo Marshall), Mr. Deity's long-suffering and nebbishy P.A, and 'Jesse' (Sean Douglas), an actor hired by Mr. Deity to portray his son, and who ''really'' isn't looking forward to that whole crucifixion deal he has coming up[[note]]He doesn't like the sound of the whole 'sinless life' thing either.[[/note]]. On the other side of the table, Hell is maintained by [[{{Satan}} Lucy]] (Amy Rohren), Mr. Deity's on-off girlfriend, who agreed to manage Hell as a favour to Mr. Deity and really wasn't pleased by those passive-aggressive references to her being a 'snake' in '[[Literature/TheBible the script]]'.
5
6	As it sounds, ''Mr. Deity'' is all about spoofing organized religion, Christianity in particular, and the various beliefs and peculiarities that surround it - however, unlike many such spoofs, the shorts manage to [[AffectionateParody poke fun without coming off as being mean-spirited or offensive]] (on many occasions at least).
7
8	Dalton has a second series, ''The Way of the Mister'', which talks more broadly on religion (and more specifically on Mormonism, the faith he grew up in) and the various conflicts in atheism, sometimes with a satirical bent.
9
10	!!Mr. Deity provides examples of:
11	* AccidentalMisnaming: His name really is Jesus. Mr. Deity just keeps on mistaking it for 'Jesse'. Even a news ticker gets this one wrong on one occasion.
12	* AffablyEvil: Despite having committed or ordered genocide on numerous occasions, Mr. Deity tends to come across as a loveable goofball once you actually meet him.
13	* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking:
14	** 'All the evils in the world are ideologically driven: the Crusades, the Holocaust, no third-party apps on the iPhone..'
15	** This trope is present from the beginning. The very first episode had Mr. Deity deciding whether to allow the presence of evils such as Down's Syndrome, natural disasters, holocausts, Music/CelineDion...
16	%%* BuffySpeak: The Place of Things and Stuff.
17	* CrossoverCosmology: While Mr. Deity is the only god to appear on screen, the Greek gods and Allah [[note]]When he appears, the screen is completely black, them being in a dark matter showroom and all.[[/note]] have been mentioned as existing in this universe and having offscreen conversations with Mr. Deity.
18	* EvenEvilHasStandards:
19	** About the only consistently positive characteristic Mr. Deity possesses is that he likes gay people, and is pretty upset about how badly represented his opinions on gays is.
20	** He refuses to allow humans to harm each other just by thoughts.
21	** In "Mr. Deity and the Hat", even Mr. Deity is disgusted by Joseph Smith Jr.'s racism (this is a particular TakeThat by Brian Keith Dalton, a former Mormon, or "[[PunnyName formon]]").
22	* EveryoneHasStandards: Mr. Deity is the master of InsaneTrollLogic, but even he thinks Bill O'Reilly labelling Christianity a "philosophy" rather than a religion is ridiculous.
23	* TheGhost: [[CrossoverCosmology The Greek gods have been confirmed to exist in a few episodes,]] but haven't made an appearance.
24	* {{God}}: God is interpreted as Mr. Deity, a Hollywood Executive type who, although essentially well-meaning, is a bit vague, thoughtless, and temperamental, with a slightly alarming tolerance for various evils and unpleasantness. He also bears a startling resemblance to George Lucas.
25	* GodIsEvil: Mr. Deity is extremely self-obsessed, loves the smell of blood, doesn't like anyone disobeying him, and, in addition to allowing in unnecessary levels of evil 'just because', created Hell.
26	* GodIsFlawed: Mr. Deity isn't exactly ''evil'', but he is alarmingly lax in some areas; he'd do something about the bad things in the world... except that he just finds it easier to say 'yeah, leave it in'.
27	* GodIsInept: Mr Deity is frequently called out for allowing bad things that he could easily have stopped, using needlessly over-complicated schemes for no good reason, or not thinking his plans through. He generally has some kind of non-sequitur reason why this is for the best, but none of the other characters believe him.
28	* GodAndSatanAreBothJerks: The show is somewhat inconsistent on this. Lucy is usually the first to object to anything in "[[Literature/TheBible the script]]" promoting violence or hatred, but she's also completely casual about arranging all manner of eternal tortures for minor crimes in her first appearance, when asked to make an alternative philosophy to Jesus's suggests inventing Nazism, and in a meeting with David Silverman the two resolve to "stop eating babies".
29	* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: {{Averted}}; Mr. Deity doesn't seem to get anything but enjoyment from hearing his name used or having people pray to him. In fact, he doesn't even bother to listen to more than a handful of prayers each day - the rest, stored as voicemail on his phone, are erased.
30	* HurricaneOfPuns: The season 4 finale. A short example:
31	-->'''Mr. Deity:''' ''(attempting to initiate the Big Bang with his iPhone)'' I'm out of battery!...I left Pandora running in the background!
32	-->'''Larry:''' You opened PandorasBox?
33	-->'''Mr. Deity:''' Was I not supposed to do that?
34	-->'''Lucy:''' ''(handing him another iPhone)'' Here, take my Apple.
35	%%* JesusWasWayCool: He's the OnlySaneMan in heaven.
36	* KingOfAllCosmos: Mr. Deity is essentially a George Lucas parody who has control of all creation, or at least a significant chunk of it. The Greek gods are giving ''their'' people something, in comparison to what Mr. Deity has come up with.
37	* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Zig-zagged. The show makes a point of noting that, despite what his followers might claim, Mr. Deity has nothing against black people, homosexuals or Jews. However, he's often misogynistic and really, ''really'' hates atheists.
38	%%* {{Prequel}}: Season 4 explains how Mr. Deity got started.
39	* PronounTrouble: When Mr Deity and Jesse try to understand the trinity, complete with word counters for "You", "Me" and "I".
40	* PsychopathicManchild: Mr. Deity is a Type C. He's a {{Jerkass God\|s}} who deliberately allows all sorts of evil things into his creation for no real reason and frequently inflicts [[DisproportionateRetribution horrifically cruel punishments for minor crimes]], but behaves in a very childish manner, particularly in the way he reacts to criticism. One episode had him refuse to believe that SantaClaus isn't real.
41	%%* PurelyAestheticEra: But {{justified}} as the main characters all have the ability to time travel, as does anyone else in Heaven.
42	%%* {{Retcon}}: Season 4 doesn't really fit with earlier seasons. The first blatant case of this was Mr. Deity meeting Jesus.
43	* RuleOfFunny: The exact nature of the entities who are the main characters makes no sense unless you just accept that they run on this trope.
44	* SanityBall: Gets passed around a lot as Mr. Deity is such a CloudCuckooLander that pretty much anyone seems reasonable in comparison, but mainly between Jesse, Lucy, and Larry. Mr. Deity himself does get it though on a few occasions, particularly Mr. Deity and the Hat and Mr. Deity and the Philosophy.
45	%%* {{Satan}}
46	* SatanIsGood: Lucy is presented as quite amiable and decent.
47	* ShamelessSelfPromoter: Parodied, sort of; at the end of every short since about Season 2, Brian Keith Dalton shows up and both (a) thanks the audience for watching and (b) essentially begs for money. He at least has the decency to be reasonably funny, clever and entertaining about it, though. Except for the end of Mr. Deity and [[DateRape the Hat]].
48	* TakeThat: Again, to organised religion; while it's mostly good-natured and affectionate, the satire can get quite pointed at times.
49	* TemptingFate:
50	** In "Mr. Deity and the Promised Land", when Larry points out to Mr. Deity the possibility that someone might one day try to wipe out the Jews the same way they wiped out the Canaanites:
51	--->'''Mr. Deity''': My chosen people? Are you kidding me? That's never gonna happen, I mean who doesn't love my chosen people?
52	** In "Mr. Deity and the Top Ten", when Mr. Deity comes up with the "Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain" commandment and explains that it means "don't do evil in My name".
53	--->'''Jesse''': Sir, the people down there? They're gonna think that you don't want them to use your name, like "Oh my God"-you love that one! And, or what about "God damn it!"\
54	'''Mr. Deity''': Well, I'm the {{God}} of the Universe and they think I'm gonna be that petty? God isn't even my real name, it's a stage name, you know that.
55	%%* TopTenList: The commandments.

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