Airdate: Tuesday, November 9, 2004 (strongbad_email.exe, Disc 1)
Sender: FAF FAN #23
FAF FAN #23 has a friend who's an independent film maker. However, his films suck. #23 states that he's wasting his life, and asks Strong Bad how to tell him.
Fortunately, he is not alone. Strong Bad has come up with his own line of greeting cards for people with no-talent friends who refuse to quit chasing their dreams. Available options are...
Independent film makers:
- On this special day,
I thought I'd let you know how terrible your films are.
People in terrible bands:
- I'm sick!
Of wasting my Fridays seeing your crappy band.
Web cartoonists:
- Thinking of you...
and how terrible your stupid Star Wars spoofs are.
And lastly, up-and-coming stand-up comedians:
- Hey friend!
Your stand up comedy is unBEARable!!
Strong Bad closes off with the argument that it's not like these people don't know they suck, sometimes they just need to reminded of it in a cute and friendly way. They might even give up and get a terrible office job instead, or at least go to grad school for an MBA. Or perhaps try out for the NBA.
Tropes
- Brutal Honesty: The greeting cards are rather blunt.
- Creator Career Self-Deprecation: One of the greeting cards is for web cartoonists.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: The sender states that his friend is an independent film maker. This e-mail was first shown off at a film festival.
- Oddly Specific Greeting Card: Strong Bad gets a letter from a fan who wants to tell his friend that his indie films suck. Strong Bad creates a specific line of greeting cards to give to friends who should give up on their dreams. On top of the independent filmmakers, there's also cards for people in terrible bands, web cartoonists, and stand-up comedians.
- Take That!: The greeting card for web cartoonists is a jab at Star Wars-related Flash animations, which were very abundant around the time Homestar Runner was first starting out.
- Visual Pun: The greeting card for stand-up comedians tells the recipient that their sketches are unbearable, and has a drawing of a bear.
