You Know What's Bullshit? is a Web Original video series by James Rolfe. It's one of his most noted series after The Angry Video Game Nerd; while not as legendary as AVGN, it has gained a cult following.
Keeping with his famous Caustic Critic/Accentuate the Negative formula, Rolfe in this series spends each episode complaining about everyday annoyances that are "bullshit", such as pay toilets, malfunctioning printers, shoelaces, and movies about penguins. While the earliest rants were done by Rolfe as himself, in the faceless filming style that's a trademark of AVGN, the show later developed a separate character for him to play, simply called the Bullshit Man (three guesses as to what his head's made up of).
The series had an initial 2007-2012 run before going on a two-year hiatus, after which it returned for six more episodes from November to December 2014, and then returned again between November 2016 and September 2021.
Episode List
- DVD Packaging
- Pennies
- Shoelaces
- Penguin Movies
- Post Office Pens
- Pay Toilets
- Temperature
- Printers
- Christmas Aftermath
- Hotel TVs
- DVDs
- Movie Titles
- Too Much Cream Cheese
- Fiber Envelopes & Packing Peanuts
- DVD & Blu-Ray Cases
- Traffic Spikes
- iTunes
- Feeding Birds
- Wire Hangers
- Microwaves
- Assholes
- Car GPS
- Warranties
- Amps That Don't Go To 11
- Grass
- Vampires
- Hotel Rooms
- Word Pronunciations
- Public Bathrooms
- Water
- Sleep
- Dangerous Funeral Processions
- Oversized Packaging
- Clothing Tags
- Wobbly Tables
- Snow
- The Word "Bimonthly"
- Apple's Lack of Buttons
- Rolls of Tape
- Pogs
- Stickers on Fruit
- Inflatable Decorations
- Group Texts
- Loud Startup Sounds
- Bed Sheets
- Micro SD Cards
You know what's bullshit? These examples.
- Accentuate the Negative: This series is all about it. You should guess by the title!
- Ambiguously Human: The Bullshit Man might be entirely human if not for the fact that his face is literally composed of bull feces and he has a sentient anus that can talk to him.
- Atomic F-Bomb: Many videos open with the Bullshit Man's catchphrase, and especially later on, he places strong emphasis on the last word of said catchphrase:"You know what's BUUUULLLLSHIT?!"
- Artistic License – Physics: One of the Bullshit Man's complaints about the GPS is that the weight stand of the GPS would fly back and hit his face if he got into a collision, which goes against Newton's first and second laws of motion.
- Berserk Button: The Bullshit Man gets easily offended by numerous everyday annoyances.
- Bowdlerise: Starting with "Apple's Lack of Buttons", the Bullshit Man's trademark opening Catchphrase has been changed to "You Know What's BS?!" because of YouTube demonetizing any video that contains swearing within the first 30 seconds or so. He begins the video by complaining that he isn't allowed to say the full word at the beginning of the videos anymore.
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: In the iTunes episode, the Bullshit Man enumerates the following things iTunes does at start-up.BS Man: Now, it bounces a few times, shows me a beach ball, and when it finally starts, it tells it's searching for Genius results, accessing the iTunes Store, updating playlist information, contacting Mars, raising shields, activating atomic soundwave booster, scanning for nuclear barracudas.
- The Bus Came Back: After episode 26, which was filmed on October 16th, 2012, there was no mention of the Bullshit Man. Not until his surprise return in The Angry Video Game Nerd episode on Tiger games did we know that he's still alive and kicking. It also helps that he's a playable character in The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures. Furthermore, episode 27 was released in November 2014, followed by five more in the next month. November 2016 saw the return of the series with episode 33.
- Buffy Speak: The Bullshit Man calls traffic spikes "spike things" and clothing tags "T-shaped things in clothing".
- Butt-Monkey: The Bullshit Man himself is the subject of an array of everyday bullshit.
- Catchphrase: Take a guess.
- Caustic Critic: Well, obviously!
- Charlie Brown from Outta Town: Emphasis on the brown. The Bullshit Man is obviously James Rolfe in a large, shitty looking bullshit mask.
- Christmas Creep: In one episode, the Bullshit Man complains about marketing for the Christmas season starting as early in October, then goes on to complain about decorations still being left up well into January ("if you're gonna start it early, at least end it early"). At the end, he jokingly says he's gonna start celebrating St. Patrick's Day two months before it actually happens.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Episode 21, on assholes. Ohhhh boy.
- Cosmic Plaything: Pretty much everything is out there to make the Bullshit Man's life bullshittier.
- Creator Provincialism: The Bullshit Man will sometimes complain about things that are exclusive to the United States region, and can leave foreign viewers a bit confused.
- Fiber envelopes and packing peanuts. For many non-Americans, those complaints come across as weird as they never even knew of these types of packaging, since bubble wrap tends to be the norm in other countries.
- The "Water" episode is mostly complaining about Dasani water. For many foreigners, "what the heck even is Dasani water?". Several foreign countries actually forbid selling regular bottled brand water.
- Not many would understand the concern about cream cheese.
- Crossover:
- The Bullshit Man does a short bit where he complains about plastic packaging in the The Angry Video Game Nerd episode about Tiger Electronic games.
- He's also a playable character in The Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures.
- Deadpan Snarker: The Bullshit Man himself can get very sarcastic in his rants.
- Department of Redundancy Department: At the start of "Printers", the Bullshit Man describes the aforementioned appliances as "man's inhumanity to man".
- Disproportionate Retribution: The Bullshit Man views traffic spikes puncturing tires as this to motorists driving in the wrong direction.
- Does Not Like Spam: In "Vampires", when the Bullshit Man mentions garlic as one of the weaknesses of vampires, he points out that he is not fond of asparagus, but he won't leave if there's asparagus in the room.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: In the first four episodes, the Bullshit Man said his opening line in a calmer and more disappointed tone; a far cry from the pissed-off, drawn-out bellow that it would eventually become. Also, he was represented as the Angry Video Game Nerd in some art, later on he was retconned into a separate character.
- Equal-Opportunity Offender: The Bullshit Man has a solution to people who hate the different cultures' ways of celebrating the holidays or have a dislike to the term "Happy Holidays." Let's instead call it "HAPPY SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Bullshit Man has no real name and is only ever referred to by that title.
- Everyone Has Standards: While the Bullshit Man is most likely to have problems with a particular issue, he has a soft spot for funerals and declares them to not be bullshit, stating that they're a healthy way of getting together with family members and mourning a recently deceased member. What he does declare as bullshit are dangerous funeral processions.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The punchline of the "Grass" episode. Grass is bullshit because bulls eat it and then shit it out.
- Formula-Breaking Episode: There are a few episodes that is not so much about complaining, but is rather a comedic act. The grass episode is an educational segment on cow biology for example.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the Printers episode, when he mentions wanting to print out a word document, such a document appears on the screen briefly. It's part of the transcript for the episode.
- The Faceless: The Bullshit Man remained unseen until The Stinger of the "Cream Cheese" episode, where he reveals his face is literally made of bullshit.
- Halloween Episode: The Episode on Vampires and Inflatable Decorations.
- Have You Tried Rebooting?: The Bullshit Man tries this when he's having trouble with his printer.
It doesn't help. - Hidden Depths: For all of his complaining and ranting, the Bullshit Man is surprisingly knowledgeable with grass and the digestive system of cattle.
- Improv: Episode 15 on DVD and Blu-ray cases are all shot on the spot, including a line he accidentally said wrong.BS Man: -Of the DVD-Camera Man: Blu-ray!BS Man: Blu-ray, whatever the fuck it is!
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: While calling him a jerk may be a stretch, the Bullshit Man is cynical and censures almost everything that proves to be an inconvenience to him. However, beneath his grouchy exterior, he does have a soft core which he shows on a few occasions.
- In "Feeding Birds", he is shown to care for his two pet cats when he states that he feeds the birds outside of his house just so that they can watch them.
- He does not hate funerals and states that they are a healthy way of getting together with family and paying respects to a member or other loved one that has passed away. The same cannot be said for dangerous funeral processions, though.
- At the end of "Inflatable Decorations", he wishes the viewers a happy Halloween and a merry Christmas.
- Laborious Laces: The Bullshit Man talks about the problems about shoe laces. Every time you tie your shoe laces, by the time you walk about they become undone.
- Late-Arrival Spoiler: Don't watch episode 14 before seeing the Cream Cheese episode. By the way, don't look at the picture near to the link.
- In fact, there are five video thumbnails that spoil the ending of the Cream Cheese episode.
- And while you're at it, do not look at the intro to this game, or even play the stage where you can unlock him til you see the cream cheese episode.
- Literal-Minded:
- The "Grass" episode. He basically describes how bulls eat grass, digest it, and then shit it out, making it actually fit the title.
- The "Assholes" episode too.
- Mad Libs Catchphrase: "You know what's BUUUUUUUUULLLLSHIT?!? (insert topic being criticized here)".
- Misleading Package Size: The beginning of the Oversized Packaging episode has a USB flash drive packed in a giant piece of cardboard, which is way overkill for such a portable device.
- Mood Whiplash: Played with in a few episodes. He will open the episode with the usual intro, and then abruptly switch to a much calmer demeanor.
- Never Speak Ill of the Dead: In the Dangerous Funeral Processions episode, the Bullshit Man maintains that funerals in themselves are not bullshit. It's the way some funeral processions can threaten those who are still alive that grinds his gears.
- "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: In the episode about pogs, he has to clarify that there were OJ Simpson trial pogs. He's not kidding.
- Once an Episode: The Bullshit Man starts each episode with "You know what's buuuullllshit?" and ends with "X is bullshit" (with the sole exception of "DVD & Blu-Ray Cases"), or some variation.
- Out of Order: In the episode about DVDs, one of The Bullshit Man's pet peeves is when companies release a DVD boxset of random movies instead of in chronological order. His example was the James Bond movies, which were previously released in hodgepodge fashion.
- Overly Long Gag:
- DVD packaging has been the focus of no less than three separate episodes.
- Things that are meant to deter shoplifting and theft (blister packaging, oversized packaging, and clothing tags) have been the focus of no less than three separate episodes, including the BS Man's appearance in the The Angry Video Game Nerd episode about Tiger Electronic games.
- Paying for Air: In the "Water" episode, the Bullshit Man jokes that if the Coca-Cola company could, they would actually attempt to sell air, after filling it with chemicals, as part of a jab at their Dasani brand of water.
- Perpetual Frowner: Being a regular victim of everyday inconveniences, the Bullshit Man is never seen smiling.
- Pet the Dog: The Bullshit Man hates feeding birds (and possibly birds in general) and finds no sense into doing it. But he does it anyway because his cats (James Rolfe's real life pets Yeti and Boo) like to watch them.
- Political Overcorrectness: Parodied in the Christmas Aftermath episode, where he mentioned that people complained about having to say "Happy Holidays" out of respect for other beliefs when they insist on saying "Merry Christmas." So he coined a new term called HAPPY SHUT THE FUCK UP! and has been used in some of James's other Christmas specials, including the AVGN Winter Games, and even as himself at the end of his TMNT Christmas review.
- The Reveal: The Bullshit Man is eventually revealed to have a face literally made out of bullshit.
- Road Apples: A big literal pile of bullshit being defecated in the title card. What more can we ask for?
- Serial Escalation: How long and loud can he do the Title Drop?
- Shaped Like Itself: Everything said in the episode "Amps That Don't Go To 11" is called out by the Bullshit Man as bullshit.
- Shout-Out: James frequently references American Movie in the AVGN series, but rarely elsewhere. In YKWBS? he does it on one occasion, during the "DVD and Blu-Ray Packaging" episode:Bullshit Man: All right, I'm gonna tell you why DVDs fail, and why DVDs succeed.
- Signing-Off Catchphrase: He ends nearly every video with "...and that's bullshit."
- Silly Simian: The Bullshit Man'd prefer less movies about penguins, and more movies about Pygmy Marmosets, who are the proof God has a sense of humor.
- Stopped Numbering Sequels: His complaint in the 12th video.
- Strawman Has a Point: He is a caricature of people who complain about things that can't be helped. And yet, we'd bet an arm you can't help but agree with much of the stuff he says.
- Stylistic Suck: Episode 15.
- Talking Poo: The Bullshit Man is actually a human with a head made out of bull feces, but he still fits the bill.
- Title Drop: At the beginning of every episode. Especially on episode 25.
- Tranquil Fury: Aside from his trademark catchphrase, the Bullshit Man usually discusses his rants in a calm manner.
- Visual Pun:
- The show's intro features a bull producing, well, bullshit.
- The Bullshit Man's head is made of, well, bullshit. So technically, he's shit-faced.
- Was Once a Man: The Bullshit Man used to look like a normal human (as evidenced by an illustration from "Pay Toilets"), however, he has endured so much bullshit in his life to the point where his face was literally turned into bullshit.The Bullshit Man: I used to look normal before all this bullshit happened to me!
- Weaksauce Weakness: In Episode 26, he complains about how vampires have way too many of them.
- Wham Episode: At the end of Episode 13, when the Bullshit Man reveals he has a face literally made of bullshit.
- Wham Line: At the end of Episode 13.Bullshit Man: "Because my face is bullshit."
- Your Answer to Everything: The Bullshit Man's lifestyle revolves around ranting about minor everyday annoyances.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: Near the end of "Too Much Cream Cheese", the Bullshit Man interrupts the outro in order to talk about his identity and reveal his face to the audience, after which the video ends for real.
- Your Vampires Suck: He does a list of all known vampire weaknesses, and because there are so many, he finds them utterly pathetic. He wouldn't be scared of real-life vampires, but feel sorry for them.
