The Failure of Mr. Birchum

Adam Carolla's Mr. Birchum character has been around for thirty years. While many of his jokes have stayed the same, the character itself is being presented very differently in his animated series. This video takes a look at the history of Mr. Birchum to contextualize him in the present.

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[JoseBird]

A lot of people are pointing out I mistakenly called Payday a chocolate bar when there's no chocolate in it. That's because I've never eaten one of those in my life and I'm not sure they sell them in Canada. Apologies for the mistake!

Also, a few people have also pointed out the original Mr. Birchum animation produced in 2011 is not an animatic. To clarify, that was the term Adam Carolla used when describing it. If that's not technically right, I apologize for the oversight, but I assumed he knew more about the production than I did.

[justaghostinthesea]

Ron Swanson walked so that Mr. Birchum could run, trip, break his neck, and be scolded by Hank Hill

[longlivebeans]

If I wanted to get lectured by a cartoonish old man for 30 minutes, I’d call my father.

[JesusChristMarie]

They refer to Karponzi as “heteronormative” but don’t realize that that adjective literally doesn’t apply to this straw man character. Birchum is heteronormative, Karponzi is the opposite, the writers just pulled out a random buzzword they don’t understand.

[MrsBobMom]

So Daily Wire, a media organization obsessed with American made everything, outsources its animation to Spain?

[ar]

The stupidest thing is that the veteran guy is a Vietnam war veteran when based off age he should be like, a gulf war vet. The idiots that made this are still living in the year 2000.

Also is so funny that even conservatives think this show sucks.

[albineigengrau]

So basically they called him Mister Birchum because Professor Oak was already taken.

[EnigmaticGentleman]

I just find it funny that the scene of Birchum dancing with Karponzi was by FAR the most well animated scene in the show, like the animators knew what was up.

[RazorRex]

Gotta love how this show was marketed for how offensive it was but shows from the 90s and 2000s have more edge than this.

[jonahsmith]

As a rare leftist NASCAR fan, I think the noose in the gymnasium is a direct reference to an event that happened in NASCAR in the last couple years. A noose was found in the garage of the sport's only black driver. NASCAR strongly condemned it as an act of hate, and they made a big PR campaign of the other drivers rallying around him. Eventually people noticed the same noose-shaped rope in a photo of the garage the previous year when it was assigned to an unrelated driver. Once conservatives found out that it was incidental, there was huge blowback. I bet Mr. Birchum is directly alluding to that considering it fits their model of a supposed jumping to conclusions.

[Germania]

"Ha, this new animated series will definitely offend them Wokes!"
Wokes make gay fan art of said series
"Um, whaa....?!"

[basicindiebro]

It’s funny how this show pissed conservatives off with gay rep and gay people got into it because of a gay joke in one episode

[seraphonica]

DailyWire seems to be trying to paint themselves as the place people cancelled by Hollywood go to continue their careers... but this series really shows it as the place people mildly inconvenienced by a small part of Hollywood go to burn their bridges and cry about the island they're stuck on.

[Metonymy]

But Hank was never mad at the world. He loved life, propane, freshly mowed grass and his family he just didn't understand some things that were different. But, once he understood, he was accepting. That's why King of the Hill was amazing.

[brentboymebob]

"You so busy arguing you forget you're American" is the most ironic moral coming from a network of debate pundits that attempted to cancel a Nursery Rhymes content creator because she said she respects LGBT people

[__Andrew]

Turning "and then everyone clapped" meme into a tv show is one of the most conservative things i can think of. Christ.

[YoungArgonaut]

not only is birchum a more interesting character in the original animatic, but also the style and animation looks so much better and unique

[crestren]

I love how they had to add a black character that agrees with the main character so he doesnt appear as racist. And yes, this applies to the New Norm which is somehow worse than Mr. Birchum

[hartthorn]

The part I love most of all of this is that Mr. Birchum is the BEST POSSIBLE EXAMPLE of a Mary Sue that has existed in mass media multiple decades. He hits EVERY check box so hard you could do an entire media class on it.

[seto]

I will never be able to get the sequence of Birchum and Vaush eyeing each other up before embracing one another and romantically dancing out if my memory