You know what really sucks--I've actually watched the 'Deep Thoughts' segment and enjoyed it when I was younger (I saw reruns on Comedy Central during 8th grade), and yet I still didn't catch what you were doing.
That part makes a WHOLE lot more sense now.

I dunno, man. "Deep _______ Thoughts by ____ Handey" was a dead giveaway for me.

No no, keep going you tapped into internet gold! As a matter of fact, that last post WON the internet. Several of 'em. That's right, that aint no typo. You won about 5 internets with that last post. Completely full of win!

Posts like the lasts one reassures me that we are all like that in our heads....

That's what I'm saying. I thought the whole "Azrael Handy" was the dead give away. Huh. Now I'M feeling old.

Wait did you just make a smurf reference when talking about smurf references? I dont get it.
Nah keep making those obscure references and if people care then they can use the magic of the internet to find most of them. Heck i have no idea what Herman's head is but typing in "Herman animal angel" returned the wiki article for it as the first result. I have to admit though, after watching several episodes of they came from outer space, that i dont think i am missing out on much with a couple of those older shows.

HAHA I am amazed that people did not get the reference. The first thing it made me think about was Schmitts Gay Beer.

You feel old?! I remember the Great Space Coaster and the Magical Garden, Az. My father reminds me on a semi-weekly basis that to his generation, The Iliad and the Odyssey weren't just a saga but actual current events xD .

At least we know you haven't gone off the deep end yet ^_-. Take care.

Don't worry. I got it.
however i think its a bit of a miracle that i do (older brothers are miraculous things).
so lets just assume everyone under 23 will not get it. but they should still think its awesome

My goodness, what a difference a few years make o_O. I'm feel so....young. I don't know any of this stuff. Except the smurfs. They rock.

Ah, now it makes sense, after consulting the Net.
(First I thought your pupils may have gotten the upper hand after all. Just kiddin' *g*)

Don't feel to old tough, remember: Many of your readers aren't from the US and thus may never had the chance to see "Deep Thoughts".

And, good to see you use a Glock; Austrian handguns are the best! ;)

Till next time.

or maybe your reading audience's location isn't america-only? i assume that for 99% of europeans 99% of americans actors/folk singers/comedians/politicans/etc names just don't ring a bell.

"OK Just... don`t try anything funny again o_o."

You used to give those neat little disclaimers when you were about to talk about a specific event from your childhood. What happened to those?

Still I`m not American so I have to google half of your stuff anyway. And the last time I watched a Smurfs episode I couldn`t realy talk much. On the brighter side I used to fit neatly under the living room table and it made for some epic TV experience lol

wow, im an idiot. I so didnt get the Deep Thoughts reference until you mentioned it here. Your preceeding post makes a lot more sense now.

nope, i totally understood your last entry, besides the fact that you put "Deep Japanese Thoughts by Azreal HANDEY." that was a big giveaway for me. i loved it though :)

Aw, it was funnier when we thought you were going nuts.

I recognized the style, if it makes you feel any better, but alas, I couldn't remember the name...

Smurfs references, no matter what people say, will always and forever be "in" in my head. If only 'cause once people stop getting Smurfs references that means *I'M* old too, and I refuse to accept such lies and chicanery.

Well, I got the reference, but you and I are in the same age bracket, so that's probably why so much of your humor resonates with me.

Put me down as "one more person who got the joke immediately." Funny stuff as always, man. Thanks. :-)

Guilty...ain't from the US and ain't really familiar with Handey's Deep thoughts. Am familiar, though, with the format.

Meh. I'm English. I'm used to Americans making references to shit I've never heard of. If it bothered us that much, we'd stop buying your TV shows.

Don't worry Suuna, a least one non-American (ie. me) got the entry sentence about deep thoughts and knew where Az was going with it. Though I put that down to having a significant amount of US-centricity in my life. Some of it was still crazy shit though heh.

What the hell, I'm 16 and I got that... NOW I FEEL OLD WHAT THE HELL!

Although I did miss the reference of the last post, I would like to encourage you to keep up the semi-obscure references. Even without knowing about Jack Handey, I still found the last post quite funny, same with a few other references in the past I have missed. Still, in my mind, catching one pop culture reference is well worth a confused laugh over five missed ones. The "I see what you did there" feeling is one of my favorite parts of these editorials.

PS: May I ask what e-mail you go by these days? I happen to be working in Osaka over the summer, so I was wondering if it might be possible to meet you. Although it sounds like you've got your hands full with being an "Active" ALT...

hehe smurfs...you aint "that" old, hehe joking. Whats up with only one female smurf in the whole damn village anyway? how do they populate? shouldnt it be declining cause they only have ONE FEMALE IN THE WHOLE VILLAGE

or maybe your reading audience's location isn't america-only? i assume that for 99% of europeans 99% of americans actors/folk singers/comedians/politicans/etc names just don't ring a bell.

Posted by: suuna at June 13, 2007 04:15 AM

id say about 70% of americans actors/folk singers/comedians/politicans/etc names just don't ring a bell, im european and maybe i dont know about those folk singers and politicians, but i think i know about those modern movie actors cuz you know even europeans have their cinemas.

Keep in mind that lots of your readers are not americans. And while Street Fighter, Star Trek, Smurfs or other weird references are somewhat internationally known - especially among nerds - I personally have never heard of Jack Handey before... It's just too american I guess...

Well, I'm American and I also think we may be the exact same age (26 right?), so I did indeed get the last post. Thought it was brilliant too! :)

More obscure references that aren't obscure to you and me are always welcome!

If it makes you feel any better, I remember Herman's Head. Or maybe that just makes me old.

It took me a couple seconds, but as soon as I saw "Azrael Handy" I caught on. They were well done, too.

For what it's worth, I got the reference AND thought you'd finally gone completely insane. :)

I thought Saturday Night Live was a pretty well-known show even outside of the U.S. though.

and Jack Handey isn't that old.. I think they still do the occasional "Deep Thoughts" on SNL.

Man, I think I actually owned a book by Jack Handey. How much of a nerd does that make me? lol

It was a good post.
Don't let the uninitiated bring you down.

The Smurfs will never go out of style so long as Gargamel continues to fail in his ongoing genocide efforts.

If any of you fellows, or the nice author of this blog, play World of Warcraft, I have nice guild on the server Doomhammer. Send a mail message in-game to 'Silia' to gain admission to the 'Kancho Assasins'.

Isn't it Brainy Smurf?

(Az's Note: Not a Smurfs ref...)

Like Brad said: "Deep _______ Thoughts by ____ Handey" was a dead giveaway for me.

Keep writing the way you want to write man, it's why we all come here. After watching porn of course.

Actually, they brought the deep thoughts stuff back on SNL, a few years ago, though it was called "The lost deep thoughts" or something like that.

yeah, i'd have to agree. I understood the format but i didnt know the name "Handey". Kinda like hearing jimi...and not knowing its jimi...and then slam dunking and winning a gameshow....oh wait....i think i am turning japanese...

mmm deep thoughts by jack handy used to be said over my 1st HS intercom EVERY morning. i LOVED IT. sooo funny some where, wtf were others. nice man. keep da old ish alive =)

I'm 20 and even I know who Jack Handy is. :(

I caught onto the Jack Handy reference about 3 statements in after I went "WTF?" and reread the title of the segment. After that I was amused.

I'm afraid I'm at the opposite end of the spectrum; too old to get the specific Jack Handy reference.

However, I did catch on the general "miscellaneous ramblings" muse. Did you people actually think Jack Handy was being original? While the thoughts are original, the style is derivative.

Don't worry Az. It's twice as funny since you had to explain it.
Plenty of us got the joke. We just didn't feel the need to comment - too many of the responses were comedy gold in themselves. It would have spoiled the joke for anyone but you to explain it.

Ok, then... a Wikipedia link can really be useful, hey! I never heard of Jack Handey before, but after that you might be happier to know how you're reaching so many not-American audiences. You've got fans all over the world, Az!

But fell free to make some Smurfs references, they are not that old! =) (Or are they... wait, now I feel old. Damn.)

I'm so sorry... I'm a bloody European, a German to be more specific, and I have never heard of Jack Handey. I am almost completely ignorant of US TV. Hell, in the last few years, I've rarely seen any popular German TV shows.

Hey! I got it! i got it!

I have to confess that I didn't get the whole Deep Thoughts thing and I sure didn't know who Jack Handey was (How could I since I'm an 21 year old Finn), but that didn't keep me from bursting into laughter to most of those thoughts of yours.

I've always liked your material. There's something I can relate to in some weird way. Breaking and/or confirming stereotypes is always a good thing :)

I didn't get the joke at first, but I still found the format hilarious. It was good stuff. Now that you've explained it to me, I've felt like a nostalgia bomb was dropped on me. (I used to watch the SNL reruns as a kid and I always loved the Deep Thoughts segments.)

You did make a smurfs reference once, when talking about all the smurfs banging smurfette or something. Ive read like this entire archive in a week so yeah. o.O;;

But anyway, [totally just had de ja vu there], I got it and I'm only 16.

If anyone over the age of 16 didnt get any smurf references, they need to be shot.

i can't speak for anyone else, (obviously, or can i.. hmmm)but even when i don't get all the references, i still find the humor in your editorials side splitting. I mean i get a few of them, but it's like drugs. The don't make a movie, but they can enhance it.

this has been a community service announcement on the use of drugs. stay in school kids.

(i swear to god this won't be as funny when i read it again later)

AINT NOTHIN' GONNA BREAK MY STRIIIIDE

AINT NOTHIN' GONNA HOOOOLD ME DOOOOWN

OH NO

I GOT TO KEEP ON MOOOOVIN'

I got it... I think most of the readers who didn't get it were just dense rather than young...

Not even dense, I'm Australian so I didn't get the Handey reference. However my own comment about Az losing his mind was meant as a joke. Random thoughts are often just purely strange, anyone who has read something I've written can attest to that. Mouth shut AJ.