Scott Aukerman’s Comedy Bang Bang podcast never steers away from the absurd. Comedians regularly appear on the show as surreal characters and CBB regular Paul F. Tompkins has crafted a whole canon of alternate personas. One fan favorite is Cake Boss (Cake Boss!), a riff on TLC reality show baker Buddy Valastro (whose show is called Cake Boss). Pushing the limits of what comedy can be and/or displaying the true idiocy of the Internet, Tompkins shared a YouTube video on his Tumblr that presents one full hour of Cake Boss (Cake Boss!) staring menacingly into the camera. The video consists of just three shots repeated over and over underscored by CCB’s “Would You Rather?” music.
While the video could been seen as a surrender to nihilism, it’s also a good example of a “Rake Gag,” where one joke (The Simpson’s Side Show Bob stepping on rakes; Tompkins staring) is repeated ad nauseam past the point of boredom so that it suddenly becomes funny again. While that cycle of boredom and laughter generally holds up for gags that last a few minutes, we’ll have to wait for the first brave soul to watch this entire hour-long video to chart the cycle of the “Cake Boss (Cake Boss!) Gag.”