I see the distinction you're getting at, but even then there have been other characters, though admittedly not as many. The first one that springs to mind is Major Burns from MASH (altough you can't really say "everything" goes wrong for a guy who's having an affair with Hot Lips Houlihan.) I guess that Burns (and…

I'm not sure about ol' Zoidy being a progenitor of the trope - Cliff from Cheers, Bill Dautrieve from King of the Hill, George Costanza, arguably Ross from Friends. Hell, Colonel Klink fits the bill as well.

No, you shut up!

Ho ho! This guy's a comedian! He's got comedy-type stylings! Hey, he needs a nickname, right? Let's call him idiotking!

My wife and I have been watching How It's Made recently and every time they need to clamp something down on the show one or both of us will shout "The clamps!" You'd think it would get old after a while, but we still giggle uncontrollably every time.

Upvoted for 'poutinerie,' though I came close to flagging you for the suggestion that people should put less chorizo in anything.

Reluctant upvote. Ash Wednesday is a day for tradition, and there's nothing more traditionally AV Club than a dick joke.

Oh man, legitimately good job, Internet! I don't know what it is, but that Japanese cover for Flow My Tears is so unsettling.

To piggyback off your comment, I think people forget what a journalist's job actually is: to build an audience that can then be sold to advertisers. If they can do that by a dry recitation of facts, they will. If they can do that by wildly outlandish lies, they'll do that too. You have to approach every news source…

Man I love that bit. Mom can be pretty sweet and personable for a clever old scag. I love her glee at taking everything of value that Zoidberg owns.

Man, that's the truth. I genuinely love the Futurama movies, especially BBS, but I skip those songs every time.

It's a good thing no inspections were scheduled for today, or you'd have to go threaten to jump off the roof!

Even though I've seen both of these episodes dozens of times I still noticed a few things in "Clone" I've missed on previous viewings. (Not every episode of Futurama rewards a close viewing - I didn't notice anything 'throwaway' in the background of "Groove".) First, which I'm surprised I've never noticed before, is…

The ideas of "sex by deception" and "sex by impersonation" are difficult to grapple with, because the issue is where you draw the line: Is wearing a hairpiece deceptive? Is it deception if you're polite on a date, but are normally a raging asshole? What if you claim to be single, but are really married? What if you…

Pro wrestling is MADE for little boys, so that's a good fit! How old are they, if you don't mind me asking? I wound up watching a Futurama episode with my 7-year-old niece at X-Mas - I think it was "I Second That Emotion". I remember she enjoyed the toilet humor a lot, which makes sense for a 7-year-old.

I had completely forgotten about him. Thank you very much!

Did they really make a Canadian heel? Was he actually Canadian? Oh my god, I must know more.

I just looked him up - "Hero of the Russian Federation," oh my!

This is a very good point - the amount of agency they gave Kelly Bundy with regards to her sexuality was pretty amazing for a late-80s primetime TV show.

Oh yeah, I definitely got Iron Sheik vibes, but don't forget Nikolai Volkoff and the dozens of Russian wrestlers that played off of Cold War fears. It also brings to my mind a bit of Eddie Guerrero, who used plenty of Mexican stereotypes when he went heel.