Phil Jamesson on Sequel Culture

Phil Jamesson has been making the Internet a far more entertaining, hilarious, and interesting place for a while now. His videos cover a wide range of topics and are incredibly inventive in the use of format to deliver a bunch of impressive jokes. Last week, one of his bits—a fake college essay on Mario Mario—blew up all over the web.

i never should have gone back to school pic.twitter.com/YWIEZUWWgE

— phil (@PhilJamesson) February 18, 2022

It’s hilarious. But, like most things when it comes to the Internet, that success bred a whole bunch of unintended consequences. Beyond just the usual shitty backlashes that are preposterously disproportionate to whatever it is the person doesn’t like, it also led to people ask for more of this specific essay. Not more of essays like this, or similar sense of humor in differing formats—but folks specifically wanted more of this particular fake essay. They wanted this singular joke to keep going. This led to Jamesson reflecting on “sequel culture”, specifically for Internet content creators and in humor at large, producing a video in which he delineates how systems reward repetition and people crave the same thing over and over…and why that fundamentally hurts the very work that artists are seeking to make.

It’s an insightful video that breaks down this change in approach and its pitfalls, while still being funny and entertaining. Please subscribe to Jamesson’s YouTube channel, follow him on Twitter, and support his Patreon if you are able.