Web Soup

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Follow him on Twitter @nerdist.

Web Soup is a Clip Show that aired on G 4 from 2009-2011, and is hosted by Chris Hardwick. It's a Spin Off of E!'s The Soup; rather than TV clips, a variety of clips taken from around the internet are snarked upon.

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Common segments on this show include:

• "FIRSTIES!" -- The first clip or two doesn't have a theme per se; it's just a term borrowed from the troll practice of racing to be the first to respond to a post on a message board, YouTube, etc.
• Mixed Nuts Sampler -- A plethora of Groin Attack videos...usually self inflicted blows, at that. To drive the metaphor home, the title card is a parody of a Whitman's Sampler box with two walnuts, in which one of them splits apart.
• Please, Please, Please, For the Love of God, Don't Try This at Home -- Someone does something really dangerous and/or stupid to themselves. Predictable consequences ensue.
• This Week in Fail -- Someone tries to look cool on camera, and fails. Predictably and spectacularly.
• Operators Are Standing By -- Strange local commercials that have found their way to the internet.
• Audience Participation -- Twittershots, in which a clip is posted online for viewers to snark upon via Twitter; the best three make it to the show.
• Webcam Junction -- Videos of people getting on their webcams and ranting about anything on their mind. Even if that anything is nothing at all.
• Web Soup Sports -- Sports-related hijinks.
• That's Unincredible! -- A video was intended to be awesome, but fell short.
• Is That Really A Thing? -- Rule 36 in video form.
• WTF? -- Something that "bizarre" doesn't even begin to describe.
• Please Stop the Music -- Bad amateur music videos/performances.
• Why? -- Somebody pulls a stupid stunt for reasons only known to them, and all we can ask is...Why?
• Things You Can't Un-See -- A combination of Nausea- and/or Nightmare Fuel.
• Palate Cleanser -- Immediately following Things You Can't Un-See, it counteracts the Nausea and Nightmares with pure sugary fare.
• THE GREATEST WEB VIDEO EVER! -- The last video of the show, which has elements from one or more of the tropes listed on this page.

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Tropes used:

• Blah Blah Blah: A girl gets hit in the face with a soccer ball. Chris' response is, "Blah Blah Blah, balls-to-the-face joke."
• Biting the Hand Humor: Oh so much.
• Collective Groan: All over the place!
• Couch Gag: The operator in Operators Are Standing By and the hillbilly in Webcam Junction. As of Season 3, the opening sequence has Chris doing something strange on his way to the stage -- delivering a baby, making a sandwich for a bystander, etc. -- and the "FIRSTIES!" intro has the announcer in different odd situations as well (such as a Bond Gun Barrel).
• Dueling Shows: With Tosh 0 on Comedy Central.
• Precious Puppies: Which is why they so often show up in the "Palate Cleanser" segment.
• Groin Attack: So many have appeared that in one episode, he consulted a special thesaurus to find fresh slang terms for the affected parts (he chose "Fraggle Rocks" and "Harry and the Hendersons").
• Incredibly Lame Pun: And you know Chris made one when he'll ask for a high-five, going, "Up top!"
• Kitschy Local Commercial: Mocked in Operators Are Standing By.
• Monster Clown: "So, last night I had this horrible, horrible nightmare--an army of evil clowns were dancing and singing, and they were slowly coming towards me; here, I TiVo'd it for you!"
• Mundane Made Awesome: Played for Laughs with THE GREATEST WEB VIDEO EVER!
  • Which included a fake viral video made by Loading Ready Run one week, a great extra laugh for their fans.
• One of Us: Chris Hardwick.
• Percussive Therapy: "No, Joel McHale! You're hosting a spin-off of my show!"
• Product Placement: At the end Hardwick reminds viewers to check out his budding Nerdist mini-empire of podcasts and blogs, and about future standup appearances.
• Recycled Set: The show began to use the E! News set in the third season, the first time a Soup series wasn't shot in front of a green screen in a broom closet.
• Running Gag: Many.
  • Several of Alison Brie's appearances have ended with her being offended by Chris' behavior and running off to tell Joel McHale, her Community co-star.
• Self Deprecation: Hardwick is pretty much stuck on knowing most people still remember him only as the host of Singled Out and Shipmates eons ago and plays it for laughs.
• Share the Male Pain
• Studio Audience
• Too Dumb to Live
• This Is Gonna Suck: "Hold on, true believers, because things are about to get weird..."