Big Evil Bob

Big Evil Bob (or BEB for short) is an online series about a guy, the eponymous Big Evil Bob, who apparently makes it his mission in life to offend, hurt or kill two other guys named Sam and Eddie. Stylistically simple, very little information is given about any of the characters' backgrounds. In fact, outside of their homes, nothing is known of their jobs, ages (the actors playing the characters are all in their late teens or early 20s as of the first episode shot in 2007), location (episode 2 mostly takes place, and is directly referenced as taking place in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, while the characters' home town is simply called "The Tree") or families (Sam and Eddie spend a lot of time together in the house that presumably belongs to one of them, including Christmas Eve, implying that they are either blood relations such as brothers or cousins, gay, or, perhaps most likely, Heterosexual Life Partners).

The first three episodes were shorts, with only Episode 2 passing the five-minute mark (thanks to an extended credits sequence which featured a YouTube Poop of footage from the episode). This changed with the fourth episode, a two-part 15 minute-long Christmas Special featuring, for the first time, another actor besides the three playing Bob, Sam and Eddie (the extra character was, appropriately, Santa Claus, albeit a non-traditional version of the jolly old elf). The fifth episode could arguably be called this series' relative example of The Movie trope, clocking in at just over 25 minutes, roughly the length of an average television show episode. This episode, posted online in five parts due to Youtube's video time limits, featured yet another guest actor in addition to the three main cast members. Both episodes 4 and 5 featured a huge rise in the overall quality of the series, an example of Growing the Beard.

The series, while live action, has a distinctly cartoony quality, and brings to mind the Wile E. Coyote and Roadrunner Looney Toons. In the first three episodes Bob's aim seems to be simply offending Sam and Eddie, perhaps in an effort to get them to leave him alone or simply due to a strong personal dislike of them. His attempts at thwarting Sam and Eddie in these episodes are spontaneous; the first two are based on ruining things he sees the characters enjoying, such as a free snack or Sam's sand art on the beach (in addition, the second episode is actually based on Bob's attempt to simply get very far away from them), with the third episode being his first attempt at concentrated planning, resulting in his vision of a "Full-Proof Plan" to offend them (which was to simply kick them in the groin). The Christmas Special is the first to feature Bob being physically harmed by the backfiring of his own schemes, with Sam and Eddie all the while totally ignorant of his intentions. This and the fifth episode both feature Bob attempting to actually kill Sam and Eddie, either as a primary or back-up plan (in both episodes, he becomes the victims of explosions and survives them without explanation, making one wonder if the cartoon logic would allow Sam and Eddie to be hurt even if they did fall victim to his explosive traps).

Thus far,^[when?] continuity is paid very little mind in the series, as each episode is a self-contained story about Bob's various schemes to injure Sam and Eddie, either mentally or physically. The only real example of something in the continuity contradicting something else is the location of the characters' homes: in the third episode, "Big Evil Bob and The Full-Proof Plan", Bob plots in a room never seen again in the subsequent episodes, and is seen exiting the home that, in both subsequent episodes, is shown to be the home of Sam and/or Eddie. His own home in the Christmas Special and fifth episode is distinctly removed from the area around Sam and/or Eddie's house. This is never addressed, presumably the viewer is expected to apply the MST3K Mantra, or else wait for some sort of explanation later on in the series. While the first and second episodes featured scenes (next to "The Tree") in the area around the house, no definite reference was made to who the house belonged to at the time.

In 2007, four episodes were produced and released, including a two-part Christmas Special: the first was "Big Evil Bob and The Free Banana" in March, "Big Evil Bob and The Beach Beauties" in August, "Big Evil Bob and The Full-Proof Plan" in October (specifically, on Halloween, though the episode does not have a Halloween theme it was billed in the description as a "Bob-O-Ween Spooktacular"), and parts 1 and 2 of "Big Evil Bob Saves Christmas", released on Christmas Eve. This seemed to set up a theme of releasing one episode per season, possibly on appropriate seasonal holidays.

However, for much of 2008, no new episodes surfaced. In May, a short video titled "Snap, Crackle Pop" written and directed by, as well as starring the creator of the Big Evil Bob series surfaced, with mention of the video being an attempt by the creator to keep his editing skills up to par before the filming of the next Big Evil Bob episode.. In the first days of June, a YouTube Poop of previous episodes was released, complete with a fictional description referring to the poop as "a fan-made, non-canon episode" complete with a list of real and fictional guest stars that obviously do not appear in the video. Then, in August, a few days after the one-year anniversary of the second episode, a teaser trailer for a new "25 minute odyssey," "Bob's latest and greatest misadventure" was posted on Youtube. The new, extra-long episode was finally posted in mid-October. Like the Christmas Special, it was filmed as a single episode but was forced into being edited into five separate parts of varying length to fit Youtube's time limit of 10 minutes per video (while still breaking at the end of scenes so as not to appear cut-up awkwardly, causing the individual videos to vary in length). Though technically one single episode, the length of this entry into the series managed, rather late in the year, to bring the total number of Big Evil Bob videos in 2008 to equal that of the year before. Whether the delay in filming this latest episode was an intentional Series Hiatus or a Schedule Slip is unknown, but the video descriptions state that the episode was written presumably in June and shot and edited between July and August, and was held from release until after it premiered at the First Annual Mid-Ohio Con Independent Film Festival in Columbus, Ohio on October 4th-5th.

As of February 2009 no news has surfaced regarding future episodes, though considering that no direct news of future episodes surfaced from January to August of 2008 (aside from the vague comment made in the aforementioned "Snap, Crackle, Pop!" video), it still seems possible future episodes will be released.

Episodes (Note: Episode 5 is a five-part episode, the link here takes you to part 1. Episode 5 has links to all other parts in the video description of each one.):

Episode 1 - Big Evil Bob and the Free Banana

Episode 2 - Big Evil Bob and the Beach Beauties

Episode 3 - Big Evil Bob and the Full-Proof Plan

Episode 4 - Big Evil Bob Saves Christmas (Part 1)

Episode 4 - Big Evil Bob Saves Christmas (Part 2)

Episode 5 - Big Evil Bob and the Number One Fan (Part 1)

Tropes used in Big Evil Bob include:

Acme Products: Bob's easily-thwarted laser-guided security system in episode 5 is an Acme Product.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In episode 3 Bob is studying "The Prince" by Machiavelli, Sam is studying "Works of Love" by Soren Kierkegaard, and Eddie is reading an Archie Comics Double Digest.
Bad Santa: Played both ways in the Christmas Special, as Bob impersonates Santa in order to depress/offend Sam and Eddie, and then the real Santa appears, and while he's quite jolly to the duo, he expresses the fact that he is "less than pleased with Bob's wicked ways."
Beach Episode: Episode 2, "Big Evil Bob and The Beach Beauties." Subverts the tendency of this trope to feature sexy ladies in skimpy bikinis: it does feature the beach, but despite the title, no characters appear except for Sam, Eddie and Bob, and only Sam and Bob actually appear on the beach. Thankfully, none of THEM wore skimpy bikinis.
Bond Villain Stupidity: Buttermilk could easily have killed Bob, but delayed it in order to spend some time with him before doing so to take advantage of spending a day with his "idol".
Breaking the Fourth Wall: In episode 5, Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick introduces himself as a fan of Bob and references past episodes, going so far as to reference the Youtube channel/username where Big Evil Bob videos are posted (The Real Gentleman). Bob expresses confusion about how Buttwhick could know all about the free banana incident, the trip to Myrtle Beach, the "full-proof plan", or, in Buttwhick's own words, "The Christmas Special". While Buttwhick initially seems Genre Savvy, he ends up being as mentally disorganized and ineffective as Bob himself, or even moreso. Later, Sam and Eddie notice a camera as they leave Bob's house, and run from it fearing "the Government". The view of this camera pans out to reveal Buttwhick inside, watching them on Bob's computer.
Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin': This series is founded on this trope: Bob's sole purpose is to offend, injure, or perhaps even kill Sam and Eddie, yet everything he does is interpreted by them as an incredibly gracious act of friendship. Sometimes, his own stupidity causes things to go wrong, other times Sam and Eddie's stupidity and obviousness are the sole reason Bob never successfully conveys his negative feelings towards them particularly in the third episode, in which Sam and Eddie believe Bob actually "predicted the future" and knew they were going to buy protective athletic cups and then planned for three months to "kick them in the groin to test them"; his clairvoyance was attributed, nonsensically, to simply being "really smart.". As the series progressed, Bob's schemes have actually begun to backfire in a way that causes him physical harm, specifically in the Christmas Special and the fifth and latest episode. However, in both cases, he's also subjected to misfortune at the hands of new characters, and in the case of the latest episode, the reason for this makes very little sense and doesn't follow as any kind of direct, meaningful consequence of his own evil deeds.
Character Development: The series presents the lead character turn from a mean-spirited jerk in the first episode to an enraged psychopath who attempts to set elaborate death traps and mails bombs disguised as Christmas presents. Also, though it is presented in the first episode, there is a trend to increasingly portray Eddie as the smarter of the two, who is, nonetheless, so gullible that he can be easily influenced to believe ridiculous things by the idiot Sam. However, in at least one case, Eddie actually acted in a much more stupid way than Sam when he misread a name tag that said "Santa" as "Satan" and attacked the wearer, Bob. This implies that it may not be a question of which one of them is more intelligent, but rather which one of them is an optimist or a pessimist.
Chekhov's Gun: In episode 5, the lollipops.
Cloudcuckoolander: Pretty much every character in the series could be considered a Cloudcuckoolander. Sam and Eddie are the most obvious examples, constantly interpreting plainly aggressive acts as friendly ones, often by use of the most ridiculous logic imaginable. Bob probably qualifies because he tends to sabotage his own plans by not wanting to spend more time on them, often justifying this by apparently having lost touch with reality; for example, in the Christmas Special, he thinks that a black biker hat, a wig of long, gray hair, a fake black moustache, a pillow under his shirt and a name-tag reading "Santa" is a "good enough" impersonation of Santa Claus, when in fact he barely resembles Santa at all. As a further testament to Sam and Eddie's appropriateness for this trope, they believed it. The "real" Santa Claus may be the only exception, though the ending credits voice-over might mean it is otherwise. In episode 5, Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick proves himself to be perhaps an even greater Cloudcuckoolander than anyone else in the series so far.
Computer Voice: A friendly Computer Voice appears in episode 5, bearing bad news despite the cheery attitude.
Contemplate Our Navels: Sam does this in episode 2 in another example of his tendency to make up ridiculous interpretations of events so that he never notices the real, negative intent behind them. Also, in the beginning of episode 3, Bob is seen reading Machiavelli's "The Prince", Sam is seen reading Soren Kierkegaard's "Works of Love", and Eddie is seen reading an Archie Comics Double Digest. This might technically make Sam The Philosopher.
The End: Features in every episode.
Everything's Better with Bob: Obviously. Or should I say "BO Bviously?" AH HA, HA HA, HA HA, HA...
Everything's Better with Chickens: Episode 5 has several jokes based on chickens, or at least chicken sound effects. None appear on screen, but at the beginning the sounds of them can be heard during an explosion, mention is made that "Bob has plenty of chickens in the washing machine, we don't need to pick anymore" (don't ask), and The Stinger features a shot of a running washing machine with the sounds of upset chickens coming from inside it.
Evil Laugh: Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick does this for an especially long time at the end of episode 5.
Evil Plan: As of episode 3, Bob tries to come up with and successfully execute an Evil Plan in every episode. Naturally, none work.
Finagle's Law: Generally this runs parallel to Can't Get in Trouble For Nuthin' in Bob's case. As mentioned in the section regarding this series' use of that trope, things go wrong for Bob to a ridiculous degree, such as the climax of the third episode. The Christmas Special ups the ante considerably, being the first real example of Bob himself coming to physical harm, and the fifth episode goes even further into surrealism as a vehicle for Bob's misfortune.
Frickin' Laser Beams: Episode 5 features a humorous, and weird, example.
Groin Attack: This is Bob's "Full-Proof Plan" in episode 3.
He Who Must Not Be Heard: In the first couple of episodes, Bob only screams and growls, making him The Voiceless. In the most recent two episodes, he's become a partial subversion of The Unintelligible, as he is able to speak, albeit in a rather caveman-like way, where gradually more and more of his words can be understood. He still mumbles incoherently often, however, though generally the viewer gets a sense of what he means anyway.
Incredibly Obvious Bomb: In the Christmas Special. Also incredibly poorly made ones as well. It's a wonder that they even worked at all.
Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Bob might arguably be an example of this. If not sympathetic, he's at least extremely ineffectual.
Laser-Guided Karma: Santa Claus "gave The Krampus the year off" so he could deal with Bob personally.
Leprechaun: Maybe, or maybe some kind of subversion, as episode 5 villain Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick wears a plastic green leprechaun hat for most of the episode, but the source of his magical fourth wall-breaking powers are never actually explained directly.
Loony Fan: Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick.
Manos: The Hands of Fate: While this is a movie (or so they say) and not a trope, it should be noted that episode 5 is dedicated to "the memory of The Myth, The Man, The Magic: Harold 'Hal' P. Warren." For those who don't know, he directed, wrote and starred in "Manos, The Hands of Fate". This is widely regarded as the worst movie ever made.
Mind Screw: In episode 5, the, um, character referred to as "Buttermild the Gay Lion".
Monster of the Week: The two most recent episodes seem to be setting up a pattern of this, breaking from the original format of having Bob hatch a plan, try to execute it, see it backfire, and then get hurt or enraged, all in under roughly five minutes.
My New Gift Is Lame: Santa gives Sam a Nintendo Wii, and gives Eddie a brown paper bag filled with episodes of "Benson" that he taped off of TV himself, to make it "extra special". Eddie appears less than pleased, but doesn't complain.
Narm: This series apparently has very little if any budget, so this isn't surprising. Though this seems to fit in with the series' intentional goofiness anyway, leading to Narm Charm of a sort. A particular example, however, would be during the fight scene in The Christmas Special: that old stand by, the punch doesn't connect but the guy gets knocked to the ground anyway, as if it had.
Non-Lethal Warfare: In the two latest episodes Bob attempts to use weapons and traps on Sam and Eddie, things that would kill a normal person, but misses them, falls victim to said weapons himself, and comes away stumbling but still alive.
Oh Crap: Bob has a definite Oh Crap moment in the Christmas Special, when he's informed that the nachos he's eating are full of MSG (he apparently has an allergy) and that the milk he attempts to wash it down with comes from a hippopotamus. He looks at the camera and gurgles, before the scene cuts directly to him vomiting violently in a trash can in the garage. Bob also has an Oh Crap moment at the end of the Christmas Special in the post-credits sequence.
The End - or Is It? Over the credits at the end of the Christmas Special, a radio announcer references a dangerous madman recently escaped from a mental institution as having delusions of being Santa Claus. However, "Santa" teleports his Naughty and Nice lists into his hand with a snap of the fingers, disappears/teleports as he walks away at the end, gives Sam and Eddie a Nintendo Wii and other (less glamorous) presents and seemingly broke into the house without any signs of having done so, leaving it unclear whether he really was Santa or a deranged lunatic.
- Another notable example is in episode 5, when, after Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick was shown to literally explode after eating an explosive lollipop, he appeared again at the end, first watching Sam and Eddie on Bob's computer, and then laughing manically right at the camera.
The Parody: Episode 5 borrows elements of Stephen King's novel (and/or the film based on it) "Misery" and the Twilight Zone episode "It's A Good Life" to shape the character of Buttermilk Eugene Buttwhick. A one-off gag, which involves Sam and Eddie laughing in a particularly insane manner might be some sort of thin reference to "Children of the Corn". Same goes for the computer voice, though perhaps suggesting it parodies HAL of 2001: A Space Odyssey is too much of a stretch.
Saving Christmas: The Christmas Special has examples of this. Bob tries sabotaging Saint Nick by pretending to be him, only to inadvertently come to harm that would have otherwise befallen the real Santa and ruined Christmas.
The Scream: Bob's reaction to having his Christmas gift mailed back to him at the end of the Christmas Special. Also, Bob tends to scream at the end of every episode after his plan backfires.
Screams Like a Little Girl: Bob, at the end of episode 4 (The Christmas Special).
Spot the Imposter: Bob and Santa in the Christmas Special.
The Stinger: After the credits of the Christmas Special and episode 5.
Stuff Blowing Up - Episode 4, The Christmas Special, has two off-camera explosions, and episode 5 is full of explosions, featuring a total of four of them, though only two are on camera.
Time Bomb: Two of these are a part of Bob's Christmas capers.
Villain Protagonist: Viewers might be inclined to sympathize with Bob simply because Sam and Eddie are so annoying.
Vomit Discretion Shot: The Christmas Special has a particularly funny one, complete with the trashcan being vomited into shaking violently.
YouTube Poop: Episode 2 features a short YouTube Poop sequence after the credits. Also, a full-fledged YouTube Poop video of various scenes from previous episodes, including some behind-the-scenes material as well as some material from a non-Bob short written, directed and starring the creator of the series. It even features a brief clip of two of the actors/writers in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in a behind-the-scenes shot from episode 2, reciting the famous Mr Simon Alt YouTube Poop logo: "Where There's Smoke, They Pinch Back." Also, while it contains no direct YouTube Poop-based humor, episode 5 includes "The Makers of Youtube Poop" in the credits, as one of the subjects of a Special Thanks.
Zany Scheme: Bob's schemes have been progressively zanier as the series has moved forward from episode 3, going from a simple kick to the groin, to impersonating Santa Claus, to rigging some sort of insane trap that causes an explosion of toilet paper and chicken noises.