| Web Soup | |
|---|---|
| Format | Comedy |
| Starring | Chris Hardwick |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Brad Stevens[1] |
| Running time | 22 Minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | G4 |
| Original run | June 7, 2009 – Present |
| Chronology | |
| Related shows | The Soup The Dish Sports Soup Tosh.0 |
| External links | |
| Website | |
Web Soup is a weekly series airing in the U.S. on G4. The show (first airing June 7, 2009), hosted by Chris Hardwick, comments on the latest in viral videos. It has similar fashion to sister network E! Entertainment Television's series The Soup and is produced by the same crew as that show.[2]
During the first 2 seasons, this show was taped in front of a green screen like The Soup. With the third season, the program now tapes on the set usually utilized by E! News with added studio audience seating.
Firsties - This is usually the first segment of the show. Chris said that it was the internet phenom where "Trolls race to be the first to post and write "firsties!!!" as a comment" that prompted the segment's name change (it replaced "The Big Upload"). It is introduced by a gum chewing man (head writer and show runner Brad Stevens[1]) wearing a fake 1970s TV-cop mustache, sunglasses, and headphones recording the title in a sound booth (or some slight variation of this).
Operators Are Standing By - Poorly made local commercials and infomercials are featured here.[3][4] The products shown are then mocked or lampooned. It is introduced by a blank-smiling female telephone operator spinning slowly in her desk chair and saying a different line each week.
Local News: Slowly Dying, But Still Funny - Embarrassing stories and moments from local newscasts are often aired.
Twittershots!! - Hardwick and the staff at Web Soup feed random funny viral videos through their Twitter profile and allowed viewers (or in this case "followers") to submit their own hilarious commentary. Although this went on during the first season, this segment wasn't officially incepted until the show's second season, where the segment's title spoofs Duck Hunt.
Webcam Junction - This segment takes a look at opinionated people who comment through the use of their webcam. Its intro features an archetype country rube standing up shirtless, in overalls, with blackened teeth, Hee Haw-style in a cornfield. Sometimes he has an equally stereotyped female companion.
This Week In FAIL! - A Showcase of hilarious videos of failures such as skateboarding mishaps, and other various stunts gone wrong. For a time during Season One, and throughout Season 2, G4 partnered up with Break.com and revamped this popular segment a month after the show's debut to bring extreme fail content to its viewers.[5] For a couple of episodes, it was titled as "This Week in Amateur Stripper Fail". As of season 3, its new content partner is eBaum's World.[6]
Mixed Nuts Sampler - This segment features videos that show people taking shots to the groin, although they do so mostly intentional than accidental.[7][8] The titlecard of the segment spoofs the Whitman's Sampler package.[9][10]
WTF? - A semi-regular segment featuring a web video which is distinctly odd, baffling, and/or disturbing in some way. Its introduction is a parody of an infamous (and equally disturbing & baffling) scene from the film The Shining.
Is That Really a Thing?! - Another semi-regular bit it showcases web videos which are both bizarre and decidedly sexually fetish in nature. Appropriately it is introduced with a graphic of a red light district showing a store window with a donkey, a sex doll, and a plate of pancakes & syrup.
Things You Can't Unsee - Every week a disturbing, sometimes graphic or even grotesque video is aired. It is always followed by a random cute clip known as Palate Cleanser to try and clear one's mind of the preceding unpleasant video (on September 22, 2009 what Chris Hardwick deemed "The most can't unsee worthy clip ever" displayed a man with a half-dollar size hole in the bottom of his foot, and maggots crawling within the wound).[11]
The Greatest Web Video Ever* (*this week) - A clip considered to be the best clip shown on the internet in the past week. It is introduced Star Wars-style with titles on a moving starfield and the first few bars of a generic (but 'Star Wars-like') main title theme.