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Director’s Notes: 245 - Fridge-worthy
🕑 Added 2024-04-01 19:09:58 +0000 UTCWe get asked from time to time about doing an April Fool’s episode, because we always have a new episode on April 1. It’s not something I’ve strongly considered.
I’m not alone in my dislike of April Fool’s Day as a concept. First, I don’t really like pranking people. The furthest I really go with ever fooling people is having a dry sense of humor. If I deliver a line seriously, it can be believable-sounding, even if it’s an absurd statement. I’d be lying if I said I don’t enjoy that brief moment of confusion. But it’s never my primary goal. I actually prefer an honest laugh to my jokes far more than I like having someone get frustrated with themselves and me.
All of this comes from my own dislike of being taken for a ride. Back in 2010, a sports blog ran an article about the retirement of Dirk Nowitzki. As background, I grew up in Dallas, and Dirk played for the Dallas Mavericks NBA team. He’s my favorite player of all time. And he retired in 2019. Not 2010. But back in 2010, this article caught me by surprise, and it honestly brought tears to my eyes thinking about how much he meant to me and my team. I was shocked and sad. And then I got to the end of the article. “April Fools.”
With respect: fuck you.
I’ve heard about elaborate pranks that went well. All parties involved (both prankers and prankees) had a blast. And good for those folks. I’m not vehemently opposed to April Fool’s Day, but over the years, I’ve grown weary of the whole concept.
This gets me to my second reason for not messing with this “holiday.” Corporate over-use. From basketball writers to multi-national brands, I’m exhausted from being tricked (or worse, not being tricked and just having to roll my eyes at the bad attempts at humor). It leads to a lack of trust with all things news & social media.
In fact, a former co-worker of mine used to joke that his April Fool’s gag was to slash his neighbor’s tires. Sometimes he would trip old people. Of course, my co-worker was being tongue-in-cheek. The satire is in the question of where is the line between funny harm and harmful harm.
Finally, Night Vale itself is weird. It’s filled with absurd humor (e.g. the version of Scrabble in this episode), so I’m not even sure what the content of an April Fool’s episode would be, short of annoying our listeners.
I prefer to annoy our listeners with my dumb jokes and pedantic director’s notes.
Jeffrey Cranor
April 1, 2024
Comments
MaryAnn Miner
I caught that too, and my first thought was “are they messing with the timeline again?” I wonder if as they dive deeper into Abby and Cecil’s dad we might get more inconsistencies/timeline changes.
Julia Diem
Especially considering Steve and his "conspiracy theories" coming into Janice's life and potentially putting her in danger was the whole reason Cecil hated Steve in the first place.
Damo El Diablo
I'm all for good natured fooling, but agree with you Jeffrey on the ones that are intended to distress folks. Something that'll bamboozle and make people laugh or be momentarily bewildered? Great. Something that'll upset people or make them angry/irritated? Nope, do better.
Jeff B
I didn't say it would be a good episode.
Marlo Delfin Gonzales
And for that, I could just turn on NPR.
Susan Sutton
Thank you, agree.
Doni Payne
I also dislike the idea of pranks. A funny bit released for April fools is neat, but not pranks. I also thought maybe a "every thing is normal" sort of episode being the April fools episode for wtnv. It could also be a good day to release an episode like Vermillion falls or a desert bluffs episode? I dunno how well that fits with themeing though
Uura Pohjola
The episode was great, but it bothered me a little bit that when Cecil talked about how he and Abby now have other family members as well, he mentioned Steve coming to picture before Janice, which is incorrect since Steve is Janice's stepfather and became a part of the family later than her. It's not a big deal, but I'm surprised that nobody caught the continuity error in the process, unless it's intentional.
Jeff B
The April Fool's episode of WTNV is one where the only things that happen are things that *wouldn't* be unusual outside of Night Vale. The fun fact science corner would be something innocuous from a kids science book. The horoscopes would be the bland generalities found in a newspaper. And the weather would be an actual weather report.
Maeve Hightower
April Fools is indeed the worst. Especially when people think causing panic is funny.
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