For the last few years, comedian Jay Mohr has hosted the Interactive Achievement Awards and kicked the show off with a not-for-kids, profane half hour of jokes about the year in gaming. Here are some of the cleaner ones.
Note that one of Mohrâs favorite themes is the lack of diversity in the crowd of several-hundred game designers, executives, public relations people and reporters in the crowd.
-âYou guys might notice we have some women here voluntarily tonight. Thatâs a big moment for us. â
-[After calling attention to a few female game developers in attendance] âThese ladies are all presenting [awards] tonight, just to prove they actually exist. Itâs like how Republicans make their black guy party chairman. See, we have one too? Heâs over here. Donât ask him anything.â
-âMy family and I play Beatles Rock Band a lot. Itâs always tense in the beginning. You have to have the whole âWho is going to be Ringoâ conversation. I tell my son, âIf youâre Ringo, youâll die last.'â
-âHave you guys heard about the game where your wrist gets impaled and pinned down by a huge monster claw thing and you have to cut off your hand if you ever want to get out of there? I think itâs called Working At Activision⊠Thatâs right. I said it. Kathie Lee Gifford thinks you guys are a little harsh. â
-âBy my count Activsion also released 500 Guitar Hero games last year. I think Guitar Hero 5 was the boldest, because, well, you had balls. A Kurt Cobain avatar singing was a little creepy⊠before he started singing Bon Jovi. Are you out of your fucking minds having Kurt Cobain singing Bon Jovi? Thatâs like Elvis singing Hasselhoff. Thatâs not supposed to happen! I donât want Kurt Cobain living on a prayer.â
-âCourtney Love sued, right? You guys know all this. Of course she sued, thatâs like her job, to sue. And she had a point. So I wanted to congratulate Activision. You made Courtney Love look fucking sane. Thatâs probably the most impressive thing you did all year.â
-âI finally got the Indiana Jones sequel I wanted. Itâs called Uncharted 2. No fridges. No monkeys. No fucking Shawn Labeef or whatever the hell he is. Who is this? Where did he come from? Just a man and his stubble, the way it ought to be when youâre home alone playing a video game.â
-âA lot went down this past year. Nintendo dropped the price of the Wii. Nintendo dropped the price of the Wii! Which would be great if everyone in the world didnât already fucking own one. Thatâs mighty white of you! Theyâre like, wait, âWeâve sold every human being on Earth the Wii? Letâs knock the price down.'â
-âBorderlands did very well in 2009. Congratulations on Borderlands. But this is America. We respond well to anything that combines shooting, guns and the word borders. Letâs not get too crazy. Imagine everyoneâs surprise when they found out there were no Mexicans in the game.â
-âI want [EA] to remember to be true to the source and, if youâre going to do [Godfather] part III, make sure itâs disappointing.â
-âHereâs what I really want to ask the folks at EA: Forget the Madden curse. What the hell happened to the guy on your golf game?â
For more, including his routine about masturbating to Bobby Kotick, check for an airing of the awards on the Independent Film Channel, though I have a hunch a lot of this will be edited out. For a full list of the award winners check out our earlier post.