A lot of movies these days are “From The Guys Who Brought You” some other movie. Of course, “From The Guys Who Brought You” is a perfectly bland way of saying — if you liked Superbad, you’ll like Forgetting Sarah Marshall. I did like Superbad, and I did like Forgetting Sarah Marshall. However, this dumb marketing phrase has inflicted a greater wound on society.
Recently, a waiter said to me: “And now your entrée, From The Guys Who Brought You… your appetizer.” Oh, God no. “From The Guys Who Brought You” has infected the world of unfunny people trying to be funny. Like “What Happens In Vegas, Stays In Vegas” before it, this little phrase has leaked out of the marketing world, gained cultural traction, mutated, and now every NPR-level recreational humorist thinks this:
WHEN YOU APPLY THE PHRASE “FROM THE GUYS WHO BROUGHT YOU” TO SOMETHING THAT ISN’T A MOVIE, THE NEW PHRASE EQUALS… A JOKE.
And it does not. But the damage is done. All the real-life Alton Browns in the world just got that much more unbearable. Before long, high school history teachers trying to connect with their jenkem-addled students, will be saying “World War II, From The Guys Who Brought You… World War I.” Political jokers, making their smart points, will complain about “melting icecaps, From The Guys Who Brought You… global warming.”
The only way to tell when this new, insufferable “joke” has run its course is when it trickles down to my Mom. But please let me not be there when it happens. (Great lady, but she still thinks nothing of saying “Why Don’t You Tell Me What You Really Think?”)