CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (4/15/20): CUTE HOUSE

CHRIS' QUARANTINE RECOMMENDATION OF THE DAY (4/15/20): 

CUTE HOUSE

By Chris La Vigna (@Chris_LaVigna)

The title says it all...

I usually try to keep my Q-Recs to a certain length, usually anywhere in the range of ninety minutes to a few hours. This is mostly because I want to recommend a piece of media that's not only good, but will help you pass all the extra time social distancing has given you. It's why I usually go for movies or web series/podcasts with multiple episodes already posted. Well, my pick for today isn't very long, but it's pretty powerful and very, very funny. Today, I'm telling you watch a cool little comedy sketch titled CUTE HOUSE.

Brought to us from sketch comedy group The Dress Up Gang, CUTE HOUSE has a simple setup:  a guy is walking down the street, and stops when he notices this really cute house. Some other guys stop to look at it too. A moment later, the owner of the house comes out, and the guys ask if they can come in. The owner says yes, casually allowing these strangers into his home so that they can discover that the house isn't just cute on the outside--it's cute on the inside too!

This guy has cute plants, cute pets, cute furniture, and a cute Nana who comes over every week to bake cookies. As we discover all of this, different guys keep pouring in to admire the house and remark to each other that everything in there is "cute as fuck." It's all so disarmingly sweet. Aside from the light swearing, there's no aggression or nastiness here; just a bunch of dudes hanging out and admiring another dude's lovely home.

This dude loves his nana. That's cute as fuck, bro.

Later on, the dudes are all chilling, drinking tea and having snacks, when the owner of the house compliments one of the dudes by telling him that his bracelet is cute as fuck. Said dude then casually denies this, replying "c'mon man, no it's not." This causes an immediate turn in the demeanor of the previously nonchalant host. He becomes frustrated by his new friend's refusal to acknowledge his own cuteness. 

Now if you're like me, you probably have a very dark and warped sense of humor, and you're probably assuming that this is the point in the sketch where things take a dark turn. Somebody says something horrible, fists go flying, stuff like that. While it is true that things do get emotional (in a way that's still grounded in the general silliness of the sketch), the sketch goes in a different and far more satisfying direction, one that leads to these dudes helping one of their own embrace his cuteness and reconcile with a past trauma. Seriously, it's as touching as it is hilarious.

Pictured: homies supporting homies.

I think the power of this sketch lies in the fact that it's about a gathering of grown men who are completely comfortable with their masculinity and can just straight up enjoy cute stuff without any need for posturing. There's a lot of openness and emotional vulnerability and no one's made to feel stupid or "less-than-a-man" because of it. Even though media that re-examines gender roles has been fairly popular for a while now, you still see a lot of stories catering to the pre-conceived notions of what manhood is or what defines a man of good character, and more often that not it excludes any of the cool things we see in this sketch. 

I mean, the big emotional climax involves a bunch of guys creating a literal safe space for their friend to explore his feelings! A safe space! You're not supposed to have those! Every hack comedian who peaked in the mid-to-late 2000s has at least one-hour long stand-up special devoted to why safe spaces are the worst thing ever! Don't these dudes know that?! They probably do, but they're doing just fine ignoring all that crap, and maybe a lot of men out there would be too...

Okay okay, I'm getting off my soapbox, now let's wrap this up: CUTE HOUSE is a great little work of art, and even though it's only a little over seven minutes long, the good vibes it'll imbue you with will carry you though the rest of the day. So give it a watch, and check out more sketches from The Dress Up Gang on YouTube. 

Here's another one called "Frankie In The Water." It's not as wholesome, but it's funny as Hell, so it's got that going for it.