Okay, Anchorman, Enough: Champ Kind on The People’s Court

I like the Anchorman movies, as do enough readers that posting about them is usually worthwhile. But this new Funny or Die video is an example of how far not to take the ancillary marketing. What’s good about the Anchorman movies is that they’re surreal and different from your normal SNL alumnus comedy, with a ton of bizarre improvisations. Let us count the sins of this one:

1. Turning what was clearly a non-sequitur improv joke into an actual thing that needed explaning. This is like when the Dumb and Dumber prequel explained the Frieda Felcher joke…and everything else in the Dumb and Dumber prequel.

2. Enough already with jokes about old people having sex for the sake of shock value. When you get old, you’ll want some too.

3. Joke about racism that doesn’t have the balls to actually be about racism.

4. Pop-culture callback as its own joke. Though with that said, it is fun to see Wapner. Definitely, definitely Wapner (and thus I violate my own rule).

5. With that also said, Anchorman is set in the ’70s, and The People’s Court didn’t exist till the ’80s. We must assume Champ Kind took at least half a decade to carry out his plan.

6. Let this please put to rest any possible speculation of a Champ Kind spinoff film.