The Volokh Conspiracy
[Orin Kerr, December 28, 2007 at 2:59pm] Trackbacks
Tom Goldstein's iPhone:
For Supreme Court geeks, this is really funny.
Blackberry:
Please explain (anyone, not necessarily Prof. Kerr). I've watched it twice, and other than the obsession with the Supreme Court and the "Paul Clement won't return my calls" gag, I just don't get it. Perhaps I'm only a journeyman Supreme Court geek...
12.28.2007 2:43pm
ifoughtthelaw (mail) (www):
That was painful.
12.28.2007 2:47pm
Westie:
That's worth it just for the opening photo album; definitely worth a guffaw.
12.28.2007 3:44pm
Thinker:
Be Still my Geeking Heart.....
12.28.2007 3:52pm
David M. Nieporent (www):
Blackberry: you can't explain a joke. Just trust me, it was funny.
12.28.2007 3:52pm
Brad D. Bailey (mail):
David,

There are three times when you laugh at a joke:

Once, when you hear it.
Once, when it's explained to you.
And, once, when you understand it.

You are correct, it was funny.
12.28.2007 4:07pm
Blackberry:
Lots of jokes can be explained, though I'll admit that not all of them can.

If you can't explain the actual joke, can you tell me in what way it's funny? Is it, for example,

* funny because you're laughing at Goldstein for promoting himself while feigning humility?
* funny because you're laughing with Goldstein for being a hopeless Supreme Court geek by having an iPhone full of professional-looking photos of Supreme Court justices and Supreme Court bar types?
* funny because it's a takeoff on an actual iPhone commercial that I simply haven't seen?
* funny in a cute way?
* funny in a vomit-inducing way?
* funny in a geek porn way?

I'm more confused than anything, but if it's truly inexplicable then I'll let it rest.
12.28.2007 4:59pm
Mike& (mail):
Most (or at least many) geeks would be more concerned about having Paul Clement return one's call than the hottie met at the bar last night. After all, there are many attractive people. There is only one Solicitor General.

Unless you have much more game than I, at some point you have sat around obsessing over whether a given person was going to return your call. So it's funny in the sense that, instead of "stalking" some hottie, he's tripping because Clement hasn't returned his call.

To me, that's hilarious. To you, it might not be.

Many things in life are like that.
12.28.2007 5:15pm
CarolynElefant (mail) (www):
I don't know if the video is funny or not, but in my mind, it's masterful marketing. I posted about the video on my site, MyShingle.com and was just interviewed about use of lawyer videos, such as Goldstein's and others for Lawyers Weekly (granted, it's not the NY Times, but it does have a fairly high circulation rate among solo and small firm lawyers). And when the next coveted high tech copyright or First Amendment/school blogger case or high tech patent or antitrust case heads for the USSC, will you all still be laughing when the case goes to Goldstein?
12.28.2007 5:53pm
Wondering Willy:
Lame.
12.28.2007 7:11pm
Goldstein fan:
Doesn't TG get pretty much every SCOTUS case these days? It seems like it, anyway.

I didn't think the skit was that funny, but the idea definitely had potential. If a few of the story lines were developed a bit more, some of the lines were adjusted, and the timing were slightly improved: GOLD. Perhaps Akin Gump would be interested in hiring a comedy writer to its staff.
12.28.2007 11:16pm
Apodaca:
Nieporent:
Blackberry: you can't explain a joke.
Au contraire, mon vieux. As Henri Bergson writes in his seminal Le rire (1901),
Il suffira, pour s’en convaincre, de remarquer qu’un personnage comique est généralement comique dans l’exacte mesure où il s’ignore lui-même. Le comique est inconscient. Comme s’il usait à rebours de l’anneau de Gygès, il se rend invisible à lui-même en devenant visible à tout le monde.
12.29.2007 7:42am
Rubber Goose (mail):
Heck, I am so not a SC geek (didn't know who Goldstein is, only vaguely recognized Clement's name), and I still thought it was very funny and very well done.
12.29.2007 11:38am
On The Way...:
So... does Mr. Goldstein simply like the music from the Thomas Crown Affair, or does that somehow tie into being a SC geek?

All in all, it was a cute spoof.
12.30.2007 12:37am

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