Oh, Nostalgia: Foamy the Squirrel

In the end-days of Web 1.0, humor went through an unusual phase. Sites like Funnyjunk and Albinoblacksheep reigned supreme, trying to pass nonsensical crap off as comedy while infecting our computers with viruses. And don’t deny it- you ate that shit up. With the inception of Youtube, videos of sneezing kitties and bropranks caught the eye of the Internet collective, and the ‘random’ humor of old was quickly abandoned. While nobody thinks a singing man-head in makeup is funny these days, random humor is an integral part of many of our childhoods. With this in mind, I invite you on a trip down Memory Lane, where we will smile at our blossoming tastes in media and wonder why the hell we thought our once-beloved videos were funny. Our stop: Ill Will Press.

Ill Will Press is the home of Neurotically Yours, the quintessential Web 1.0 flash cartoon. It has everything- a squirrel named Foamy, toasters, ADHD, “doom”, goth kids, ‘edgy’ content, and a colossal helping of angst. If you fit the Oh Internet! demographic, you were in your early-to-mid teens when Neurotically Yours’ popularity skyrocketed, and you most probably loved it. Filled with profanity and hatred, it was the coolest of the cool to us angsty tweens who could barely sneak into a PG-13 film. I remember sitting around the old computer with my friends, howling with laughter at the videos and agreeing with all the rants made by the furry author avatar we know as Foamy. Nowadays, things are different. Watch this video and try to laugh. I challenge you.

No luck? That’s because it is not funny. Random humor is an inherently immature form of comedy, and if you’re aging correctly, you should have grown out of it. Such is life.

What nostalgia appeal would be complete without a “where are they now”? You can see for yourself what has become of Ill Will Press. Compare it to an archived snapshot taken during the peak of its popularity. Little seems to have changed in terms of video content, but damn! Foamy’s creator is pimping out his creation for all that it’s worth. The page is crawling with ads for DVDs, sketches, teeshirts, mp3s (why anybody would want to listen to an angry squeak through their headphones is beyond me), and books. A comic collection has also been added to the site. Neurotically Yours’ creator seems to be trying to milk his cartoon for as much money as possible before it comes to a timely end.

Surprisingly, that end doesn’t seem to be coming quite that soon. Based upon the Youtube hits Neurotically Yours has been receiving, it still seems to have some fans. Perhaps today’s confused preteens have found joy in the ranting squirrel, or maybe some of us have clung to this piece of web history through the years. The Youtube comments offer no insight, as all Youtube comments are illiterate. Regardless of who Foamy’s current fans are or what becomes of Ill Will Press, Foamy will always be there for us when we need a good dose of web nostalgia.