Baggin' On the Sea King, or: The Comedy Meme that Ate Atlantis

by Glen Weldon

Aquaman. King of the Seven Seas. Swift and Powerful Monarch of the Ocean.

Dude can't catch a break.

In the popular mindset, he's become a quite literal joke, and a tired one.

And so to all those cut-ups, wags and wacky funsters who have helped to spread the now pervasive "Aquaman is Lame" meme, I say this:

Enough. Basta. Move on.

Credit where it's due, though: Thanks to you, said meme itself — the very act of pointing out that the highly specific nature of Aquaman's power-set would logically circumscribe his effectiveness as a deterrent of crime and administrator of justice (i.e., "The guy talks to FISH!") — is now officially the hoariest, hackiest arrow in the quiver of pop-culture commentary.

Qua humor, it is to our Internet Age what "And what is the deal with airline peanuts?" was to the skinny-necktie 90's.

It is not remotely fresh; it is fresh's antithesis, its polar opposite, its mortal enemy. It's what steps onto the Enterprise wearing a goatee after a transporter malfunction strands Fresh Himself in the anti-matter universe.

Stephen Colbert, bless him, recently managed to put a silly new spin on the Aquaman joke. (It's right around the one-minute mark). It's not bad, actually, as Aquaman gags go -- just dumb enough to crack Colbert up, which is fun.

But that's the exception. The rule itself is pretty grim.

After the jump, a short history of the Aqua-gag, involving Dave Chappelle, Craig Ferguson, Family Guy, Entourage, and the many others who've mistaken the Sea King's orange tunic for Komedy Gold.

We can't be certain precisely when Aquaman began to get singled out for Lame-o status, but there are signs.

• In the '60s, he had his own cartoon series, which cast him as a sort of sheriff of the underwater realm — courageous, dynamic, a mentor who was always in save-the-day mode. The only thing lame about him at that point was the show's animation, which really was pretty awful.

• In the '70s he co-starred in another cartoon series, Super Friends, and here's where the damage to his rep was likely done. (Though the first signs of it wouldn't be seen until years later.) This is the Aquaman who entered the consciousness of a generation — a smiling blond doof who didn't get much to do and sort of tagged along on missions.

• Throughout the '80s and '90s, Aquaman went through enormous changes in the pages of his comic book(s). Meanwhile, a few Aquaman jokes crept into the script of the 1988 Tom Hanks/Sally Field movie Punchline. Let's just say this didn't exactly catapult the character into the center of the cultural zeitgeist.

But then, on June 27, 1997, something happened. That night, on Comedy Central's Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, a young stand-up comic named Dave Chappelle shared some of his thoughts on the relative merits of Aquaman. This, evidently, was the seed.

Soon after that, Aquaman came in for more sustained satirical drubbing on the
popular (and profane) Web site of a humor writer with the nom de web of Seanbaby.

And then the deluge.

Soon he came to be little more than a figure of fun. In song. On the stage. In stand-up. On blogs and message boards. And, inevitably, on Facebook.

And oh, how he was and continues to be mocked on TV.

The second season of HBO's Entourage was essentially an extended Aquaman gag.

Family Guy has gone back to the Aqua-well several times over the years. (FOX doesn't appreciate our linking to the scenes, but they're only a Google search away.)

Here's the Aquaman-is-a-Putz gag in the form of a commercial.

In a running skit on CBS' The Late Late Show, host Craig Ferguson plays Aquaman as an advice columnist. Like Colbert, Ferguson earns points for twisting the Aquaman-is-Lame formula until it turns silly, and sorta charming.

And when it comes to making fun of Aquaman, Cartoon Network has been like a dog with a bone.

To be fair, not all the news has been bad for the guy. He does have some valiant online defenders, passionate devotees, and painstaking chroniclers. (Full disclosure, I've got a dog in this fight myself, albeit one who cusses like a sailor, so be warned.

In sum: Seriously, people, give it a rest. The time has come for all of us — bloggers, stand-ups, and the legions of bored teens who post "Aquaman parody" videos to YouTube (I'm not gonna link to any, because they tend toward interminable ghastliness) — to observe an Aquamoratorium.