Recently I saw a T-shirt with a picture of a man smoking a pipe along with the word ‘Bob’ and nothing else. I had never seen Bob before and for some reason I found the shirt incredibly funny so I bought it thinking it would be my private little joke.
I was therefore a little surprised to see today’s Weird Earl’s which features Bob in the role of a mystic 8-ball. A quick google search on ‘Bob’ brings up this parody cult website which leads me to believe Bob is something of an internet celebrity but I still have no idea where he originates from.
voguevixen, I don’t know about the “personalized” Harriet Carter stuff, as I’m a Fingerhut and Lillian Vernon gal myself. But could be, could be. Disciples of Bob Dobbs are everywhere, you know! My guess, however, is that what you’re seeing is probably just a coincidence…
I think I do remember learning years ago that Discordians were to eschew hot dog buns, though. Am I nuts or am I remembering this correctly? Now there’s a sacrifice!
One of the biggest in-jokes of all time. So big I’m not sure it can even be called an in-joke anymore.
Things you might recognize which contain subgenius references:
Devo Slacker
Many, many, pink advertising campaigns touched by the Reverend Ivan Stang, who pretends to be an advertising executive during the day. (Not all of which are as obvious as the old Doritos campaign from the early 90’s.)
KMFDM Twin Peaks The Appletons
Get involved with the church and you will recognize a lot of pranks that go over most folks’ heads. Unless blood-tests determine that you have and insufficient representation of yeti DNA in your genetic makeup, in which case your memory will be wiped and you will return to work for the Conspiracy, having been hypnotised into believing that the Church is just a bunch of hedonistic yahoos and probably not worth thinking about.
Once you grow in the Church, though, you will learn many a shocking secret about things which you have previously taken for granted, should you choose to believe them.
Creaky, you are correct. A Discordian shall partake of no hot dog buns, for such was the solace of Our Goddess when She was confronted with the Original Snub.
To me, the most appealing aspect of the Church of the Subgenius is the Short Duration Personal Savior, or “ShorDurPerSav.” Here’s a little blurb from The Book of the Subgenius:
Even Bob Dobbs, the Avatar of Slack, can’t meet all your needs all the time. Lean on him when you need to, and when you’re done, kill him! Wouldn’t be the first time; he’s been assassinated before (though some say he assassinated himself).
Anyway, Bob isn’t really a savior–he’s a salesman. He doesn’t offer redemption for our sins; he offers an excuse. And on a practical level, isn’t that what you’d really rather have?
Then when X-Day comes at last, and the mortgage is due on planet Earth, Bob will send the Flying Saucers of the Sex Goddesses to take us up to Planet X, where we’ll spend eternity fornicating and smoking frop. (What did you think was in that pipe he smokes?) If not, he guarantees to return your soul and double your money back. It may be triple; I don’t remember. Either way, it’s a better deal than you get from your average church.
Yes, it’s a joke. But I think the point of it is that it makes about as much sense as most other religions.
