Welcome to the Cracked newsletter!

This issue is about funny tweets, brutal burns, meta jokes, trivia tidbits, and much more.

Was this email forwarded to you? Subscribe here.

Conspiracy Theories That Started As Jokes

Here in the dumbest timeline, most conspiracy theories sound so stupid that you have to think they must be joking. It wouldn’t be at all surprising to learn, for example, that at least some of those responsible for propagating QAnon or the flat earth theory are doing it “for the lulz,” as they say, but until they own up to it, we can only speculate. 

Some conspiracy theories, however, are definitively documented as jokes that simply got way out of hand. Such as…

The 50 Greatest Meta Jokes in Movie History

We’re obviously completely self-aware that we’re publishing this list the Monday after Deadpool & Wolverine made $205 million at the box office. That’s the whole point of being meta, right? Or if you want to get Merriam-Webster involved, something that “shows or suggests an explicit awareness of itself or oneself as a member of its category: cleverly self-referential.” 

That said, when it comes to movies, this kind of self-awareness can cover a wide range of narrative devices. A character quietly acknowledging the audience can be meta. Other times, meta scenes can intentionally break apart a film’s reality. Meta doesn’t even necessarily need to be done for the sake of humor either, as plenty of movies — from Frederico Fellini’s 8½ to the horror thriller Funny Games — get meta without much humorous intention.

TWEET OF THE DAY

ARTICLES | PICTOFACTS | VIDEOS