Tasting College Kid Wines with Jake and Amir from College Humor

Tasting College Kid Wines with Jake and Amir from College Humor – Episode #649

March 30, 2009

Gary Vaynerchuk visits the College Humor office to teach Jake and Amir about wine.

Having trouble viewing this video? Try the Quicktime version.

Comments on this episode(470) Leave a comment ›

“Although I’m sure the majority of avid wine library watchers could not…” by New watcher
“Gary brought the thunder as always
Amir is lame and not funny

Ja…” by Thomas Moore
View all 470 ›

Wines tasted in this episode:

2006 Chat.st Michelle Indian Wells RieslingColumbia Valley Riesling
2006 Bodegas Norton Reserve MalbecArgentine Malbec
2006 Chateau Pesquie Les TerrassesVentoux/Luberon/Nimes

Links mentioned in today’s episode.

Amir sinks one from half court

470 Responses

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March 31, 2009

Christopher
I am of the fans of CollegeHumor who discovered this site through the recent crossover. I find Gary very insightful and entertaining. I am not personally interested in wine, but I find his videos interesting nonetheless.

I am sorry that so many WLTV fans were disappointed by the appearance of Jake and Amir. I have taken the time to watch some of Gary’s other videos, and I can see how this episode fails to replicate those other experiences.

However, as other CollegeHumor viewers have mentioned, “Jake and Amir” is a label placed on a specific type of CollegeHumor video skit. In such videos, Amir pursues Jake’s friendship in a particularly fantastic manner. The character of Amir is unintelligent, unoriginal, and often unstable, while Jake is resentful and abusive but relatively normal.

Amir and Jake, the actors, take on these roles specifically for these skits. In their MTV show, Hardly Working videos, and even in the Prank Wars video linked above, Amir and Jake play more reasonable facsimiles of themselves.

Gary, however, hosted a show with Jake and Amir playing characters from the “Jake and Amir” skits. This was probably a mistake. The “Jake and Amir” skits depend upon a kind of relationship between the two that is disruptive and disrespectful. Neither of those characteristics is conducive to a successful or productive critique of wine. Neither Jake nor Amir would be interested in such a pursuit. Thus, neither actor portrayed their character as particularly interested in tasting wine.

Gary probably should have requested different CollegeHumor actors or that Jake and Amir come as themselves instead of their characters. The distinction is difficult to understand when dealing with actors who play exaggerated characters that share their names. A similar analogy might be having Stephen Colbert on the show. The character Stephen Colbert is extremely different from the actor.

As a CollegeHumor and “Jake and Amir” fan, I was delighted to see the characters engage in the setting of Gary’s wine show. However, if I were a WLTV viewer, I would probably suggest that Gary avoid similar situations in the future. I am sure it is tempting, while watching “Jake and Amir” skits, to wonder if they would be interesting to meet and discuss wine with, but, as this video shows, you cannot then expect your characters to behave reasonably.

I disagree with those viewers who find Jake and Amir childish or feel that they reflect a decline in the quality of humor, whether at the college level or otherwise. I think that “Jake and Amir” skits display a continually progressing relationship that relies on a deeper understanding of the characters and their history rather than quick, disposable jokes. “Stupidity jokes” are funny, and “Jake and Amir” skits are full of them, but the series has continually relied more heavily on the viewers’ familiarity than their attraction to clownish behavior.

I am sorry that Jake and Amir disappointed WLTV fans, but I really hope that they might be willing to put aside their disappointment in the episode as a guide to the consumption of wine and examine it more thoroughly for whatever comedic value may exist.
March 31, 2009

Amber
To Jay, who wrote “No, kids, this show … has a negative impact on both aspects of his brand … If they’re watching the episode for Jake and Amir, they’re not your relevant audience”

Perhaps it is you who need a lesson in marketing strategy. The value was not in having Jake and Amir (J&A) as guests on the site, but in the link to WLTV that was placed on J&A’s blog. J&A have more than 70K readers from Google Reader *alone* — a substantially sized new audience. Having that audience just click on the link and see WLTV’s web site raises the awareness of Gary’s brand.

Now consider if only 1% of the people who clicked on that link actually became WLTV fans, Gary has just expanded his audience base by at very least 700. As these 700+ new fans become more involved in the wine field as a result of WLTV, they will likely tell their friends about WLTV, thereby further increasing Gary’s audience base.

In fact, just the increased awareness about WLTV that will result from this flamewar is a plus for Gary. Can you imagine how many hits he is getting on his site because of this one controversial episode? And as many of you Vayniaks have pointed out, there are 600+ episodes of WLTV that you love, so it’s not likely that he’ll lose his existing audience base just because of one episode.

So in the end, this was a win for Gary because he gained more brand recognition by placing WLTV in front of a huge, untapped audience.
Several of you suggested Gary should have invited real college students from a local wine appreciation club on the show. Do you get the point that this would not have gained him the huge audience base that linking to J&A already successful empire did? At the most, those “real” kids would have told their friends and family to watch the episode and Gary’s already established fans would have snootily said “bravo, Gary, for reaching out to those poor uneducated kids. We’ve done our good deed for the day. QOTD: I’d rather not mention how much I spent…. Let’s just say it started with a K and ended with a G” No expansion, no brand awareness… just stuffy wine snobs happy that their latest installment of WLTV was to their liking.
March 31, 2009

Anonymous Commenter
I am a Jake and Amir fan, but I was looking forward to their serious opinions on the wine. I really can’t tell if they had no opinion about what they were drinking or if they were just trying to stay in character. Their characters even started to deteriorate at the end making for a somewhat painful viewing experience. Maybe they can do another episode where they are out of character? Would anyone even want to watch?
March 31, 2009

J Mize
Hey love College Humor and Wine library tv but I agree with most of the posts. This was disappointing, the first two college humor people were better.

QOTD:Tardieu Laurent Chat-du-Pape, and NO I would not buy it from Amir, a little slow.
March 31, 2009

ZJK
Hey Gary, The episode was hilarious and its the first time ive heard of these guys, sad, i know. I have been checking out their videos, its funny because they feed off of eachother sooo well… i love seeing new guests keep em coming GARYVEE
March 31, 2009

Howitzer
Gary,
I came to watch a new episode but there wasn’t one posted so I started reading the comments from yesterdays show. Most of them agreed with me that the show just didn’t work.
I hated to see the personal attacks both by the Vayniacs towards Jake and Amir and from a number of Jake and Amir fans against many of the WTV core fans. I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on our opinions regarding this episode and the type of humor Jake and Amir provide.
I did appreciate that Amir took the time to post a comment to apologies to those who did not like the show and say the idea to do the show “in character” was their idea and the onus should be on he and Jake.
I thought it was a stand up thing to do and I respect him for it.
For the record I went back and watched the video that was linked and I have to admit it was pretty funny.
Keep up doing the show you want to do.
H
March 31, 2009

Alex
Why are people who aren’t familiar with Jake and Amir judging this episode? It makes no sense. Gary obviously would not have wanted to do this with Jake and Amir not being in character, because then it would just be the Sarah and Streeter episode all over again.

Amir’s character is a 6 year old in a 25 year old’s body, and Jake’s character is just him dealing with the obnoxious stupidity that constantly comes out of Amir’s mouth.

Stop complaining about a “lack of respect” etc. etc. because this particular episode was designed for it. Stop being such pretentious snobs, sorry other peoples lives aren’t as ridiculously serious as yours.
March 31, 2009

A dumb Rhine king
Crap! Now I got the theme to the facts of life stuck in my head from my previous comment.
March 31, 2009

Rick D
Sorry about the train wreck. The boys need to stick with college humor. I couldn’t even watch much of the show. I skipped ahead to the Chateau Pesquie since I have a few bottles aging.

Hope tomorrow is better.
March 31, 2009

Rizzo Tees
You didn’t “let us down.” Gimme a break, it was fine.
March 31, 2009

Tom W
Look, I understand that College Humor wants to keep it funny. and they should.

However, I don’t think Amir gave a good effort into keeping the show both funny and worthwhile. If you look at the last collegehumor episode, I give props to Streeter for actually giving in some input. And really, that show was hilarious, even though it did lose only *some* wine education in the process.

I give mad props to Jake – although he was harrassing Amir a little bit (Amir deserved it) he gave some nice input and respected Gary’s space for the show, not just wine in general.
March 31, 2009

Paul Stonier
I’m a big fan of Jake and Amir. When I heard the concept for the episode, I was psyched. The show was ok. There were a few laughs, but a little more respect and a little less character would’ve brought the show to the level it needed to be at. Either way, in the right context each party brings crazy thunder and I appreciate them immensely.
March 31, 2009

Dan
They were in character! Haha!
If you actually watch “Jake and Amir,” you’d find this hilarious.
March 31, 2009

A dumb Rhine king
Meh, not good. Whatever though, I know you don’t edit, so you take the good, you take the bad.

I did check out the CH though. It was hilarious, especially the inappropriate DirectHD commercials. Jake and Amir were pretty good too. Maybe they just suck at impromptu or had a bad day. Just because an actor is “in character” doesn’t mean they’re doing a good job. I saw the character that Amir plays, and it is much better on the show.

QOTD: Either you are very clever and are asking an intelligent, tongue in cheek question, or accidentally did so. Either way, no. In my head, I liken the wine industry to the fashion industry, both are extremely susceptible to trends and hype. There are some people who are not prone to that and then there are people who are so concerned about status that if something is endorsed by a celebrity that they adore, they are willing to pay anything for a lesser product; I would like to consider myself a member of the former category. Well, that and I’m not a huge fan.
March 31, 2009

Colleen
If your a Jake and Amir fan then you would think it is funny. They were in character. That’s what Amir’s character is like.
March 31, 2009

Bob T
Gary, U R Out Of Your Enviroment. Gary & Geeks R As Exciting As A Snot Bubble.
March 31, 2009

Pete G
Interesting show. Not my most favorite forum but eh something different.

QOTD: A “98 Dom P. No I would not buy it from Amir at 2X $
March 31, 2009

ben from boston
This episode could go down as a major turning point for Gary, and an opportunity to really open peoples minds across all demographics. This “controversy” can only serve to strengthen the Gary Vaynerchuk brand in my mind. Also I think some Vayniacs need to start approaching life the way Gary approaches wine and open their minds and hearts to something new and even uncomfortable at times. That’s what pushing boundaries is all about. I think its clear that Gary enjoyed himself making this episode and is probably shocked by the negative reception, but that is the nature of the business, you cant please all the people all the time if you want to also be original and funny.
March 31, 2009

BrianAF
I thought the two guests completely disrespected the show by not taking it serious in the least. Being distracting and incoherent is not humor, colllege or otherwise. I love college humor videos, but there are a thousand ways to be funny, and being immature to the point where you start to take away from the show is not one of them. It was as if they got together before taping and thought up of ways to make the show as awkward as possible. Gary you did a nice job keeping cool, but man that must have been tough, JUST TASTE THE WINE AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK! IS THIS THAT HARD TO DO?! College Humor? More like elementary idiots.
March 31, 2009

Stephen Leighton
GV I love you but I can not watch this all the way through these guys are sooooo lame
March 31, 2009

Walter
This is a hilarious video…. my pity goes out to those who are too pretentious and stiff to appreciate this comedy…
March 31, 2009

Cuse Wino
Mixed reviews and I will say take it for what it was. Some funny stuff, some repetitive jokes and little wine knowledge. Will be back for the next episode
March 31, 2009

Nick G
I’m a CKC, and I have been a devoted watcher for quite a while (I have the original black wrist band). I read quite a few posts, man this is a heated one. If you didn’t like it, you should look at it as being one of the few mediocre ones out of many incredible shows. If you did like it, that’s great. Gary is just going outside the box, and trying to bring new people to wine, which is what the world needs (although more wine drinkers means higher demand, and therefore higher prices. Oh well, it’s worth it!). It was not my cup of tea, but I’m sure it reached someone. Thank you for doing what you do, and keep up the good work Gary!
March 31, 2009

mrfroopy
If this is the future of America, then I am even more scared than I was before.. I hate to say it but that’s not college humor, its the humor of 12 year olds who think its college humor.. sorry, kind of sad.. again.. this is web 2.0? They might be clever in some way but not clever enough. I know tons of actually funny people this age.
March 31, 2009

maike
geez, reading these comments… these people obviously have no idea who jake and amir are.
they’re playing CHARACTERS.
the awkward-ness is on purpose.
so chill the fuck out.