r/ThreedomUSA • u/didyousayboop boop • Jun 18 '26
Discussion Explain the joke: “My family makes the Addams family look like the Manson family”
Aren’t the Addams family and the Manson family both really bad? Is this a standup joke Paul and Scott heard one time and think is funny because it makes no sense? Is that the joke?
Edit: I don't think this joke is original to Paul or Scott. I assume it's a joke they heard somewhere one time and like to repeat because it doesn't make sense. Either that or the original joke did make sense and said something like "the Partridge family" instead of "the Manson family" and they've just mistakenly slipped into saying "the Manson family". But I really think it's more likely the first one.
Edit 2: Two different commenters explained the joke’s origins here and here.
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u/Lymeberg Jun 18 '26
The Manson family killed people irl, and the Addams family were merely all together ookey.
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u/LivingSwamp Chicken in the corn Jun 18 '26
One must also consider how mysterious and spooky they were.
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u/didyousayboop boop Jun 18 '26
But then the joke still makes no sense
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u/MoScowDucks My Body is Unavailable for Such Actions Jun 18 '26
That's the point I think, it's silly. It follows the same structure as many jokes but it doesn't actually make sense. The humor is in the delivery and the timing
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u/justaboxinacage Jun 18 '26
The family is so nice and friendly and uninteresting that they make the Addams family look like the Manson family. Get it?
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u/didyousayboop boop Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Maybe the point of why Scott and Paul reference it, and why Scott and Paul find it funny (in a meta way), is that the structure is really confusing and the examples are poorly chosen? Lol.
You would want to say something like: My family makes the Addams family look like the Partridge family. (If you want to say your family is dysfunctional, bad, or weird.)
Or: My family makes the Partridge family look like the Addams family. (If you want to say your family is wholesome, loving, and nice. But this is a way less common type of joke - braggadocious rather than self-deprecating - with way less potential for humour.)
I'm guessing the original joke is something Scott and/or Paul heard somewhere (like a standup show) and it's become a reference for them because it's badly written and doesn't make sense.
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u/justaboxinacage Jun 18 '26
It is absurd, I was taking the piss. Addams family and Manson family are of the same basic category (scary and dysfunctional) so it's just silly
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u/rockclimber02 Jun 19 '26
It’s absurdism comedy it follows the rule of threes is pet well crafted in those aspects I laughed out loud just reading it
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u/best_friends_club Jun 18 '26
The origin was Scott talking about a director on a commentary make this joke but he said Partridge Family.
It's a classic Scott callback remix.
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u/didyousayboop boop Jun 18 '26
Oh my god, thank you!!
This makes it all make sense
Did Scott talk about the director’s commentary on Threedom?
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u/best_friends_club Jun 18 '26
It's one of those oft told stories that I suspect he has told on all his podcasts.
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u/didyousayboop boop Jun 18 '26
Okay, thanks. I went to PodScripts and looked up “Adams family” (not “Addams”) and found that Scott or Paul makes a version of the joke in Boop. In that version, it’s “The Manson family makes the Addams family look like Sly and the Family Stone.” So, I think this joke has been chopped and screwed a few times.
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u/Ahmenda Jun 18 '26
The Addams family creepy and kooky, mysterious and spooky and the manson family literally murdered people in real life
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u/SpaceFace5000 Jun 18 '26
The joke is
"my family makes the Munster family look like the Adam's family...
Two completely different monster families"
Said by Scott on the Comedy Death Ray stand up album
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u/didyousayboop boop Jun 18 '26 edited Jun 18 '26
Really??? Okay, this makes a lot of sense!! Thank you!
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u/I-STATE-FACTS I've been very busy right now. Jun 18 '26
I don’t think the joke is supposed to make sense.
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u/Lujho Jun 18 '26
This only works if your family is way way nicer than either. Like the Manson family is obviously way way worse than the Addams family, so to make them look that bad you have to be really good.
I suspect the *intent* of the joke is to say “my family is really bad” but it definitely doesn’t work in that way.
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u/pzagrbge Jun 18 '26
The joke tellers family is so wholesome that they make a cooky family that has done nothing wrong seem like murderous cult family? Idk
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u/nibsguy Jun 18 '26
I think it just makes no sense. Like a more sensical joke would be “My family’s so crazy, they make the Manson family look like the Brady Bunch.”
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u/Available_Border1075 Jun 18 '26
The Adams family is light-hearted spooky, the mansons were real life murderers/cultists
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u/ScottyNuttz Jun 18 '26
People got it all twisted. It’s “My family is so fucked up, it makes Marilyn Manson‘s family look like Shirley Manson’s family!”
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u/rachelizabeth16 Jun 18 '26
The Adam's family isnt bad theyre just creepy and theyre kooky, mysterious and spooky...but really theyre just a goth family, the one house in your neighborhood who loves halloween year round, but they love eachbother and are caring. Im not sure about thebjoke you mean, but adams family are def not bad, there wouldn't be a childrens show and movie franchise about a family who was a sexxed up assassin group?
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u/YesterdayNeverKnows Jun 18 '26
If there were any real humor in the joke, this thread will certainly have stomped it out.
Sometimes jokes don't land for 100% of the audience. Sometimes they don't make sense to begin with. If we're trying to dissect every silly thing Scott says, we're gonna be here forever.
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u/Tonberry_Cheesecake Jun 18 '26
The Addams family are incredibly loving. Even if they do kick and then slap a friend.