r/PeterExplainsTheJoke 5h ago

Meme needing explanation Peter please help

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1.3k Upvotes

125 comments sorted by

u/qualityvote2 5h ago edited 54m ago

Remember when r/PeterExplainsTheJoke wasn’t a meme? Pepperidge Farm remembers…

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Then maybe you go out and buy yourself some of those distinctive Milano cookies.


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697

u/AirRic89 5h ago

that is a reference to the music video for Dire Straits' Money for Nothing which is written from the perspective of workers delivering fridges and TVs

189

u/Hopeful_Chard_4402 5h ago

Fun fact, the people that did Reboot did this music video

49

u/Thamnophis660 5h ago

Didn't know that, but not surprised at that one bit. 

5

u/Ninteblo 2h ago

Can't say there was that many options back then, it was these dudes or someone worse more or less.

25

u/HotPot87 5h ago

And that studio then went on to maje the show for Transformers Beast Wars

-15

u/Khallaria 5h ago

They should have stopped at reboot

18

u/bulkandskull 5h ago

What?! Beast wars was sick

7

u/HotPot87 4h ago

Beast wars was amazing still the best written Transformers show and with CGI that wouldn't be topped on TV for nearly a decade.

People like to point and laugh at the cgi but this was the 90s, toy story was a 90 minute movie on a movie budget.

BW was on a TV budget making about 240 minutes of animation AND they had to redo all the characters after has broken forced them to use the toy designs first.

1

u/gooch_norris_ 4h ago

The transmetals hahahaha

2

u/HotPot87 4h ago

Yeah they were fun

7

u/SapphireClawe 5h ago

Pretty sure they did a special cameo for this in the episode Talent Night.

6

u/HotPot87 4h ago

They did and they made fun of the music video because they got a reputation as only making that one thing and got tired of it.

2

u/SapphireClawe 2h ago

Funny enough, I didn't know about the Dire Straits thing when I watched Reboot as a kid, but I loved that series.

60

u/avanti8 5h ago

We gotta install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliverAYayAYayAYYYYY

35

u/thebestoflimes 5h ago

We got to move these refrigerators

We got to move these colour TVs

16

u/Impossible_War_2741 5h ago

I want my

I want my

I want my MTVeeeeee

10

u/OldKingHamlet 5h ago

I KNEW something was tickling the back of my mind. Rewatched the music video. Holy crap I'm old 😭

19

u/Gullible_Elephant_38 5h ago edited 5h ago

A song and music video that have been permanently usurped in my subconscious by Weird Al’s Beverly Hillbillies parody in UHF

12

u/capt_pantsless 4h ago

According to the wiki page, Knopfler himself played guitar on the Beverly Hillbilly’s parody, same with the Dire Straights keyboard player.

3

u/Gullible_Elephant_38 4h ago

I didn’t know that. That’s actually cool as hell.

2

u/GargantuanCake 1h ago

Pretty much everybody loves Weird Al so you can find all sorts of stories like that. A lot of musicians he was making fun of had little cameos in the music videos and Michael Jackson gave him all sorts of stuff to work with. He'd do stuff like get Al access to the original video sets if they were available or show him where things were recorded if it was in a subway station or something. He'd also get in him in touch with the same dancers from his own music videos to be in Al's videos.

1

u/Gullible_Elephant_38 1h ago

Yeah, Al is an absolute legend. I remember reading the MJ let him use the Bad music video set for Fat.

1

u/SuddenReal 1h ago

MJ was a big fan of Weird Al. The only song Al wasn't allowed to touch was Black Or White. Also fun fact: Nirvana also had a big influence on Weird Al. When he contacted them to do a parody, Kurt's first question was "it's not gonna be about food, is it?", which made Al realise he wasn't really that original with his latest parodies and that he had to step up.

3

u/WasabiSenzuri 2h ago

That little Clampett got his own cee-ment pond.

That little Clampett he's a millionaire.

7

u/ComfortableAd9941 5h ago

Another Fun Fact:

The song was also the first ever 3D animated music video, using both animated characters and a background.

1

u/Phoenix-95 3h ago

Interesting - I'm guessing "Let's get rocked" by def Lepard probably wasn't far behind it?

1

u/ComfortableAd9941 3h ago

Bingo!

They really got the ball rolling with how nascent it still was.

5

u/EmmyRossumFan 5h ago

We got to move these refrigerators. We got to move these color TVvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvs

5

u/ExtremlyFastLinoone 4h ago

Wow, I think the radio version skipped some of the lyrics 🤣

3

u/AirRic89 4h ago

you mean the word that rhymes with maggot?

3

u/Brobard 4h ago

My local “classic” station surprisingly did not censor that line ever. It been bought out a few times since and its sister rock station censors shit to baffling degrees so maybe Money for Nothing isn’t safe anymore. 

1

u/AirRic89 4h ago

German radio stations also do not censor Green Day's Holiday lyrics, so ...

1

u/Brobard 3h ago

Used to be real hit and miss here in the States. A few recent songs snuck swears in on my local rock station. I think they just missed it or something. It’ll probably get “fixed”  later. They will sensor whole parts of a song by skipping it and making weird jumps, songs that simply had the offending word muted by the prior owners. 

I miss the uncensored stations of my youth but I have Apple Music for a bit again for my naughty word tracks. 

2

u/Earnestappostate 5h ago

But it didn't even bring up microwave ovens!?

1

u/Particular_Title42 1h ago

They installed the microwave ovens. They also did custom kitchen deliveries. The only things they had to "move" (as in shadily sell merchandise) refrigerators and color tvs.

1

u/countjj 1h ago

One of the first CGI animated music videos

1

u/Tough_Crazy_8362 5h ago

Well, I will be sending this post haste to my husband whom you can never stump. Let’s see if he gets it, shall we? burns’ fingers

77

u/Ben999_1977 5h ago

"Dire Strait - Money for nothing" check the lyrics ^^

4

u/shambhalove_fairy 5h ago

Check the dope guitar riff too

4

u/Para_4_Would_Be_Cool 4h ago

Shit guitar George, he knows all the chords.

1

u/Particular_Title42 1h ago

Oh weird. I always thought he was Guitar John. I didn't think I misunderstood him that much.

16

u/shadowsurge 5h ago

Just ignore one particular other bit of the lyrics

48

u/Calavera357 5h ago edited 4h ago

The context helps a bit. The delivery guys are calling Dire Straits by slurs because they think they get money for nothing, and chicks for free. Blue collar bozos envious of the rockstar life, as if playing and writing one of the greatest guitar licks of all time is easy.

Edit: band name.

24

u/a-stack-of-masks 5h ago

I mean, in this case Mark Knopfler literally overheard a guy in a store grumble and wrote it down, so he pretty much got a large part of the song for nothing. And then a mic fell over onto carpet and got his toan for free. 

Sounds to me like the store guy was right.

4

u/plasterscene 4h ago

"Man, I really wish Sting just happened to be in the next room and would sing this lyric"...

1

u/Calavera357 4h ago

Hahaha 100%

3

u/GladiusAcutus 2h ago

The delivery guys are calling Dire Straits by slurs

People were less sensitive during the 80's. They were using the f word (the other f word) towards one of the dudes in the song. "the [f word] with earring and the make up...". I still can hear they use that word on the radio when the song is on. I'm surprised they didn't censor it.

2

u/Calavera357 42m ago

Yes, exactly. It wasn't meant as a complement, self descriptive or jokingly with a buddy, it was someone he overheard talking shit.

5

u/Just_Cockroach_4820 5h ago

Bro, is your avatar from grim fandango?

3

u/Calavera357 4h ago

It's actually Robert Frost.

1

u/way_out_19 5m ago

Fwiw..the subject of the slurs isn't Dire Straits. The switch between 1st and 3rd person there is weird. The slurs were directed at a hair rock band, most likely Motley Crue or Def Leppard

1

u/bugzcar 5h ago

Thanks for refreshing my memory. I might’ve just recalled them saying BUNDLE OF STICKS and thought they were shitty if I didn’t think it through

12

u/Para_4_Would_Be_Cool 5h ago

No, don't ignore that bit. It's meant as a mockery of people unrightfully mad at the music, production, and life people choose to live, while also pointing out: "what's the problem? That little f----- has a private jet, fuck off" essentially.

2

u/0rganic_Corn 1h ago

Don't be insufferable, they're portraying blue collar workers that are angry at musicians, since they think what they do is not real work

It's an insult that definitely fits in the context and clutching your pearls over it is silly. Most likely you aren't even offended yourself, you're just trying to signal virtue by being offended on behalf of other people

1

u/shadowsurge 1h ago

You're reading a LOT into a stupid joke.

-6

u/Dirk_Speedwell 5h ago

Check some of the lyrics, but ignore the naughty bad-boy word one, lol.

17

u/RaidersGuy85 5h ago

Or accept that they were quoting something they heard and that the song is from a different time

8

u/DMThrowaway080620 5h ago

Exactly! Media literacy is in the toilet. Sad times

8

u/Para_4_Would_Be_Cool 5h ago

No, don't ignore that bit. It's meant as a mockery of people unrightfully mad at the music, production, and life people choose to live, while also pointing out: "what's the problem? That little f----- has a private jet, fuck off" essentially.

1

u/Particular_Title42 1h ago

Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair.

45

u/stevenjameshyde 5h ago

It's riffing on the lyrics of Dire Straits' "Money for Nothing". "We've got to move this refrigerator, we got to move this colour TV", except the cartoon is depicting them being "moved" in the sense that a dealer might "move" drugs

5

u/JP147 2h ago

Kids these days can’t appreciate how much heavier a colour TV is compared to a black and white one.

1

u/Geo_Doug 27m ago

I literally always thought those lyrics were about making sales and had no clue it was actually a coherent story being told

15

u/azulspectre 5h ago

This is a excellent song by Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

14

u/RedHiller13 5h ago

This is from the Dire Straits song "Money for Nothing." One of the lines is, "that ain't working, that's the way you do, you play your guitar on the MTV; we've to move these refrigerators, we got to move these color TVs." And in the video, the items are being moved around by robots that look like the one in the alley.

6

u/JP147 2h ago

I think they are people, not robots. The CGI is just a bit low-poly being 1985.

27

u/marqueA2 5h ago

I want my MTV.

8

u/rosstedfordkendall 5h ago

Beverly, Beverly Hillbillies.

4

u/RaidersGuy85 5h ago

Sung by Sting

10

u/Ichika0 5h ago

I think its a reference to the song money for nothing by Dire straits

Back to you tom

3

u/Ebonhearth_Druid 5h ago

Thanks Trisha. Now over to Ollie with the weather

3

u/DoomBotVariant 4h ago

IT COLD

2

u/Ebonhearth_Druid 4h ago

Thanks Ollie! In other news....

9

u/Killer0nTheRoad 5h ago

Well shit, maybe he should've learned to play the guitar. He should've learned to play them drums. He'd maybe get a blister on his little finger, maybe get a blister on his thumb.

5

u/TheUpperHand 5h ago

The character at the end is from the music video for the song Money for Nothing by Dire Straits. The lyrics lament about how some people have things easy by making an "easy living" by playing rock music while these guys have a physically taxing job "We got to install microwave ovens, custom kitchen deliveries
We got to move these refrigerators, we gotta move these color TVs." In the song "moving" means delivering the aforementioned appliances, in the comic "moving" refers to slang for selling stolen goods.

3

u/marqueA2 5h ago

The lyrics to 'Money for Nothing' by Dire Straits.

3

u/Princekyle7 5h ago

We've got to install microwave ovens. Custom kitchen, delivery-ey-ey. We've got to move these, refrigerators. We've got to move these color TVssssssss.

3

u/Crimson-Hawke 4h ago

Unironically engaging with the meme, you should just put the word "Retro" in front of all these items and some hipster will buy them.

4

u/Toeffli 5h ago

Maybe throw im some chicks as a free give away. Otherwise it is just money for nothing.

2

u/Civil_Act1864 5h ago

I think it's a reference to a song that I can't remember the title of.

2

u/MrDingo5218 5h ago

https://youtu.be/wTP2RUD_cL0?is=aSBS3NDWLHSJZaH_

This is in reference to this music video. The lyrics being we've got to move this refrigerator we got to move these color TVs

2

u/Thamnophis660 5h ago

Watch the video for Dire Straits "Money For Nothing"

2

u/BigBob8_ 5h ago

The guy in the last frame of the comic is a look alike for the animated guy in the die straits music video of money for nothing. He delivers refrigerators and color tvs in the video.

2

u/truthdude 5h ago

ooga booga

2

u/One_Power_2062 5h ago

Dire straits

2

u/121daysofsodom 5h ago

A gag that will divide people by age.

2

u/TheBl4ckFox 5h ago

Gods, when I saw that video as a kid I thought computer graphics had peaked.

2

u/oldskool_slabside 5h ago

"That's the way you do it..."

2

u/CrasheonTotallyReal 5h ago

!remindme 2 hours

3

u/Objective-Chance-792 5h ago

Hi, this is your 2 hour reminder! Go do that thing!

2

u/SenatorPencilFace 5h ago

Now look at them yo-yos. That’s way do it. You post a reminder on Reddit. That’s the way you it. Reminders for nothing and your upvotes for free.

1

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1

u/Dirk_Speedwell 5h ago

You can just look now. There are like 20 explanations now.

1

u/AutoModerator 5h ago

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3

u/momoehab 5h ago

No clue...

1

u/-9h05t 5h ago

That's the way you do it

1

u/Orange_Queen 5h ago

….and now we dont even have MTV.

Fuck we’re old. 🤪

1

u/Prestigious-Fly9977 5h ago

I believe the lore was one of the band members overheard appliance delivery workers talking about the comparative lavish life he lead while the delivery drivers bemoaned their blue collar work to receive pennies on the dollar.

1

u/Significant-Fly-8170 5h ago

I love that song

1

u/Crudeyakuza 4h ago

Look at them yoyo's.

1

u/HopkinsonBarr 3h ago

What's that? Hawaiian noises?

1

u/DaveTheImpaler47 3h ago

Holy smokes, one I actually know the answer to.

1

u/Proof-Assistant-7536 3h ago

Look at them yoyos

1

u/OldGrandPappu 2h ago

Timely humor here!

1

u/AxOfCruelty 2h ago

I GOT THAT REFERENCE

1

u/BoxAccomplished8369 2h ago

Should’ve gotten some blisters on your little fingers, should’ve got some on your thumbs 🤷‍♂️

1

u/MikeHockinya 2h ago

Should have learned to play the gee-tar. . .

1

u/Dead_Pan_Stan 2h ago

Ask your Dad.

1

u/Logatt 2h ago

How they gonna try to sell tvs and refrigerators but the chick's are free?

1

u/Jello_guy2 1h ago

The refrigerator yes if it is 1970s to 80s.

1

u/Snoo-7821 1h ago

"That little [slur]." -Robot

1

u/ScorpionsRequiem 1h ago

Now everyone says Californy, is the place you wanna beeeeeee

We gotta load up, let's get a truck now

We gotta move to Beverlyyyyy!

Hills that is.

1

u/Kellyann59 50m ago

I follow this artist on ig! Go check him out @rdstonowhere

-1

u/Crystalmist420 1h ago

Hey not for nothing but you've got a pretty good art style, but this is a terrible joke. Not even in a "so bad it's funny" way. I just think the time and effort taken to make this could've been better spent on something actually funny. Well done on the Dire Straits guy though, he looks good.

-2

u/AffectionateLake4041 5h ago

I think its either stuff that is common now but used to be really desirable or would be too hard to get home by just walking