There are many, many things to love about Archer. Seriously, so many. But one of my personal favorites is the way the show effortlessly glides between high- and low-brow humor. You’re just as likely to hear a graphic explanation of how moist Pam’s undergarments are at any given moment as you are to get a punchline that references an obscure 14th century general who you have to Google in order to get the joke. (Exhibit A.) That’s range on a level few, if any, other shows can touch.
This supercut of insulting nicknames from the show — put together by the good folks at Slacktory — is a great example of that range. There are childish ones (Kenny Crybaby, Dudley Douchebag), terrible/great puns (Rabbert Klein, Pill-bo Baggins), and namechecks of the father of modern eugenics and a famous 16th century female Irish pirate, all slammed back-to-back for a little over two minutes. It’s glorious. As a total history dork, I like to think of the more crass ones as a way to trick people into learning the real stories behind the ones they don’t understand. It’s not so much a spoonful of sugar as it is a scotch chaser, but hey, whatever gets the medicine down, right?*
(NOTE: Do not chase medicine with scotch. Unless you are on an airplane.)
