Commodore HUSTLE

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

A Web sit-com that updates approximately once a month starring the cast and crew of Loading Ready Run as exaggerated versions of themselves in their everyday lives doing odd odd geeky things in geeky ways.

Season 1 had a plot about an artist scorned and a myriad of sub plots. Episodes ranged from 13 to almost 20 minutes long. They also got on the Jay Leno show.

Season 2 and Season 3 have shorter episodes and no overarching plot but the characterizations are still the same and they maintain continuity.

Recently got its own Spin-Off, Friday Nights, based around the group's love of Magic: The Gathering and is sponsored by Wizards of the Coast.

Tropes used in Commodore HUSTLE include:
  • Actually Pretty Funny: Geoff says this almost verbatim after being kicked in the balls by Paul's ball-kicking robot.
  • Adorkable: Kathleen finds Graham's roleplaying past "adorable" and later gets into it herself. Most of the crew count to some degree or another.
  • Begging the Question: The reason Graham trusts Wikipedia.

Graham: Studies have shown that it's just as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica, sometimes more so.
Jer: And where did you read that?
Graham: Wikiped - oh my god, that's insidious.

  • Beyond the Impossible: Alex's sleight of hand in "It's Magic" starts out realistic (using real card tricks), then gets increasingly ridiculous until he is somehow able to replace his entire MtG deck with a red one.

Graham: I need you to be straight with me. Is magic real, and are you a wizard.
Graham: Well, you still cheated at Magic. The game.
Alex: (reading a book; all cards have vanished from the table) Did I?

    • James pulls some similar maneuvers in his conversation with Jer about the spending limit, opening a large pile of boosters and sending a text message to Matt, each in the space of a few seconds while the camera is pointed at Jer.
  • Bottom of the Barrel Joke: In-universe. While the show itself rarely reaches for Toilet Humour and the like (despite the ongoing Groin Attack plotline in Season 1), the 'Hustle version of Loading Ready Run is heavily implied to resort to low-brow humour way too quickly and easily.
  • Buxom Is Better: After her failed attempt at viral fame, Kathleen discovers that D-cups aren't big enough for YouTube.

Graham: It's the internet. Anything smaller than a cantaloupe stapled to a xylophone is considered small.

  • Christmas Episode: "Santa Secrets".
  • Comedic Sociopathy: The huge creepy doll Tally made for Graham as James' Secret Santa present, as Graham is terrified by it.
  • Convenience Store Gift Shopping: A very specific kind in Santa Secrets, where everybody except James and Morgan buys everybody else a Magic: The Gathering booster pack. Hilariously, Morgan's gift, the only one which was bought from a convenience store, was the only gift which was appreciated by its recipient (James).
  • Curb Stomp Battle: When the crew gets back into Magic, we get a montage of Jer, Graham, Matt, and James trying to play against Alex.

Alex: Swing for 37...
Alex: And I mill your whole deck...
Alex: Six makes ten poison counters...
Alex: Now you can't cast spells, ever.

  • Cute Kitten: Subverted. Kathleen's plan to make money of her cats didn't work out. They are still cute.
  • Credits Gag: Occasionally, such as with "Sir James von Landlord" in "The Arms Race", and Kathleen as "Anchor-Wrangling Technician" in "Sickness", both referencing events from the episode.
  • Even Nerds Have Standards: Graham's explanation of LARPers.

Graham: It's like what Jer does with the dice and the bits of paper, except the people Jer hangs out with look down on these guys.

  • Five-Man Band: When the "Gang" of Loading Ready Runners join a different gang, their new leader Kate assigns them Five Man Band-esque roles, though this barely lasts an episode:
    • Kate as The Hero, of course.
    • James, as one of the few guys with common sense, is The Fixer. This is the only role that sticks after the assignment.
    • Jeremy is The Smart Guy.
    • Bill, being insanely tall, is The Big Guy.
    • And Matt, the Butt Monkey is The Girl. Why? Because Kate's already leader.
      • He makes a terrible girl though.

Matt: Maybe it's because of my PENIS!

  • For Science!: Why did Paul invent the ball-kicking robot? "Because I could".

Jer: Isn't that the kind of thinking that lead to the nuclear bomb?
Paul: Gee, I hope so.

Matt: I think that's the trick with customer service. You just need to know what to say.
(cut)
James: Screw you too! Asshole!

  • Groin Attack: Played straight and played with during the first season, where Geoff's objection to Loading Ready Run is their reliance on this in their comedy.
  • Halloween Episode: "Roll For Treats".
  • Hammerspace: Paul has goggles and cookies in hammerspace.
    • James apparently keeps a copy of Bad Dudes for the NES... in his collar.
  • Heavy Sleeper: Both Bill and Morgan. The only reliable way to wake Morgan is to uncap a sharpie in his presence. The only non-ninja-related way to wake Bill is to hold his nose.
  • Hurricane of Euphemisms: Testicular trauma. Scrotal assault. Reproductive carnage. Wang misery. Dong distress.

Bill: You put way too much thought into this!
Morgan: Oh no, it just comes naturally. Ha. Comes.

Alex: Hey James, you wanna play Bros Twisting Bros?
James: (backs away) Is this another trick question?

  • Least Common Skin Tone: The smear campaign in Season One claims that the Runners are racist because they're all white. Which is true, but that's because they a)live in Canada, and b)live in a very white city, and c)are based in and mostly met in what Graham describes as "the whitest neighbourhood".
  • Lower Deck Episode: "The Bee Team" mainly stars Tally, Kate, and Cameron (the latter having not even appeared in the series yet and the former two only appearing occasionally as minor roles) while the rest of the crew is away. The only main crew members to actually appear are Graham, James, and Matt, and Matt doesn't even have any lines.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Graham, apparently: in "Street", he explains that Matt won't give him a lift anywhere in his car, because when he does, people mistake them for a gay couple. He uses the same rationale for why he won't take Morgan to the hospital anymore.
  • Nerds Are Sexy: Pretty much played straight. Almost all are in stable relationships. It helps that their partners are often just as nerdy as they are.
  • Offscreen Teleportation: Played for Laughs when Paul crosses the room, presents a slideshow in a labcoat and goggles, then reappears next to Kathleen in his normal clothing with no transition or explanation.
  • One Steve Limit: Used in The Arms Race:

Graham: Oh, hey, Landlord James.
Landlord: Why do you guys always have to call me that?

Paul: We already have a James, so...

Landlord: Well, how about "Sir James von Landlord"?

  • Real Life Writes the Plot: Several times, always exaggerated for laughs.
    • Matt really was actually moving out at the time they filmed "Matt Gets His Groove".
    • They really had to change offices.
    • Geoff used to work at Yo!Video.
    • Graham moved out of Bill's and Morgan's because of an... incident.
    • Graham and Morgan actually had to go to the hospital, and the doctors thought they were a couple.
    • The entire "Fallout" episode was inspired by the results of their viral videos.
    • They are now heavily into Magic: The Gathering.
    • Tim really had to leave the group, though it was to get married, not due to realizing how terrible they were.
    • During a LRRcast, Graham revealed that the episode probably most based on real life was "The Gay Chicken". Virtually everything in that episode really happened at some point, with the exception of Tally being led to believe that "gay chicken" was Bill's D&D character. Including how Bill eventually won.
  • Scooby Stack: At the beginning of "The Gay Chicken", Kathleen, Alex and Kathleen's cat do it to prove that there is no room in Graham's house for another guest.
    • Later, in "The Bee Team", this is done by Tally, Kate, Cameron, and Dale to check on the moonbase to see if the bees are dead.
  • Seven Minute Lull: During the gang's fight in the episode Street where we get this interesting line from

Matt: "And just because Rodamus Prime got the matrix of leadership doesn't make him the best leader they've ever had!"

"I'm watching all the good Next Gen movies."

"See you in one hundred and eleven minutes."

    • Eternal Sonata has horribly paced cutscenes.
  • Troll: Jer during the Bros Clubbing Bros episode, complete with Troll Face just to drive the point home.
  • Understatement: When Bill and Morgan discover Jer's "acid pit", their response is uncharacteristic.

Morgan: The landlord lives in the basement, by the way.
Bill: He's not thrilled.

  • Very Special Episode: Discussed; proposed as a way to explain how Paul's character in their Warriors of Darkness videos lost his beard.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds: Type 2, this is the nature of 95% of James and Matt's interactions with each other to the point where James threatens to kill Matt for visiting his home and Matt haunting James's nightmares.
  • Wrote the Book:

Morgan: James, please. When it comes to gay chicken, I practically wrote the book. Remember the groundbreaking assault that was International Cup Bill's Balls Week?

  • Your Mom: Kate's gang called the "West Coast Mother Lovin' G's" not because they love their mothers, but because they love your mothers.
    • James's first attempt to get a replacement iPhone ended with Apple customer service laughing at him, and making fun of his mom.

Graham: That's not cool, I like your mom.