Jake and Amir
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"Jake and Amir are two best friends that work together, live together, and play together. We're not really best friends, so don't type that. Yes we are. No we aren't, and we also don't live together. Whatever. Not whatever. Dinner tonight? Nope."
—Description from the official website.
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Jake and Amir is a highly popular internet series of short videos by College Humor. Like Hardly Working, they are filmed in and around the College Humor office and revolve around Jake Hurwitz, a usually normal guy, and his co-worker, Amir Blumenfeld, an unstable, unbalanced and generally weird Man Child who is obsessed with Jake and determined to prove that they're "best friends".
The complete episode archive can be found on Youtube or the College Humor website.
Tropes used in Jake and Amir include:
- Abusive Parents: Amir's parents, assuming he's telling the truth. Also an example of Continuity Drift.
- Actor Allusion: In "Amir's Birthday" a woman asks Streeter "Is that the same Amir who pranked you at Yankee Stadium?"
- Acting for Two: Amir also plays his cousin Linford.
- Adam Westing: Rick Fox plays himself in three episodes as an egg-obsessed tractor thief.
- Adorkable: A frightening number of people see Amir this way. Borders on Draco in Leather Pants.
- Adult Child: Amir, to a tee. He, among other things, still believes in Santa Claus despite the fact that he's in his late twenties (and, for that matter, Jewish).
- All Just a Dream: Zombie turns out to be this. Also an example of Man Bites Man and Or Was It a Dream??
- All Love Is Unrequited: Jake will never be Amir's best friend. If Jake likes a girl, she will probably end up hating him, apart from once, and then she died.
- There's also Jake's long-standing crush on Sarah.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Amir thinks his mother is this because she wants to bring cookies up for him and his coworkers.
- See here.
- Amusing Injuries: Happens often, the most recurring is when either of them accidentally hit their head on their desks.
- An Odd Place to Sleep: Amir has been seen sleeping at his desk, on the floor, and curled up on a stone table.
- Author Appeal: Jake and Amir write the episodes according to what they find funny, which changes over time.
- Bare Your Midriff: Amir's bellybutton is seen here.
- Beach Bury: Amir: Bury me! *starts putting handfuls of sand on his stomach* See here
- Beware the Nice Ones: Do not take Amir's chicken nuggets.
- Bilingual Bonus: Amir speaks Hebrew in a few episodes.
- Trouble has Cantonese
- Ach Mein Got has German
- Book Ends: The first and last episode of the "Girlfriend" arc.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: From "Happy Holidays". Amir: Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah from Jake and Amir! Jake: Who're you talking to? Amir: Nobody...
- Butt Monkey: Pat Cassels. See "Bake Sale," "Freaky Friday," and "Interpreters 4"
- Call Back: In the 8-part "Girlfriend" episode Jake talks to Leronuh for a while about flying a kite. He says almost the exact same thing as he did in "Kite" three years earlier.
- Catch Phrase: Several: "Dinner tonight?", "Oh sheesh yall! T'was a dream!" and more recently "Another day at the races..." for Amir, with "Wow..." and "You gotta learn how to be funny, man," for Jake.
- Character Development: At first Jake was a calm average guy and Amir lacked confidence. As Jake began to give him attention Amir got more and more confident making Jake more and more angry.
- Chatroulette: In Chat Roulette Sarah and Jake go on the website.
- Christmas Episode: One each year, "Christmas", "Happy Holidays", "Santa" and "Toy Drive".
- Clothing Switch: The actors sometimes wear the same shirts from other clips. Noticeable in the flashbacks of "Happy Holidays" and Record Breaker.
- Completely Missing the Point: So many examples. To list one from "Elevator":
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Amir (to Jake): We should call our loved ones and say goodbye. [pulls out his phone and calls Jake] |
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- Cool Uncle: Amir back in the beginning of collegehumor.
- Cringe Comedy: Especially in the earlier episodes.
- Daydream Surprise: My Boy. Also an example of Face Doodling.
- Depending on the Writer: In one episode Amir can't spell, in another Amir is far more proficient than Jake.
- Did You Just Have Sex?:
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Jake (to Leronuh): Did you just take a shower? |
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- Don't Explain the Joke: Amir explains a joke while telling it "A guy walks face first into a bar. A metal bar. Ouch."
- Doppelganger Dating: Space Twins
- Early Installment Weirdness: "30 Second Debate", the first episode, is really nothing to do with the rest of the series.
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: Jake in Sun Tan.
- Eye Scream: Happens in Lasik.
- Fast-Forward Gag: 30 Second Debate.
- Fear of Thunder: See Storm
- Flanderization: Amir's weirdness, ability to do physically impossible things, and extent of his Karma Houdini abilities have generally increased over the series. Possibly inverted with Jake, whose simple Straight Man routine was expanded on; he wants to seem cool and hip, but it often leads him to acting like a Jerkass or just being intensely unfunny.
- Forgotten Birthday: Subverted and then played straight in Amir's Birthday and Jacuzzi.
- Freaky Friday Flip: Amir tries to force this to happen in "Freaky Friday".
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: In several episodes if you pause at just the right time, you'll be able to see one of the photos of Jake that Amir keeps on his desk.
- Friendship Moment: The conclusion of the "Sick Day" story arc.
- Almost in Business Card.
- Funny Background Event: See The Godfather
- Genre Savvy: Jake becomes more savvy to Amir's ways over time...but it very rarely helps him in the end.
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Amir: Jake, meet my daughter, Emily. |
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- Group Hug: See Group Hug
- Hates Being Touched: Jake with Amir.
- Heterosexual Life Partners: Or Amir wishes they were at least.
- Hey, It's That Guy!: Ben Schwatrz from Parks and Recreation and Hou$eOfLie$ is a recurring character.
- Hilariously Abusive Childhood: Amir to a tee.
- Hilarious Outtakes: The youtube channel JakeAndAmirOuttakes with Corpsing being the most promient.
- Hollywood Healing: Subverted with Bozo and the next episode Tampon.
- I Can Explain: Done in Come Again.
- "I Know What We Can Do!" Cut: Unknown Co-Worker.
- Imagine Spot: See Office Fantasy.
- Implausible Deniability: In Fourth of July Amir denies being in the office that weekend, but everything is Caught on Tape.
- In Da Club: Part 4 in the "Interpreters" arc is actually called "In Da Club".
- Instant Sedation: Sleeping Pills.
- Jerkass: Jake is arguably becoming one of these. His behavior towards Amir is typically justifiably harsh, but there are plenty of times where he acts like a completely self-centered jackass who'll exploit Amir or grandstand around others, as well as sometimes disagreeing with or mocking Amir for the sake of it (or in spite of actually being the wrong one).
- Juggling Loaded Guns: Seen in Moving Part 2 and Ransom
- Left the Background Music On: Murph lampshades this in Grandma.
- Love Triangle - In the Jake and Amir: Girlfriend series, there was a Type 4 as Jake fell in love with Lerona, who was dating Amir. Eventually the roles of Jake and Amir switch after Jake confesses to Lerona and she chooses him over Amir....and then gets promptly run over by a bus.
- Marijuana Is LSD: Amir thinks this is a good video idea in Brownies
- Meaningful Echo / Foreshadowing: In the Girlfriend episodes:
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Amir: Kinda crazy, huh? |
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- Mind Fuck: Amir drags a Christmas present wrapped in a giant box and asks him to open it. Jake pulls it open and finds Amir inside, who is no longer stood beside him.
- Modesty Towel: New Apartment.
- Noodle Incident: In "Snowstorm", apparently whatever Jake did on March 15, 1999 was bad enough that it could put him in prison.
- No Periods, Period: Averted several times. From "Jake's Cousin". Amir: Ooh! Somebody's gonna get their period soon!
- Our Ghosts Are Different: See Graveyard, My Super Not Chill Ghost Roommate
- Offscreen Reality Warp: Amir has done this in Carbs and Jacuzzi.
- Offscreen Teleportation: Done in Commute and Sick Day 3 Goodbye.
- Opposite Day: Amir falls victim to a Logic Bomb when Jake says it is Opposite Day on Ground Rules.
- Potty Failure: World Cup
- Product Placement: The two have done videos for Bacardi, Gears of War, and bustedtees.com
- Real Life Writes the Plot: In Ace and Jocelyn episode 4 Jake Hurwitz was actually throwing up due to being hung over from the night before.
- See the clip, and its outtakes here.
- Recurring Extra: The two interns Vickram and Cassidy have been seen in Rick Fox 3, The Bet, and Barbershop Quartet.
- Recycled Script: This script is seen word for word in The collegehumor show 4.
- Replacement Goldfish: Both Jake and Amir have held auditions for their counterparts.
- Rock-Paper-Scissors: In an episode of the same name, Amir cheats against Jake by turning his rock into paper at the last minute. Jake then breaks his ribs...
- Seamless Spontaneous Lie: Done countless times by Amir, done by Jake here.
- Self-Serving Memory: "Explanation"
- Shell Game: Magic Trick.
- Ship Tease: On rare occasions it is suggested that Jake does actually like Amir, notably in "Amir's Birthday", the "Sick Day" series and Video Chat.
- Short Distance Phone Call: Seen in Chat Roulette.
- Show Within a Show: Ace and Jocelyn, a series about astronaut accountants that Amir makes.
- Smash Cut: Seen in Los Angeles.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Seen briefly in Dave Part 2.
- Tap on the Head: Wake Up.
- The Fun in Funeral: Aunt.
- The Movie: Fired.
- There Is Only One Bed: April Fools
- There Will Be Toilet Paper: Shaving.
- The Rival: Doobs.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch
- Trademark Favorite Food: Amir is mostly known for eating Chicken McNuggets.
- In fact, he claims to have spent five years of his childhood living on nothing but chicken nuggets. However, the accuracy of this statement is dubious.
- Trust-Building Blunder: Trust Fall.
- Unrequited Love Switcheroo: When Amir and Hallie get together, Jake becomes the obsessive one who wants Amir's attention.
- Verbal Backpedaling: In the recent episodes Amir does this often, Jake calls Amir out on this in Jacuzzi.
- Voice Changeling: Amir can do a very good impression of Jake, see 0.55-1.10 of Friend Quiz.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Amir vomits twice while facing the camera in "Gym".
- Amir also vomits in "Best Friend." Jake's (real) vomiting can be found in Ace and Jocelyn Episode 4.
- Who Would Want to Watch Us?: In New Website Amir creates a website about him and Jake, and, as Jake puts it: "It sounds really boring."
- Why Did It Have To Be Puppets: See Puppet Part 2
- Yeah! Shot: Performed and then discussed in High Five.
- Yes-Man: Amir as seen in Opinions and any decision with Jake.