By Casi Herbst
Apparently, clean humor is in. Homestarrunner.com is a growing hit worldwide with clean humor leading the way.
'It wasn''t a moral decision,' said Matt Chapman, who created Homestarrunner.com with his brother Mike Chapman.
Homestarrunner.com is a Web site dedicated to making people laugh through animated characters with clean humor like Homestar Runner himself, his nemesis Strong Bad, the Cheat and others.
Mondays are big days for Homestarrunner.com when the independent Web site posts new Strong Bad e-mail. Over 100,000 people tune in to the sarcastic anecdotes that Strong Bad has to offer.
Aside from Mondays, the Web site has over 50,000 people visiting a day. It is spreading worldwide as shirt orders are coming in internationally. Orders are being placed from places such as the U.K., Sweden, Norway and Canada.
'That''s what''s great about the Internet,' Matt Chapman said.
The Chapman brothers said they are amazed at how many people view the site. Their stats show that people are on the site all times of the day and night.
'We encourage people wasting time with our Web site,' Matt Chapman said.
At the time the Homestar Runner characters were created, most cartoons were South Park rip-offs or Star Wars parodies, Matt Chapman said. They wanted to create something different, something unique.
He said the Web site was a success because 'first, it is original. Second, it''s funny without resorting to gross-out sex humor.'
Writing clean is more challenging, Matt Chapman said. However, it is more fun because it is challenging. It is fun, edgy, and weird all at the same time.
'Parents are psyched because they can watch it with their kids,' Matt Chapman said. 'College students can show their little brothers.'
The clean humor is the reason at least one BYU student likes Homestar Runner.
'Because it''s clean, it''s very funny and sarcastic,' said Adam Howard, 22, from Alpine majoring in Human Biology. He heard about Homestarrunner.com from a friend.
The unique humor started out for Mike Chapman and his friend Craig the summer of 1996, when they decided to write their own children''s book story. It featured the characters Homestar Runner, Pom-Pom, Strong Bad and The Cheat.
'It wasn''t very funny,' Matt Chapman said. He said it was mostly weird humor.
A year later they created a theme song for their non-existent TV show. They designed it so the singing sounded like Japanese kids. It was inspired by old Nintendo graphics and their Japanese looking image.
Fast-forwarding to later dates, Mike dropped out of Graduate school and moved in with Matt. They discovered Flash graphics, the Web site went up January 2000 and the rest is history.
Matt Chapman''s favorite part of making the Web site is the 'Easter eggs' that are hidden throughout the site. These are the continuing jokes that only 'hard-core fans' will get. He loves putting in jokes he knows other people will get.
Other than that Matt Chapman said he loves making the full-length cartoons like 'Jumping Jack Contest.'
But playing with their Web site is not just fun - the Chapman brothers do it for a living. The revenue they receive from the Web site is strictly from the t-shirt and merchandise sales on-line.
Matt Chapman had a 'real job' until last September when he quit and started Homestar Runner full-time. He said he is much happier doing this type of work.
As for the humor itself, the scripts are not really written out. They know the types of things they are going to say, but they don''t have it word for word. The really good stuff is improvisation and 'just comes out of me,' said Matt Chapman, the mastermind behind Strong Bad''s voice.