America’s premier purveyor of forced irony has once again waddled into the news cycle, this time by poking fun at the Cracker Barrel controversy. The piece, which manages to be both too obvious and too self-aware, riffs on predictable tropes, rocking chairs, fried okra, and the eternal mystery of why “Uncle Herschel’s Favorite” sounds like a war crime.
Editors reportedly knew the joke wasn’t exactly high cuisine. “We’re not reinventing comedy here,” said one anonymous staffer, “but we trust the readers to know that we know it’s lazy. That’s the joke. Kind of. Sort of.”
Critics have already noted that the satire site’s smug wink toward its audience feels like a waiter reminding you your food is microwaved, but ironically. Meanwhile, Cracker Barrel remains unmoved, continuing to serve both biscuits and outrage in bottomless portions.
In short: the satire site phoned it in, intentionally. Probably.
