The Card That Started It All

In a fit of perversion and humor, Bryan had a flood of ideas for cards when we first started the site. Bryan would claim it wasn't so much coming up with the cards so much as channeling them. But despite these spiritual foundations we weren't really sure whether we could make the ideas into something that would be funny to other people. Our litmus test was the "VD" card. It made us laugh and so we figured it was worth a shot.

I mean, what would you need to apologize most for, but yet would really rather not have to say it face to face?

A few months after the site went live we saw a rerun of Family Guy, episode 58 where Quagmire asks Peter for an "I accidentally gave you a VD" card. Being avid Family Guy watchers we're not ruling out that this card was subliminally influenced by having seen that episode prior to launching the site. However, at the time we didn't make the connection and our official position now is that the humorous elements of the Family Guy joke and this card are significantly different. For more information please contact our lawyers.

I remember that the giant hands were really what made it most hilarious to us. I don't know why, they're just plain funny.

When we first started drawing the cards, it was an arduous process. I first drew the cards using pencil and paper, then I'd put the drawing underneath my electronic drawing tablet and trace it using a stylus. To do the tracing well, I had to move the stylus verrrrrrrry sllllloooowwwwwllllly across the original picture. After a while, we figured out that it worked better to scan the original drawings. So that's why the more recent cards tend to have a slightly different look than the earlier cards. I'm sure that was a burning question you're glad I answered!

Beth
Artist/UncomfortableSituations.com

Uncomfortable Spaces

Beth was a relative late comer to the MySpace world. She created her first account in the fall of 2006. The MySpace centered cards that we did at about this time revolved around her experiences as someone who had heard all about this thing that was sweeping the internet but was just experiencing it for the first time.

One of her first comments after creating her account was "Who is this Tom guy?" In explaining it to her it occurred to me how funny it would be if somehow Tom declined your friend request. Hence, this card:


When we were working on this card we had been doing the site for about 2 months and wanted to try something new design-wise, so we added a little color. We thought it fit with one of Beth's other observations - specifically, how the average MySpace page seemed to set web design back about 5 years. On a side note, I love that his interests include "vitamins" and "Boba Fete." those are purely Beth additions.

The "This is VikingHead" card below ended up a MySpace card but we now both admit that it was really just a vehicle to draw the band you see in the picture. In reality, for me, I think it was even more about finding some reason to draw a stick figure wearing a viking helmet. This is one of my favorite cards as far as the image goes.

We also did one other MySpace related card while we were in that frame of mind. It was our attempt at making one of those funny comment images, but it never really caught on. Apparently we can't compete with the creator of the ASCII rose, glittery kitten .gifs, and things of that caliber.

Bryan
Janitor/Uncomfortablesituations.com

Our first date

Just for fun I subscribe to a daily Campus Watch email from the police at one of the largest universities in the country. The email contains all police activity from the previous day or weekend. As you can imagine, these are often quite funny, containing stories of drunken undergrads or pranks gone awry.

This card was inspired by a true story about two students found in a truck bed in the wee hours of the morning. The description was something like, "one student was missing her pants and was hiding this by sitting on the other student's lap," or something similar. The students claimed they were sleeping in the truck because they got locked out of their apartments. Riiiight....

"and just before you got here a fluctuation in the time-space continuum vaporized my pants. I swear, officer."

I don't know if you can tell, but those are a tiny pair of men's briefs on top of his head. That took a long time to draw. It's really hard to convey y-fronts so tiny! My favorite part was drawing highway patrol accessories on a stick figure.

Beth
Artist/UncomfortableSituations.com

Paper Towels

When we first sat down to create some cards, of course most ideas revolved around stupid things you do when you're drunk. Let's face it - when do you do the most things you regret? Under the influence.

This card specifically is based on a story from Bryan's school days. Bryan's hometown sports about 20,000 inhabitants (10,000 if you don't count pets). With nothing else to do, there were many a wild party growing up. On one partially memorable occasion, a friend got the munchies and ate all the paper towels. Why? Did they taste good? Was his mouth too wet? We'll never know. But it makes for a funny card.

Note: Actually, this same night was also the inspiration for this card which chronicles how Bryan learned it is a very bad idea to loose track of your keys at such events.

Beth
Artist/UncomfortableSituations.com

The UncomfortableSituations.com Blog

Get the stories behind the cards - how they came to be, what influenced them, etc. We'll also post news here when we have major updates to the site. Here's to uncomfortable situations!

Beth
Artist/UncomfortableSituations.com