Pittsburgh Dad is a web-based Domestic Comedy about a dad from Pittsburgh. The series was created by Curt Wootton and Chris Preksta, and stars Wootton as the eponymous dad.
Episodes vary in length from one to five minutes, and feature a situation in which the dad reacts to the minutia of life, be it breakfast cereal, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Christmas decorations, even spoiler-laden movie reviews. Episodes are full of local color, including a thick Yinzer accent.
The creators state that the show is an Homage to classic sitcoms such as All in the Family.
Episodes can be viewed here
.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Jeffy's (Dad's son Brandon's best friend) are implied to be borderline abusive/neglectful parents. The inordinate amount of time he spends at Pittsburgh Dad's house (even when Brandon isn't home) seems to confirm this.
- It's also been implied that Dad had a rather strict and negligent upbringing himself by 'Paps', although Dad is prone to exaggeration.
- Accidental Misnaming: Dad is practically guaranteed to butcher the name of any celebrity that he isn't a fan of.
- (Trying to pronounce former Bengals wide receiver T.J. Houshmanzadeh's name) "T.J. Hakuna Matata? T.J. Mazda Miata?"
- Admiring the Abomination: Dad's story about how Century III Mall came into existence sounds like someone lovingly describing an ecological horror story.
- "The steel mills would transport their toxic waste by train to a little slice of heaven in West Mifflin called Brown's Dump...Then they'd slowly spill out that glowing, molten toxic waste onto the hillside, into the environment, and it was no big deal. And eventually it created an epically fantastic slag mountain. Kids would sled down it, teens would drink up on it, all organic life would die near it. It was great! And then one night, something magic happened. No, no, not a shooting star, better. Acid rain! You see that acid rain was able to permeate that hard slag. In a few months, up sprouted the best one million square foot of commerce the Western world had ever seen!"
- The Alcoholic: Dad's sister-in-law Linda and her husband Rick, as well as Jeffy's mother are all implied to be this.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Dad acts this way when chaperoning his daughter's school dance, even after Deb calls him out on it.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: From the episode "Dad Reacts to Steelers vs Titans Game POSTPONED"Pittsburgh Dad: Stomp on a Terrible Towel, and you're gonna get a plague, a hurricane, and a Pizza Hut's gonna close.
- Bargain with Heaven: Invoked when Dad visits church prior to a Steelers playoff game and attempts to barter for a win. And just to be sure it works, after he gets done praying to "the Catholic God", he announces his plans to bargain with Presbyterian God, Methodist God, and nondenominational God.
- Big Eater: Rick is often mentioned to be one, especially in episodes taking place at restaurants.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Dad has an elaborate system of arbitrary rituals and superstitions that he believes directly influence the performance of the Pittsburgh Steelers while he watches them on television.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Gives his 14-year-old daughter the third degree when he finds out that she's going on a date.
- Bratty Teenage Daughter: Mandy.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Done on rare occasions for humorous effect.
- Brick Joke:
- During a Steelers' game, Dad mentions several musical trinkets he possesses, including at least a dozen things that play "Renegade", a lamp that plays "Hip to Be Square", a pillow that plays "Hungry Like the Wolf", and a dish that plays "The Gambler". Several weeks later, when the Steelers fall behind early in a playoff game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Dad punches the pillow in frustration and it begins playing a musical version of the chorus of "Hungry Like the Wolf".
- The jars of tears that Dad collects from the "Crying Bengals Lady" reappears two years later when Dad needs to give the Steelers a power-up against the winless Bengals.
- Catchphrase:
- "3...2...1...win."
- "Ah, jeez!"
- "You know what's next right? X." Usually X is a bug Dad hates.
- Caustic Critic: Rips the first Twilight movie and The Hunger Games to shreds. Is a little more charitable with The Avengers.
- Censored for Comedy: Dad's ClusterFbomb during the 2017 game against the New England Patriots consists of a series of extended bleeps intersected with the words "ding dongs", "Gisele", "gluten-free", "bike lanes", and Kylo Ren.
- Christianity is Catholic: Anytime Pittsburgh Dad talks about religion, you can expect to hear about priests, nuns, fish frys, altar boys, and such.
- Corpsing: Although not appearing in the final cuts, Outtake videos posted on the channel reveal that Wooten and Preska frequently have to reshoot scenes many times due to breaking into fits of laughter.
- Credits Gag: The montage video "Pittsburgh Dad Can't Pronounce Celebrity Names" fittingly has the series' creators Curt Wootton and Chris Preksta misspelled as "Kurt Wooten" and "Chris Pekstra" in the credits.
- A Day in the Limelight:
- "Jeffy-Vision" is filmed entirely from Jeffy's perspective and follows his antics, with Dad reduced to a supporting role.
- "Daughter's Tough Questions" and "Street Light Stories: Chapter II" both focus on Dad's younger daughter Jessica, who usually gets hit pretty hard by Middle Child Syndrome.
- The Dreaded: Lady Elaine from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (of all things) was this for Dad, with him going so far as to refer to her as the Devil when she appears on screen.
- It's notable as well that when Dad is impersonating his wife Deb when she's nagging him that the voice he uses sounds very similar to Lady Elaine's.
- Dumb Blonde: Mandy is a downplayed example; Dad claims that she somehow deleted the Phone app from her iPhone and managed to completely drain his car battery while replacing the inspection sticker, but she's portrayed as being more bratty and immature than outright dumb.
- Aunt Linda is a much straighter example.
- The '80s: Most of Dad's pop culture references are from the 80's. The short film "Street Light Stories" is set in 1987, while the sequel is set in 1989.
- For Want Of A Nail: Played for laughs in the episode "Dad Goes Back to the Future", where Dad uses the De Lorean from Back to the Future to prevent Tom Brady from becoming an NFL quarterback. The episode ends with him finding out that the changes he made to the past resulted in Jeffy having a twin brother, much to Dad's horror.
- Friendly Rivalry: Zig-zagged; while he normally can't stand his neighbor Tom, Dad does seem to enjoy trash-talking with him during the NFL season (though it appears to be largely one-sided). Surprisingly, Tom seems to take it all well, considering he once stayed on the phone for three hours after a night game to listen to Dad make jokes at the Baltimore Raven's expense. In another episode, Dad answered the phone after the Steelers lost to the Ravens to hear Tom mock him in return (though he retaliated by stealing Tom's mail).
- Gilligan Cut: From the episode "Pittsburgh Dad Reacts to Steelers vs. Titans - NFL Week 7"Pittsburgh Dad: The important thing is, we've got a 20-point lead. Yinz can all breathe.(Cut to)Pittsburgh Dad(drenched in sweat): And who the hell told ya yinz call all breathe?
- The Ghost: All other characters are people off-screen the dad reacts to.
- Good Parents: Despite his gruff personality, you can tell that Dad really cares about his kids.
- Hands-Off Parenting: Jeffy's parents are very hands-off; "Jeffy-Vision" shows that his dad is out of town and his mom is working late, leaving him to take care of himself for most of the day (explaining why he spends so much time over at Dad's house in the first place).
- Happily Married: Aside from the occasional snark he throws her way, Dad quite clearly loves his wife Deb. This is more apparent in the "Street Light Stories" episodes, where she actually appears in person.
- Hypocritical Humor:
- From the episode "Little League":
Pittsburgh Dad: Hey Simmons, quit that trash-talkin'! They's just kids out there! I remember in high school, you struck out in kickball. Loser!"- From the episode "Dad Reacts to the Dr. Phil Show"
"Cash me ousside" Girl: Cash me ousside, how bout dat?Pittsburgh Dad: "Cash me ousside, how bout dat?" Well, that ain't proper English. Her language needs fixed.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the recent episode Jeffy, Dad notices Jeffy, who has been outside wandering around after being left home alone by his parents. He offers him some ice cream and seems to genuinely care about him (Though he tells him to come in through the garage).
- Laugh Track: Added for stylistic reasons. According to
Word of God, they tried it without a laugh track and the dialogue just came across as mean-spirited. Still, some episodes (like the movie reviews) are done with no laugh track. Dropped in later episodes. - Last-Second Word Swap: From the the episode "Pittsburgh Dad on the Incline"Pittsburgh Dad: Only time I ever come down the Southside is to go to Hoo-'s pitching for the Buccos tonight?
- Literal-Minded: Dad assumes that Magic Mike is about a magician named Mike when his wife convinces him to take her to see it.
- Looks Like Jesus: Inverted; Dad has a painting of Jesus that he thinks looks like Kenny Loggins.Dad: Then again, it might just be Kenny Loggins. Either way, it's good.
- Manly Tears: Dad sheds tears of Joy when the Steelers beat the New England Patriots for the first time in seven years.
- He also gets emotional when he takes his last ride on Kennywood's Log Jammer.
- Moral Myopia: Accuses his mailman of stealing coupons from his mail, then does the same thing to Tom in a later episode out of sheer pettiness.
- Mundane Utility: In "Dad Goes Back to the Future", the first thing he does with the De Lorean is to go shopping at Hills (a department store that has been out of business since 1999).
- No Name Given: Thus far, the main character hasn't been given a name.Lampshaded in several episodes.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Dad rarely has anything nice to say about his sister-in-law Linda and her husband Rick. Curiously, his wife's parents are never mentioned.
- Only Sane Man: The main character certainly considers himself to be this, and may very well be.
- Frequently averted since he once took his rivalry with Tom so far that he even trash talked him over the phone during a holiday, and his refusal to quit bothering Michael Keaton at Hoss' certainly is an aversion.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Upon finding out that the Steelers' chances of making the playoffs depend on the Cleveland Browns winning a game, Dad immediately dons a Browns' jersey in desperation.
- Operation: Jealousy: "Street Light Stories: Chapter II" has Deb reveal that she only dated a particular guy in high school to make Dad jealous. Dad admits that it worked, though he's more than happy with the end result.
- Perma-Stubble
- P.O.V. Cam: "Jeffy-Vision" is filmed entirely from Jeffy's perspective as he runs amok throughout the neighborhood.
- Power-Up Food: Parodied; when the Steelers are struggling against a winless Bengals team, Dad resorts to drinking his jar of "Crying Bengals Lady's Tears" to give the team a boost (complete with Popeye's theme song).
- Product Placement: There are a number of themed episodes showcasing regional businesses, such as Eat 'n' Park, Giant Eagle, and Kennywood, as well as iconic national chains such as McDonald's.
- Religious Russian Roulette: Despite being a practicing Catholic (though not a very knowledgable one), whenever the Steelers are involved, Dad has no problems turning to voodoo to curse an opposing team's top player or praying to multiple Gods (specifically the Catholic God, Presbyterian God, Methodist God, and nondenomitational God).
- Running Gag: The family's church is always raising money to get air conditioning installed, but never actually gets it.
- Every time Dad goes to Long John Silver's, they are guaranteed to be out of hush puppies (even when Dad speaks about the restaurant in a hypothetical scenario).
- Dad mispronouncing most celebrities' names.
- Self Botched Catchphrase: After a string of Steelers' losses, Dad needs help delivering his catchphrase when they finally win.Voice from off-camera: Win.Dad: Win. I knew that. Sorry, it's been so long since I had to say it.
- Serious Business: The Steelers. God help you if you're a Ravens fan.
- Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Ravens fan next-door neighbor Tom.
- Situational Sexuality: Dad and his wife have an agreement that they are allowed to make out with one celebrity if the situation arises. Both of them chose Kurt Russell (specifically the "Overboard Kurt Russell", though Dad says he'd settle for "The Thing Kurt Russell".
- Swear Jar: The jar doth overflow when Pittsburgh Dad laid down an Atomic Cluster F-Bomb in response to an unfavorable call in the December 17, 2017 Steelers vs. Patriots game.
- Tempting Fate: Any time that Dad begins commenting on how well the Steelers are doing in a game, you can be sure that things are about to take a turn for the worse.
- Another instance comes from the episode "Every Dad Watching Game of Thrones":
Pittsburgh Dad: What's this guy's name? Ned? Now that one's easy [to remember]. I'm just going to pay attention to him the entire show. (Sound effects of Ned Stark being decapitated on the television) Never mind. - Tomboy and Girly Girl: If Dad's comments are anything to go by, his daughters have this dynamic (older sister Mandy is the Girly Girl and younger sister Jessica is the Tomboy).
- The Unreveal: Dad's real name is never revealed, even in situations where it would logically come up. This is occasionally played for laughs.
- Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: In Pittsburgh vernacular, Dad is a bit of a jagoff.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Their usual animosity notwithstanding, when it comes to football, Dad and Tom are surprisingly friendly in a competitive sort of way.
- Walking Tech Bane: Mandy somehow manages to drain her father's car battery while changing his inspection sticker and later deletes the phone app from her iPhone.Dad: Don't know how she did it, but she done it.
- Wearing a Flag on Your Head: Discussed. Dad comments on how Magic Mike's underwear is, in his opinion, a desecration of the American flag.
- Who's on First?: Hilarity Ensues when Dad tries to explain to his kids that their mom, Deb, used to work at a women's clothing store called Deb.
