YMMV / Jake and Amir

• Archive Binge: Uh, yes.
• Bizarro Episode: The Ben Schwartz and Rick Fox episodes somehow manage to out-weird the rest of the series by a lot.
  • "Password" holds the distinction of not involving the titular duo at all, instead being a Lower-Deck Episode between Rick (who eats his own shit) and the boss. The experiment was so poorly-received that nothing like it was tried again.
• Crosses the Line Twice: The various Weird Aside lines where Jake blurts out admissions to illegal sexual acts whenever he's insecure. The initial incident was a relatively tame Kissing Cousins gag, but it kept escalating as the joke was repeated. He does mercifully Hand Wave at least one such confession as a joke (when it gets to the point of Parental Incest).
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Amir is antisocial, aggressive, paranoid, obsessive, delusional and dyslexic.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: The episodes with Ben Schwartz as a guest star are considered fan favorites to some, as his surreal characters bring an interesting and humorous dynamic to the series. Other ensembles include Thomas Middleditch as Doobs and Rick Fox as Amir's broker.
• Fridge Brilliance:
  • In the "Sick Day" arc when Jake changes jobs, his new coworker Amanda has the same first two letters in her name as "Amir," while Amir's new deskmate Mike has the same last two letters in his name as "Jake." In contrast to the characters they replace, the two respectively represent Jake's and Amir's ideal coworkers: Amanda is a gorgeous woman who's attracted to Jake, while Mike is almost eerily amenable to Amir's "friendship." Naturally, both relationships prove less enduring than the more counterintuitive bond between our dysfunctional leads.
  • The names of Ace and Jocelyn. Amir probably named Jake's character after his Perfectly Cromulent Word "ace," and Jake's spliced-together dialogue at the end of "Ace and Jocelyn - The TV Pilot" has him actually using the name "Jocelyn" while on the phone, implying that Amir simply built the character around the footage. The characters also have the same initials as Jake and Amir, but the other way around.
  • In "DJ Business" Amir uses the name "DJ Shmumu," likely a reference to his real middle name, Shmuel (his character's middle name is Valerie).
    • In the original series, Jake suggests that he change his middle name, which could explain why his middle name is "Shmuel" as of the revived series.
  • Amir often parrots phrases that it's clear Jake has said to him in the past, without much regard for the context. Sometimes Jake points this out, but other times it's just part of the dialogue and goes uncommented-on.
    Jake: Okay. Look, Amir, you especially need health insurance. You're incredibly malnourished.
    Amir: That's not even a word!
    Jake: Yes it is!
    Amir: Dammit! Oh, I never get it right when I guess that! I'm like 0 for lifetime.
  • Murph's decision to invite his girlfriend's crush for a Double Date on the night he plans to propose to her ("I figured 'what's more intimate than a double date?'") seems like the most hilariously off-base idea a person ever had, until you remember that Emily explicitly urged him in her last appearance to be even more of a Crazy Jealous Guy than he is. Setting up the situation to get out of hand is probably the smartest move he could have made.
  • Whenever Amir writes a string of weird emails, text messages or Facebook comments, Jake can't seem to resist reading them aloud and commenting on them. It makes you wonder if that's why Amir does it.
  • Jake's line "Holy shit, you killed Doobs?" in the finale echoes the line that introduced the character in the first place, spoken by Amir: "Holy shit, Doobs is here!"
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Early references to Amir's unseen parents imply that they're pretty normal, decent people whom Amir despises for no good reason (the worst he can say about either of them is that his mother once sent cookies to his dorm room and his father picked him up from college in a U-Haul). After it's established that they've been abusing him horrendously from his childhood to the present day, it retroactively becomes a lot harder to fault him for telling his mother not to visit him at work or refusing to talk to his father on his birthday. His assertion that "my dad is like this toolbox extraordinare, it pains me to call him" gets especially poignant in light of "Bucket List," when we find out that a typical phone conversation between them consists of Amir being berated and screamed at for half an hour straight, and eventually hear Amir, on the phone with his dad, near tears while being forced to say "I'm a piece of garbage."
  • Jake and Amir's doomed attempt to create a web series over the course of the finale took on a whole new level of Reality Subtext after TruTV passed on the pilot for the proposed television adaptation.
    Jake: Focus on being sad. All right? Let the feeling of failure wash over you.
  • The heavier moments in "Road Trip" and the finale get even heavier after "Social Distance Scroll," which establishes that Jake and Amir fell out of touch immediately after getting fired and didn't communicate again for a full five years.
  • Quite a few episodes that were supposed to depict Amir as a paranoid lunatic make him almost come off as the sane one in light of later events. See his concerns about internet privacy in episodes like "Instagram" and "iPhone 6" and his Crazy-Prepared pre-2020 pandemic approach in "Swine Flu" and "Ebola."
    Jake: Yeah, you're paranoid of what? Ebola in Los Angeles? You're not at risk here, in this office.
    Amir: (imitating a buzzer) Daaaaa! Wrong, okay? Ebola is an epidemic, which means you're at risk everywhere! Okay? Last time I checked, you weren't Superman!
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • When Jake decides to stay and rub Amir's back while he waits for the storm to pass in Storm.
  • Jake, Amir, Rosie and Murph all dancing together at the end of Grandma.
  • The "Sick Day" arc, which breaks up the duo when Jake takes a new job in California. Notably, although Amir is crushed by Jake's departure, it's Jake who turns out to have the hardest time moving on when they're actually apart, driving his attractive new coworker to distraction by talking about Amir incessantly. His return to his old job is solely motivated by wanting to be with Amir again.
    Amanda: That guy sounds like a real idiot!
    Jake: Yeah.
    Amanda: How do people that retarded even function in the real world, let alone get a real job?
    Jake: Well, he's not retarded.
    Amanda: No, he sounds like a needy idiot, I'm serious.
    Jake: (suddenly annoyed and defensive) He's not.
    • After Jake gets back to the office, a few of his other coworkers cut in front of Amir to greet him, causing Amir to remain sitting at his desk instead of getting up. When they ask Jake why he came back, Jake gives them a vague answer while clearly trying to look past them at Amir.
    • When Jake sits down at his normal desk, Amir tries to play it cool while they discuss getting dinner. It's ultimately Jake who diffuses the tension.
      Jake: F— it. Come here.
  • "Video Chat" concludes a short arc in which Amir is desperate to be placed back with Jake when he's no longer situated near him after they move offices, while Jake is satisfied with the new arrangement and doesn't want to trade Amir for his new deskmate, Murph. When it becomes clear that Jake isn't going to change his mind, Amir, who has been badgering him via video chat, claims he's better off in his new section because he's so popular there, only to be interrupted by a "The Reason You Suck" Speech from one of his coworkers which gets a round of applause from the entire room and which Jake, unbeknownst to Amir, fully overhears. In the next scene, Amir is in his accustomed place across from Jake.
    Amir: Uh...so Murph just...
    Jake: Murph just walked into Ricky's office (scene switches to silent footage of Ricky at his desk) and he said "hey, I need to switch desks." (Pan out to show Jake talking to Ricky.) I guess he had some friends over at the BustedTees area that he missed.
    • The Stinger is also adorable, showing Murph charging hilariously into the BustedTees area and receiving a hero's welcome and a kiss on the cheek from the same girl who chewed out Amir.
      Murph: EYYYYYYYYY, WHAT'S UP BEST WORK STATION EVER?!?!
      Others: Murph! Murph! Murph! Murph!
  • "Video Brainstorm," which has Amir pitching sketches in a writer's meeting, ends on a cute Pet the Dog moment from Jake when he's shown to be the only one who stayed behind and listened to Amir sing his parody of "Bad Romance" after everybody else left.
    Jake: Can we go?
    Amir: ...Yes.
  • "Tutors" shows that Amir is paying several 15-year-old boys to tutor him in grade-school subjects and that they're actually helping him. He's openly grateful for their help and successfully gets a math problem right because of their encouragement, and they take him seriously and defend him against Jake's heckling.
    Boy: Come on, Amir, you can do it.
    Jake: Whoa, whoa, whoa, foul on the play! No doing that, dude, you can't encourage him. He's gotta do it himself!
    Boy #2: (coldly) He is.
  • "Business Card" gets in such a sincere line from Amir that it disarms even Jake:
    Amir: Okay, you know what, you have a lot of dumb ideas too. But I don't call you out on them, because you're my friend and at least you're trying; I wanna see you happy.
  • "Driving Home" has Jake and Amir being driven home together after Amir crashed Jake's Thanksgiving dinner and starts out as a typical Secondhand Storytelling skit in which Jake expresses frustration at Amir's bizarre offscreen actions. However, toward the end he takes Amir's phone and ends up reading a miserable series of texts between Amir and his abusive dad, ultimately declaring that he's happy Amir spent Thanksgiving with him.
  • A subtle one from "Los Angeles": the episode flashes back to unseen moments from the previous handful of episodes to show that Jake spent the entire past month reminding Amir repeatedly that he was going to LA. One depicts the aftermath of "Secret Santa 2," which ended with Jake trying to stop his coworkers from executing Amir with a noose they gave him for Christmas; Jake is working at his desk while Amir, dazed and with the noose still hanging around his neck, is perched on the arm of his chair.
  • In "Puppet Part 1" Amir thinks the comedy act he's doing with a puppet of Jake is a hit with his coworkers, but Jake says they're laughing at him, not with him. Questioned by Amir, a few of the others admit that this is correct, causing him to scurry away in embarrassment.
    Sarah: (looking around at the others) ...I mean, I was laughing...with him, so.
  • "How Many Words Would It Take," a poem written by Amir in "Valentine's Day." Jake tears up while listening to him read it.
    How many words would it take to accurately express what you mean to me? How can you scientifically quantify how much lighter I become when you enter my day and how heavy I feel when you leave? How can I describe how my smile just appears magnetically when I see your face? How can I possibly count my thoughts of you when I think of you so constantly? As thoughts within thoughts, within thoughts, within thoughts make it impossible to remember where one began and the other ended. Time folds into itself as I am already nostalgic for our future and look forward to our past. For the rest of my life, I love you.
  • In "Relocation" when the rest of the staff is celebrating Amir's departure, Jake reaches for him in a comforting gesture before getting pushed away by the others.
  • The intro of "The Last Jake and Amir Episode Ever!":
    Jake: Hey, thank you so much for watching Jake and Amir.
    Amir: Losers.
    Jake: Be grateful.
    Amir: I am!
  • "Social Distance Scroll," the first appearance of the characters since 2016's "Donald Trump."
    Amir: Look at us, man. Who'd have thought we'd be back?
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The Couch Gag intro to "Double Date, Pt. 4" in light of Hot Date:
    Emily: Hey, you're watching Murph and Emily.
    Jake: No they're not.
    Murph: Yes they are!
  • Amir refers to himself as "lonely and horny" in two different episodes. Guess what they decided to call their next web series. There's also the episode "Amnesia," where Jake gives his name to an amnesiac Amir as "Josh R.," predicting the name of his character in said show, Josh Rice.
  • The episode "Charity," which pokes fun at incentivized crowdfunding platforms, became this after Hurwitz and Blumenfeld themselves began to distribute content via Patreon.
  • Amir's ill-advised schemes include investing in Bitcoin in 2014. The Cuckoolander Was Right.
  • After the finale, the "Mickey" episodes became retroactively funnier to many viewers who were now picturing Ed Helms on the other end the entire time.
  • This exchange in "Canada," a video from 2007. (Amir would drop a similar reference in 2013's "Hotel Room.")
    Jake: Let me see that paper.
    Amir: I don't know why you'd want to. It's an American newspaper. It's all lies. It's fake news. If you want—if you want a real newspaper I can show you an online...uh, site that shows Great Britain's news. Unbiased source.
• Ho Yay: Countless examples, but most significantly Ben Schwartz's repeated attempts to suck Jake's dick.
• Jerkass Woobie: Amir is a self-centered and misanthropic pathological liar who has no respect for other people's property or privacy, constantly messes with and hurts others unprovoked for the lulz, and actively stalks his supposed best friend while harassing and threatening his family as a matter of routine. He's also deeply lonely, insecure and depressed, severely mentally ill, socially maladroit, disliked (if deservedly) by almost everyone, the victim of years of over-the-top parental abuse, hasn't kissed anyone since his most recent girlfriend dumped him for his supposed best friend and was immediately killed by a bus (he claims a year later to have visited her grave every day since), and still considers his fraught relationship with Jake the only positive thing in his life, remaining desperate for his friendship and approval. Despite his Selective Obliviousness, it's occasionally implied that he has perfect clarity regarding how annoying and unwanted his behavior is and simply can't bring himself to stop.
  Amir: Why do I—why do I bother? Why do I bother if you're just not gonna like it? ... It just doesn't—I don't buy it, man. I'm sorry, it doesn't make sense. Why would I—why would I do this? Like, it doesn't, it—it doesn't help. You don't like me! It just drives you away even more.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • One-Take Jake. ^Explanation Jake's (wildly inaccurate) Self-Applied Nickname in the "Rap Teacher" series has become something of a Fan Nickname for the real Jake Hurwitz, used alternately in ironic reference to his tendency toward Corpsing or (more rarely) to express genuine admiration for his composure during The Oner episodes. The joke actually dates back to a moment of Self-Deprecation in a Hardly Working outtake from 2008.
  • Beefing tears of soy. ^Explanation Amir coins the word "beefing" to indicate Manly Tears and uses this phrase at the end of "Rolex" after actually crying soy sauce. Frequently quoted to express strong emotion.
  • Amir-style insulting collective nouns ("Diva roaches" / "circlejerking divas" / "coy divas").
  • Commenter above me is a philosopher, upvote him to karma heaven. ^Explanation The exploration of Internet comment culture in "Reddit" and its sequel proved an easy Fountain of Memes.
    • I'll go dickless for Michael Chiklis. ^Explanation "Reddit" and "Reddit Part 2" again, a recurring theme in Amir's shitposting.
    • Ask Me Anytime. ^Explanation What Amir thinks "AMA" stands for.
  • So [adjective] that Amir's dad FRICKIN' MOVED! ^Explanation A Running Gag surrounding Amir's father's tendency to move away in response to any difficulty whatsoever.
  • Streeter / Eater Piefell. ^Explanation Amir's spontaneous Malicious Misnaming of Streeter Seidell in "Ice Breakers" ("as in a pie fell in your mouth and you pretty much loved it"). The real-life Seidell notes that he still hears it frequently.
  • I spent a bad amount of money on it. ^Explanation A phrase used by Amir throughout "Album" ("a bad amount" meaning, according to him, "the worst amount").
  • I deserve so much more than this. ^Explanation Amir's Ungrateful Bastard reaction to Jake's big gesture of renting an RV to accompany him to California at the start of the "Road Trip" storyline. This one was even referenced by Blumenfeld and Hurwitz themselves in the credits of the Grand Finale.
  • There's always one you haven't seen. ^Explanation Since the series clocks in at nearly 700 episodes, some of which were unofficially reuploaded after being deleted by CollegeHumor's YouTube channel, even longtime viewers find themselves stumbling on episodes they missed.
  • Bad meme? Nah, bad you. ^Explanation A Mad Libs Catch Phrase of Amir's in response to criticism. Note that he usually does that with a vest.
  • This is a public shaming of me. / This is a shame of me. ^Explanation Another Blumenfeldian deflection.
  • You don't understand, man. I want dis. ^Explanation Amir in "Triathalon" soliciting donations so he can buy a diamond watch. Generally cited in much the same way as "Shut up and take my money!"
  • How does it feel like? I'm serious, how does it feel like? ^Explanation A grammatically dubious invitation to self-inquiry courtesy of Amir in "Audition."
  • Not really a hobby, but I've been pretty into memes recently. ^Explanation A Running Gag is that Amir will cite things that aren't hobbies when asked about his hobbies, such as Craisins, alienating people's significant others, and pretending that restaurant beepers are buzzing to mess with his parents.
  • A [noun] for this [self-description rhyming with noun] makes [noun] [verb] [third rhyme]. ^Explanation  A Mad Libs Catchphrase expressive of Jake's rage is a fanbase craze.
    • I [past-tense verb] [article] [noun]! At a [place]! My point is I get invited to [place]. ^Explanation The inevitable coda.
  • She is an angry bitch, but she is calm. ^Explanation Amir's odd description of the crazed Rottweiler Rotem in "Dog."
  • If you have to ask, then you don't know. ^Explanation A memorably bizarre line from Amir in "Typewriter", often deployed at people asking literally any J&A-related question.
• Misattributed Song: In-Universe, Amir attributes Crazy Town's "Butterfly" to Sugar Ray.
• Moment of Awesome: The punchline to Amir's freestyle in Rap Teacher 2.
  • In "Rubik's Cube," Amir insists he can solve the Rubik's Cube Jake is struggling with, so Jake throws it to him, accidentally hitting him in the face. The two argue back and forth about whether Amir should be allowed to inflict an equal amount of pain on Jake to make it even until Amir finally throws the Rubik's Cube back at Jake, who is quietly stunned to find that Amir has completely solved it over the course of their minute-long argument.
    Amir: Hey, no catching! I didn't catch it!
    Jake: (disbelievingly turns cube in his hands, Quizzical Tilt)
  • In "Girlfriend Part 8" Amir manages a scathing comeback to Jake, who insists that he misses Lerona more out of the two of them:
    Amir: Okay, she was my girlfriend for longer.
    Jake: Yeah, but she was my girlfriend when it happened.
    Amir: Yes, but we had a deeper connection.
    Jake: Ha!...Okay, fair enough, but we were about to begin something new and amazing and it all got cut short.
    Amir: Yeah, that sounds a lot like my story with her. Only in my version, you were the bus.
  • In Fired when Alan Avery first suggests firing Jake and Amir, Amir's response is "I should fire you." The line gets a climactic Ironic Echo from Jake when Avery tries to fire him, to which he reveals his knowledge that Avery has been embezzling company funds and subsequently blackmails him into leaving with a confession Caught on Tape by Amir.
  • Any time Jake has to reluctantly acknowledge Amir's rhyming ability.
    Amir: To strike me like you did showed a lack of tact, and you came off like a classless ass, and that's the facts, Jack.
    Jake: For as dumb as you are, you're pretty good at rhyming.
    Amir: All right, I appreciate your attempt to mediate, alleviate what you've done to me to date, but it's a little too little too late.
• Nausea Fuel: Do NOT watch this show during your lunch break. "Ace and Jocelyn 4," "Brown Teepee," "Nuggets," "Blender," "Food Poisoning" and "Road Trip Part 4 (New Mexico)" are just a few of the worst offenders.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • "Tongue" starts out as a normal episode, takes a sudden and bloody hard left, and then just keeps going while Jake gropes around on the floor for his bitten-off tongue and Amir banters like nothing happened. Since it was aired close to Halloween, it's tempting to apply Canon Discontinuity, but references in several other episodes have made it clear that it really happened.
  • After the events of "Nose Job," Amir annoys Jake throughout "Lottery" by scratching his still-blistered nose until a bunch of spiders start crawling out of it.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Amanda, Jake's one-time co-worker and girlfriend during his stint in California, is played by Amy Rutberg, before she became known as Marci Stahl in Daredevil (2015).
  • Jake's brother in the four-part "Brother" arc is played by Kumail Nanjiani, who has since gone on to earn recognition for his roles in Adventure Time, Silicon Valley, and the Oscar-nominated The Big Sick.
  • Amir's quirky, bizarre friend Cheryl is played by Allison Williams, who you may recognize as Rose Armitage from Get Out (2017).
  • Thomas Middleditch's pre-Silicon Valley role as Amir's Drama Queen rival Doobs.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: This was the reaction of some to the episodes after "Moving Part 2".

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