Jokes From "The Sopranos" Comment Section Explained

This is gonna be kind of a weird article for the simple fact that I'm talking about something extremely niche'. If you're on the Youtubes like most of the kids these days and you just so happen to be a fan of "The Sopranos" than more than likely you've come across Youtube channels such as SopranosFan57 and the infamous Borko and you've more than likely scrolled through their comment section (and if you haven't you're doing yourself a disservice, they're freakin' hilarious) and found a bounty of Sopranos related jokes composed of mostly quotes from the series. Now while a lot of these jokes may seem old hat and obvious to make when thought is given to them these jokes are actually much smarter than you think, what am I talking about? Let's dive in.

"BLANK was my favorite character, I wish they did more with them"
This is a new one but one that is catching one quickly. At first glance, this just seems like a snide comment to make about characters who are here one episode and gone then next or are whacked but in reality, this joke is more of a compliment towards the writers of the show. "The Sopranos" is a show that is strongly driven by its characters so the fans joking that they wish any and all random extra including Tony's belt would have had more screen time to develop their character is a veiled compliment that says "the writing on this show is so good that they could have made anyone relevant.".

"Never had the makings of a varsity athlete"
This is an oldy but a goodie. Junior Soprano can be thanked for coining this phrase but what keen fans of the series would know that when Junior dropped this fact about Tony it was actually an early sign of dementia. Tony being who he is merely thought his Uncle was trying to get under his skin and thus felt insulted by it, understandably so. Fans have latched onto this and even added other attributes instead of "athlete". What makes this joke so genius is the fact that those who are annoyed by it are reacting the same way Tony did instead of recognizing that the users of the joke are (unbeknownst to them) mimicking Junior's early-onset dementia. So ultimately the whole scenario plays out exactly like the show.

"Fielder Soprano"
You'd be hard-pressed to remember someone as forgettable as Jeanie Cusomano's twin sister Joan but what made her memorable is her interaction with Carmella. For those who don't remember Carmella asked Jeanie to call Joan to put in a good word for Meadow in regards to her transcripts to college, Joan knowing Carmella is associated with the mob wanted nothing to do with it but never the less found herself in Carmella's crosshairs, attempting a powerplay Joan purposefully mispronounced Meadow's name. This attempt at a powerplay was to put Carmella beneath her as a way of saying she was not memorable. This joke works because Joan's powerplay failed, Carmella wasn't insulted and simply corrected her and moved on. So when people reference Fielder Soprano they're basically attempting the same thing Joan did to a lesser degree.

"Whatever happened there..."
Let's be honest, Little Carmine isn't as they say the most allocated with words, one could even say his grasp of the English language was tinnitus at best. But what made Little Carmine such a fun character is his ability to say absolute nonsense with total conviction and his inability to shut up. One such incident occurred when Tony & Phil decided to set their differences aside only for Little Carmine to bring up (in passing) the murder of Phil's brother Billy by Tony's cousin er...ummm...Tony by simply stating "Your brother Billy, whatever happened there.". Of course, such a passing reference to a personally traumatic incident launched a war between The Sopranos & Lupterazzi crime family. This joke works because Little Carmine attempted to underplay the severity of Billy's murder by saying "whatever happened there" as if it wasn't an unprovoked murder. So anyone who uses this joke in whatever context is either making light of a severe situation or making severe of a light situation in either context the joke works and therefore can be used at any point in time.

"Shinebox"
The Shinebox reference comes all the way from "Goodfellas" in the infamous scene where Billy Batts orders Tommy to get his shine box. While you may think this joke came into being simply because Frank Vincent appears in both "Goodfellas" and "The Sopranos" you're only half-way right, this joke actually works within the context of "The Sopranos" universe given Tony's love for gangster movies it'd only make sense that fans of "The Sopranos" would quote other gangster movies in reference to "The Sopranos". Not to mention "Goodfellas" features the scene in which breaking balls goes too far and "The Sopranos" has many scenes where breaking balls goes too far and results in someone catching a beating or being threatened with violence. It only makes sense that these characters would be having a moment where even the mere mention of something would cause them to fly into a blinding rage.

"You gotta bee on yo hat"
This gem comes to us from Furio when he and Tony went to intimidate Junior's doctor. Furio being Furio knocks the Doctor's hat off while casually uttering the infamous line in his thick Italian accent. What makes this joke so hilarious is that Furio needed no pretense to knock the Doctor's hat off so telling the Doctor he had a bee on his hat was completely unnecessary to say to all parties involved which means Furio was actively being funny on purpose. If Furio wanted to knock the Doctor's hat off he could have done it without saying anything. You wouldn't think to look at Furio and think of someone who can engage in deadpan humor but this scene shows that not only does Furio have comedic timing but is downright scary while doing so. That's why the scene and the joke works.

"Two Black guys"
"The Sopranos" favorite scapegoat for random acts of misfortune has always been "two black guys". But this joke has a lot of weight to it. If you've watched the series long enough you'll realize that in the first season Brendan attempted to hi-jack a truck with two Black guys, and likewise in that very same season, Junior hires two Black guys to murder Tony. Later on in the series, Tony has Chris hire two Black guys to kill Carmine Lupertazzi, so is it any mystery that when a character states that two Black guys attacked them the other characters immediately believe them or disregard it altogether? It's simply because they would hire two Black guys themselves. But the overarching joke is that if you were indeed attacked by two Black guys the chances of a mobster bankrolling them is almost 100%. So in the comment section when someone jokes about two Black guys they're implicitly imparting guilt on Italian mobsters.

"Up In the club"
In the 2nd Season Christopher's underlings, Sean Gismonta and Matthew Bevilaqua are visited by Furio. In a brief exchange, Furio demands the duo to pay him $1000 after concluding the business for which he arrived (collecting Tony's portion of Sean & Matt's earnings). While this exchange was happening DJ Quik's "Up 'N Da Club" was playing in the background. So whenever a commentor comments "Up In The Club" a character is getting ripped off and powerless yo do anything to stop it. So instead of saying it outright, commentors merely need to post "Up in the club" and everyone knows exactly why.