The Litter Monster (Rifftrax Shorts)

Rifftrax Year:  2016
Riffers:  Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy, Bill Corbett

Despite the title, this short has very little to do with a "litter monster" of any kind.  Instead it's a preachy short about littering and how to prevent it (you know, like using a garbage can or something).  It shows "fun" ways children can promote their anti-litter movement, most of which involve creating useless crap out of paper which will probably all wind up crumpled up and on the ground anyway.

I'm an advocate of this short's goals, but it's not very good at selling it.  As mentioned above, there's too much arts and crafts involved, which I think works against the short's moral lesson.  Preventing litter involves individuals using proper waste disposal methods, not signing a petition.  And the short completely lost me by the time a group of pranksters made a talking garbage can that harassed people who walked by.  Fuck that.

As for the riffing, it's fairly workmanlike.  There's some nifty pop-culture references, like Bill Cosby rape allegations and Nick Fury asking the Litter Monster to join the Avengers.  I'd hesitate to say the short had bad material, but most of it isn't very inspired.  The second half however does pick up a bit.  One gag that made me laugh was when the short showed a rodeo, to which Kevin made a joke about cows littering cowboys on the ground.  Soon after there's a spot where children take photos of litter "to show the ugliness of it," to which Bill criticizes "instead of picking it up."  I also like that Mike's interpretation of the short's moral is that litter can be prevented by "unpaid child labor."

But biggest laugh of the short:  little girl throws a soda can into the garbage, and Bill says "Screw recycling!"

This short isn't exactly a waste of time, but when there are other shorts out there to consider it's hard to recommend.  I'd say other shorts demand your attention more than this one.

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