Continuity
There is little to no continuity in LoadingReadyRun's videos - most episodes are a self-contained skit or series of skits that can be fully understood and appreciated by themselves, and what happens in an episode has no lasting consequences. Paul isn't a zombie in the episodes appearing after The Aftermath, for example. There are certain exceptions to this principle, however: some jokes contain references to people and events in other videos, and very rarely, episodes will be a continuation of earlier videos. Although the cast of LRR frequently appear as "themselves", they're really acting out personas that represent the last and most subtle form of LRR continuity.
Continuity References
Season Five
- At the end of Bagel Time, Graham references over the phone the events of Son of a Bitch.
- At the beginning of Son of a Bitch, Graham is reading a Cardboard Man comic book (First Draft Iron Man Trailer). When he fast forwards Matt's video, we see "The Kit", a running joke from The James Masterson School for Dictatorial Improvement.
- Uwe Boll: Decision 2008 has a clip from PSA: Uwe Boll.
- Deeply Religious includes Ash as a naughty nun (a reference to Nuntastic), and the steel chair cage match is attended by DJ Cuddlebunnies (see below).
- Unnatural Resources mentions Yummies Snack Cakes (Yummies Ads, The 2007 Christmas Special), and includes an Action 9 News webcast page that references Max Effect, WGA, No Way!, Eyewitness Accounts, Rapidfire: Episode 5, Slow News Day, The Secret Life of Toast, Morgan's Problem and Halo: The Future of Gaming.
- Assessment features El Pollo, who first appeared in 4 Guys And a Box of Hats.
- The Writers Room references The Book of Stan, last mentioned in Door to Door.
- High Noon has a DJ Cuddlebunnies poster at the 40 second mark, a reference to Moving Out.
- Moving Out references Mr Tiddlywinks, last seen in The LoadingReadyRumble, the Warriors of Darkness, from The Truce, and the summoning of Tiddlywinks, mentioned in Ways to Get Yourself Killed in a Horror Movie.
- The 2007 Christmas Special is heavily self-referential. Paul Kennedy reappears from The James Masterson School for Dictatorial Improvement, this time promoting a different film with different terrorists. Yummies Snack Cakes reappear from Yummies Ads. Paul's character from Three PS3s returns. Gravitic Warp make their third appearance since they were invented in Celestial Sea: Episode 2. A clip from It's a Wonderful Game appears.
- Jer's card-flipping disguise echoes his role as the ninja in EZ Industries.
- When LRR does PSA-style shorts, names such as Jimmy, Billy, Timmy, and Johnny are typically used.The Photoshop Wizard refers to Ian by all of these names.
- The Stages begins in medias res, as Darryll talks with a friend about the phrase in medias res. A very similar joke was made in Suspend Your Disbelief.
- In The Truce, Steve plays Gravitic Warp, in reference to Celestial Sea: Episode 2.
- Trick or DOOM co-stars Canadaman.
Season Four
- The Secret Life of Toast briefly shows a cardboard box labeled 'Underwater Utopia Plans', a reference to Bioshocked.
- Bioshocked references the installation of Linux onto the toilet from Installation Anxiety, the job at the planetarium concession stand from Daylight Savings, and the lack of eggs from Keytars. In addition, the shirt Paul folds is a reference to Somebody Has to Change and the inflatable Lemming refers to Rapidfire: Episode 4, among others.
- Rebellin' references The Bet.
- iPhone Alternative references 64K and Rejected 'Get a Mac' Ads.
- The phrase "also, I have this cake" in Computer Envy is a reference to Paul's behavior in Three PS3s
- The "William Johnson Memorial Conference Center" in EZ Industries is a reference to the late main character from The Danger of Cigarettes.
- The "in England" joke of Morgan's in One of Us Has to Change is a reference to Graham's facetious claims to have throttled students and shot the homeless for recreation on Sunday afternoons "in England" shown in Panda Porn. The phrase appears in various permutations throughout The Whatever Thing from then on.
- EZ Industries is taken from the LoadingReadyLIVE! skit of the same name, with only minor changes.
- Hell's Kitchen includes the inflatable Lemming and lava lamp from Rapidfire: Episode 4.
- Gibbstation 3 contains the running gag phrases "Oh, hello! I didn't see you there."
- Those Games We Played commemorates the former fourth member of 64K, Core-Unit, who was briefly referenced by the group during their appearance in The LoadingReadyRumble.
Season Three
- The LoadingReadyRumble includes a prodigious number of established characters from LRR canon.
- The note found on Evil Paul's body in The LoadingReadyRumble is a reference to a sketch from LoadingReadyLIVE!, where the yet-to-be-installed escape tunnel is first mentioned.
- In Serious Cravings, Morgan Watches Is this a Date? and Hagiography Today.
- The Audio Trouble sketches found in various episodes of Rapidfire feature location reporter Steve Clark, from the Season Two video Slow News Day.
- The discussion of the creepy prosetylizers in Nuntastic is a reference to the Season One video Door-to-Door.
- Kathleen's statement "I have cats!" in Nuntastic is a reference to the Season Two video Offensisensitivity.
- Just as in Pimp My Chair, James wants to be a firefighter in CCYD.
- The "anti-lawyer charm" Paul throws at James in Wyy is the same "anti-meteor charm" Bob the Angry Flower sells in Sales Success a la Meteor. In Wyy Paul claims to have bought it from "some guy", ostensibly Bob.
- Uwe Boll: An Apology is both a response to and a parody of the Season Two video PSA: Uwe Boll.
- The various objects that come with joining the Uwe Boll Fan Club in Uwe Boll: An Apology are the same objects from The James Masterson School for Dictatorial Improvement.
- The charades scene in The Bet references Uwe Boll and Edward James Olmos, who come up repeatedly in other videos.
- The opening title of Ways to Get Rid of Your Christmas Tree switches to "Ways to Get Rid of Your Holiday Plant" just before the list begins, in reference to The C Word.
- Pimp My Chair uses the backing track from 1337 and a song that reappears in Shake Your Hands.
Season Two
- The various objects that come with joining the Anti-Uwe Boll Fan Club in PSA: Uwe Boll are the same objects from The James Masterson School for Dictatorial Improvement.
- The running gag phrases "Oh, hello! I didn't see you there." appear in both The Process and The James Masterson School for Dictatorial Improvement. They also appear in later seasons.
- In Digital Love, Graham's gift of antifreeze to Kathleen as a Christmas present is a reference to the gas station shopping spree in Last Minute.
- In Digital Love, the video with the midgets and the donkey is a reference to The Process.
- In Out of Sync, Graham refers to the time he got stuck in Paul's mirror, in The Mirror.
- In Pwn'd Morgan gets back at Graham for being cut out of sketches in the The Process.
- In The Aftermath Paul is still dead from Pwn'd and Paul's corpse is left in the Homo Mortuus Reserve from Field Guide to Homo Mortuus.
Season One
Though no examples of continuity appear in Season One, this is of course the starting point for the in-gags and references.
Personas
There have been a few videos where cast members of LoadingReadyRun have truly appeared as themselves (Nanaimo Road Trip is a notable example), but in most cases they portray a fictionalized character based on themselves. For example, The Process paints Graham as an egomaniac and a control-freak, whereas the author of the sketch had never actually met him. Furthermore, Paul and Graham don't live together at all (in fact, at the time this was written Graham lived with Morgan and Bill), but "Paul and Graham, creators of world-famous website LRR" do; similarly, neither wears LRR shirts constantly, although "Paul and Graham" do. (Paul and Graham also don't sleep in matching pajamas. Morgan and Graham own matching pajamas, due to Jangles and Jones Save Christmas, but do not share a bedroom. In fact, as of 2008, Graham and Matt live in an apartment together.) Kathleen doesn't run a Rent-A-Furry site, and so on. Although not truly reoccurring characters, these dopplegänger alter egos represent a form of continuity that ties together disparate LRR episodes.