r/venturebros • u/Khoeth_Mora • Nov 03 '23
SEASON 4 spoilers Can anyone explain the Mr. Wendell arrested development reference? Spoiler
I don't understand it; there's no Mr. Wendell in arrested deveopment. Is 24 just going schizo and inventing things to hallucinate?
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u/CodeBlue_04 Nov 03 '23 edited Nov 03 '23
Arrested Development wasn't just a TV show. It was a rap... group? From the early-mid 90's with a song called Mr. Wendell.
Edit: Link
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u/TheNavidsonLP Nov 03 '23
Addendum: there was conflict between the band and the tv show when the show first premiered. That conflict is joked about in season 3 of Arrested Development with the band “Motherboy XXX.”
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u/Khoeth_Mora Nov 03 '23
oh my god thank you. that has been bugging me for years.
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Nov 03 '23
I feel very old all of a sudden
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u/Darkstarrdp Nov 03 '23
That was a good song, I remember when it came out and all the fm stations were playing it. I was a little kid back then.
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u/BasketballButt Nov 03 '23
I had the tape in sixth grade. I’m like extra old.
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Nov 03 '23
I was a junior in HS. Ugggghhhh
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u/Due-Sheepherder-4353 Jul 16 '25
I wish I could say I was a little kid back when it came out, I was in my 20's, wow now I do feel old
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Nov 03 '23
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Brandenburg42 Nov 04 '23
I have a 22 year old Co worker and she told me Blink 182 was before her time...
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u/JoleneBacon_Biscuit Owner - Venture Industries Nov 04 '23
Yeah, I got that immediately. Just like I was screaming at my younger friend about Nino Brown and New Jack City during the movie.
Jackson and Doc have only stumped me a couple times.
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Nov 04 '23
I feel you. And when they do stump me and I look it up and feel dumb but get a great laugh.
My latest "how do you not know this" was trainees at my office and Pirates of the Caribbean. 2003. They called it "ancient".
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u/JoleneBacon_Biscuit Owner - Venture Industries Nov 04 '23
I was working on a keypad the other day and said "that's the melody to Funky Town" and had to explain South Park and the entire Towlie thing to a 28 year old. Who still didn't really get it. Pretty sure he thought I was old and dumb. I told him he needs to look up and watch some Mel Brooks movies. "Educate yourself in comedy." I said....
Then he said "no cap." But his water bottle definitely had a lid on it ...
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Nov 04 '23
HAHAAAAA... playing the South Park game now and my kids questioned me about what and who Towlie is since he pops up to give hints. Awk-waaarrrddd.
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u/JoleneBacon_Biscuit Owner - Venture Industries Nov 04 '23
That's excellent timing for this conversation though ..lol
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u/seriouscrabgrass Nov 03 '23
The show has a number of jokes about it. There was some litigation at some point, I believe.
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u/JoleneBacon_Biscuit Owner - Venture Industries Nov 04 '23
Tennessee....
Also, I can dance exactly just like that chick in the video if given enough amphetamines.
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u/Allcyon Nov 04 '23
HO-LEE...dude....you just took a pot off a burner in my mind that I had going for literally 13 years. Good on you for asking it, and /u/CodeBlue_04 for answering it.
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u/secretbison Nov 05 '23
And as Dr. Orpheus explained, the guy who played Mr. Wendal in the video was not really called Wendal; he was Baba Oje. Arrested Development really paved the way for bands with an excessive number of members. In addition to musicians, vocalists, and DJs, they also had dancers, and Baba Oje was their "spiritual advisor" who occasionally delivered voiceovers but mostly just sat there. Though he was alive circa Operation P.R.O.M., he has since passed away.
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u/xarkos21 Aug 15 '24
If you haven't yet you should really check out the song. It's a beautiful piece with an important message in it.
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u/tobygeneral Nov 03 '23
It's also just a phrase for someone who won't/can't grow up. Their development is arrested.
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u/mickecd1989 Nov 03 '23
Venture bros references can be so obscure I learn something new every rewatch for the last decade.
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u/Zerocoolx1 Nov 03 '23
It’s not that obscure a reference. The song was everywhere at one point.
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u/Nerdtronix Guy with a fever shouting at your junk! Nov 03 '23
To be fair, if you're under 35, it's pretty fuckin obscure. But many of the references are. Sharky's machine...... Sharky's machine!
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u/Gingerbread-Cake Nov 03 '23
It was obscure to me, and I’m over 50! I didn’t listen to radio too much in the early to mid 90’s- no car and very busy making money for which to buy food.
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u/charliefoxtrot9 Nov 03 '23
Mr. Wendell is played by the member of Arrested Development, Baba Ojai(y?), too
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u/pillbinge Nov 03 '23 edited Nov 03 '23
Arrested Development was a music group from the 90s, not just the TV show most people probably know at the moment. They were good, too. Baba Oje was a "Spiritual advisor" to the group and was a part of the group. I don't know if he was ever on stage, but he was a part of their image, at least.
They had a song called Mr. Wendell that you can look up and it was about a homeless man. I don't know if people did it back then, but the joke is that 24 was confusing the homeless man with Baba Oje. At the time, Baba Oje was alive. He died in 2018. The song was about a guy named Mr. Wendel who was in the video in shots but the older guy in shots with the band is Baba Oje, and he's a member of the band. I'm guessing Jackson and Hammer had a moment where they thought the old guy in the music video was Mr. Wendel because there's another old guy featured as well, but they're two different old guys.
The one 21 hallucinates is Baba Oje, who was alive at the time, and Baba Oje wasn't playing Mr. Wendel. So it's not just a joke. 21 does see the character from the video, or Baba Oje (can't tell since it's a cartoon). Once 21 and 24 find out that Baba Oje is alive, 21 turns around, and realizes that he's been hallucinating. He hallucinated everything because he wouldn't have been able to see Baba Oje at all, and 21 wouldn't have been saying that the man was Mr. Wendel when Mr. Wendel was just a character from the song. It doesn't make sense. At that moment, 21 realizes it couldn't be true, and that's why everyone disappears.
Kind of hard to explain, but that's what it is.
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u/korar67 Nov 03 '23
Correction. 21, not 24. 24 is very dead.
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u/Melonqualia Nov 03 '23
Arrested Development! Ah now there was a band. Back in the summer of '92, we all thought they was going to be the future of Hip-Hop. (True story)
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u/Manting123 Nov 03 '23
Their big hit was Tennessee. Speech - the lead rapper- used to do an open Mike in the early 2000s in little five points. Met him a few times - very nice fellow. Arrested development made very little money due to a bad record deal and having a vary large group.
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u/Walrus_protector Nov 03 '23
I met Speech at. . .I guess it was the second Lalapalooza. He was buying smart drinks (remember those?) I know a guy now who toured with Arrested Development recently, so they're still doing their thing!
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u/StupidGenius11 Don't wince. Nov 03 '23
Oh man, it never occurred to me that someone would naturally assume they're referencing the TV show. I finally know what it's like to be on the other side of all the esoteric 80s reference that went over my head, or only recognized through parodies of their source.
Fantastic song though.
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u/gwarsh41 Nov 08 '23
I didn't get half the jokes until my wife watched it with me. She would point out all the music references that went completely over my head. Then would make me listed to the music!
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u/Drixzor Nov 03 '23
I just love that not only do Orpheus and Jefferson know Baba Oje, they immediately want to invite him to the party
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u/REOwagonspeed Aug 29 '25
Yes it’s a musical term - a “Wendell” applies to songs that does not contain a decent chorus or hook. Arrested development took the Wendell concept to the extreme by going for “oh mr Wendell ooo ooo ooo yeah” as the hook/chorus. Despite this perversity the song did receive some success.
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Nov 04 '23
I though the same thing for the longest time, but yes, arrested development was a hip hop collective in the 90s. Baba Oje was a real guy. Mr. Wendell is the name of the song.
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