An Important Conversation About Whether Or Not Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard Are The Worst

By Riley Silverman | Celebrity | April 11, 2016 |

By Riley Silverman | Celebrity | April 11, 2016 |

So, earlier today, former TV prankster turned luckiest-man-alive Dax Shepard tweeted this photo of himself and wife/wannabe builder of snowmen Kristen Bell before they headed into the Game of Thrones premiere:

We took the GOT premier SUPER serious. @IMKristenBell is my khaleesi. pic.twitter.com/xZmG72nSMb

— dax shepard (@daxshepard1) April 11, 2016

And of course, we all remember when the internet was made to watch their vacation video/reboot of Toto’s “Africa”:

This lead to serious debate among the Overlords about whether or not Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard were delightful or actually just shrewd marketing monsters who must be stopped at all cost.

Riley: I love that these two are just like some of my crazy cosplay friends.

Genevieve: Stars! They’re just like us! Specifically, uncomfortably earnest about their appreciation for a TV show.

TK: Is it bad that I’m starting to hate them just a teeny bit?

Dustin: A little bit bad, yes. THEY ARE JOY.

TK: Ugh.

Dustin: I didn’t even notice the matching tattoos.

TK: They just feel so much like a couple of front-of-the-class hand-raisers.

Riley: To me they’re like real life Leslie and Ben from Parks and Rec.

Dustin: Who are also front-of-the-class hand raisers. What have you got against nerds, TK?

TK: I got nothing against nerds (OBVS), but I have a teeeeeeeny bit against nerds who seem like they’re trying WAY too hard to seem nerdy.

And maybe that’s just them, and there’s no shameless self-marketing or carefully cultivated over-eagerness to it.

Maybe.

Dustin:

TK: EXACTLY. THAT CANNOT BE A REAL HUMAN.

Riley: Can’t it be both though? Can’t they be like, hey we’re crazy into stuff and people are responding to this so it may as well be our brand?

TK: Maybe? I don’t know. LOOK, I AM ADMITTEDLY CONFLICTED OVER THIS.

Emily: /whispers

I might agree with TK.

/runs away

Genevieve: Facebook reminded me yesterday that a year ago I went to a bar in full Daenerys costume to win a canvas print from a beer company (and did) and that was the same night my current beau confessed his feelings for me, so I’m willing to give the benefit of the doubt. I think they are selling their relationship a bit (hello, LG ads) but I also think that this selling is so clearly unsponsored that it’s probably mostly sincere.

Riley: It’s funny too because I never cared for Dax at all, like I sort of lumped him in with Johnny Knoxville because he got famous from Punk’d the way Johnny did for Jackass and it felt like he was being sold to us hard, and when he married Kristen I was like “But he’s the worst!” but I really have come around him, maybe slightly because I love her so much

I guess for me, so much shit for so long was ironic and jaded mockery (I KNOW WHAT SITE I WRITE FOR) that when people seem to just sincerely love stuff I get real excited

TK: And I feel the same way, my problem is I just can’t always tell when that sincere love is *actually* sincere.

And I also understand that this is an unfair standard to hold people to considering how ridiculous my *own* enthusiasm for some things is (because guys, full disclosure, I was watching The Force Awakens on my phone at the gym yesterday and literally started tearing up on the arc trainer when Han gave the “Chewie, we’re home” line even though I’ve now seen it four times).

Perhaps it’s the celebrity aspect that makes me skeptical, which is a tad unfair. I don’t know. Maybe I just want them to dial it back a skosh.

Riley: I mean literally all they did here was tweet a photo of their costumes from a party.

TK: FINE, RILEY I’M AN INHUMAN MONSTER, GOD.

(unrelated: that comment had a much different tone before I added the comma)

Riley: I feel like this thread should be a post on the site

Dustin… can this conversation be a post on the site?

TK: Yeah, let’s tell the world that I cry at the gym!

Riley: …I mean we all knew

Emily: My big problem is that I think I like their characters way more than I like them. Veronica Mars would cut a bitch, K Bell will not. I prefer the former.

TK: Ugh, I agree with Chambers. This is the worst day ever.

Genevieve: I like Veronica Mars as a character but I think I’d get along better with Kristen Bell the person.

Emily: Also in that way, I consider Kristen and Dax the anti Leslie and Ben. I like Leslie and Ben, but I’d much rather hang out with Amy and Adam. Amy and Adam will smoke weed with you and crack jokes about their fuck style. That’s more my speed.

Genevieve, I know for a fact I would not. I’d get annoyed with Bell and that would kill me.

TK: STOP IT, EMILY.

Genevieve: I just tend to find people that aggressively misanthropic a bit exhausting to be around. Like, I get it, I hate people too, but responding to EVERYTHING with a cutting remark just comes off as offensive rather than defensive after a while and if you’re consistently mean to me when I try to hang out with you I’m just gonna stop.

(This is why I stopped watching House also, couldn’t figure out why anyone still put up with his ass after the 1398734th time he made it clear he had no intention of treating his friends like people.)

Riley: My problem with House is that they kept doing big finale episodes where it was like “Oh he’s growing as a character” and then reset when the next season started.

TK: I’m not saying I only crave the company of other assholes (new band name, incoming!), but can’t there be a happy medium between relentlessly negative snarkasaurus and eager-beaver overly-earnest try-hards?

Jodi: TK, I think I’m that happy medium of asshole with varied bursts of excitement. Or whatever.

Genevieve: In my experience, most try-hards tend to calm down in private company, but the relentlessly negative snark monsters tend to do the opposite. But hey, opinions are like assholes, we’ve all got them and they all stink.

Riley: Yeah, I think I’m a try-hard who is super chill among friends

TK: I’ll let you know what I’m like once I make some friends.

Riley: Maybe you’ll make some friends if you stop being so mean to Kristen and Dax for being awesome.

So final thoughts.. for me, it might be a personal thing, I really love cosplaying and going to cons and stuff, and I have some friends who just have these really fun theme parties that they put a lot of work into without feeling obnoxious. I love all that stuff. So, maybe it’s a selfish thing for me as someone who performs comedy and wants to be more well known eventually, I don’t want to have to give up on my over-the-top fandom and silliness if I ever do get famous. Maybe that’s why I adore what Kristen and Dax do?

Also TK is an inhuman monster.