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Adult Swim has a warped relationship with its 4 a.m. audience, a good portion of whom we presume to be either stoned college kids or stoned adults. On December 16, Adult Swim dropped what can only be described as one of the greatest pieces of horror in 2014 on their baked constituency — “Unedited Footage of a Bear.”

If you haven’t seen “Unedited Footage of a Bear” (and you have a high tolerance for emotional scarring), then you need to check it out. The first 30 seconds deliver on the promised bear footage, while the rest of the video transforms into what can only be described as a Claritin commercial spiraling into the darkest recesses imaginable. (Hint: Skip the ad.)

Released on the heels of their super viral sketch “Too Many Cooks” (6MM views and counting) the equally brilliant and exceptionally dark “Unedited Footage of a Bear” (1.2MM views) was met by the public with more of shudder than an embrace. What gives?

Both “Too Many Cooks” and “Unedited Footage of a Bear” mark departures from Adult Swim’s typical infomercials, most of which mimic, well, infomercials. They feature people trying to sell their audience a fake and ridiculous product with a straight face, such as a university that’s completely for-profit and has no accreditation standards. TMC and UFOAB are not tied down to any of these typical constraints. Both have noticeably larger budgets and demonstrate more sophisticated filming, editing, writing, and directing than many network sitcoms.

Each of the 10-minute pieces tells a complete story to its audience while serving as a form of meta-commentary through its filmed medium. In the case of TMC, that means using an intro song spoof to showcase a warped, anti-comedy version of every 80’s sitcom you’ve ever seen. For UFOAB, this means using the never-ending allergy commercial from hell to showcase the dark side of addiction.

More importantly, both of these pieces demonstrate a darker and more-biting form of satire than Adult Swim’s typical bodily-fluid-based form of comedy. Both of these pieces hold their subject matter under a focused and scrutinizing magnifying glass and offer their dark interpretations of what they find to their audience. Both of these videos are pieces of, not only comedic art, but art in general. They are both masterful blends of humor, satire, and meta-commentary.

However, only one of these videos achieved the esteemed status of going viral.

Look, I get it. “Too Many Cooks” was a seemingly-innocent sitcom spoof with a catchy song that wouldn’t get out of your head. It was lighthearted (at first), fun, and a joy to reference. And it had Smarf.

“Unedited Footage of a Bear” is not that. It’s bleak, and it’s morbid. It’s something you may have to watch stone cold sober at 10 a.m.—versus stonie-maronied at 4 a.m.—to ensure you don’t have nightmares. But that doesn’t make it any less brilliant, important, or successful as a piece of comedy.

“Unedited Footage of a Bear” is one of those few pieces of comedy that is so dark and morbid that it leaves the audience questioning whether or not it actually qualifies as comedy. Comedy and horror have always been interconnected genres. They both often deal with taboo subject matter in an extreme way, and both rely on the set-up then punchline delivery system in order to achieve their respective laughs and screams. That’s what UFOAB does so well; it straddles that cringeworthy line between humor and genuine repulsion and fear perfectly so that the two genres are practically inseparable from one another. That’s why it works, and that’s why it’s art.

Let’s give Adult Swim and their weird little video one more chance to make an impact on the Wild West of the Web, free from whatever expectations we may have of its network, genre, or “Too Many Cooks.”

I promise the nightmares will only last a couple of days.

Kayla Cobb is a proud graduate of Clemson University and loves her cat and TV shows more than some people love their kids. You should really follow her on Twitter at @KaylCobb.

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