Dad, Why is this Scene Funny?

With the coming release of Bohemian Rhapsody we can expect the actual song to be on the air more or less permanently this fall.

Younger reader(s) should understand something about Bohemian Rhapsody. The song benefited from absolutely perfect timing. Freddy Mercury died in the fall of 1991 and Wayne's World came out the winter of 1992. You want to talk about convergence? Well there it is. 

The rest is music history.

Behold:

Younger reader(s) are probably thinking, 'Ok, Wayne and Garth are driving and listening to Bohemian Rhapsody.'

Yes, but there is so much more to this scene.

Now, we were 18 in 1992 and we liked Queen. But we liked the Queen of Iron Eagle and Highlander, the 1980's hard rock Queen. 70's era Queen might as well have been another century. We had heard Bohemian Rhapsody but the song was not yet a 'thing' as it is today.  It was niche, even obscure, and that is what makes the above scene so funny. To put it another way, if one were making a Queen biopic in 1992, one would not have called it Bohemian Rhapsody.

In 1992 one watched this scene and thought, 'Why are these metal nerds driving around, in a Pacer no less, listening to Bohemian Rhapsody? Is that opera?....and the head banging.'

In 1992 the scene was ridiculous. That's why it was funny.