The premise of the videos on the weirdly hypnotic YouTube channel Cut Dat is very, very simple: A man, face unseen, does his best to hack apart a foodstuff placed before him, while dry, televised golf-style commentary discusses his every move. The videos last as long as the cut takes, so, for instance, “Cutting a Honey Nut Cheerio With a Spoon” is over quite quickly, while the video for “Cutting a Rutabaga With a Spoon” takes significantly longer.
The deadpan presentation, reminiscent of David Rees’ comedic, detail-obsessed approach to annotating the process of doing ordinary things, is the prize here, with the commentary’s quiet notation of specialized cutting strokes or novel techniques contrasting wonderfully with the cutter’s often-violent efforts to get through some particularly tricky bit of produce. Although a few of the videos have obvious built-in jokes, like “Cutting Cocaine With A Spoon,” the creators are at their best when they approach the ridiculous action on screen with stuffy sincerity.
The Channel’s “About” section promises more features in the future, including “Cutting Techniques,” and, at long last, “Spoon Reviews.”