In a perfect world, the era of the ironic T-shirt never dies; its relevancy continues on in esteemed glory for future generations to enjoy.

But in today's fast-paced sphere of viral videos and instant YouTube sensations, kitschy humor's longevity is in direct proportion to its time spent in the Top Click list and in a blink of an eye, we've all moved on to the next thing.

Keeping up with all the snarky things that make the masses chuckle is a full time job. Actually, it's Richard Lorbach's job. Basically, he gets paid to be a jerkass -- or at least think like one.

His T-shirt business, Jerkass Clothing Company, is a lighthearted exercise in crudeness, a playful documentation of current events ("Barack to the Future"), the nostalgia we love ("Collaborate and Listen" -- That's, uh, a Vanilla Ice reference) and all the silly things we get addicted to ("I Facebooked Your Mom.")

What began a decade ago as a fun, easy way to make extra cash in college has morphed into a popular apparel brand that distributes nationally via JerkassClothing.com. So popular, in fact, that National Lampoon, the multi-million dollar zany media empire, wanted in on it. As Lorbach's new partner, National Lampoon, Inc. now owns 51 percent of the Milwaukee-based company.

The majority of Lorbach's customer base is made up of fun-loving college students, but he says the new collaboration will help his company grow to reach new demographics with his product's placements in films.

"There's so much we want to do with the company and so much National Lampoon wants to do with merchandising, that we're just scratching the surface now," he says.

Lorbach's wife Angela, a designer, lends her skills to the T-shirt company, but other than that, Jerkass is a one-man operation out of their home.

But Jerkass isn't the only thing on the local entrepreneur's plate at the moment. He recently helped launch another business, GroupCard.com, which distributes greeting cards online.

Last month he and his business partners entered and won a Facebook Web development competition and beat out nearly 600 other applicants for a $250,000 grant. Now GroupCard is a permanent application on the mega social networking site.

With two small children and a day job as a graphic designer, Lorbach admits he doesn't get much sleep these days, but is having fun watching his ideas take off.

"I follow what's going on in the world and pop culture and make fun of it."

And as long as pop culture and politics continues to supply him with ample fodder, he should be in for a long, successful run.