Chris' Comedy Blog

Adult Swim Not too long ago, I paid a visit to the Rick and Morty subreddit. I wanted to see what people thought about the first half of the recent fourth season of the show, which I really enjoyed. In doing so, I realized something very interesting about the fanbase, or at least the fanbase as it is represented on anonymous message boards. More than any other show, the  Rick and Morty  fanbase does not agree on what makes the show great. Not only do they not agree - at risk of oversimplification, they seem split into two diametrically-opposed sides. What really stuck out to me, as I looked through the online commentary, is that one side seems to love the show more for its dramatic elements, while the other seems to love the show more for its comedic elements. This presents an interesting dilemma for the  Rick and Morty  writers, and it will be interesting to see how they handle it moving forward. The first half of the  Rick and Morty  fanbase is ...

Netflix No comedy special had more cultural relevance in 2019 than did Dave Chappelle’s Sticks and Stones. Similar to so many other “flashpoint” topics throughout the year, this special was a clear example of how politically polarized our country is. To some, the special was unnecessarily insensitive and hurtful, and was cause for condemnation. To others, the special was a triumphant victory in the battle for “free speech”, and was cause for celebration. Like so many other controversial talking points, I got “polarization whiplash” alternating between left-leaning discussions and right-leaning discussions on the topic.  An issue that I had with so much of the buzz around this special was that not much of it had to do with the comedy itself. In other words, the quality of the special was judged not on the comedic value, but on the value of the political statement it was trying to make. Simply put, this is because, for a large part of the special, Chappelle tries to make a pol...

Comedy Central The best Season 23 episode of South Park was its 8th episode, “Turd Burglars” - hear me out.  “Turd Burglars”, an episode about fecal transplants and microbiomes, was the only episode this season that I thought could compare to South Park ’s best, in that it had a simple central idea that was explored comedically through strong character and story choices. There was never a comedic lull in this episode, as each moment contributed towards this strong central idea, and the drive of the episode. Even though parts of the episode were characteristically absurd and grotesque (with an obscure Dune reference included for good measure), and things crescendoed to an absurd/gross final act, the storyline progressed and escalated relatively logically and with good momentum.  In contrast, the rest of Season 23, while also very funny in parts, fell prey to an issue that I have found with recent South Park episodes: a lack of focus. While the show’s larger move tow...

Magnolia Pictures Mister America has a strong central comedic idea - a documentary crew follows a fool as he runs a misguided campaign for district attorney of San Bernardino county. The realism of the documentary style makes the absurdity of the film’s main character (played by, and named, Tim Heidecker) and his dynamic with the world that much funnier. This central idea, however, was borne out of the “On Cinema” universe, and I found that this connection ultimately took away from the central conceit of the film, making it less successful as a comedy. The main issue with Mister America’s “On Cinema” connection was the introduction of too many disparate ideas. When the ideas and plot points were more in-line with the central concept of this movie, and were logical extensions of that, I found the movie very enjoyable. This included everything from Tim’s petty and ego-driven motivations in running a campaign, his attempts at campaign strategy, and his misguided attempts at talking...