I couldn’t be happier that a new independent sketch comedy show is on the air. It’s been two long years since Human Giant, 10 since UCB, 12 since Mr. Show, and a whopping 15 years since The State ended. Sure, SNL seems like it will forever be on TV but with their large audience the humor has to be significantly more mainstream and dumbed down, plus we have to suffer through usually terrible musical acts. Along with making sure we have new episodes of Futurama, Comedy Central made another good choice in Nick Swardson. His two arguably biggest roles have been in Grandma’s Boy and Reno 911 which are improv heavy projects, which constantly have me laughing once he’s on screen. I mean he did play the best Reno citizen ever – the rollerskating gay male prostitute Terry Bernadino. My guess is that’s exactly where we’ll see Perez Hilton in 5 years, all he needs are the skates.
From the announcement of this show I’ve been really excited to find out who the supporting cast consisted of. After all Mr. Show might have been Bob and David’s but that didn’t stop me of becoming a life long fan of literally every supporting cast member. Interestingly enough Swardson set himself apart immediately by not having a solid cast and choosing actors based on the characters written. If the script calls for an old man we’re not going to see an actor dressed up, we’re really going to see an old man, the upside to this being a huge revolving cast that ensures we’ll be seeing anyone and everyone in the short seven episode run this season. Rob Huebel and Natasha Leggero, among others, have roles in this episode and next week gives us Bob Odenkirk. I honestly thought I wouldn’t like the rotating cast at first, but it’s actually really genius. On top of seeing new weekly sketches, the mystery of what comedians will pop up this week is just another factor to keep me tuned in. The reason I don’t tune in for SNL weekly is that i know we’ll see the same people doing the same characters. Kenan Thompson wasn’t even the funniest member of Kenan and Kel; he, among others, doesn’t need to be on every week.
Like the aforementioned Mr. Show, the sketches in this show transition very smoothly into each other. The previous sketch will be on a screen in the background of the next sketch or something to that degree and it just makes the whole show seamless. The first sketch of Swardson and his girlfriend repeatedly getting hit in the face with hockey pucks sets a tone of absurdity that I love to see in comedy and it carries through the episode, and more than likely the series. I can easily think of ridiculous premises that make up the best sketches from the shows I’ve mentioned above and it’s mostly the premise that makes them great. Which is exactly why most of the sketches work well in this case. From a gay robot to a cat paralyzed in a human wheelchair, these gags are hilarious because you almost can’t believe what you’re seeing on top of the funny dialogue. While not every sketch has the best lines, these ridiculous plot ideas often end up holding up the sketch enough to not have it bomb. They include a few recurring jokes, which is great, and next week promises a return of Gay Robot so we know reccurring characters are in the mix too. Swardson is just too silly and immature not to love, but it turns out he’s smart enough to make a good show too. Ending the episode with a dedication to Greg Giraldo was just the classiest bit of icing to really make sure I stick with this show. While I’m sure we all wish that part was just “Pretend Time” as well, the show definitely lives up to expectations, and I’m looking forward to next week.
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You're an idiot. This show was terrible.
It was pretty terrible. I like Nick's stuff, but I think his strong point is supporting roles in other people's projects. His standup is OK, it's not great, it's not horrible. As far as low-brow "silly" standup goes, he's one of the better ones I guess. But this show was just dumb. I'll watch the other ones, but I expect them to be worse… I mean the premier obviously would have to be the best one in the series in order to get people into it, but this failed I think. The cat was cute though. But not funny…I will say I liked it more than Important Things, and Mind of Mencia. WAY MORE haha.
that show was really bad, his standup is great..but that show was really really bad.
Awful, awful show.
I absolutely love Demetri Martin, but for some reason Important Things never really hooked me.
Nick said himself the episode was really dark and he didn't care for it, but the series gets lighter from here with less grotesque comedy. Besides, first episode. Can't judge the whole series on one episode.Well, apparently Fox can. They seem to judge all of their new shows pretty quickly these days.
I must have watched a different show. This one was absolutely terrible. I feel bad about wasting my time watching it- I feel worse knowing that Daniel Tosh had to pimp it for Comedy Central
I'm noticing a trend here. Seems like every website that has a huge banner ad at the top for this show is giving it glowing reviews. Meanwhile, the user comments below said reviews give it consistently awful ratings. I don't think I've seen one initial review that said anything bad about this show. I also can't recall seeing a SINGLE user comment anything good about the show. As for me; I watched it, it was horribly boring. Won't be wasting my time on this show again.
Yeah well I don't think Tosh is really funny at all. Humor is subjective and obviously not everyone can agree. Again, I found this show to be thoroughly entertaining, I'm sticking by it. I'll be watching the whole season.
@John DickGoogle Adsense uses contextually relevant ads, which means if it picks up keywords on the page, it'll display ads that relate to them. The fact that you saw one for this show is because you were on this specific page. Most of the time I see ads for Bacon Salt.
I'm happy to inform you that our writers are kept in the lowest grade of sweatshops on computers from 1995 and in fact receive no compensation what-so-ever. Besides some natural light and clean water, they really wish they got paid too but that's surely not the case.
While watching the show I kept thinking the same things; "This show is so stupid. OMG that was just retarded. Wow, this is dumb" but you know what? I was also laughing my ass off the entire time. I can't really explain what it is… I feel like I really SHOULD hate this show (even though I've been a longtime fan of Swardson) and I can't even really explain why I don't hate it… but the fact is almost every sketch (almost) had me laughing aloud at the sheer absurdity of it all.Is this show stupid, low-brow, moronic humor directed at high college kids? Yes. Is it still hilarious? In my opinion, yes… very much so, in fact. I'll definitely keep tuning in. And I gave up getting high long ago….
terrible or terribad, but in no way any good at all. this is a great way to make yourself unfunny
a really really unfunny show
I really wanted to like this show but… after two episodes the kindest thing I can say is there's an hour of my life I'll never get back! but that's just my opinion.
iturened it off after the kitty wheelchair .. didnt even make it all the way through , it was so bad.
Yes, I have to say that this is quite possibly the worst show I have ever seen in my life. Not only was every sketch awkward and unnatural, the concepts weren't even funny. Did Comedy Central forget to have someone screen this show before they aired it? I could literally think of something funnier right now that any sketch on that show.
Yes. Agreed… show was very poorly done. I have seen more entertaining YouTube clips.
I'm a big fan of Nick Swardson, who seems to steal the scene every time his face pops up in film and tv. I genuinly look forward to seeing Terry on RENO: 911 and Swardson's stand up. I think he's a funny dude. But left to his own devices I feel like Swardson had some huge ideas (but not edited or scaled back)that he wanted to create and let loose, but ultimately it feels as if he took the easy execution route, not funny so make it of-kilter and weird… unfunny off-kilter weird. Either by not setting a funny premise or by having weak endings to his sketches w/o solid laughs or a payoff, I feel like I got cheated out of seeing Nick at his best.
Its a terrible show – what a waste of paramount time – I would rather watch a rerun of seinfeld or some older show. This guys juvenile sense of humour is terrible.
THE WORST THING I EVER SEEN ON TV EVER…WOW!..I REALLY CANT BELIEVE THAT SOMEONE THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA MAN I REALLY DONT EVEN THINK IF I WAS STILL DOING DRUGS THAT THIS WOULD BE FUNNYI THINK I'D RATHER WATCH……I DONT KNOW I REALLY CANT THINK OF ANYTHING WORSE…LOL
I used to have faith that Comedy Central knew, y'know…comedy. But seriously, whoever ok-ed this show should be fired HARD. Right now.It's the worst show I've ever seen.
Well we-rate-stuff.com just lost me as a visitor. Whoever wrote this article has absolutely no sense of humor… i just dont understand how this show could have been given a good review. Insanity.
You guys are all nuts! Pretend time is hilarious, I think most people expect Jim Carey talking with his butt cheeks in Ace ventura. Expand your horizons!!!!!! :=)
this show is just slightly more appealing that having my toe nails torn off with rusty pliers, having dirt rubbed in the wounds, contracting tetanus, and dying a slow excruciating death. SLIGHTLY! I enjoy Nick’s stand-up routines and even his character in “Reno 911″, but this show is mind-numbingly simply and contrived. I feel stupider after having watched it.
Seriously, Who sharted? Comedy central did when they dropped this duce in our laps!
I thought Nick was funny as hell until I watched his tv show! He is trying way too hard to be over the top and it’s just LAME! He was not wise enough to make the skits out out his stand up material because that might be funny. He fell way off and is a hack because he is now Adam Sandlers puppet and Nick spends his time kissing his ass to be in his DURP DEE DURP DEE DIDDLY DURRP movies.