![]() The pop music machine is ripe for parody-and not just the Weird Al kind. As the series progresses, Erin and her oddball cousin Orla’s (Louisa Harland) adult relatives become increasingly central, yielding many side-splitting tiffs between Erin’s dad (Tommy Tiernan) and the father-in-law (Ian McElhinney) who despises him. Saoirse-Monica Jackson is effervescent as the clique’s controlling alpha, Erin, and fans of Bridgertonwill be sure to appreciate Nicola Coughlan’s performance as sweet, timid, studious Clare. ![]() There are older brothers in prison and hopeful visits from then-President Bill Clinton, but more prominent in Derry Girls are the title characters themselves-four lively teens in school uniforms, plus bad-girl Michelle’s (Jamie-Lee O’Donnell) newly arrived English cousin James (Dylan Llewellyn), who’s been enrolled in Our Lady Immaculate College because he might not survive an Irish boys school. Add to that tone the developmentally appropriate self-centeredness of high schoolers, the rapid-fire banter of a working-class extended family living in close quarters, and the local Catholic girls school’s autocratic-nun headmistress, one Sister George Michael (the uproarious Siobhán McSweeney), and you get an extremely funny show that unfolds in a singularly somber time and place. But there’s such a thing as gallows humor, and it’s something at which the Irish particularly excel. Northern Ireland in the mid-1990s, when the Troubles raged into their fourth decade and many Catholics struggled with both British oppression and their misgivings about IRA violence, might not seem like an obvious setting for a lighthearted teen comedy. Co-creator Nick Kroll voices a character based on his preteen self as part of a dream cast that includes John Mulaney, Jessi Klein, Jason Mantzoukas, Jordan Peele, and, in the Emmy-winning role of Connie the Hormone Monstress, Maya Rudolph. So far, it’s taken on everything from anxiety and depression to bisexuality and “hand stuff,” never shying away from the awkward, gross, or potentially shameful. Taking full advantage of the cartoon medium to tell stories that would’ve been too wild for a live-action cast of child actors, the show imagines pubescent psyches under siege by “hormone monsters” and other invisible creatures that personify intense emotions and primal urges. Since Hulu’s wonderful Pen15 graduated from TV last year, Big Mouth has been both the uncontested standout among coming-of-age raunch comedies and one of the very best titles to come out of the current glut of adult animation. Puberty is inherently funny (once you get over the trauma of your own middle-school years, anyway), so it’s only natural that it would become a fertile topic for sitcoms. You won’t find sketch comedy like this on SNL, which, incidentally, has gone 48 seasons without naming a Black woman head writer. And every episode is stuffed with A-list guests, from Angela Bassett and Ava DuVernay to several stars of executive producer Issa Rae’s Insecure. ![]() There are pseudo-academic conspiracy theorists, ball-culture competitions for funeral guests and “basics,” The Purge but for returning ineffective hair-care products for a full refund. The sensibility is slightly surreal, and the perspective is, as the title promises, explicitly Black and female. In the three seasons that have aired so far, a core troupe composed of Thede, Ashley Nicole Black, Gabrielle Dennis, and Skye Townsend (who replaced season 1 co-star Quinta Brunson after she left to create Abbott Elementary) have parodied everything from spy thrillers to family reunions. As an alternative, consider the other contender: Robin Thede’s A Black Lady Sketch Show, which is strictly no skips. ![]() Only two titles earned Emmy nominations in this year’s Outstanding Variety Sketch Series category, and, well, the wrong one-a certain half-century-old network stalwart that is now lucky to get two funny scenarios into the same episode-won. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |