Discuss and Rate the Last Thing You Watched (non-movies)

[Xprimentyl]

Watched about the first half of Gervais’s Armageddon.

Ehh. He’s better off ripping on Hollywood. Here it’s just lowbrow for the sake of itself. Only one bit so far got a chuckle out of me, when he was complaining about his own family. I’ll probably finish it but it hasn’t done much to hold my attention yet.

So here’s what I think is the main difference between him and Chappelle, since both are considered to o have highly offensive acts. Regardless of what people think of Dave, it’s undeniable he has a certain charisma and knows how to command a room. His body language and mannerisms, tonal flexibility, delivery, etc. all add to his act.

Gervais is…well, he has a British accent. That’s really about it. There are plenty of people who use their British accents to cool/humorous effect, but he mostly sounds like he’d fit in with the Cuckoo’s Nest crowd as one of those people who just rambles on about nonsense. It kinda makes me anxious whereas watching Chappelle is oddly relaxing.

Told ya'. Gervais comes across as simply mean spirited and careless and loves to hang his position of privilege over the audience disguising it as bravery and/or advocating for his right and willingness to say whatever he wants.

Chappelle on the other hand doesn't mind striking a nerve, but when he hangs his head laughing and slaps the mic on his thigh, you know he's joking. You know it's for the absurdity and the laughs, even the uncomfortable ones. He doesn't care if you're white, black, male, female, gay, straight, trans, etc., he finds humor in most everything and everyone, thus no one is off limits, but he never comes across as hateful, mean, or defiant for defiance sake.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters: S1: Ep1-5: Meh / Great

After surviving an attack by [ostensibly] Godzilla in San Francisco during which her father is killed, a young woman flies to Japan to settle her father's affairs only to learn that her father had a second family, and she has a half brother. After some scathing back and forth, they decide to try to untangle the web their father wove with connections to a company called Monarch that has research on these massive creatures.

It's struggling to hold my attention. Maybe because I'm that asshole who showed up expecting monsters, and has gotten mostly character drama. I don't go to a steakhouse for a charcuterie board and wine. I'll probably stick with it for a while, but if SOMETHING doesn't happen soon, I'll be happy to let this one go.

 

[Xprimentyl]

South Park (Not Suitable For Children): Dumb / Great

A new hydration drink called "Cred" is all the rage amongst the South Park kids as it's being pushed by social media influencers despite it not being for kids. Cartman, Butters, Craig, and Tweek form a Cred affinity group for the specific purpose of excluding the other kids, but it falls apart when Craig is exposed for not actually having any Cred. The race is on to re-establish their "cred" and get their hands on a limited edition flavor.

One of South Park's more heavy-handed attempts at social commentary pointing out the inanity of influencers, shady sponsorship deals, and how FOMO makes us all look like idiots. This one... wasn't good. It just felt too on the nose with gags that stretch for way too long. Randy Marsh starts an OnlyFans account, and ends up spending the majority of the show with his dick out. The kids running around talking about "having Cred" constantly despite us getting the gist of the play on words within the open sequence. Yeah, 47 minutes is a bit long for what would have made for a mediocre, standard 20-minute episode at best.

 

[Gordon_4]

Randy Marsh.

Why the fuck is modern South Park so heavily reliant on this arsehole?

 

[gorfias]

Why the fuck is modern South Park so heavily reliant on this arsehole?

He certainly gets his fair share of screen time in a show that is to be centered around kids. But he was in so many episodes to which I could relate as I was primary raising my own little sociopaths that he's one of my favorites. The show has been around so long now I rarely catch an episode.

 

[Xprimentyl]

Why the fuck is modern South Park so heavily reliant on this arsehole?

He certainly gets his fair share of screen time in a show that is to be centered around kids. But he was in so many episodes to which I could relate as I was primary raising my own little sociopaths that he's one of my favorites. The show has been around so long now I rarely catch an episode.
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I'll be honest, hot take, second to Eric Cartman, I think Randy Marsh is the funniest character on the show. He has been a frequent focal point for a few years now, but over the past damn-near 30 years, the main characters, outside of Cartman, have gotten pretty bland, serving as little more than the framework around which the humor happens. No one watches the show for the voices of reason that are Kyle and Stan, and Kenny has never been much more than a running gag. Randy is funny for his impulsiveness and lack of sense, and is more reminiscent of the original spirit of the show than anyone outside of Cartman.

 

[gorfias]

I'll be honest, hot take, second to Eric Cartman, I think Randy Marsh is the funniest character on the show. He has been a frequent focal point for a few years now, but over the past damn-near 30 years, the main characters, outside of Cartman, have gotten pretty bland, serving as little more than the framework around which the humor happens. No one watches the show for the voices of reason that are Kyle and Stan, and Kenny has never been much more than a running gag. Randy is funny for his impulsiveness and lack of sense, and is more reminiscent of the original spirit of the show than anyone outside of Cartman.

I do enjoy the occasional episode with Kyle and his mom as well. Also close to home.
And one more, who can forget Randy dying to get a sword to his boy in World of Warcraft. "Mmmoh my ghad."

 

[Xprimentyl]

I do enjoy the occasional episode with Kyle and his mom as well. Also close to home.
And one more, who can forget Randy dying to get a sword to his boy in World of Warcraft. "Mmmoh my ghad."
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Oh, all of the characters have their moments, but outside of Cartman and Randy, it's much rarer for any given episode to focus on Kyle, Stan, or Kenny in any appreciable way that doesn't include/involve someone else, often a new/one-off character, to build the humorous premise around. Basically, Kyle and Stan are the audience/observers in the literal and figurative sense, except they're not laughing because they're living the absurd experiences. They're the straight men in the joke, and no one tunes in for the serious part of the joke.

And my personal favorite Randy moment is below. The first time I saw this episode, I laughed for an eternity. These many years later, I still die laughing at this. (And I am a black man, so I'm allowed to find this funny; if you're not black and you laugh, shame on you.) /jk

 

[Xprimentyl]

Trevor Noah: Afraid Of The Dark: Great / Great

Early stand-up routine from comedian Trevor Noah. He basically preaches about the benefits of world travel, diversity, and equity, but he does so in such an entertaining way, it's captivating.

I've only recently gotten into Noah, and I think he's brilliant. Sure, most of his bits are him showcasing his wealth of accent impressions, but he still manages to impress me. This bit about how it makes sense that Idris Elba couldn't play James Bond had me in stiches.

 

[Casual Shinji]

Why the fuck is modern South Park so heavily reliant on this arsehole?

Because no matter how the show started out, it can't help but get sucked into the 'bumbling dad' vortex like all prime time animated shows.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Trevor Noah: Afraid Of The Dark: Great / Great

Early stand-up routine from comedian Trevor Noah. He basically preaches about the benefits of world travel, diversity, and equity, but he does so in such an entertaining way, it's captivating.

I've only recently gotten into Noah, and I think he's brilliant. Sure, most of his bits are him showcasing his wealth of accent impressions, but he still manages to impress me. This bit about how it makes sense that Idris Elba couldn't play James Bond had me in stiches.

I'm interested how you will feel about his more recent standup. No offense to the Americans here, but I really feel his comedy took a hit after he moved to the US.

That said, Son of Patricia is one of my faves, especially after reading his book. The man has led such an interesting life (or at least, he's made up such an interesting story). His perspective as a South African man who has travelled the world is what keeps me coming back to his shows.

 

[gorfias]

Oh, all of the characters have their moments, but outside of Cartman and Randy, it's much rarer for any given episode to focus on Kyle, Stan, or Kenny in any appreciable way that doesn't include/involve someone else, often a new/one-off character, to build the humorous premise around. Basically, Kyle and Stan are the audience/observers in the literal and figurative sense, except they're not laughing because they're living the absurd experiences. They're the straight men in the joke, and no one tunes in for the serious part of the joke.

And my personal favorite Randy moment is below. The first time I saw this episode, I laughed for an eternity. These many years later, I still die laughing at this. (And I am a black man, so I'm allowed to find this funny; if you're not black and you laugh, shame on you.) /jk

OMG. Sorry, I started laughing when the cameraman peered out from behind his camera and haven't stopped laughing yet!

 

[Xprimentyl]

I'm interested how you will feel about his more recent standup. No offense to the Americans here, but I really feel his comedy took a hit after he moved to the US.

That said, Son of Patricia is one of my faves, especially after reading his book. The man has led such an interesting life (or at least, he's made up such an interesting story). His perspective as a South African man who has travelled the world is what keeps me coming back to his shows.

His latest stand-up ("Where Was I") was actually my first time watching him, and what got me started in on him; I've since watched them all (at least all that are on Netflix,) and I enjoyed them all. I can't speak to his comedy prior to his moving to the US. Maybe his comedy has changed given the American situation right now is so rife with topics that he can speak to as a worldly person in his brand of comedy. Nationalism, racism, classism, etc. are all ripe with low-hanging fruit for someone who has traveled and understands that it's all absolutely ridiculous and whose job it is to make light of relatable issues.

 

[Xprimentyl]

OMG. Sorry, I started laughing when the cameraman peered out from behind his camera and haven't stopped laughing yet!

Haha!! It's alright, you're one of the "good" ones; you can laugh!!

 

[gorfias]

Fargo Season 5 Episode 9

9/10 on Hulu.

One more episode to go this year.

My wife likes quiet, slice of life dramas. This isn't one of them. But she loves Jon Hamm and appreciate the actress that played Keely in Ted Lasso. Even she is liking where this show is headed. With Caveats. Some gruesome violence that almost made her run from the room.

 

[Cicada 5]

Blue Eye Samurai Episodes 1 to 8.

Excellent animation and a superb voice cast. Maya Erskine, Brenda Song and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa were standouts.

 

[Piscian]

Im trying enjoy Marvels Echo, but I have to really reeeeally, above and beyond, embrace Comicbook logic not to get annoyed at some of the action scenes.

Theres a scene in the first couple episodes where Echo jumps off a train going full speed and bounces, not nicey, like on her back off the windshield of a truck lands head first into the trucks, flies out of the truck as it does a donut going at least 40mph and doesn't have a scratch on her and just *whew*. Theres a ton that kinda stuff.

 

[Gordon_4]

Im trying enjoy Marvels Echo, but I have to really reeeeally, above and beyond, embrace Comicbook logic not to get annoyed at some of the action scenes.

Theres a scene in the first couple episodes where Echo jumps off a train going full speed and bounces, not nicey, like on her back off the windshield of a truck lands head first into the trucks, flies out of the truck as it does a donut going at least 40mph and doesn't have a scratch on her and just *whew*. Theres a ton that kinda stuff.

Does her power set justify this?

 

[BrawlMan]

Why the fuck is modern South Park so heavily reliant on this arsehole?

I'll be honest, hot take, second to Eric Cartman, I think Randy Marsh is the funniest character on the show. He has been a frequent focal point for a few years now, but over the past damn-near 30 years, the main characters, outside of Cartman, have gotten pretty bland, serving as little more than the framework around which the humor happens. No one watches the show for the voices of reason that are Kyle and Stan, and Kenny has never been much more than a running gag. Randy is funny for his impulsiveness and lack of sense, and is more reminiscent of the original spirit of the show than anyone outside of Cartman.

The problem with Randy was he got used too much, and he became predictable. It was one of the reason why I dropped South Park. I miss the parts with Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny. These are interesting and can be done, but all that's been put into Randy and sometimes Cartman. It makes things get stale, and why I don't regret leaving. I still have fond memories of course, but I have not watched a season of SP since 2016.

 

[Piscian]

Does her power set justify this?

Well I'm not trying to spoil the show, but IN THE COMIC, No she's just a deaf martial artist. Disney writers However.