It’s taken me about two years to come around to liking Stella. This time has included much talking about by a friend, exposure to Michael Ian Black’s stand up comedy, and this awesome episode of Wainy Days:
And I’ve come around. I like it.
Which is why I’m so sad that Michael and Michael Have Issues is such a disappointment. It’s somehow all of the bad things about Stella rolled into an annoying 28 minutes.
Let’s recap: Stella follows three grown men in suits who are childish, naive and weird enough to find themselves in almost unreal situations. After watching MMHI, I am convinced that this works because of David Wain. Stella is produced and written in such a way that it’s like the characters exist in another world. The same is true of the above Wainy Days video. Everyone is human and everything is relatable, but it’s consistently odd enough that it’s obvious that no one actually acts that way. These shows are consistently absurd to the point that it takes non-sequitor humor and turns it on its head – if you do the opposite of what is expected enough, than the unexpected is expected and it works itself out.
MMHI fails at this because you’re not in that odd world anymore. The premise has the two Michaels working on the show together. Occasionally there is a clip or a sketch or a live segment, but for the most part it’s them creating the show, and, based on the first episode, just arguing like children. It’s not funny, because the premise is based in the reality of creating the show. So instead of Odd World Adults existing in Odd World, we just have to men doing what Will Ferrell has already exhausted a career in doing: Acting like Men Children. Bleh.
On the flip side of this is Tosh.0. I am officially sold. It’s such an obvious premise that I thought it would fail, but it’s amazing. Somehow their writers really do find all this shit on the Internet that’s actually really funny in ways that you wouldn’t think of yourself. Evidence: “Asians Doing Christopher Walken Impressions”:
And, for kicks, the follow up “Is It Racist?” segment:
Daniel Tosh is a perfect Web Joel McHale. He’s funny, but perfectly serves as a host – not too funny or too cocky. He is commentary-licious.
Tags: Amanda Peet, Comedy Central, Daniel Tosh, David Wain, Jill, Joel McHale, Michael and Michael Have Issues, Michael Ian Black, Michael Showalter, Soup, Stella, Tosh.0, Wainy Days
