Category: humour

Deadloch – season 1

On By Rick McIn humour, TVLeave a comment

Excellent TV comedy set in Tasmania.

A lot of profanity and crude references. Nudity in the first few minutes.

Smart, hilarious dialogue. Lots of Aussie slang.

All 4 key police officers are played by queer actors … BUT lesbians will probably be shocked anyway. As well as entertained.

Actually, this show could offend pretty much anyone. 😀

On the upside, all the murder victims are heterosexual, white men. It’s about time.

The surviving men march to reclaim the night. That’s good comedy.

It’s a small town. The remaining straight men finally charter a bus to flee to safety.

Deadlock is a comedy/parody that skewers police procedurals, forensic scientists, small town life, arts festivals, food culture, straight life, alternative life…the list goes on.

And with all that there is a pretty reasonable murder mystery. …

IMDb

I didn’t guess the killer.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

The town choir was a highlight for me.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube. In real life, they are the Melbourne Glee Club.

Click PLAY or watch an interview with showrunners Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan on YouTube.

If somehow a season 2 gets the green light, it will likely be set in Darwin.

The Other Two – season 1

On By Rick McIn humour, TVLeave a comment

FUNNY

R-rated.

The Other Two … follows two floundering millennial siblings who must grapple with their 13-year-old brother’s overnight fame. 

A gay aspiring actor, Cary (Drew Tarver), and his sister Brooke (Heléne Yorke), a former professional dancer …

Chase Dubek (a.k.a. ChaseDreams), a teen pop sensation who’s declared as the “Next Big White Kid” (Bieber) in music after his homemade music video, “I Wanna Marry U at Recess,” went viral on YouTube. 

I was won over when the family rented Justin Theroux’s Fake Apartment in NYC.

Hilarious.

Here’s Justin’s boot closet. 😀

I understand he was OK with the joke.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Party Down – season 1

On By Rick McIn humour, TVLeave a comment

Party Down season 1 is an American sitcom with  Paul Rudd, Adam Scott, and Jane Lynch.

FUNNY adult humour.

… follows a group of caterers in Los Angeles as they hope to make it in Hollywood. …

Starz canceled Party Down on June 30, 2010. While the show was warmly received by critics, its Nielsen ratings were very low. …

Surprisingly, November 2021, a six-episode revival of the series was ordered by the network.  The third season premiered on February 24, 2023.

My favourite character is Lizzy Caplan as Casey Klein.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Shrinking – season 1

On By Rick McIn humour, TVLeave a comment

Funny dialogue.

These writers must have been having a great time.

I’d give him housing in my … V or A. 😀

A therapist, Jimmy Laird, dealing with severe grief, begins to breach ethical barriers by telling his patients what he completely thinks, resulting in massive changes to his and their lives. …

Kristen Baldwin of Entertainment Weekly gave the series a B+ and described the series as “a funny, brainy grief-com about the power—and dangers—of radical honesty.” …

Writing for The Wall Street Journal, John Anderson stated, “The overall sense is a little like laughing at a funeral; the human impulses are familiar, a little perverse and somehow comforting.”

wikipedia

Harrison Ford? A comic? Who knew? 😀

I do find the show to be unnecessarily profane. In fact, I finally QUIT on episode 4. That much swearing in a TV show is simply lazy.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Somebody Somewhere – season 1

On By Rick McIn humour, TV1 Comment

Somebody Somewhere is funny.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 100% approval rating.

It’s charmingly real-to-life. The cast does not look Hollywood.

I’d never heard of comedian Bridget Everett before seeing this show, based on her life in hometown Manhattan, Kansas.

… The ReTrumplicans of Kansas must hate this series. 😀

… You think you’re Pinterest. But you’re actually Hobby Lobby.

Bridget worked in the restaurant business for 25 years before finally able to quit around the beginning of 2015.

Amy Schumer brought Bridget on to tours as an opening comedy act.

Drag King Murray Hill as Fred Rococo is entertaining.

But easily my favourite character is Jeff Hiller as Joel, Sam’s co-worker and friend. He was cast instantly. Perfect.

Somebody Somewhere has been renewed.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Rick Mercer – an Autobiography

On By Rick McIn books, gymnastics, humour, TV1 Comment

Talking to Canadians: A Memoir was published Nov 2021.

It’s recommended. Very funny.

One of the best lines (by Greg Thomey) …

Heavy is the head that wears the lampshade.

I’d rank Rick Mercer the funniest Canadian of my lifetime.

He is best known for his work on the CBC Television comedy shows This Hour Has 22 Minutes and Rick Mercer Report … which ended 2018 after 15 seasons.

Mercer’s two-minute “rants”, in which he would speak directly to the camera about a current political issue are what I remember best.

Like many of Canada’s best comedians, Rick is from Newfoundland. Understand?

I downloaded the audio book from the library — ideal, as Rick is the narrator.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Rick interviewed Kyle Shewfelt. Funny.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Canada Fitness Award Program

On By Rick McIn books, health & fitness, humour1 Comment

The Canada Fitness Award Program was subjected to Canadian school kids from 1970 to 1992.

I remember the annual challenge fondly, being something of a jock.

50 yard run, the 300 yard run, flexed arm hangs, the shuttle run, speed situps, and the standing long jump.

I can’t recall getting the highest Excellence rating — but always got Gold, the second highest.

Worst was the … PARTICIPATION ribbon. 😀

Unsurprisingly, it was finally cancelled due to being “discouraging to those who needed the most encouragement“. And sometimes resulted in “destructive eating and exercise practices” by the least fit.

I’m always leery of awards programs for kids. At many Gymnastics Clubs I tried to discontinue the annual “awards” night.

These memories came back after listening to Canada’s greatest comedian talking about how traumatized he was by the annual humiliation. Rick Mercer couldn’t do the flex arm hang.

As an adult Rick become surprisingly fit, trying many different sports for his TV shows.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

It was related to another government program called ParticipACTION. We blamed the Swedes. 😀

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

ParticipACTION included a TV show, started 1988, with interracial couple Hal Johnson and Joanne McLeod. Every Canadian of my age remembers BodyBreak.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.