Long hot days, cooler nights, and for many, the need to isolate at home means everyone might have a bit more time to stream the latest shows and need a bit of a laug
This month we have tried to find a few things that might make you smile, laugh out loud and also keep you thinking.
TVNZ Ondemand
Dead
Comedian Tom Sainsbury is endearing and convincing as ‘Marbles’ (Dane Marbeck) in this mildly dark comedy series based on an earlier feature movie he and Hayden J. Weal co-wrote. Recut for the web, Sainsbury feels like a cross between Tom Hanks as the man-child in the 1988 movie Big and Jack Black in the 2010 movie Gulliver’s Travels.
Dane Marbeck is an authentically kind hearted soul who sees dead people. While he does it for money, he genuinely wants to help the recently deceased complete unfinished business and pass over to the other side. The only catch is that he must shoot himself up with a cocktail of drugs in order to do so. For this long time stoner, doing drugs isn’t really a problem, his drug dealer is one of his best mates.
The plot twists when a moustache wearing police officer wakes up wearing only half his uniform and pink underwear and seeks out Dane Marbeck to help him find his attacker. The unlikely pair must learn to trust and understand each other to survive this slightly macabre mystery, which is full of good giggles but no real frights.
There are some great performances by Jennifer Ward-Lealand, Micheal Hurst, and a very compelling Tōmairangi Ihaia as Yana. Locally made fun.
4 Stars
AMAZON PRIME
Phat Tuesdays
Phat Tuesdays is more than a showcase of black comedians from the ‘90s. Like so many aspects of comedy as a genre and comedians as mirrors of contemporary culture, Phat Tuesdays reveals something important some may not have considered.
It’s a series that details the change that occurred when black comedians stopped writing their material for the tastes and sensibilities of conservative white audiences. Instead, given the platform of Phat Tuesdays at the Comedy Store, they performed material they knew would connect with the communities they came from.
“Phat Tuesdays was such an under-recognized cultural moment. It was very significant,” states Dave Chappelle in the first episode.
It is probably true of all areas of the entertainment industry at some point in time that anyone outside the mainstream who tried to break-in was told by one gatekeeper or another to tone-down their specific style or world view in order to appeal more to the mainstream audience. This of course probably reinforced a raft of negative or unhelpful stereotypes and continued to exclude these entertainers.
It wasn’t just that black audiences packed out Phat Tuesdays (and some argue thereby financially saving the Comedy Store) but it ushered in a new era of comedic heroes who had long been overlooked.
This series is well worth the watch even if it is only for its great mix of A List comedians and performers who provide great context for the priceless archival footage.
From Chis Tucker, Dave Chapelle, and Anthony Anderson, to Regina King and the clever pairing of Snoop Dogg and Tiffany Haddish there is lots to love and learn from this short docu-series.
4 Stars
NETFLIX
Afterlife (Seasons 1- 3)
In these bleak times we have to find the silver linings, and Ricky Gervais has to be the king of finding laughs in the misery of life and humanity. There are now 3 seasons of After Life to binge and each one seems to get better than the last. While the first season wasn’t uniformly loved by critics, audiences seem to have really connected with Gervais’ melancholic, self-deprecating humour and have increasingly become fans.
As well as canvassing the complexity and devastation of losing a loved one with self deprecating humour, Ricky Gervais manages to be profound and uplifting. His character, Tony Johnson, has lost everything that matters and owes the world nothing - he is rude and unapologetically harsh.
It’s a character that gives Gervais a platform to plough through subject matter and topics that he may normally have been encouraged to tiptoe around. It is Gervais unleashed, dark and depressingly funny.
4.5 Stars
NEON
Raised By Refugees
It’s as if Chris Rock landed in Glenfield; well not quite, but director Madeleine Sami finds the right timing for authentic laughs in Raised by Refugees which follows the life of a typical 12 year old boy, Pax Assadi. The series grew out of a successful stand-up routine by the talented comedian Pax Assadi, who plays the role of young Pax’s father in the series.
Young Pax is a basketball mad, hip hop obsessed child, with a Pakistanian mother and an Iranian father. He is just trying to fit in at his new very white North Shore school, just as the World Trade Centre is hit by terrorists. It’s a complicated time for a boy like Pax. The resulting gags and storylines are not only funny, but offer some deeper messaging too.
Some have compared it to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air, but it is a bit of stretch to suggest the move from Massey to Glenfield is similar to the move from the bad blocks of Philadelphia to LA’s Bel Air mansions. What such comparisons miss is it’s hard enough being 12 without having the added challenge of trying to maintain who you are as well as trying to ‘fit in’.
4 Stars
Published 4 March 2022