TCB Debriefing 11/22/23: Jay Jurden, Wellington Paranormal, Toy Story/Frasier, Will Arnett, Sheng Wang
1. While we are glad that the laugh per minute metric is wholly outdated and not really relied on anymore, Jay Jurden gets more laughs per minute than almost any other comedian out there. He racks up more punchlines and tags than the most quick-witted multi-cam sitcom on top of being sinfully clever and incisive in his observations about sexual and racial identities. Witness the undeniable comedy of Jay Jurden in this latest set on Don’t Tell.
2. One of the best spin-offs of all time, Wellington Paranormal, a spin-off of the original What We Do In the Shadows film, will live on as a podcast (Deadline). Even more delightful is the fact that it will be a meta behind-the-scenes podcast with all the original cast members including Mike Minogue and Karen O’Leary playing their roles from the series discussing how the paranormal investigation mocku–err… documentary series was made.
3. So, there might be more Toy Story and Frasier potentially in the works? Pretty sure sequels had a pretty spotty 2023.
4. Will Arnett gets back to Will Arnett-ing on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
5. Peep these Sheng Wang tour dates. There’s a reason they’re selling out all over the place. He’s damn good and you shouldn’t miss your chance to see him. Tix at shengwangtime.com.
6. We’ll leave you with this: Squid Game: The Challenge producer Tim Harcourt, when asked about whether the reality competition series based off of the brutally anti-capitalist Korean satire series Squid Game misses the point of the source material in a THR interview, says:
“I take issue over the notion that Squid Game has just one point. One of the important strands was the capitalist critique. But it’s also a critique of how we are ingrained from childhood to be ultra competitive via these childhood games. It’s also about how people behave under pressure — and that’s what makes reality shows interesting. Even if it’s an artificial or conceited situation, how do people behave? It was also about camaraderie. Also, the drama was about people fending off their desperate circumstances to win a huge prize. Our show isn’t about people in need. It’s about people being presented with an opportunity. So we flip that on its head. So, yes, there is one element [of the original show] that people have latched on to that they think is being not served by a reality show, but I would say it’s a very small part of the original Squid Game.”
We hope this ends up being the source material for a sketch in the fourth season of I Think You Should Leave because that might be the most BS answer we’ve heard all of 2023 (and that’s really saying something).
