Garfunkel and Oates

I love the comedy team of Garfunkel and Oates. I dug their digital show on HBO a few years back, and was delighted to hear they were getting a full-time series on IFC. There's no doubt that Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci are talented and funny, but the question in my mind was could they fill a half-hour on their own?

There were some shaky moments with bad acting and weird pacing that could very well be planned to be awkward examples of cringe humor, but it's hard to tell. About ten minutes in, I was wondering if they could do it or not, having only previously experienced two minute songs and five minute episodes. I really shouldn't have worried. By the end of the first episode, I was convinced, happy, and ready for the next one.

This is a show about them, or fictional versions of them, in the stand-up comedy world, and yes, the hilarious not-safe-for-family-or-work songs are there - they couldn't leave out the best part, could they? This series has the raw absurdity of "Louie" and the real brutality of "Seinfeld." I'm all in, you should be too. "Garfunkel and Oates" airs Thursday nights on IFC.

A Film with Me in It

A Film with Me in It ~ I discovered this flick quite by accident. I was surfing through the channels one afternoon and saw Dylan Moran. I love Dylan Moran. He's the best part of Shaun of the Dead, and "Black Books" is one of my favorite Britcoms of all time. The film was just at the beginning, so I settled (watched what little I missed in a later viewing) in for what was sure to be entertaining. I was hooked immediately by this dark dark comedy.

Mark, played by this film's screenwriter Mark Doherty, who lives with his girlfriend and handicapped brother in a flat he's having trouble keeping. Pierce, his ne'er-do-well friend played by Moran, is a wannabe screenwriter with whom they are trying to write a movie. When Mark's life begins to unravel, a series of accidents kill several people in his flat in quick succession. As Pierce struggles to 'fix' things, very dark hilarity ensues.

High tension, high comedy, dialogue perfect for Moran, direction by Ian Fitzgibbon that apes Hitchcock slyly, this is a fun, but very dark flick. I loved it. This may not be for everyone, but I thought it was great.

Wilfred

When I first saw this Australian TV series on IFC, I thought at first it was about furries, but it’s not. It’s just a man dressed in a dog suit, who for all intents and purposes is the dog. Just use your imagination. The thing is, this dog, Wilfred, played by Jason Gann, just happens to talk, and just like the American "Davey and Goliath" or even the Son of Sam if you like, only Wilfred’s mistress’ boyfriend, played by Adam Zwar, can hear him talk.



The subtly hysterical and sometimes downright mean and always raunchy series, created and written by Gann and Zwar, airs on Tuesday evenings on the Independent Film Channel, check it out.