The Characters

I don't think it's because the people aren't talented at all...but the comedy is sad and upsetting rather than funny. There's no joy. One reviewer said "unknowns shouldn't get a show." Boy, is that dumb - everyone funny was unknown to begin with.

I think the problem is that having these performers literally act out the characters that they probably do in flashes in stand up just doesn't work - it lacks imagination. Plus there's a kind of essential mean-spirited nastiness that doesn't work with costumes and full make up. So much of it is downright offensive.

Such a shame for the performers. I hope they get beyond this - keep doing the stand-up, aren't made to write full blown scripts for themselves...what a mess.

The first episode was like several bad SNL skits in a row. The second one was like several marginally better SNL skits in a row. That's as far as I could go. Sketch comedy is hard, which is why only about one in five SNL skits is worth watching. Key and Peele was the only sketch show I found to be consistent and even that was hard to watch at times.

Netflix presents 8 comedians across 8 episodes, each with their own 30 minutes to let hilarity ensue. The full cast includes: Lauren Lapkus, John Early, Henry Zebrowski, Kate Berlant, Natasha Rothwell, Paul W. Downs, Tim Robinson, and Dr. Brown. All people you'd likely recognize their faces if not their names. A fairly simple premise, what we end up with is a series with a number of highs and lows, and not a ton of consistency, overall its decently funny stuff. I checked this out for Tim Robinson alone and his episode, but of course had to watch the rest. I think the format of giving each comedian their own full episode was nice from an experimental perspective, but I don't know if it breeds the funniest sketches, and at times felt more of a means for each comedian to show off their character work and create a pilot episode pitch for their own series. Of course we later see Tim Robinson did get his own full Netflix series (which is perfect, please watch it) after his episode was the most successful (by IMDB ratings anyway), so maybe that was the goal the whole time. If you're a huge fan of any of these individuals I'd say its worth checking out, again Tim's episode feels very much like a pilot for this later full series I Think You Should Leave, and if included in ITYSL canon I might even say its one of the best episodes. I'd also recommend Natasha Rothwell's episode, her character work is hilarious, surprising, and so good. I had only really seen her in The White Lotus prior to this, I hope she's in way more stuff, someone please give her her own show. In the end I think a regular sketch series using this same group as the writers / troupe would have been much funnier, but certainly didn't hate the format, it seems to have served Netflix well.

I'm honestly really shocked that this is rated so low on here. As a lover of sketch comedy, I found these skits quite entertaining. so many really funny performances by really talented comedians here. I've even rewatched the whole series multiple times. Yes the characters are cringe and awkward, but that's the whole point, they are supposed to be. I just don't think a lot of people got this. I love it.

I'm going to try to keep this short, so I'll just say that I think the show is very lacking. For a comedy it lacks laughs, and it seems to mistake awkwardness/absurdity with humor. Those things can be funny, but just showing a bunch of arrogant and self- absorbed characters being arrogant and self-absorbed isn't funny in itself. The episodes just kinda drag on and the characters being played are so unlikeable that it's hard to smile at, let alone laugh.

Someone in the message boards said it best when calling it cringe comedy, but not in a good way. For me it just came off a lot as ironically pretentious.