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jjsteich
Reviews
Detroiters (2017)
Detroiters--a comedic tone poem to a great city with a sense of humor
I love this show and hope it gets picked up for another season. They are able to skewer Detroit while still obviously loving it. I'm sure all cities have low budget ad agencies to make the kind of ads that Sam and Tim make. Here in Detroit it was always Robinson's Furniture, Mel Farr the Superstar Ford Dealer, and Mr. Belvedere Home Improvement. Sam and Tim make ads for similar business people. Some love them, some hate them, but the two two-bit ad guys are oblivious to haters.
They live next to each other and (spoiler) Tim is married to Sam's sister, who works on the line at Chrysler.
The humor is funny and you don't have to live in Detroit to get it. The cameos and guest stars just add another level of delight. Mort Crim's news bits often tie the whole show together.
Michael Che Matters (2016)
Michael Che is more than Weekend Update
Michael Che mines territory that is a faint 2010s echo of the late great Lenny Bruce. No, Michael Che is not Lenny Bruce, but he gets a lot of mileage out of making people uncomfortable when they want to laugh at something that is funny but crosses a line they've made for themselves.
The other review of this show must not have a special ax to grind with Che, because gun control occupies a short segment, that going into statistics misses the whole point of humor--making us laugh at things that are uncomfortable or painful. Overall, Che does a pretty good job of this.
I'd give this more stars if there weren't a couple of points where the pacing dragged. And I'd give it fewer stars if this were a fair rating system. I know though, that 8 is the new "average," and if it isn't at least an 8 or a 9, people won't watch this, and it really is a pretty damn funny hour of stand up.
For those used to Che as the anchor on Weekend Update or his brief turn on the Daily Show, this is Michael Che Unplugged. He's more raw, more raunchy, and he works slightly blue, but not to the exclusion of intelligent humor. He uses "blue" to good effect, keeping the audience in Brooklyn and the audience at home a little off balance.