BEST OF 2018 - DETROITERS IS A DELIGHTFUL BIT OF NONSENSE

10.  DETROITERS  (COMEDY CENTRAL)

Detroit does not exactly have a reputation as the most inviting of cities, but Tim Robinson and Sam Richardson’s version of it is a different, and very strange, story. It’s a grubby but oddly delightful funhouse that seems to exist in the same skewed comedic universe as Broad City. The leads are certainly as devoted to each other as those gals, and their lives of blithe codependence (as business partners, brothers-in-law and next door neighbors) would make JD and Turk from Scrubs envious. The guys are comically delusional idiots, which is a common enough basis for a sitcom, but theirs is a childish delusion, rather than the douchey or cringey stupidity that populate shows in the mold of Always Sunny or The Office, respectively.  Their camaraderie is so silly and infectious that even when they randomly lapse into unmotivated, juvenile belligerence for the sake of a throwaway joke, or when they separately take it upon themselves to corner a pastor at a gravesite to make sure he knows that getting laughs in church is playing in the minor league of jokes, it doesn’t make them less likable.

The premise is that the guys run an ad agency, but premises and plots are beside the point. I’m not sure what the point is, really. I couldn’t tell you if they are cartoonishly bad at their work, or sneaky savants, or which is the straight man and who is the wild card, because the show will switch it up from episode to episode and even scene to scene and none of it matters. All that matters is that the local celebrities that come into the office are always game, the ads they commission ingeniously sophomoric, and the comic chemistry between the leads is honed to a uniquely fine point. To the extent that Detroiters has a signature style of joke, it’s the way the two guys will immediately spout two versions of the exact same off-kilter response to an innocuous comment.

 

It’s a difficult show to describe, honestly, which may have something to do with why it never attracted enough buzz for Comedy Central to renew it for a third season. There’s hardly anything in the way of continuity or ongoing plots, but its scenes are a little too connected to gain virality as a quasi-sketch show. It doesn’t really have any subtext to unpack, or consistent enough characters to analyze. It’s sort of a hangout show, but there’s no sense that you could actually have a beer with these weirdos. Even the best jokes are too dependent on oddball energy and precise editing to even try to describe in print.

So I guess just know that Detroit is a silly place, that Sam Richardson is one of our most valuable comedic resources, and that you should feel bad for not supporting this show before Comedy Central cancelled it.

Watch It For: The demented cameos by real-life broadcaster/Ron Burgundy inspiration Mort Crim, cruelly ruling the airwaves by wielding his “Chump Of The Week” brand as a cudgel, and publicly offering to hand America over to ISIS, if they can defeat him in a mano-a-mano duel.