The Heart, She Holler

Well, that was pretty great.

The Heart, She Holler was a six episode miniseries on Adult Swim, created by PFFR, the same people who brought us Xavier: Renegade Angel and Wonder Showzen. So two things about it were pretty much be guaranteed: it would be totally disturbing, and pretty damn funny. And Holler was definitely both. It begins when the head of the Heartshe family, rulers of the town Heartshe Holler, dies, and leaves his inheritance to his son, who he had previously kept secret, hidden in a cave behind a wall. That son is played by Patton Oswalt, and after he learns how to dress and say "hot dog" and gets his penis swapped with his father's through a misunderstanding, tries to run the town while coping with his own insecurities and the meddling of his power hungry sisters; one who can read minds and has other mysterious powers, and another played by Kristen Schaal who will sleep with anything that movies and his pretty impressive physical strength.

That that summary only begins to describe the insanity of The Heart, She Holler should say plenty. There's plenty of gross moments, including repeated references to incest and bizarre imagery like a wall socket being connected to some sort of intestine, but the show doesn't just rely on shock value to get laughs. It's mostly a bunch of insane rambling, but it's clever insane rambling, and running jokes like the former patriarch's seemingly infinite supply of instructive video will VHS tapes and the tons of jabs at religion and insular southern towns keep it from relying on disgust to drive the story. The whole thing barely lasts over an hour, and by the end I was wishing there was more to see, especially because of the distinct lack of closure in the ending, even though describing what came before as a plot would be very generous. It's well cast, funny, and just has the right amount of horror to definitely be a PFFR creation. If you're really into alt comedy, it's definitely worth seeing.

Delocated - Season 2

As is often the case with certain comedies, Delocated improved markedly in its second season. It helps that it had triple the amount of time to have fun with the concept (12 half hour episodes over 7 fifteen minute ones), and they also expanded the cast in entertaining ways. While the first season had a lot of fun with the absurdity of the concept of a man in the Witness Protection Program getting a reality show, it's more just a fact of life here and the humor comes from all the weird stuff he comes up with to pass the time and a few other running subplots. I can't remember if Yvgeny's father was introduced in season one, but his brother Sergei is definitely new and a great addition. He has the cold-blooded killer's spirit that Eugene Mirman's Yvgeny simply doesn't. It provides for a new source of laughs and occasional actual darkness as he kills everyone around Jon to try to make his life hell.

But the Russian mob is generally in the background as a B story to whatever Jon's working on. His new producer Mighty Joe Jon the Black Blond is a likable jerk in much the same way Jon himself is, although he's definitely more downright antagonistic at times. Jon's new handler is a bit more interesting than the one from the first season, since there's more of an arc to their friendship and it has more time to build. They also developed his actual family more, with generally entertaining results. His son reminds me a bit of Justin Bieber, but not enough to make me want to punch him. There's no telling yet if the show's coming back, especially since I don't really know what it means that they moved premieres to Thursday night in the middle of the season yet still replayed the episodes at the regular time on Sunday. But I hope it does, because it's a funny, clever show that still has plenty of material it can explore.

Xavier: Renegade Angel - Season 2

Xavier's second season takes the logical next step for the series, reaching new heights of insanity as the titular character experiences a lot of strangeness and seems to spend more time dealing with his mommy issues than trying miserably to help people like he did the first time. It also experiments more with the visual style, leaving the garish computer generated graphics for hand drawn segments and an entire episode made with clips submitted by fans. A few shows at the end of the first season dipped a toe into complete mind-bending recursive scenarios, and this time they just went nuts in that territory. My only problem is that it all just didn't make me laugh as much as the first time. I don't think it's the character or show growing stale, there just isn't as much humor as there was, with them going for what's crazy or disturbing over what's funny. I still liked seeing what madness would occur each week, I just didn't enjoy it quite as much. Definitely one of the more bizarre programs on a strange block of programming.

Delocated - Season 1

I'm pretty sure the first season is finished. It's always a little hard to tell with Adult Swim whether they're done or just taking a break. Anyway, the show is a mockumentary like The Office about a family in the Witness Protection Program that moves to New York City to star in a reality show. Not only do they wear masks to hide their faces, they undergo surgery to alter their voices. It's obviously a ridiculous premise, but the show in its normal course isn't usually quite as absurd. Since his wife leaves him pretty much immediately, it's about Jon and how he tries to keep his life together while cameras follow him around and a Russian assassin ruins his life, trying to kill him, accidentally taking out Paul Rudd, becoming more successful with his own reality show. Jon Glaser has always been funny on the other shows he's been on, and he really drives the comedy here. He's skilled at making a complete ass of himself in public without becoming unlikable, and he's put together a pretty entertaining show. I don't know if it's going to keep going or what, but I like it so far.

Wonder Showzen

Wonder Showzen was the first show by PFFR, the band that also makes Xavier: Renegade Angel on Adult Swim. Whereas Xavier's made with very ugly computer graphics, Showzen is a mix of traditional animation, puppets, and live action segments, including stock footage and interviews with people on the street. On the surface it resembles an educational show for children, but as it constantly reminds the viewer, it's nowhere near appropriate for kids. It's violent, has lots of disgusting shots of things from real life, and treats tons of sensitive topics like suicide, race, and abortion with a crude sense of humor. But there is a lot of intelligence behind it, intelligence that only pops up occasionally but still shows that satire runs the gamut from subtle to as subtle as hitting you in the head with a hammer.

Some of the best segments are the ones on the street, where a kid dressed as a reporter or a blue puppet named Clarence asks people questions, usually to hilarious effect. The kids usually just trick adults into agreeing to something stupid, but Clarence is an expert at pissing people off. It's funny how often people will start freaking out and cursing at a hand puppet, and the final episode consisting solely of Clarence asking people to make compelling television set to original music has some great moments. Like they do in Xavier, they often divert from the story to just screw around with brain twisting stuff like having the characters watch a bootleg knockoff of their show, on which the knockoff characters are watching the original show in return, and so on. It's a funny show that quite often becomes avant garde just to annoy the audience. But if you can tolerate being screwed with, it's pretty enjoyable.

Xavier: Renegade Angel - Season 1

From the creators of Wonder Showzen is one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. Xavier is a strange creature who claims to be a spirit guide searching for his father's killer, but most of the time he's just a moron or a jerk. He wanders the earth with his echoing voice and snake left arm, trying to help people he meets, but he just ends up causing chaos and destruction wherever he goes. The computer animation looks awful, which initially almost prevented me from watching it, but it ended up not being a problem and even a part of the series' strange charm. Xavier's really a great character, and his endless, confusing speeches and interactions with the people he encounters are almost always hilarious.

As the show goes on, the focus shifts a bit from weird comedy to weird experimentalism. It's still funny, but there's a lot of introspection as the truth of Xavier's youth becomes revealed to him. The last couple episodes in particular are not like the rest, with a slightly creepy tale of a gorilla becoming the spiritual leader of the planet and a drawn out argument between Xavier and himself. Although sometimes it's hard to stomach the main character, the show is still usually very funny and a unique experience to watch. It's a bit off-putting at first, but worth checking out.