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Comedy Central's new show "Stella," which premieres Tuesday at 9:30 p.m., friggin' rocks.
There. I said it.
Comedy Central is billing its latest fare as "Dumb comedy dressed up in a suit," but it's not. First of all, there are three suits. Second, "Stella" is aeons removed from dumb.
Starring Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain, former members of MTV's "The State" - a groundbreaking, anti-"Saturday Night Live" that only lasted a heartbreaking two seasons in the early 90s before they tried and failed to move onto bigger and better things - "Stella" began as a live sketch act and gained Internet-based fame for the downloadable short scenes made for their live show.
The shorts were so popular because they were so unique: Irreverent, sarcastic, chaotic, cynical and quite exuberant, they boasted appearances from guest stars such as Sam Rockwell ("O, Brother, Where Art Thou") and had tons of fun with iconic figures like Santa Claus. And let's not talk about "the Dick Fish." You have to find out what those are for yourselves.
For those of us who guiltily, yet faithfully, plug into the host of sundry clip shows that have plagued VH1 for about three years now ("I Love the '70s, '80s, '90s and so on" or "I was a High School: Geek; Popular Girl/Guy; Metalhead etc." and "The Best Week Ever"), you will recognize Black, a commentator who became a droll staple on all of them after appearing on the critically acclaimed, yet audience-deprived "Ed" for NBC.
And then there are cult classics, like Comedy Central's "Viva Variety" (Black was host Johnny Bluejeans) and the 2001 film "Wet Hot American Summer." Directed and written by Wain, starring Showalter and Black, "Wet Hot" was a flippant snap on the teen-targeted films of the day, and a reunion of The State, filled with its usual themes including the angst and terror of youth, crazy veterans and talking inanimate objects.
Much like its predecessors, this new turn for the three is an exercise in delivery - a very loud, awkward, rambunctious delivery that, for all its randomness, works beautifully. But fans of The State and Stella troupes will be shocked to find that this new "Stella" is not an episodic hodge-podge, but more a foray into actual linear storytelling.
It's picaresque, sure, but Showalter, Black and Wain have constructed quite a little narrative for themselves, even though what happens within that narrative will be erratic and chock full of logistical miscalculations and outright lies.
The pilot episode finds Michael, Michael and David being evicted from their apartment for being horrible neighbors - dancing loudly to "Funk Rock" tunes to antagonize the three women who live below them. Though they try to sweet talk their German landlord, they end up on the street, looking like Chaplin-esque tramps, sleeping in boxes, pitifully sharing a single bean that they find in a dumpster. You almost feel sorry for them - until they whip out gourmet dipping sauces to savor the lone bean.
Things crest and fall for the crew after the initial hilarity of the opening, but to tell you about it would ruin the overall effect.
So here's where we should get one thing straight: "Dumb" and "silly" are not the same things.
"Stella" is as silly as the pavement is hot, but it's humor is incredibly witty and relevant. The trio are caricatures of normality, blowing up all of mankind's idiocies into a jumble of Quixotic buffoonery, but not so big that we won't be able to catch glimpses of ourselves doing incredibly stupid things.
Threatening to "pull this car over," being nasty to our equals, brown-nosing to the point of awfulness, living far beyond our means, dancing "Flashdance"-style dressed as skunks in front of an apartment selection committee - we all do these things every day without so much as thinking about them.
So we don't dress as skunks; you get the point.
The "Stella" players live out mini-dramas every five seconds - often creating them, it seems, to make life more interesting. They're innocents who think the world is their own personal oyster. They just can't wait to crack it open, destroy the fleshy inner-parts and then try to piece things back together with pipe-cleaners and safety pins.
Activity which, when I'm being truthful, sounds a lot like what I do to quell the boredom.
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