Mr. Birchum

This is a TV/streaming show made by the Daily Wire, a conservative news outlet and streaming site. They specialize in anti-PC shows and movies, mostly comedies. That's fine. We need some anti-PC stuff and we do need comedy. However, just being anti-PC isn't enough to make your show good. It has to work on its own terms. This show does not. Many of the jokes fall flat and much of the dialogue isn't very good. It's almost as if the anti-PC crowd is being preachy and political with their entertainment, which is what they accuse the left of doing. You cannot expect audiences to like your stuff just because you have the "correct" political opinions, and honestly, that can go either way. Your show has to be GOOD, period. This isn't godawful, but it's not very interesting either. Conservatives can be funny (read the Babylon Bee, which is often hysterical), but this isn't one of those times.

Adam Corolla, the creator of this show, seems like a relatively decent guy, but his sense of humor has always been very low brow and dumb dating all the way back to his Man Show days. That hasn't really changed as he's gotten older, so this series comes across as tired and feels like an animated show from the early 00's. So, if you want mild amusement, it's OK for that. But there's nothing here that is gut busting hysterical.

This was the least funny animated sitcom I've ever watched. I was waiting for jokes to hit, but the monotone voice acting and pace left stale delivery. DailyWire has great ideas, but I find myself extremely disappointed with the final products when they release.

I thought Mr. Birchum was supposed to be a Ron Swanson-esque character, a no-nonsense manly-man with a soft and charming side you see peak out every now and again. I just found Adam Carolla's raspy voice hard to listen to and the character of Mr. Birchum was too much of a Facebook comment section boomer.

Better screenwriters would really help. All in all, I probably won't be watching this show.

No I'm not saying it's 2024 and there shouldn't be shows like this. Mr. Birchum has a solid foundation and a decent cast to entertain, but the jokes land as slow as the animation in episodes 1 & 2. There are parts that I recognize as funny, heck even solid jokes and wordplay, but the stilted delivery aborts the laugh growing inside of you. Animation & characters remind me of Brickleberry but that show knew when to rapid fire a joke at the audience for the quick laugh and move on. Birchum needs that tighter editing and comedic-delivery style to really have a stronger appeal in the animation world.

Plot

Mr. Birchum attempts to navigate a world he doesn't comprehend. He's confused by his gaming streamer son, Eddie, annoyed at his selfie-taking students, and is constantly at war with the school district's appointed "J. E. D. I." Mr. Karponzi.

Cast

Brett Cooper, Adam Carolla, Jay Mohr, Roseanne Barr and.....Megyn Kelly?! Yep, look up what these people have in common, go on.

Verdict

Ack! Where do you start here, I mean really?

First of all let me say that according to certain political "Commentators" (Man I hate that term so much) this is an anti-woke show that's intentionally not PC to strike back at the "Libs". Okay, you're aware of how many non PC shows are out there successfully right? Have you heard of South Park? Family Guy? Monkey Dust and more? This isn't something new, you haven't broken the mold, you've just replicated what already exists while denying its existence in an attempt to change the narrative and make out that censorship is rife and it's not possible to make such a show.

Now putting this foolishness aside what actually is Mr Birchum? Well it's not as mean spirited as I expected, it doesn't antagonize on the scale I thought it would. It tries to play it straight while occasionally throwing childish digs at certain demographics in the most juvenile way imaginable. The quality? Simply not funny, and I mean that unbiased it's just not funny but then look at who wrote it and put on your best surprised face. South Park is in bad taste often, but it's well written and funny this is the opposite end of the scale and is just head scratchingly stupid.

When I was a kid there was this crass childrens show called Round the Bend which was full of poop and fart jokes which naturally appeal to simple minds. Mr Birchum is an adult version of that, it's unfunny and quite frankly stupid but those of the less bright nature may get a kick out of it.

Rants

Resisting the urge to have a good rant here as I fear once I get started I'd melt the keyboard with frenzied fingers. What I will say is I despise the word "Woke", it's lost all meaning. The only people I hear using that word are simply using it totally out of context to describe anything they don't like. Woke is not new, we used to just call it being a respectful human being. Cancel culture is not new, we used to just call it consequences to your actions. Being a white knight is not a new thing, we used to just call it defending someone. How did these things become bad? We're in the age where meanness and cruelty are celebrated and decency is met with confusion and anger. Diversity is a good thing, if you disagree you might want to take a deep breath and engage with the reasons you feel that way.

The Good

Nothing springs to mind

The Bad

Some awful human beings involved in its creation Deeply unfunny Nasty snarky moments that come across very childish The very intentions of the shows existence are just foolish.

This show is so awkward. As soon as it starts, the shoddy animation and ugly character designs are instantly apparent. Also, all the voice acting is slow and poorly paced. It feels like someone put a normal cartoon on 85% speed, as if it's slowing down everything to pander to an imagined low IQ audience.

One thing to note, is that it's clear that star and creator Adam Coralla, is just using this show to air out his grievances with the modern world. Every situation is Corolla making up some straw-man figure and sardonically mocking them. It's a sad power fantasy. There's literally a guitar sting when a character mocks the Green New Deal, it's embarrassing. Carolla even writes in a black-friend character whose sole job is to agree with everything Mr Birchum says. The theme song is a shameless rip-off of 'King of the Hill', and its animation style is like a super-low-rent 'F is for Family'.

'Mr Birchum' feels about 3 decades too late. All the jokes about downtrodden and tired teachers were done better in 'Daria'. Mr Birchum is just a duller Mr DeMartino, and the daughter is just a rip-off of Louise from 'Bob's Burgers'. The comedy is akin to a wine-mum minions meme. All the jokes are derivative and lazy, there's even a cat-on-the-internet joke and a DMV gag! Despite thinking that it's edgy and offensive, 'Mr Birchum' is less offensive than all the shows it's ripping off. Even the pathetic 'Lady Ballers' had more nerve than this show. You're more likely to be offended by an episode of 'Futurama' than this dreck.

The episodes are too long 25+ minutes is way too much for what this show is. The fact that they didn't cut it down to 15 or even 22 minute chunks just shows how overly confident and arrogant this project is. A smarter, more mature creator would have the wherewithal to cut the weaker jokes and keep the comedy short and snappy. There's a reason adult swim episodes are 11-15 minutes. How does Carolla still not understand this after a career in comedy?

It pales in comparison to 'Drawn Together', the best thing Corolla was ever a part of, in terms of humour and transgressive-ness. 'Drawn together' is a very progressive show, so I wonder if Carolla feels a bit insecure that DT will be his main legacy.

This whole experience is just sad and cringe. It's the tv equivalent of the "old man yells at clouds" joke from 'The Simpsons'.