Difficult People

Difficult people is about two really awful people who go around being awful and catty and mean.

This can work, as it does in You're the Worst. But Difficult People is far less ambition. It basically feels like a couple of comedians who thought it would be funny to make a show where they just do insult comedy every week.

The first episode was *mildly* amusing. I laughed once or twice, even though I found the characters unlikable and the premise thin. The second episode had all the flaws of the first but was even less funny. So that's the last episode I'll be watching.

This is a show for a very narrow demographic. The range of pop culture put downs is vast. It's hard to imagine anyone but gay, full-time couch potatoes understanding all of it. I come close to that category, but I'm old. Younger versions of me will probably get more of it. And, you've got to be quick to even take it all in. The show may be just a so-so framework for a barrage of rat-a-tat-tat jokes, but oh, what jokes!

The lines are tossed off so fast and are so all-over-the-place topically they barely register. If you waste time laughing, you'll miss the next joke. Not many shows can work in a line like "If I've learned anything, it's that there are limits to even what Viola Davis can make plausible." Now, for me, that's funny. And it's funny because it's true. But I can easily understand that a lot of people would be baffled. Not only do you have to know who Viola Davis is, you have to have seen enough of her work to know that she's been in some real turkeys.

I especially like some of the side players, truly original characters we haven't seen before. E.g., the transgender server who's a 911 conspiracy theory nut. When she says to a co-worker, "I wish you'd been on Flight 93," it's stunning. I'm not sure what my reaction was. Did I laugh because it was funny, or was I just astonished by the anything-is-fair-game attitude? I don't know, and frankly, I don't care. I was entertained, and in the broadest sense of the word.

You may hate the characters, and you may not like their constantly snarky attitude. But you have to admire how they can simultaneously celebrate and fearlessly skewer the values American pop culture has engendered in us all.

I am totally obsessed with this show. I feel like it was made for me. I love talking about random celebrities! But I can't really watch it with other people without having to answer the question "Who's that?" or "What does that mean?" every 30 seconds. Billy Eichner was my absolute favorite actor on Parks and Recreation (he played Craig) and I am totally in love with his street comedy show. Thank god Difficult People exists. The fact that it's successful makes me feel like maybe the rest of the world is starting to be as mean and weird as me! And I love that it's about people in their 30s and not their 20s. I can't stand shows about super successful people right out of college where everyone has their dream job and dream life and everything is perfect. This show is real life, for people who are as cynical as me. I love it.

Follows the same formula as Seinfeld. No hugging, no learning, but it's missing something. Eichner's character is excellent, but the supporting cast are extremely annoying, which is I know what they're going for but it just doesn't work. There's nothing interesting about them, you could remove them totally and the show would be better for it. I love a show with flawed characters, I don't need them to evolve, but after a while it feels like you're watching the same episode over and over. I watched the full first season and there are really great moments and very funny lines scattered amongst it, but it's not enough to hold me. I mostly kept watching for Andrea Martin who is fabulous as Julie's mother.

Two aspiring entertainers in their 30s and brimming with bitterness, slam everyone and everything in this almost ridiculously diverse comedy show that veers strongly into dark territory. Season 1 is a riot, with all it's pop culture references and situations gone awry, but the cracks are showing by Season 2.

This show just doesn't have enough juice to sustain itself and the writers aren't helping all that much. It's like they pitched this via a few YouTube videos and maybe that's the format this comedy is best suited to. By Season 3 it's two people hating everything, with a few tired anti-Trump/Christian jokes that sit awkwardly amongst very familiar Jewish stereotypes and the odd mushy scene to add some artificial "heart" to the proceedings. There's also no common storyline running through the episodes, so it's like a Jewish skit show by the end.

I like dark comedy, but maybe they should have done what the Brits do - knock out two short seasons and call it a day and hope for cult status.