Is it the plight of all New York comedy troupes that secure television deals to lose most of their funny in the translation from stage to tube? It would seem so. 2005’s Stella on Comedy Central paled in comparison to the creators’ work on 90s gem The State and their overuse of the “awkward for awkward’s sake” style of humor was exhausting long before the end of the brief run. It’s hard seeing comedians you enjoy find their largest audience with something you just don’t get. The Whitest Kids U’Know’s live show came highly recommended, so it was disappointing to see that the premiere of their new sketch comedy show on Fuse was little more than a few poorly shot YouTube clips.
Their intentional overacting is stylistically reminiscent of Kids in the Hall, but the poor execution prevents any further comparisons. Among the highlights is a skit about a man who poops his pants during a business meeting, which is only funny for how absurdly long they’re able to keep it going; another explores the actual circumstances of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination (turns out he was an obnoxious theatergoer). None of this is the stuff of comedic genius, so you can easily imagine how dull the remaining 25 minutes are – the worst of which find the guys schilling their completely unwarranted album with two inane music videos.
Despite its major shortcomings, The Whitest Kids U’Know isn’t terrible, and you can tell that its five creators are probably capable of entertaining in another medium. But given the abundance of legitametly funny shorts that are generated in basements and on laptops every week, it’s hard to believe that this was the group to reap the benefits of Fuse’s confusing programming choices. Saturday Night Live was lucky enough to absorb The Lonely Island boys before they were given a more liberal (albeit less glamorous) forum for their shtick, but it would have been nice to see what they would have done with a similar weekly spot on national cable. Alas.