There are so many great adultswim shows out there at the moment that deserve praise, and a larger audience in the UK as so few people I know are aware that the strand exists, let alone how good many of them.
Sure, not everything’s to my taste (The Boondocks has never grabbed me) but even in the shows that I don’t personally like I see why others might, and the care and craft that has gone in to them. I’d even argue that some of the shows are avant-garde works of art, and whilst that might make me sound like a pretentious twat, there’s really a case for it – Xavier Renegade Angel and Delocated especially. Both are incredibly experimental shows, and mix an astonishing amount of different comedy styles in to each episode, yet retaining a sense of wild abandonment where the main objective is to the make the audience laugh. And laugh hard.
So why am I starting coverage of the channel with one of their lesser known, and now cancelled, programmes? Partially as I’ve only just discovered it, but also because it’s so damn adorable. Which is absurd considering that the central character, Assy McGee, is a walking anus with no torso or head. Who talks in a slurred manner, drinks hard, and kills at whim, like a demented bizarro universe Dirty Harry. But you can’t help but love him, despite everything he does, as it’s such a well written character. Sure, there’s some fart jokes, but they’re immaculately timed and never dwelled on, just another aspect of this tremendously deranged series. It mixes parody with surreality, slapstick with ultra-violence and just when you think it can no longer surprise you, can be oddly touching at times.
20 Episodes were made in full, which is a shame as they’re only 10 minutes long, but seek them out as it’s a greatly underappreciated series that deserves a much wider audience.
And now, just because they amused me at the time, here’s some random screengrabs from the show:
Links:
Wikipedia Entry
Watch Episodes Online (Legally, too, surprisingly).
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