Satire is a tricky thing--swing too wide and you don’t land the punch, hit too close to the mark, and you’re just wallowing in the excesses you’re critiquing. Awesome Show rarely does anything by half measures, and nowhere does that hold more true than in Season Three, Episode Six, “Jim and Derrick.”
Theme:
Awesome Show is a master class in taking a single joke and repeating it until the back-breaking absurdity of the gag becomes equal parts annoying and hilarious. This is usually accomplished in a single sketch through repetition, endless listing, looping, or just allowing the segment to stretch on for about fifteen seconds longer than it should. Here, “Jim and Derrick” takes this conceit and extends it over an entire episode. Each sketch, interlude, and segment all take place within the poisoned world of this alternate Tim and Eric, a land of bongs, babes, and bros. Mercilessly skewering the late 90’s and early 2000’s love of all things extreme, “Jim and Derrick” is almost too good at its job. My personal least favorite episode, it is at least interesting from a critical perspective. In trying to explore and excoriate humanity’s obsession with violence in the media, director Michel Haneke made (and then, remade) “Funny Games,” a home invasion movie more tonally brutal and filled with horrific imagery than the films that inspired so much righteous loathing in the filmmaker. “Jim and Derrick” relentlessly deconstructs every aspect of toxic bro culture even as it lingers too long on purposefully unfunny frat-boy humor. It’s the essential paradoxical nature of satire--how to mock without miming--and it’s up to the viewer to decide how successful this episode is.
Hi-Lights:
The Girlfriend Spooner by Stinko
It’s a testament to Cinco’s abject weirdness, but their “bizarro” counterpart, Stinko, is equally inept, useless, and strange. Much like the hapless protagonists of Cinco products, we see a group of friends facing an easily solved problem. While at a concert, a man wonders how he can spoon his girlfriend while still being cool with his bros. Stinko steps in to provide the Girlfriend Spooner, a product that is just like an overgrown Babybjorn with “lifelike” boyfriend hands. The triumphant bros clasping hands at the end of the commercial is a nice counterpoint to the usual soul-destroying desolation that visits the users of most Cinco products.
Waz the Damage with Holly
Making her second appearance in Season Three, Abbey Brooks (credited here as Holly Browning) stars as Jim and Derrick resident girl-on-the-scene. This sketch works because of its total commitment to the concept. Everything from the Turbofuel proof-of-purchase discount, to the discount Turbofuel cocktails, to Holly’s enthusiastic promise that Club Boost boasts “loads of nude men all up in [there],” remind children of 90’s of the exuberantly ugly, joylessly tacky days of MTV shows like the one Jim and Derrick parody.
End Credits
The plethora of fake production companies, all with their own signature logo, animation, and annoying soundbite, make the ending credits a delight. Anyone who’s ever watched Spike TV will almost wonder if production companies like Dog Pile, Dingus Entertainment, or Darnit Brothers (with its strident boast of “I’m a bad little boy”) are maybe real. All of this crowned by Gregg Turkington delivering the ever-so-off “Egg-zackly”--a perfect bizarro world counterpoint to the beloved closing “Abso-lutely.”
Anatomy of an Episode:
Turbofuel Intro
We are introduced to the corporate sponsor for this episode, Turbofuel, and their unforgettable tagline: suck, swallow, release.
Jim and Derrick Title Sequence
Hold on to your frosted tips, y’all--things are about to get all kinds of extreme, and the title sequence is here to let you know that.
Host Segment (Part 1)
We are introduced to our new hosts, Jim and Derrick, along with their sidekick DR Drez. Did you hear about the Turbofuel Chug Contest? Oh, believe me, you’re going to hear about the Turbofuel Chug Contest.
$20
Prepare for some mind-blowing comedy as Jim and Derrick bicker over twenty dollars.
Bong Shop
Jim takes us to his favorite bong shop and asks inarticulate questions like, “Is this for smaller--when it’s smaller?” Kudos to the good-natured clerk who tries her hardest to make sense of Jim’s rambling.
Host Segment (Part 2)
The viewer is encouraged to vote for who they think will win the vaunted chug contest.
The Girlfriend Spooner by Stinko
See Hi-Lights. Why have to choose between bros or hos when Stinko can help you out?
Skate Park
Derrick takes us on an excursion to a skate park where he treats us to some sick tricks like the “acid roach” or the “triple whipple.”
Host Segment (Part 3)
Jim and Derrick botch an interview with Elisha Cuthbert.
Vista Fresh Viral Clip
We get to meet Bradley Needlehead, the bizarro world Awesome Show version of David Liebe Hart, as he holds a puppet and proudly shrieks, “I’m Crazy.”
On the Street
Girls scream their devotion for Jim and Derrick.
Tats
Our boys take to the street to find out about their fans’ views on tattoos. Derrick expresses his desire for a tat featuring a dragon encircling a ying-yang with no less than five ankhs arrayed around it. Maximum 90’s.
Waz the Damage with Holly
See Hi-Lights. Holly lets Jim and Derrick know about the scene at Club Boost, where there are naked men as far as the eye can see and the Turbofuel flows like wine.
Host Segment--Jim and Derrick Phlashback
A moment of peak pointlessness--we are asked to endure a “rewind” of the episode we have been watching.
Chug Contest
Everything seems to be going according to plan until Jim’s eyes start to bleed. Even after Jim and Derrick both die from ingesting too much Turbofuel, DJ Drez continues to spin.
End Credits
See Hi-Lights. We learn about all the many production companies who are so proud to have contributed to the Jim and Derrick show.
Winner:
There are no winners here. Just go on to the next article.
Pennie Sublime