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Looking for some quality comedy entertainment to check out?
Who better to turn to for under-the-radar comedy recommendations than comedians?
), so its tone and structure gravitated toward the experimental and the theatrical.
Conceptually speaking, theres an obvious connective tissue fromSquare One TVandBeakmans Worldto your showAdam Ruins Everything.
It was a sketch-comedy show, really.
But it was a really sophisticated sketch comedy in terms of how it used the format to educate.
One of my favorite things about sketch comedy is doing parodies andmusic videos.
And thats what they did on that show.
They had a whole parody of the TV showDragnet.
Just an entire segment that was a running police procedural about math calledMathnetwhere the detective solves crimes using math.
They did soap-opera spoofs, too.
Basically, using math in a way that seemed magical.
Doing a format parody is one of my favorite things to do in comedy.
And how aboutBeakmans World?
As much as I lovedBill Nye,I always preferredBeakmans Worldbecause I thought it was funnier.
And it came first.
He had a theater and puppeteer background, which made him more of acompelling performer.
Beakman would be like, Today were gonna learn about gravity.
Then somebody offscreen screams at you, Gravity!
They were using all these new tools to make television that didnt exist before.
They just used the hell out of animation, voice-over, and computer graphics.
They created this style that was totally sui generis.
It was very offbeat and innovative in a way that never really had been done before.
I mean, its a show with aguy in a giant rat suit.
There are jokes about toilets.
Theres a lot of slapstick.
Its a super-visual set with all of these props in the background.
Just an incredible show.
Now I think about it regularly.
When I do a little hand gesture I do air quotes a lot we play aboink boinksound effect.
Thats the same way withBeakmans World.Every little gesture he does is accentuated to make him a living cartoon character.
What are you talking about?
Im not gonna say I borrowed that specifically, but its another little bit of synchronicity.
Then just the very silly sense of humor.
OnAdam Ruins Everythingwe do the broadest sketch comedy possible.
One I just watched recently explains how an arch works.
And once that piece is there, you might lie on top of it.
Theyre being exposed to so many commercials.Gummi Bears, theres no good content there.
Its fine, sure, but its a crappy show.
Its a shame there arent more shows like that for kids now.
Im very lucky to have grown up in the golden age of kids educational television.
I feel like this was some of the most creative stuff being done in television anywhere.
Its sort of a younger version of me in a lot of ways.
In a lot of ways, my character is a mix of me and not me.
We have a whole running gag about how my character loves turtles.
I dont love turtles in real life, but wouldnt it be funny if I did?
Fans are always sad when they find out I dont really love turtles, especially the younger ones.
Thats why its a mix of both of those things.
If you watch the first couple episodes, Im a lot more lower-energy and not so cartoony.
Then the more I do it, the bigger I get and the more I expand.
I punch all my sentences harder.
My movements get more stylized.
You know how bigBill NyeorNeil deGrasse Tysonare here?
In Mexico, Paul Zaloom is bigger than that.
Its a prettyawesome story.
These shows are just so well-written.
Heres the thing: Comedy doesnt need to be just pure jokes that dont do anything else.
But you’re able to use comedy to do other things.
you could use comedy to tell the truth.
you’ve got the option to use comedy to teach people interesting information or useful information.
Thats what comedys good at.
They had really talented writers and really talented performers.
To the same degree that when you go back and watchMr.
It goes to show you that work can be done, and is being done, in unexpected places.
It doesnt have to be on Comedy Central to be great comedy.
