Network: Comedy Central; Genre: Variety; Average Content Rating: TV-14 (strong sexual content); Available: on DVD; Classification: Contemporary (star range: 1 - 4);
Season Reviewed: Complete Series
'The Man Show' has to be the most infantile, pathetic and wildly mis-directed attempts at satire in recent TV history. In the face of Oprah's victimization, a steady stream of cultural feminization, sitcoms galore promoting men as buffoonish, sex-obsessed oafs and political correctness at a fever pitch the time couldn't be more right for a show to stand up for the male demographic. But creators Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla apparently think the best way to answer it all is with a loud, obnoxious shout of 'Yes, ma'am, may I have another'.
It's pretty clear that the show came about as a result of Kimmel and Corolla deducing that women are going to hate, nag and call men pigs no matter what so they might as well do whatever they please. That I admire and that's where the admiration and ideas end. The presentation of this material is amateurish and lazy. It's built simply on a 3 ring circus platform that panders to every male cliché in the book. It's a faux-celebration of men who have become so neutered by their women they are perfectly willing to put their arms around their own clichés in a desperate attempt to try to reconnect. It's an amazing sight to watch the men in the audience chugging commercial beer and drooling on cue like Pavlovian dogs at the sight of the 'juggies' all the while thinking they are rebelling against something.
With such a reliance on male clichés it's hard to differentiate this show from just about everything else on TV. With male-bashing being the norm any supposed parody of it ultimately gets mixed in, unrecognizable with the rest of the crowd. I can't help but wonder if Kimmel and Corolla have even watched a sitcom in the last few years. But the inept concept is ingenious compared to the sloppy execution. 'Man' drags out fat jokes, fart jokes and beer jokes - all the bits feel 30 years old. This poor thing desperately wants to be edgy and outrageous, but the rest of life and television has already passed it by.
Hosts Corolla and Kimmel come off more like a pair temporary fill-ins than hosts. They stand in front of the camera shifting around, awkwardly reading lines off the teleprompter and generally looking as if any minute Craig Kilborn is going to return from a late tennis game and put them out of their misery. Watch to see their eyes darting around the room nervously, trying not to slip up in front of whoever high power Comedy Central goon or beer advertiser is standing just offstage actually pulling the strings. Their heart just doesn't look into it.
The two have gone onto better things since their departure and Comedy Central put two knew stooges in their place - an even less funny Joe Rogen and Doug Stanhope. The show is already a disaster no matter who hosts. But in the end it's not about the supposed chauvinism and sexism that is most offensive as much as 'The Man Show' violates the cardinal sin of variety television - it's not funny. It lays back on the novelty of it's gags without making any effort to take anything to a new level. I actually think Adam Corolla is the most talented of the production. Of course, you'd never know that from watching this mess.
½ / 4
Season Reviewed: Complete Series
'The Man Show' has to be the most infantile, pathetic and wildly mis-directed attempts at satire in recent TV history. In the face of Oprah's victimization, a steady stream of cultural feminization, sitcoms galore promoting men as buffoonish, sex-obsessed oafs and political correctness at a fever pitch the time couldn't be more right for a show to stand up for the male demographic. But creators Jimmy Kimmel and Adam Corolla apparently think the best way to answer it all is with a loud, obnoxious shout of 'Yes, ma'am, may I have another'.
It's pretty clear that the show came about as a result of Kimmel and Corolla deducing that women are going to hate, nag and call men pigs no matter what so they might as well do whatever they please. That I admire and that's where the admiration and ideas end. The presentation of this material is amateurish and lazy. It's built simply on a 3 ring circus platform that panders to every male cliché in the book. It's a faux-celebration of men who have become so neutered by their women they are perfectly willing to put their arms around their own clichés in a desperate attempt to try to reconnect. It's an amazing sight to watch the men in the audience chugging commercial beer and drooling on cue like Pavlovian dogs at the sight of the 'juggies' all the while thinking they are rebelling against something.
With such a reliance on male clichés it's hard to differentiate this show from just about everything else on TV. With male-bashing being the norm any supposed parody of it ultimately gets mixed in, unrecognizable with the rest of the crowd. I can't help but wonder if Kimmel and Corolla have even watched a sitcom in the last few years. But the inept concept is ingenious compared to the sloppy execution. 'Man' drags out fat jokes, fart jokes and beer jokes - all the bits feel 30 years old. This poor thing desperately wants to be edgy and outrageous, but the rest of life and television has already passed it by.
Hosts Corolla and Kimmel come off more like a pair temporary fill-ins than hosts. They stand in front of the camera shifting around, awkwardly reading lines off the teleprompter and generally looking as if any minute Craig Kilborn is going to return from a late tennis game and put them out of their misery. Watch to see their eyes darting around the room nervously, trying not to slip up in front of whoever high power Comedy Central goon or beer advertiser is standing just offstage actually pulling the strings. Their heart just doesn't look into it.
The two have gone onto better things since their departure and Comedy Central put two knew stooges in their place - an even less funny Joe Rogen and Doug Stanhope. The show is already a disaster no matter who hosts. But in the end it's not about the supposed chauvinism and sexism that is most offensive as much as 'The Man Show' violates the cardinal sin of variety television - it's not funny. It lays back on the novelty of it's gags without making any effort to take anything to a new level. I actually think Adam Corolla is the most talented of the production. Of course, you'd never know that from watching this mess.
½ / 4