Hit or Sh**: Comedy Central’s THE GORBURGER SHOW

In this Crossfader series, our intricate and complex rating system will tell you definitively whether new television pilots are worth your valuable time. We call it: HIT OR SH**.

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THE GORBURGER SHOW is what might happen if someone got high, watched all four seasons of THE ERIC ANDRE SHOW, fell asleep to THE MUPPET MOVIE, and had a wild sex dream. Except whatever would come out of that would likely be more interesting and funny than TJ Miller’s newest Comedy Central show (continuing from Miller’s two-year-long web series). Following an alien who forcefully takes over a Japanese talk show, THE GORBURGER SHOW is bland and takes too many cues from your typical talk show to ever get enough laughs.

Structurally, THE GORBURGER SHOW is interchangeable with THE TONIGHT SHOW: introduce the guest, interview them, play a game, chit-chat, bring on a musical guest, and maybe even visit a sex doll factory in a quest to find the Best Sex Doll money can buy. Sure, the host is a giant blue puppet/alien who accidentally ate the show’s lighting guy, but the format (and even occasionally the jokes) aren’t anything that you wouldn’t hear on any other talk show. I could even picture Comedy Central’s COLBERT REPORT or INSIDE AMY SCHUMER visiting this sex doll shop, ask questions like Can I break my sex doll, and they’re still well within the realm of normal.

I’m pretty sure they stole this image from my nightmares

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You may be wondering, “Okay fine, but what’s the problem with being normal?” Well, THE GORBURGER SHOW so desperately and obviously is trying to be anything but. You can feel it wanting to be wacky and out there. With jokes about vaping, lights falling and killing people, over-the-top audience reactions, and a freakin’ blue alien host, you’d think that THE GORBURGER SHOW would be more successful with being “out there.” It only proves that you don’t need that extra frill to be successful and kooky: THE ERIC ANDRE SHOW does it ten times better and has a normal guy hosting. The thing is, though, he’s not normal. He’s off the walls and absolutely crazy. He pushes guests far past their limits and he takes to the streets to drive the public mad. He’s an eccentric, unpredictable lunatic, and Hannibal Buress is the perfect Richter to his Conan. It’s obvious to me that THE GORBURGER SHOW is trying to emulate their natural zaniness, and yet somehow, even with the advantage of the bizarre puppet Gorburger, they never manage to reach it.

The one moment they managed to get me to laugh

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Obviously, if you’re already a fan of the webseries, I imagine that this is going to be right up your alley. If you hate this kind of humour, steer clear. And even if this is your kind of thing, THE ERIC ANDRE SHOW does it better-and was first.

Verdict: Sh**

THE GORBURGER SHOW airs on Sundays on Comedy Central

Hayley Bensmiller

Hayley's passions range from the obvious (television and movies), to the less common (she will defend and support David Lynch until the day she dies), all the way to the shocking (Kevin Spacey is her dream man and she loves him desperately). Amidst all this, she enjoys meditation and long walks on the beach.