2 gibbles out of 5

Director: Jonathan Krisel

Man, I sort of want to give this one gibble, seeing as how the show annoyed me more often than not, but I admittedly had some sporadic laughs, so credit is due.

Maybe I just don’t get these kids and their humor nowadays.  Or rather, I don’t get these kids and their unfunny humor nowadays.  Hyuck.

So series director Jonathan Krisel has worked on Tim and Eric, which is probably where the goofy sound effects and purposefully uncomfortable pacing comes from (I mean, with the encouragement of the stars and writers, I’m sure), but despite my digging T & E’s style of non-humor and appreciation for the intended satirization of Portland / hipster stereotypes, Portlandia just rubs me the wrong way.  A Lorne Michaels production credit and recent SNL-star Fred Armisen might be signposts as to why… as the current brand of SNL humor – let’s call it the Jimmy Fallon class of SNL – falls into the youtube world of being a little too aware of itself to be really funny.  Our everything-saturated culture encourages this, but once every idle antic became fodder for sketch TV, the pressure to be a true comedian seemed to dwindle in favor of trying not to crack up when someone is filming your pants being pulled down.

Overly cynical and an extreme example?  Sure, whatever.  This is the Robot Chicken of sketch comedy.  Rapid-fire distraction that crumbles when something lingers.  Is it the joke that’s funny, or the idea of the joke?

Look – Portlandia is a show making fun of hipsters and Portland hippies and probably Portland in general, though any hip area of any town can act as a stand-in.  Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen are probably cool people.  But there are no risks here, and nothing really rings as inspired.  The intended audience of Sleater-Kinney fans and tattooies and IFC watchers will find it funny.  There are concepts that are really hilarious, and more often than not, that’s what would elicit a laugh.  So there’s my grudgingly allotted second gimble.  But when my laugh would fade and I’d have to watch the rest of the sketch, I’d be left staring at a shell of a joke repeated for a few minutes before it’d move to the next concept.

bristling with comedy omg gasps