4 out of 5

Created by: Mark Little and Andrew Bush

I was about to sum up Cavendish as a prime example of droll – and weird – British comedy, and then it dawned on me that it’s Canadian.  Those wily Canadians!

Borne from the brains of members of sketch comedy troupe Picnicface, Cavendish is very much just about putting pieces into place and letting them go off where they may, as brothers Mark and Andy (acted by and helpfully named the same as co-creators Mark Little and Andrew Bush) return to their eponymous home town to check in on their ailing father (Kevin Eldon), discovering that dad isn’t quite as sick as they’d been led to believe, and that home is, y’know, quaint.  Each episode sort of plays into smalltown hijinks, but Little and Bush don’t just get to yuck it up as straightmen observers: they’re rather odd themselves, and there’s a lovely push and pull between what they accept and what strikes them as off, drawn into further humorous discrepancy due to the brothers’ rather different attitudes (and memories of how good or bad things were back in the day).

Things get blown out of proportion to the most surreal extremes, but are generally tethered to reality in such a way that prevents the show from becoming just random moments or full on farce; just as Cavendish doesn’t outright poke fun at its weirdo populace, there’s this bizarre thread of humanity that runs throughout – a kind of acceptance of outsiders and losers – that edges it well above you’re usual Comedy Central-esque snark comedy.  That doesn’t prevent the setups from becoming somewhat predictable – one brother is the put-upon one; one brother always goes gung-ho for some new scheme – but it keeps it consistently fun and definitely makes it rewatchable.

Picnicface has plenty of sketches available on youtube (presumably from their now defunct TV show); they’re perfect taste-test for the kind of humor featured here, or a way to get a further fill o’ yuks while we wait for (hopefully) a second season.