Portlandia Season 6 Episode 3
Portlandia Season 6 Episode 3
Portlandia Season 6 Episode 3' title='Portlandia Season 6 Episode 3' />Club. Theres no question that IFC is the right home for Documentary Now, the mockumentary series from Saturday Night Livealumni Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, and Seth Meyers. This is the network that has kept extremely niche comedies like Portlandia and Comedy Bang IFC is a place for the weird and the specific, and Documentary Now Yes, the series is partially born from an SNL sketch from 2. Showtime Full The Hollars Online Free. Armisen and Hader played washed up British punk rock stars. Salem season 3 Samurai Jack season 5 Santa Clarita Diet season 1 Saturday Night Live season 42 Saving Hope season 5 Scandal season 6 Schitts Creek. But Documentary Now, while it certainly has comedic sensibilities, feels more like a rather serious study of and homage to documentary film. And the humor that is there isnt for everybody. And I dont mean that in a this isnt everyones cup of tea way. Much of the humor in Documentary Nows premiere, Sandy Passage, would be lost on someone who hasnt seen the documentary its parodying, Grey Gardens. Grey Gardens is a direct cinema documentary that intimately follows Edith Big Edie Ewing Bouvier Beale and Edith Little Edie Bouvier Beale, the aunt and first cousin, respectively, of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. The two women lived together as recluses for decades in a crumbling estate overrun by raccoons and cats. Documentary Now And for most of the episode, thats about all that changes. The cameramen enter the frame without hesitation, a distinction that made Grey Gardens stand out when it first came out in 1. For this first episode, it helps that the original subject material is so strange on its own that Meyers, who wrote the episode, doesnt really have to play with much to make Sandy Passage weird. Maybe Im wrong about the episode not working for people who havent seen Grey Gardens, because I could definitely see how someone might laugh at the odd observations and off hand remarks Haders Little Vivvy says without realizing that theyre not very far off from the real Little Edie at all. Hader might just be the best part of the episode. He doesnt overdo his performance as Little Vivvy. Little Edie has a reality adjacent quality to her, and Hader brings that same off kilter quality to Little Vivvy. Documentary Now You feel uncomfortable watching Big Vivvy and Little Vivvy, just as Grey Gardens has an unnerving and invasive quality about it. Armisen, Hader, and Meyerss approach to mockumentary doesnt rely on just playing up the comedy. Instead, it really does feel like a study, an investigation of how and why documentaries are made. That may sound like a lofty goal for a 2. IFC, and it no doubt is. But at least with Sandy Passage, they mostly succeed, tackling the voyeurism of the original in a way that feels honest and almost critical. It isnt until the last couple minutes of the episode that Sandy Passage elevates the humor and pushes into the extreme. Over the course of the episode, the guys behind the camera get increasingly nervous about getting so close to Little Vivvy. The fact that she seems to hold such intense grudgessomething that was true of Little Edie, as wellunsettles them. Here is where Meyers starts to have fun with the story, turning Little Vivvy into more than just a bizarre recluse. In this version, shes a vindictive murderer, and the reveal only works because of how much restraint Documentary Now Its a very slow buildone that may not hold the attention of people who might be expecting something more along the lines of Hader and Armisens punchier work. Stray observations. Welcome to TV Club coverage of Documentary Now Ive reviewed some niche comedies in the past, but this is a whole new level of weird. Still, I think it will be fun. Im interested in hearing comments from people who maybe havent seen Grey Gardens. How did the episode work for you, if at all I dont always love when male comedians play women, because they can sometimes overdo it and almost play the whole look, Im playing a woman even though Im a man aspect for laughs. That has never been the case for Armisen or Hader, who both bring the same approach to playing female characters as they would any other.