ETA 04/07/2020 Received a notification from the creators of this podcast that they were not responsible for my review being deleted from iTunes. In good faith, please consider the first paragraph of my review below rescinded.
I was surprised and disappointed that the creators of this podcast had my previous review deleted. Given the great pride they take in their comedy courting controversy, I thought that they could take it as much as they like to dish it. I also thought my review was honest without being rude, pointing out the problems and how they could be fixed. Anyway, here’s a new updated review, based on having listened up to episode 8. I feel it a duty, with this podcast, to let potential listeners know what they’re in for.
This show has a problem with the character of Fernod. Because he is a rapist. Yes, he's meant to be a jerk who randomly kills his human colleagues. Outlandishly evil, sexist. In other shows, I have found that funny. In episode 3, in response to a question about why the many women he has impregnated do not seek him out for child support, he says that it's because "They just usually don't remember me. I prefer getting them drunk or using a special quiet time pill." i.e. Bill Cosby's modus operandi for drugging and raping women.
Let’s be clear on two things. The Rorschach test here isn’t whether Fernod is a rapist or not. He took away the ability for women to consent using alcohol and roofies, and then he also impregnated them without their consent. He IS a rapist. The Rorschach test here is whether this “comedy” trivializes rape and wants you to sympathize with a serial rapist.
I feared that the story arc of Fernod would not be acknowledging and taking responsibility for his heinous acts, but him wanting to settle down, and try fatherhood. I was right. His lesson was that he chose to settle down with the wrong person. You're supposed to feel sorry for him. And I cannot. Not when Matt Lauer is using the family man playbook to orchestrate his comeback.
Episode 8 kind of doubled down. Fernod shapeshifts and sleeps with one of the characters, who is devastated that she was raped (finally, the victim’s perspective!). But Fernod couches his duplicity in the language of transgender identity. Perhaps it was commentary on his villainous entitlement to appropriating transgender issues, but given how opposition to bathroom access for transgender people uses the bogeyman of sexual assault, the episode comes closer to "Wouldn’t it be funny if a trans person committed sexual assault?" instead of a more helpful message.
W.Kamau Bell, in response to Shane Gillis’ racist jokes, said the “As a comic who also “pushes boundaries”, part of the deal is getting pushback. If you don’t want pushback, then don’t “push boundaries”. I sincerely hope that my feedback isn’t going to be deleted a second time. Bell also added, “the boundaries of “jokes” on native Chinese ppl not speaking English well were already pushed by comics when TVs only came in black & white”. You’re not pushing boundaries by trivializing rape or inviting people to laugh at a woman being traumatized that she couldn’t give informed consent for sex. That’s old hat. That’s already the world we live in. You’re just punching down against victims. You can always choose to write jokes that punch upward against rapists and homophobes. Those are not the jokes in this podcast.
