With the Olympics bumping NBC’s Chuck, 30 Rock and The Office off the air – and many other networks airing re-runs – it’s kind of slim pickins right now when it comes to TV comedy. But there is one show out there that’s absolutely hilarious, and if you haven’t seen it yet, you need to do so as soon as possible:
Archer is an animated series on FX. It stars H. Jon Benjamin (Coach McGuirk from Home Movies) as Sterling Archer, an attractive and classy James Bond style secret agent who works for ISIS, a private intelligence agency. However, Sterling is also barely competent at times, has severe “mommy issues”, treats his butler like a dog, drinks at the office more than Don Draper, and thinks nothing of charging thousands of needless dollars on his expense account, especially for prostitutes.
He is also insanely jealous of the developing relationship between ex-girlfriend and fellow secret agent Lana (Aisha Tyler from Talk Soup and Friends) and ISIS comptroller Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell of SNL and 30 Rock). Jessica Walter (Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development) plays Malory Archer, Sterling’s mother and CEO of ISIS (which explains how Sterling manages to not get fired no matter what happens). Mother Archer has problems of her own, including an obsession with her dog which leads her to get an erotic portrait of her and the dog which mimics the iconic photograph of a nude John Lennon and Yoko Ono in bed. And speaking of issues, Mallory’s secretary Cheryl (Judy Greer from Miss Guided) has her own issues, mostly about wanting to be strangled to death during sex.
It sounds silly, and it is. But the show packs more hilarious one-liners in 20 minutes than other shows could do in an hour. I can’t help but giggle every time I hear these lines:
“Now let’s go bury this dead hooker”
“Seriously, call Kenny Loggins. Cause you’re in the Danger Zone”
“Oh god, with the curry again. This shirt smells likes Indira Gandhi’s thong”,
“God it’s like my brain’s that tree and you’re those little cookie elves!”
Sterling: “You killed a hooker!”
Cyril: “She was a call girl!”
Sterling: “No Cyril, when they’re dead they’re just hookers!”
Seriously, check it out. This show really brings the funny. It comes on FX at 10pm on Thursdays; your cable company might offer episodes on demand as well.